I thought at one stage we had them where we wanted them but we can’t beat ourselves

I thought at one stage we had them where we wanted them but we can’t beat ourselves up about this defeat, as disappointing as it was.”It was a view echoed by his captain, O’Driscoll. They trooped off at the interval trailing by nine points and could not even rely on an infuriatingly inconsistent, casual France on blowing such an advantage, as they had against Wales in Paris.Mind you, France, after scoring two cracking tries in the first half, came close to losing it when O’Driscoll scored a classic, trademark try nine minutes from the end to make it 19-21, and the old stadium was rocking and creaking.Unfortunately, so was the ageing Irish pack which did not have another trick up its sleeve. The Irish lived dangerously here against England and got away with it. Yesterday it was a case of it’s all over now Baby Blue.
By the time Beno?Baby, not one of Bernard Laporte’s original selections, raced about 50 yards, by-passing what should have been the heart of the Irish defence seven minutes before half-time, the game was up.Playing with a strong wind at their backs in the first half, Ireland were almost unbelievably sterile. At times the fluency of the French back-line was exquisite, and the angles they cut were done with the delicacy of a master tailor It was fabulous to see.. Not even the genius of Brian O’Driscoll could save Ireland from the shocking anti-climax of seeing yet another Grand Slam dream turn to ashes. Ireland have neither at the moment, but addressing their front-row difficulties has to be O’Sullivan’s first task.But focus not solely on Ireland’s deficiencies.

Remember Argen-tina? So their coach, Eddie O’Sullivan, faces hard choices. The best teams either have intimidating forward power, like England at the World Cup, or dazzling genius right down their back-line. As it was, Ireland somehow hung on, living on sheer willpower and then O’Driscoll’s brilliant individual try, which was the equal of the best of the French. But when Dominici skated into the right-hand corner with four minutes left, from the magnificent Marconnet’s blindside thrust, the dream died.Ireland have not struggled in just this one match this season. They had little of the cohesion of the French pack, and ultimately that told.Had France taken more of their chances, the game would have been over long before the anti-climactic finish. Yann Delaigue wasted a palpable five-on-two overlap early in the second half when another French try would have guillotined Ireland’s hopes.

Ireland could not mask not merely their lack of pace but the deficiencies in other parts of their game. The French loosehead Sylvain Marconnet destroyed John Hayes in the set scrums – and probably his Lions hopes too.France were quicker to the loose ball while Ireland simply could not expand their game, hard as they tried as individuals. They will do well to collect their spirits in time for the match in Cardiff But, in truth, they have been living on borrowed time Theirs has been a spluttering, inconsistent championship. You rarely win a Grand Slam with such uneven displays, and France exposed that reality yesterday.Ireland had none of the go-forward momentum or spark of France behind the scrum, O’Driscoll excepted Nor could they hold a candle to French speed and poise. Kevin Maggs is wholehearted but will never outpace an international back-line.What happened yesterday would surely have come to pass in Cardiff against the quicksilver Welsh threequarters even if the Grand Slam dream had remained alive. Not far behind him were Julien Laharrague and the wing Dominici.