'What would you like me to be doing?': Johnny Sexton reacts to a frustrating night in Paris
Ireland's Johnny Sexton dejected when coming off against France. Picture: NPHO/Dave Winter
If there was one moment that summed up the frustration of Ireland's night in Paris then it came with a dozen minutes to go. Ireland's number wasn't quite up at that point but Jonathan Sexton's was and it didn't sit at all well with the captain as he made his way off the field at Stade de France.
Sexton shook his head and looked up at the stands in a state of what could be diplomatically be called disbelief. His side was still only eight points down at that stage and he clearly felt that his place remained at the centre of the maelstrom and not on the sidelines.
It was a disgruntlement that many picked up on as they watched the game with phones in hand.
“I was very disappointed coming off, like everyone would be,” he explained after. “You're losing the game and you're coming off, so what would you like me to be doing? It was disappointment that we didn't win the game. We were 28-20 down with 10, 12 minutes to go, we had a five-metre lineout and we didn't capitalise. They are just the moments we'll look back on and regret.”
There were all too many of those.
Ireland dominated possession and pitch position in the first-half but trailed by four at the interval thanks to a pair of French tries, one a piece of superb play that ended with Antoine Dupont touching down and the other as a result of poor cover play by Jacob Stockdale and a Caelan Doris foul that gave away an automatic seven points and sent the back row to the bin.
Ireland had begun the game knowing a six-point win accompanied by just one try would be enough to claim the title from England but they went for seven points rather than kickable penalties on a handful of occasions in that opening 40, not least on the stroke of the interval when they came up empty-handed and gave momentum to the hosts on the turnaround.
Regrets? None, he said.
“No, because they had the yellow card (for Anthony Bouthier after ten minutes) so three of my decisions were while they had the yellow card. A couple of them we took the scrum and should have scored a couple.
“Just before half-time, we could have taken three and tried to go in in the lead (sic) but we knew we had to win the game by more than six or get more tries so we were trying our best to put the pressure on because we knew the French team.
”With the players they have, could score tries from nothing. It's a bit like when you are playing the All Blacks, you have to have the mentality to go out and score tries.
Step away from the nitty-gritty here and the bigger picture is achingly familiar to the frustrations which haunted this Irish team throughout 2019. Basic errors haunted them, especially in a ragged second-half and it was worrying to hear head coach Andy Farrell speak about a lack of belief that was detected even through such a mostly positive first-half.
Ireland have now lost every game they have played against the supposed 'big' nations since they lost that first 2019 Six Nations game to England at the Aviva Stadium. Beating Scotland and Italy, as well as a Welsh side that has plummeted downhill so far under Wayne Pivac, isn't much good when the likes of England and France can land such brutal blows time and again.
The question is, have Ireland fallen back into the pack?
“They were two very different games, the one against England and the one we played today,” said Sexton. “At this level you can't give teams scores from your mistakes. You need to make them work hard.
"We had to work unbelievably hard for our scores and we weren't good enough when we got I don't know how many five-metre lineouts we had.
“Our conversion rate wasn't too hot, we weren't clinical enough. I thought we had a lot of opportunities tonight, in the England game I didn't think we had many at all.
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