O'Sullivan: Try verdict was 'excruciating'

Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan described the wait for confirmation of France’s decisive try in a dramatic final day of the RBS 6 Nations as “excruciating”.

Television match official Simon McDowell, an Irishman, took several minutes before giving his verdict on Elvis Vermeulen’s late try as Les Bleus retained the title with a 46-19 triumph over Scotland.

A sparkling 51-24 victory against Italy appeared to have put Ireland in the driving seat but France responded magnificently to edge the Triple Crown holders on points difference.

He said: “I watched the France game in my room. I got back to the hotel in time and got changed watching the game. I felt very helpless like everybody else.

“I thought Scotland had done us a favour. The wait to see if the try had been given was excruciating. The call could have gone either way but went against Scotland and us too. I didn’t know which way the call was going to go.

“Everyone was on the edge of their seat. The TMO is there to make a tough call and if he thought it was a try then it was a try.

“Some days you get those decisions and some days you don’t so I don’t have any gripe with the decision. They have to call what they see and what they believe is right. It was a tough call.”

Ireland ran in eight tries against the outclassed Azzurri with Girvan Dempsey and Denis Hickie scoring a brace each while Simon Easterby, Gordon D’Arcy, Shane Horgan and Ronan O’Gara also crossed.

O’Sullivan was delighted with the rout at the Stadio Flaminio and felt his side had done everything possible to wrestle the title from France’s grasp.

He said: “We went into the game and did the best we could in the circumstances. If you’d told me before the game we’d score over 50 points and produce eight tries I’d say fair enough, that’s a good innings so let the dice roll. The dice had been rolled but it didn’t fall our way.”

Ireland would have ended their 22-year wait for the title had they not conceded a try to Roland de Marigny in the 82nd minute, with Andrea Scanavacca slotting the conversion.

The score reduced France’s target in Paris from 31 points to 24 – Bernard Laporte’s side eventually overcame Scotland by 27.

Ireland had ample opportunity to thump the ball out into touch but went for a ninth try, only to concede possession and pay the ultimate price.

O’Sullivan said: “I always felt the more points we had in the bag the better. You have to remember the team on the field don’t know what points they need.

“They had to keep on playing. You can’t put up the barricades and stop playing. We scored some great tries because of great decision making.

“Retrospect is a great thing but you can’t say to the guys stop playing out there, we’ve got enough done.

“France had the advantage because they knew what they had to do. To be fair to them they went and did it.”