‘An awful way to lose ... awful’

IT was a loss of Munsteresque proportions; not quite the two bitter Heineken Cup final defeats of Twickenham and the Millennium Stadium — but close.

It wasn’t supposed to end like this on such a historic day at Croke Park. The 35 metre maul by a magnificent set of forwards to set up a 40m penalty goal for the equally magnificent Ronan O’Gara to put Ireland four points ahead with less than two minutes on the clock — that was the way it was to go, that was the way it went.

But, heartbreakingly, that wasn’t the way it finished. These French, these cursed French. Not for the first time, on occasions of great expectation, they have burst the Irish bubble. For the fourth year on the trot, they have beaten Ireland.

But this one is the worst of all. What harm, but Ireland had done really well where they were supposed to struggle, up front.

After a poor start — ball lost at their own put-in on the first scrum — they had steadied, and as the game progressed, into the second half especially, Ireland were clearly on top. During all that effort, no-one showed up more in green than loosehead Marcus Horan. He did his work in the tight, but it was in the loose he was most impressive.

One second half break seemed set to end in a try but, chasing his own little grubber, he was twice impeded — just enough to put him off the loose ball.

“I’m angry with myself, for not holding onto the ball. I felt I was held back for that one but sure you’re not going to get those decisions. I should have held onto it. It was an awful way to lose a game. Awful.”

Ah yes, the way to lose a game. After O’Gara’s superb kick to extend the lead to four points, everyone in the ground felt all they had to do was win the kick-off, protect for a couple of minutes, and it would be game over.

Down on the field, that too was how Marcus and his team-mates were feeling.

“Their backs had been kept out of the game for the 20 minutes before that, their forwards were out on their feet — we took them on up front and held onto the ball.

“That maul upfield, you feel after something like that you had them. But their backs were sharp, ready to strike at any time.”

That four-point was so, so dangerous. Like a two-point lead in GAA — and as a former hurler Marcus understood full well — it leaves the opposition with no choice but to go for glory.

“We had talked about that before the last kick-off and knew they’d have to go for the try. It was all hands to the pump, we were all very keen on getting control of the ball, but fair play to them they didn’t kick to Paulie or Donners where we’d be more or less guaranteed to take it. They put it into a difficult spot, it bobbled around, they got their hands on it.

“They knew what they were doing — they kicked to regain and they did.

“We were all shouting at each other to stay tuned in. Our discipline was good, we weren’t diving in, giving away stupid penalties. But we didn’t control the kick-off. It was just a bounce of a ball — it could have as easily bounced up into one our hands and we could have been down in their 22 with a lineout. That is just the way it goes. They knew they had to go for the try, and bloody hell, they did. It was a horrible way to lose.”

Now, the challenge is to pick themselves up, get ready for the unbeaten English on Saturday week.

“Obviously you deal with the disappointment, have a few nightmares about it but you wake up and push on, just as we’d have had if we’d had a great win.

“Push on, don’t dwell on it, and we’re around long enough to know that. The way we started badly is something to work on, but the way we fought our way back into the game, as a pack especially, is promising.”

He added: “Up front we battled hard, some of the mauls and scrums we did really well. It’s all about keeping on battling. Our try was well taken with a superb final pass from David Wallace, some great interchange between forwards and backs.

“It is definitely something to build on. We know we’ve got to put away scores when you get the chance. We didn’t do that today and paid the price. But you’ve got to keep fighting, there’s a championship there to fight for.

“There’s huge disappointment there — we owe the stadium a win.”