France v Ireland Reaction: Groomed and tuxedo clad, Ronan O'Gara is instantly accosted by a phalanx of tape recorders as he hovers into view.

For the uninitiated or those out of earshot he retains the fresh-faced, beatific features of his teenage years. That image disintegrates when he begins to dissect Ireland's performance at the Stade de France.

There are plenty of sportspeople who talk without saying anything. O'Gara is happily oblivious to those constraints, refusing to offer soft-focus snapshots or airbrush critical analysis from his observations. His honesty may be uncomfortable for those who take a more subjective view but it has proved priceless in terms of the development of teams on which he has played.

At the official press conference earlier that evening in Paris, Brian O'Driscoll had spoken about his admiration for O'Gara's input into a team meeting on the day before the game. The Irish captain refused to offer a specific transcript but, tantalised, the media decided to head straight for the source.

O'Gara admitted: "I just spoke - I have to keep some things private in terms of motivation for the team, and that's exactly all it was. I think we're trying to get credibility back in the Irish team, and so far we haven't done that.

"I think today we took a step in the right direction, but this team needs a win. It's been a long time since Ireland has played well and all I asked for is to be honest; and I thought we were honest today.

"I'm proud of the way the boys responded to that, but we need to kick on." Asked whether the over riding feeling was one of disappointment the Irish outhalf confirmed. "We are (disappointed not to have won the game). It was a game we left behind. The first-half turnovers killed us. I gave away seven points, so it was probably the difference in the end.

"I knew if we could keep it even to 13 at half-time we'd beat them. What did we go in down at half-time, 20 points down? It was a big ask but I knew we'd have a patch. In saying that, maybe we left one or two tries out there in the second half, so it's disappointing, yeah."

He accepted that it had been a long time since Ireland had produced a performance of that stature but rather than languishing in the afterglow of a gutsy second-half revival, O'Gara warned: "A lot happens in sport, as in you can only look after your own situations. With Munster, I'm used to winning, and I expected to win today, so from a personal point of view, very disappointed.

"From a team point of view, (we're) disappointed. I hope fellas aren't happy with where they are inside there (the dressing-room). At the end of the day we were beaten again in Paris, so that's the bottom line.

"If you look at the first half we played well too but we gave away some soft tries, and they killed us in the end. I thought we played well for the whole game. In the second half, they were tired, and it was incredible how quickly they tired.

"Just giving away those soft scores at this level kills you; but yeah we did perform, but I don't think from where I am and what I've played in an Irish team that I'll be happy with a morale-boosting performance. I play sport to win, and that's all.

"We're our own worst enemies at times. We have to start believing in ourselves. We have some quality players in our team. It's ourselves holding us back. We have to go out there and perform."

The easy analogy is that Ireland's revival was prematurely tagged by the clock but the Irish outhalf admitted that the decision to go wide in the final throes of the contest was incorrect.

"We should never have let that ball go out there at the end. It was a bad mistake in terms of inexperience. We just have to keep hammering away there; you're not really going to score out wide in the last play of the game unless you have a big overlap. We just needed to keep pounding away with the forwards and keep going."

O'Gara paid tribute to the Irish pack but had the grace to acknowledge that the French possessed a special cutting edge out wide in Vincent Clerc and Cedric Heymans. "I don't think they (France) played exceptional rugby at any time out there.

"But in fairness to Heymans and Clerc, they're phenomenal players and that's the quality you need. They got 20 points between them, and you have to admire skill and quality like that. It's the same as Ronaldo at (Manchester) United. They have Heymans and Clerc, just fantastic players."

The vexed question for Ireland rugby supporters is whether Saturday's performance at the Stade de France marks a turning point in the recent fortunes of the national team. O'Gara believes that it can be but only if the attitude is right when the Six Nations resumes in a fortnight.

For a player so often eulogised for his deeds, it was O'Gara's words that might have been the catalyst for greater hopes.