Rugby Ireland v France:LOST IN translation perhaps. But the French attitude to defeat was, well, almost philosophical. "Chins up," was captain Lionel Mallet's vaguely English take on the mood inside the changing room after the match. "We really need to have a chin-up approach. Ideally we just want to bounce back," he said.

Between himself and coach Marc Lievremont, their expressions were of disappointment at losing but the atmospherics were that this team was essentially a work in progress.

Still, the Irish ability to take the lead despite a high tempo French start to the match disarmed the visitors and appeared to put them under pressure. Chasing the game seemed to upset their rhythm.

“The first issue is that I feel disappointment. Obviously, we are frustrated. When I say ‘we’ I am referring to the staff and the players together because we had high hopes for this match,” said the coach.

“We are dealing with problems of regret because there was a lack of discipline early on in the match because we allowed the Irish team to score even though we scored a try,” he explained. “They were always making us play a catch-up game. Croke Park matches are always extremely difficult for us and unfortunately, the lack of discipline was a constant from early on in this match.

“We did have two or three nice moves but once again, it just wasn’t enough. We made too many bad choices. We felt a sense or urgency due to the scoreline and of course there were the Irish tries and the problems related to our defence. We were always running after the Irish scoreline. It was a very difficult match.”

But there was little appetite for recrimination. When Jamie Heaslip forced a penalty at the end to allow O’Gara put two scores between the sides, some may have thought the award harsh. Not so Lievremont. It was the Irish pack that provided the frustration and pressure not the referee.

“The only criticism I can make of the referee is with reference to the slow ball,” he said. “The Irish technique is very good. They played well, essentially, and they followed the rules. We have to adapt to the referee. We were sometimes first to get to the ball. We tried to grab the ball but the Irish support was there. Sometimes we had to release the ball and that’s where we encountered some issues. Then there was the issue of tiredness which is where the penalties came in.”

Overall, the French tried to liberate their players and despite occasionally offering a platform by kicking the ball to them, Ireland’s hungry pack were able to effectively suffocate that impulse.

“We wanted players to free themselves. The players showed good talent but they didn’t follow through, they didn’t finish.

“The Irish rucks were well organised, very dense. We played too high and that’s where we lost the ball. We needed to be intelligent because Ireland are a very experienced team and they work very well together.”