Ireland 22 France 25:THE SENSE of an opportunity lost lingered long into the stadium air last night.
Despite the Sunday kick-off, the Six Nations made a raucous and entertaining, if flawed, return to the refurbished old ground, but for all the talk of French flair it was Irish mistakes which snatched a threes-tries-to-one defeat from the jaws of victory.
For sure, some of the depth and width which the French backs applied looked both ominous and pretty, but much of their recycling was slow and ultimately Ireland limited them to one try, and that off a missed tackle.
But combined with the concession of 18 points from penalties – remarkably, seven of France’s nine penalties which an unconvincing Dave Pearson awarded were within kicking range – France did not have to work anything like as hard for their points.
The surfeit of three-pointers also reflects how Ireland enjoyed a 50-50 split of possession, yet until the final quarter France had much more of the territory.
Ireland’s ambition also foundered on another high number of handling errors, which undid much good work.
The scrum held up well, although two lineouts were pilfered and a third overthrown. Cian Healy and Mike Ross had fine games. Few players could have performed like Jamie Heaslip on the back of one game in two months, while David Wallace was simply sensational with his carries and leg-driving. Luke Fitzgerald was excellent at the back and always offered a threat.
But the backline never really quite clicked and, while profitable, their only means to the try line now seems to be multi-phase attacks inside the 22.
Evidence of this came early on. As with France last week, Ireland were a team in need of an early try yesterday – and how they earned it.
In fact, they effectively had to score it a second time after the original multi-phase attack had seen Fitzgerald’s touchdown over-ruled for a fractionally forward pass by Gordon D’Arcy for the full-back’s hard inside line.
When France opted to run the ball wide from the resulting scrum, Clement Poitrenaud was thinking too far ahead and knocked on. Fergus McFadden pounced, pumping his legs in contact for 10 metres and then re-appeared at the base after carries by Paul O’Connell and Wallace to plunge through a weak tackle by Julien Bonnaire and Thomas Domingo.
Alas, that early advantage was frittered away too easily. Although Healy earned a feather in his cap for getting the shove on Nicolas Mas and forcing him to collapse the scrum, for Sexton to restore the seven-point lead after Morgan Parra’s opener, so the pattern of mistakes and soft penalties continued.
Tomás O’Leary’s kick-out on the full compounded the handling errors, and all the infringements were for not releasing after the tackle by O’Connell, D’Arcy and Donncha O’Callaghan, and all led to more Parra three-pointers. They should have played Pearson better.
There was a scare, too, when France’s width and depth saw Aurelien Rougerie put Poitrenaud away for a chip-and-chase which rolled into touch. But Brian O’Driscoll’s excellent work at a ruck earned a penalty which Fitzgerald tuned into an attacking lineout from a tight angle.
Opting for and executing a tap-down off the tail from O’Callaghan enabled O’Leary to charge at and past Imanol Harinordoquy, popping the ball up for Ross to carry on for another five or six metres.
Hammering away at the French line, and with a penalty advantage, Ireland were rewarded when O’Leary picked and had the strength to reach the line. That summed up why he is in the team, although unfortunately Sexton missed what for him was a very kickable conversion.
The third quarter was a reprise of the middle chunk of the first period. Although O’Brien brilliantly diverted a drop goal attempt by Francois Trinh-Duc, Parra’s fifth penalty levelled things when O’Connell was adjudged not to have released Dusautoir after they went to ground, though the flanker seemed on his feet.
The French invited Ireland back when Julien Pierre knocked on inside the 22, but one of those trademark loops with D’Arcy merely pushed Keith Earls into touch.
From there, France upped the ante with a controlled lineout, Parra’s kick to touch, Harinordoquy’s lineout steal and Rougerie’s stunning take in the air.
Re-enforcements arrived from the bench, and from a solid scrum inside half-way Rougerie bounced D’Arcy’s tackle and put Maxime Medard in for a try which Dimitri Yachvili converted.
Allez les Bleus reverberated around the stadium as the Irish scrum buckled after Tom Court’s introduction, and Yachvili atoned for that miss when Rory Best was penalised for not releasing or being offside.
Ronan O’Gara, with his introduction, made a point of finding a long touch in the French 22, where an overthrow fell to Ross, of all people.
The tighthead had the presence of mind to feed O’Leary, and so Ireland patiently and tirelessly went through the phases. There were 23 in all (Wallace carried four times), before O’Gara’s grubber, which came off his knee, bounced kindly off Jerome Thion for Wallace to feed Heaslip for a try bang in the corner. O’Gara even landed the conversion – off the upright.
The saviour’s dice was rolling nicely for him. Even when his attempted penalty to touch was kept in play by Harinordoquy, Thion inanely played the ball about 10 yards in front of him, but at the attacking lineout which followed Best overthrew to the tail.
One last chance was offered up when Fitzgerald fed Earls for a kick-and-chase. Medard fumbled, but he and the recovering Harinordoquy did enough to wrap Fitzgerald from Heaslip’s feed and from the recycle Seán Cronin, only on two minutes, lost the ball when tackled hard by Yannick Jauzion.
One last chance to save it, one final mistake. Kinda summed it up.
