From thrilling to infuriating

WELL, who would have imagined that? Ireland outscore France by three tries to one and walk off the pitch beaten men.

That is what happens when defeat is self-inflicted, as for the second week in a row, the men in green, so positive in purpose, not so much threw away the chance of beating the reigning Six Nations champions at the Aviva Stadium but fumbled it, dropped it, missed it.

Poor handling, misplaced kicks, missed tackles and indiscipline at the breakdown – all the aspects that made victory over Italy in Rome so fortunate, came back to kick Ireland on home turf against a misfiring French side who were there for the taking.

This was yet another defeat to one of rugby’s superpowers, following four losses in the last 12 months to the southern hemisphere giants, yet Ireland more than ever showed they are moving in the right direction.

Ultimately frustrated, Declan Kidney certainly sees it that way, insisting his players stick to the programme of developing an exciting, running game in readiness for an assault on the World Cup later this year.

Ireland had for the previous seven days vowed to iron out the mistakes of the Stadio Flaminio and finally click into gear as a side capable of playing running rugby of the highest order. And the way they started suggested they were true to their word as full-back Luke Fitzgerald had a try disallowed inside the first three minutes for a forward pass earlier in the move and then Fergus McFadden got a deserved opener as he pounced on a dropped catch by French full-back Clement Poitrenaud.

The French had clearly been rattled. Yet Ireland failed to take advantage.

Scrum-half Tomas O’Leary knocked-on soon after and Ireland were penalised from the resulting scrum. Cue more pressure on Ireland and a penalty as the home side failed to release a tackled player. Morgan Parra getting points on the board when France’s play barely merited it.

At least the much put upon Irish scrum, so tormented by the Italians, was holding its own against the much-heralded front row of Thomas Domingo, William Servat and Nicolas Mas, with Cian Healy, Rory Best and Mike Ross able to enjoy the satisfaction of winning a penalty against them to allow Jonathan Sexton to open up a 10-3 lead.

Healy’s afternoon got even brighter when his tenacity saw Poitrenaud stripped but Ireland undid all the good work when O’Leary, looking badly off the pace after a week on the treatment table, misdirected a pass to McFadden and a penalty was conceded. Parra narrowed the gap and then got a grateful France back to 10-9 within moments as another O’Leary mistake, a box kick straight down Aurelien Rougerie’s throat, led to more breakdown trouble.

And so it continued. Good Irish work undone by silly errors.

Parra gobbled up another penalty as Ireland were again pinged at the breakdown.

Ireland fought back ahead of the interval, almost in spite of themselves. O’Leary made the most of a lineout inside the French 22, burst towards the posts and, after Sexton messed up a two-man overlap, he collected the ball again and scrambled over the line.

Regardless, Ireland were in front at the half, 15-12, and the French responded with spirit after the break as the match ebbed and flowed deliciously. Unless you were a coach.

More breakdown indiscipline allowed Parra to level the scores before Marc Lievremont highlighted the depth of French talent in the 54th and 55th minutes when he sent on No.8 Sebastian Chabal and scrum-half Dmitri Yachvili as replacements, the latter sparking the go-ahead try for France as he used quick ball to Rougerie, who swatted Gordon D’Arcy aside before off-loading to Maxime Medard to cross the line. Yachvili’s conversion made it 22-15.

Ireland were simply unable to get the ball into the right areas of the field and it was inevitable that Sexton should give way to elder statesman Ronan O’Gara with 17 minutes still to play, as Yachvili kicked another unnecessarily conceded penalty.

The Irish move sparked instant rewards, though as O’Gara kicked to touch inside the French 22 with the resultant pressure forcing a try through Jamie Heaslip.

Having proved once again that field position is everything in this game, O’Gara slotted the tricky conversion and victory was very nearly grabbed as Keith Earls’ left-wing blitz panicked Medard. Ireland were within reach of a famous victory yet, almost predictably, they found a way to mess it up, replacement hooker Sean Cronin knocking on with the tryline offering come-hither looks in his direction. From thrilling to infuriating in a matter of seconds and with it a championship goes begging for another year.

IRELAND: L Fitzgerald; F McFadden, B O’Driscoll (capt), G D’Arcy, K Earls; J Sexton (R O’Gara, 63), T O’Leary (E Reddan, 68); C Healy (T Court, 57), R Best (S Cronin, 76), M Ross; D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell (L Cullen, 80); S O’Brien, D Wallace, J Heaslip.

Replacements not used: D Leamy, P Wallace

FRANCE: C Poitrenaud (V Clerc, 51); Y Huget, A Rougerie, D Traille (Y Jauzion, 73), M Medard; F Trinh Duc, M Parra (D Yachvili, 54); T Domingo (S Marconnet, 50), W Servat, N Mas; J Pierre (J Thion, 64), L Nallet; T Dusautoir (capt), J Bonnaire (S Chabal, 54), I Harinordoquy.

Replacement not used: G Guirado

Referee: D Pearson (England)