A marked man before the game, and a lightning rod for what went wrong during it, Joe McCarthy admits the 36-14 defeat to France has been eating away at him.
The Ireland lock made his Ireland debut at the World Cup in 2023 but really announced himself on the main stage with a powerhouse performance against Les Bleus in the shock victory in Marseille the following year.
Named player of the match, McCarthy, then aged 22, was outstanding as Andy Farrell's side earned a record 38-17 victory over France on their way to retaining the Six Nations title.
Since the summer of 2024, when Ireland left South Africa with a series draw, the team has been on the slide, well beaten by New Zealand, twice, the Springboks and France, twice.
Fabien Galthie knew McCarthy's potential to influence the game but the second row was completely outplayed by French locks Charles Ollivon and man of the match Mickael Guillard.
McCarthy (above) dropped a simple catch in the build up to France's third try and prior to that had conceded a cheap penalty in front of the posts that saw the hosts extend their lead to 15-0 after 28 minutes.
Let's get that brain freeze out of the way first.
"It was a poor penalty for me, definitely avoidable, which are definitely the ones you want to not give away," the Leinster forward told reporters on Tuesday.
"But I was probably trying to just make a bit of an impact or maybe get a tackle and then I knew I kind of got the timing wrong a bit and tried to pull out.
"It was just a poor penalty from me and it gave them three points, something I didn't want to be doing but it was just kind of poor judgment from me.
"Obviously when the pressure is on you and they're playing on top of you, you're looking to try and stop it."
Ireland found themselves 22-0 down at the break having missed 19 tackles as France ran in three tries. They had the bonus point wrapped up soon after the break.
"We had a few days off to think about the game and look at it," McCarthy, in line for his 21st cap against Italy on Saturday (2.10pm), explained.
"We were probably a bit reactive during the game, we're kind of reacting to what they're doing.
"We were not really proactive. Maybe a little bit slow to set, thinking a little bit slow in the game, and definitely not at the standard we hold ourselves to.
"So it was a tough review on the Monday morning because a lot of the stuff that we kind of pride ourselves on: working back a bit quicker, getting set a bit quicker, were probably a second or two off, which makes a big difference against a good team like France, so dangerous on counter-attack and in transitions and stuff like that.
"When you get a big enough loss like that, you definitely haven't done a few things right, so it was a tough pill to swallow, especially because it's a big opportunity to play away in France in the first game of the Six Nations.
"You don't get a second chance, so it's tough, but we're fairly focused on just trying to get better and there’s still a lot of belief in the group."
With a nine-day turnaround to the visit of Gonzalo Quesada's men, who beat Scotland 18-15 in round one, McCarthy and the squad were given some time off to decompress but, he admits, it's a not easy to shake the bleus.
"It does either way eat away at you because you care a lot about the game, about how it went and obviously [if] it doesn't go well at all, so you kind of stew it over a few days," he said.
"I went back, chilled with my brother [injured prop Paddy McCarthy], we got a new PlayStation 5 and played a bit of that with him.
"He's been injured at the moment so it was good chilling with him, but apart from that I was kind of thinking a lot about the game.
"You probably have a bit of time where you're feeling sorry for yourself but you kind of need to kick out pretty quickly because you've a game against Italy next week that you need to rip into and it's a huge game for us.
"So try to turn the page quickly and luckily we've got a good group in here that all the coaches, staff, and players are just kind of driving in the right direction. They want to make it right.
"We know we're not perfect but have good confidence that we'll get there."
Italy have not won in Dublin since 1997, and have only recorded one victory over Ireland in the Six Nations, the 22-15 success in Rome in 2013.
They ran Ireland to within five points last year at Stadio Olimpico but they've never threatened an upset in Dublin with the aggregate score from the last five championship games at Aviva Stadium 199-57.
However, there's no hiding the fact that Ireland are not operating at the same level as they were from 2022-2024 and Italy may feel if not now then when.
"Italy are definitely a much improved team," said the Dubliner.
"It was impressive against Scotland, how they're able to win all their lineout ball in real tough conditions.
"They didn't really struggle to win their ball in super [heavy] rain.
"Their scrum as well, looking at them playing in South Africa [last autumn], they gave them a bit of trouble and we know how good the South African scrum is.
"Their forwards are very good at playing kind of no-look passes, pulling out the back, the centres, there is a lot of talent there.
"So we'll look to have a really strong setpiece, maybe get a bit of dominance there.
"And then you just try and put as much pressure on them as possible in their attack, getting off the line quick and being connected, going after them."
'France are moving it onto a different level' - @LenihanDonal was highly impressed by French locks Charles Ollivon and Mickael Guillard in victory over Ireland #SixNations #RTERugby #AgainstTheHead pic.twitter.com/GBUXeuqTOt
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 9, 2026
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