Ireland’s time may have come and gone

IT CAN’T end like this, blared the headline in a French newspaper yesterday, and they were right. France thumped Ireland and Les Bleus have recovered the ground lost in their opening defeat to Argentina.

Ireland, though, were hugely disappointing.

It can’t be denied that they had a less than ideal build-up to this game, thanks to a couple of devious intrusions from the French media, but the men in green were miles off the pace last night: when a pass skipped past Shane Horgan’s hands in the last minute it summed up an entire evening of knock-ons and indiscipline, not to mention a physical battering dished out by the home side.