TV View: Jeepers creepers, George Hook was a right old moany pants in the RTÉ studio on Saturday afternoon, writes Philip Reid.

Doom and gloom and all kinds of Armageddon-type scenarios were prophesied by the wise one before the rugby international with France and the portents were such they had us wishing we weren't in the living-room all on our own but, rather, in some place called Murphy's Bar where, at least, there would have been safety in numbers.

You see, the saccharin-sweet introduction to RTÉ's coverage of the game had initially generated a feel-good factor. There was footage to appropriate music of Denis Hickie's interception try in Paris in 1998 (with Fred Cogley wonderfully reaching fever pitch as the gazelle raced for the line) and of course there was Brian O'Driscoll's hat-trick of tries in Ireland's win in 2000 (with even George Hamilton searching for superlatives).

Then, there was the reality check of the French whipping in 2002 when poor old Jim Sherwin wasn't given any reason to get excited. The omens being what they were, the three big and wise men in the television base didn't expect Jim to have too many reasons to get excited on Saturday either, even if Tom McGurk did his best to whip up some enthusiasm from the Hookster and Brent Pope, often the voice of reason in the maelstrom of hyperbole that these pre-match discussions can become.

One thing that can be said for George is he is never afraid to lay his cards on the table. There's no sitting on the ditch from this pundit but, most worryingly, despite Tom's protestations that all was not well in the French camp and, sure, hadn't they only come together last Monday, there was much backing for Hook's doomsday scenario from his co-analyst Pope.

After all the initial criticism of the team selection, McGurk wanted to get some hope into the talk. "Let's start talking about how we can win this match," implored the anchor man, to which Pope replied without real conviction: "They can (win) . . . if they, one, dominate the lineout; two, (are) strong in the scrum; and, three, win the race for loose balls."

Now if that half-hearted encouragement from Pope at least had us thinking Ireland weren't simply there to enjoy St Valentine's weekend in the love capital of the world, the taste of sweetness and light didn't last long because George agreed that Ireland could win, "IF they dominate the lineout . . . IF they survive the scrum . . . IF they slow down the French ruck . . . and IF (Ronan) O'Gara plays like God . . . (but) it is extremely unlikely."

When, after we were treated to a cosy little interview with coach Eddie O'Sullivan, Tom thought Hook's demeanour would have changed. "Anything in your waters telling you there's a little change, (a) little feel? No?"

To which George replied that all Eddie was telling us was he picks the team, not, as George put it, "Murphy's Bar around the corner." And, according to Hook, the omens were such that "we could lose today, lose (to England) in Twickenham and to Wales in the middle." Pope agreed, and disagreed with O'Sullivan that he had picked the form team. "I don't think this is the form team," he insisted.

And when Tom explained about the clock being in operation which meant if it said three minutes to go, that was the time left in the match. "I don't think three minutes to go will be important here," jumped in Hook. "I think the match will be over before then . . . I'm not being unduly pessimistic, it's just logic because I'm not sure any country in the world could overcome the loss of (Geordan) Murphy, (Brian) O'Driscoll and Hickie plus (Alan) Quinlan and (Eric) Miller."

Despite all Hook's words of doom, Tom persisted in keeping the old chin up. "Can we win?" he asked, knowing for sure what the answer would be. "No, we're not going to win . . . what I'm looking for is a performance likely for us to beat the Welsh, the Italians, the Scottish."

By half-time, Tom was persisting in looking on the positives. "Better than expected?" he asked. "Exactly as we anticipated," replied George. "There's only one team out there trying to win the match and one team trying to keep the score down . . . O'Gara's not quite like God, more like the Holy Ghost." "Yep," agreed Pope. "It's finger-in-the-dyke stuff . . . boring rugby by both sides."

Funnily enough, over on the Beeb, Keith Wood and Jerry Guscott were a wee bit more encouraged by it all, although there was an element of tongue in cheek when the great bald one told Steve Rider as the teams returned to the field for the second half "all you need to do is put pressure on the French, sneak a couple of tries and win by five points."

Of course, that didn't happen and, not for the first time, Hook had his finger pretty much on the pulse. We'll wait and see if his prediction that the "busted flushes" are dropped for the match with Wales is proved right.