Ireland 21 France 43
Ireland suffered an unwanted bout of deja vu as Eddie O'Sullivan's side failed once again at the quarter-final stage of the World Cup, and again at the hands of France, after a heavy defeat in Melbourne to a side who were dominant in every area.
The French stamped their authority on the contest in the opening quarter and the game was as good as up before the break. Two second-half tries from Brian O'Driscoll and one for centre partner Kevin Maggs were the reward for a much improved effort after the break, but by then it was too late.
The French never allowed the Irish to settle with their aggressive defence constantly shutting down the Irish attack at every opportunity and punishing their turnovers with huge territorial gains either with the ball in hand or through Michalak's kicking.
With the benefit of their tight five's supremacy, the French loose forwards were able to impose themselves on the game with Harinordoquy, Magne and Serge Betsen superb in both attack and defence. Magne opened the scoring in the third minute after a planned move from a lineout when Harinordoquy gathered a Michalak cross kick, fed centre Tony Marsh who passed to an unmarked Magne.
Michalak converted and added a 21st minute penalty after the French had thrown wave after wave of blue attackers at the Irish defence.
Ireland, however, then had a period of dominance, recycling the ball but unable to break through the French defence. The French then scored an opportunist length-of-the-field try when a pass from O'Gara went to ground, was seized by Magne, who linked with Besten before he flicked to Dominici to run unopposed for 45 metres.
France added their third try less than three minutes later when Galthie sniped away from the base of the ruck and passed to Crenca who fed Harinordoquy to dash over in the corner.
Michalak then added his third penalty of the half when the Irish backs were caught offside to give the French a daunting 27-0 lead just before the break.
The little flyhalf added another penalty just after the break before Magne and Harinordoquy finished off a sweeping move with Magne's no-look flick and Harinordoquy's floated pass tantalasingly just over the outstretched hand of the last defender flopping into Crenca's hand for his try.
Maggs then finally got Ireland on the board when he cut back across the defenders at pace from an attacking lineout to score Ireland's opening try in the 52nd minute. Michalak added another penalty before O'Driscoll followed up a short grubber kick from Humphreys to score their second try 13 minutes later.
Michalak then added his fifth penalty to give him a tally of 23 points and take him over 100 for the tournament. O'Driscoll scored a late consolation try for the Irish, who gathered in a large circle in the centre of the field after the whistle before farewelling their many supporters.
France- 15-Nicolas Brusque; 14-Aurelien Rougerie, 13-Tony Marsh, 12-Yannick Jauzion (21-Brian Liebenberg 52), 11-Christophe Dominici; 10-Frederic Michalak, 9-Fabien Galthie (captain); 8-Imanol Harinordoquy (19-Patrick Tabacco 75), 7-Olivier Magne (16-Yannick Bru 65), 6-Serge Betsen, 5-Jerome Thion (18-Olivier Brouzet 65-78, 22-Pepito Elhorga 78), 4-Fabien Pelous, 3-Sylvain Marconet, 2-Raphael Ibanez (Magne 75), 1-Jean-Jacques Crenca (17-Olivier Milloud 70).
Ireland- 15-Girvan Dempsey; 14-Shane Horgan, 13-Brian O'Driscoll, 12-Kevin Maggs, 11-John Kelly; 10-Ronan O'Gara (21-David Humphreys 48), 9-Peter Stringer (20-Guy Easterby 72); 8-Victor Costello (19-Eric Miller 65), 7-Keith Gleeson, 6-Simon Easterby, 5-Paul O'Connell, 4-Malcolm O'Kelly, 3-John Hayes, 2-Keith Wood (captain), 1-Reggie Corrigan (17-Marcus Horan 52).
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)