Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan felt the scoreline failed to do his side justice after watching France cruise to a 35-17 victory in their RBS 6 Nations opener in Paris this afternoon. France won the try count four-two while fly-half Frederic Michalak booted 17 points as Les Bleus ran out comprehensive winners, but O'Sullivan felt the visitors deserved to finish with greater reward following a brave performance.
"We made some errors and were punished cruelly for them - they had four opportunities and took them all. The best team won but 35-17 was not a fair reflection of the way we played," he said.
"It was hard work out there. We finished the game on their line and were unlucky not to put another try past them. The final try count was reasonable, but it would have fairer had it been four-three."
Ireland made a superb start but crucially failed to claim the early try they deserved and France were able to weather the storm, touching down through Vincent Clerc as they entered half time 11-3 up.
Munster number eight Anthony Foley slashed the deficit after strolling over three minutes after the interval but his score galvanised Les Bleus into action and they responded with a devastating two-try salvo. First debutant Pascal Pape and then Yannick Jauzion went over in the space of four minutes to effectively put France out of touch, although Tyrone Howe's 70th minute gave Ireland faint hope.
That was ended when Jean-Baptiste Elissalde scampered over and O'Sullivan bemoaned his team's inability to capitalise on their early dominance – although he felt they showed plenty of heart.
He continued: "We started well and got ourselves into good field positions. We pinned them back and prevented them for building any momentum, which was exactly what we had to do. But we didn't score the try we needed and then they broke out. They deserved to lead at half time and we knew the second half would be crucial, but they dealt the killer blow with those two tries.
"I felt our errors contributed to those tries more than the French did. Those scores could have knocked the guts out of us but we kept battling. We showed composure at a point when in the past Ireland teams would have caved in. I'm pleased about that because the Stade de France is a not the place to be when things are going wrong."
O'Sullivan's charges made big inroads with the rolling maul but only employed the tactic near the start of the game - when they nearly crossed in the right corner – and at the end when they also threatened.
However, O'Sullivan refused to criticise his side for not using the forward drive more frequently, revealing that the gameplan was to attack the French down more than one avenue.
He added: "The rolling maul is pretty much is a weapon for close to the line - it's not much use 50 metres out. You need to change the focus of attack against the French and we did that by using the outside centre channel as well. They were very good at giving penalties away at the right time which restricted us. They were fortunate not to see a yellow card. I'm pleased with the way my forwards played - up front is not the easiest place to take France on."
O'Sullivan said he had received no major injury scares but revealed that prop John Hayes will have a precautionary x-ray after sustaining a heavy knock to his leg.
Filed by Shane Murray
