Donal Lenihan believes Joe McCarthy should be dropped following his yellow-card offence in the lead-up to France's opening try on Saturday.
With the game still scoreless, the Irish lock was sent to the sin-bin for a pull-back on Thomas Ramos after the full-back had passed wide to Louis Bielle-Biarrey.
France kicked for touch on the resulting penalty and then manufactured the game's first try from the ensuing lineout, the wing Bielle-Biarrey being sent over in the corner.
Both of the Bordeaux winger's tries occurred with Ireland down to 14 men, with his spectacular second coming during the period when Calvin Nash was stewing in the bin following a head-high tackle on Pierre-Louis Barassi.
Ireland went on to lose 42-27 as their hopes of a historic three-in-a-row were left hanging by a thread.
While both yellow cards proved costly, Lenihan feels that McCarthy's was especially needless and egregious.
"I think there has to be consequences for that," Lenihan said on Against the Head on RTÉ2.
"The pass was gone and McCarthy does a really stupid pull-back on Ramos. How does he think he's going to get away with that? He's contributing nothing there.
"There's good yellow cards and bad yellow cards. Joe McCarthy's one is a stupid one.
"I think he's let his team down. And I would tell him 'Sorry mate, you're on the bench the next day.' I'd be starting James Ryan as a result of that.
"You've got to stress how important it is to keep your head in the heat of battle. You've got to understand what are the consequences of your actions.
"There's times when it's acceptable to give away a yellow card because you might be in last-ditch defence and you've got to take a chance at it. That's okay. You accept that.
"He was going to have no impact on the game by taking Ramos out. The pass was gone. So what was the purpose of it?
"I just think it was silly. As a consequence, his bulk was missing to defend on the ground from the lineout that came immediately afterwards. I don't think that's good enough."
For Bernard Jackman, the events of the weekend highlighted the growing issue with discipline, something which had previously been one of Ireland's strengths.
"I think indiscipline has been creeping into the Irish game since November," he said. "Leinster give away a lot more penalties than they did in the past. They don't get punished for it.
"But at test level ,against the top teams, New Zealand and the French, you do get punished for it."
Watch Italy v Ireland in the Six Nations on Saturday from 1.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live commentary with Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch France v Scotland in the Six Nations on Saturday from 7.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app
