Our ‘smart’ defence was rewarded, declares Robbie Henshaw

‘Lethal’ was the word Rory Best reached for when he held court on the French attack at the pre-match press conference on Friday.

It was a statement that fits all too readily with the picture assembled of a side supposedly reinvigorated under Guy Noves and one capable of bludgeoning through a defensive wall before slicing the cover with a delicious offload or two.

The evidence of that was sketchy.