Joe Schmidt admitted France frustrated the life out of Ireland at the scrum despite a helter-skelter Six Nations collision at the Aviva Stadium going Ireland's way.
Les Bleus caused their hosts plenty of problems in a high-energy opening 20 minutes, leading 6-0 after a couple of Camille Lopez before Conor Murray's try and the boot of Jonathan Sexton eventually steer the Irish home.
It was far from plain sailing though, and Schmidt bemoaned some of the visitors' tactics.
“It was really hard to control the ball," he told RTÉ Sport.
"Even when it wasn’t drizzling, the surface was very greasy. It just meant that what we were endeavouring to do was pretty difficult. It was very, very hard to get anything in behind them.
"There was a lot of guys off their feet off the ruck, guys sweeping the ball out and kicking the ball out. It was a very frustrating first half.
"We were incredibly frustrated by the scrum as well. We’re a team that plays off more scrums than other team in the Six Nations but I think the French play off the least.
"It just frustrates me, the amount of scrums that collapsed when we were looking to play off them. We just want to get the ball and play."
Joe gives us his post match reaction on a "frustrating first half", Johnny Sexton's control of the match and Cardiff in Round 4 #rterugby pic.twitter.com/8FVQ198bSX
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) February 25, 2017
Schmidt may have had his grievances, but there were plenty of positives at Lansdowne Road, not least the performances of the returning Sexton and influential Murray.
With a massive Cardiff collision against Wales under the Friday night lights next up, the championship is still up for grabs.
“Johnny really controlled the game well, saw space well, took some really good options and as always didn’t shirk the physical stuff," Schmidt added.
"It was great to have him back and great to see Conor on song in tough conditions when you really needed him.
“We’ve no doubt that Wales will be disappointed (with their defeat to Scotland) and very, very determined by the time we get to Cardiff.”
