Ireland at the crossroads

QUITE where one starts to analyse Saturday’s events in Paris is anyone’s guess. It was one of the most remarkable games of international rugby I’ve witnessed.

With 48 minutes gone, Ireland were staring down the barrel of a defeat of historic proportions. To their unending credit, they responded with 28 unanswered points and turned a catastrophe into a comeback of an epic scale. Only their ineptitude in the first half proved too much to redress.

From the moment the final whistle went in Murrayfield last Sunday week, I could never see anything other than a French victory from this game.