Vintage French turn the screw

FRANCE were in a different class at Lansdowne Road on Saturday and Ireland were lucky their opponents still haven’t learned to play flat-out for 80 minutes. Otherwise it could have been very embarrassing.

The Grand Slam dream has been shattered and about the only positive to be taken from the defeat is that there is a Triple Crown and RBS Six Nations Championship title to be played for in Cardiff on Saturday.

However, Ireland go there in the knowledge that the cracks that appeared against Italy and England were blown wide open this time.

Collectively and individually, Ireland were destroyed by Fabien Pelous and his richly-talented team mates. The areas where they hoped to hold the edge, most notably the line-out and the loose, were badly lost and apart from one piece of brilliance by skipper Brian O’Driscoll, the French line was hardly threatened.

The scrum just about stood its ground, the maul - in stark contrast to the French - was totally ineffective and possession from the rucks was all too often at a snail’s pace.

Now the task facing the Irish is how well they recover physically and mentally from this disappointment.

“It’s going to be difficult, but at the same time we can’t beat ourselves up over a performance like that,” insisted O’Driscoll.

“France were the better side and deserved to win. We still have a Triple Crown to play for and I think it shows the strength of the side that we are hugely disappointed that the slam opportunity is missed.

“We have to get over that disappointment in 24 hours and look forward to the Welsh game. We’re certainly going to have to up our performance considerably if we are going to do it.”

Coach Eddie O’Sullivan added: “This is what sport is about; you get a kick in the guts and you get up and get on with it. We’ll be a better side if we can do that.

“I thought France played well. There’s always the danger when you lose a game like that to believe we played badly, but I don’t think we played that badly.

“I’d like to get cleaner possession at the line-out, I would like to get into the game sooner, but you can’t take away from the French performance.

“It still came down to one score and down to only two points going into the last minute. We’ve just got to keep our focus, keep our intensity and get a game plan that suits us for Wales.”

Wise and fighting words no doubt, but it would be difficult to award more than seven marks out of 10 to the Irish team as a whole or to any one player. O’Driscoll scored another vintage try, shaking off Fredrik Michalak before turning inside hapless full-back Julien Laharrague for his 27th international touch down.

Otherwise, it was a difficult afternoon for the captain who, not for the first time, resorted to kicking the ball, an art he clearly has yet to master.

His centre partner Kevin Maggs was found out. One-dimensional, predictable and way off the pace, it would be time to dismiss him from future plans.

O’Sullivan ruled out a return by Gordon D’Arcy, nor will Shane Horgan be fit to resume next week. Friday night’s awful ‘A’ international underlined the lack of talent coming through not just in the centre but in most other positions.

O’Sullivan appears happy to continue with Girvan Dempsey on the wing, but if Ireland are to aspire to true world status, then the “Girv has never let us down” attitude is way off the mark.

Like O’Driscoll, Geordan Murphy’s class rarely shone through and he had something of an off-day. The possession offered to Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara was so slow and laboured that they had no real chance to stamp their influence on the proceedings, although the scrum-half certainly couldn’t be criticised for want of effort.

There was the unusual sight of Anthony Foley being replaced with more than 10 minutes to go. There might even have been a case for taking off either of the star second-rows, Paul O’Connell and Malcolm O’Kelly, to allow Donncha O’Callaghan to bring his particular qualities to the table. O’Connell and O’Kelly played well enough but certainly met their match in Pelous and Jerome Thion. It was from a line-out steal that new boy Benoit Baby scorched through for his side’s second try.

Although they gave away little or nothing in their battle with the French trio, the Irish front row presents one of the most serious challenges for O’Sullivan. Reggie Corrigan, Shane Byrne and John Hayes will be 35, 34 and 32 respectively on their next birthdays. If they are struggling to cope at the present, what hope have they of doing so in the future?

Marcus Horan and Frankie Sheahan are obvious replacements for Corrigan and Byrne, but there isn’t a single tight head prop on the horizon, so Hayes will be expected to shoulder a huge responsibility for some time.

Criticise the Irish performance as much as you want but one salient fact remains. France were magnificent in the first half when their tactical appreciation in taking on the strong wind and the home side bordered on perfection. The maul that led to Yann Delaigue’s drop goal was right out of the textbook. It’s just as well for Ireland that the French virtually fell asleep in the second half, just as they had done so fatally against Wales.

Otherwise, the scoreboard might well have been a sickener!