Ireland let another one slip away in France

France 19 Ireland 12:ANOTHER ONE that got away against Les Bleus. This wasn't quite on the scale of last season's defeat in Lansdowne Road, when outscoring France by three tries to one, and – coming after a backs against the wall first-half – there was plenty of encouragement in the way Ireland subdued their hosts and worked themselves into a winning position. But it was still another one that got away.

You couldn’t imagine a better setting. In well-nigh perfect conditions, the atmosphere fairly throbbed from before the off, and there was a particularly lusty version of La Marseillaise before the crowd launched into Allez Les Bleus.

It’s true Ireland were behind from the fourth minute of the match and never, at any stage, led, but they gradually subdued home crowd and team alike in working themselves into a winning position or, at any rate, to draw at the end.

What will especially rankle – infuriate them actually – is that they had a five metre line-out and a five metre scrum in the last five minutes and couldn’t secure possession either time, much less give their backs a chance to earn a draw.

The line-out had misfired all night – losing five of a dozen throws, while the athletic Imanol Harinordoquy and co retained all but one of France’s 15 – and in his second comeback cameo, Jerry Flannery’s overthrow to Paul O’Connell was the more forgivable of the two. John Hayes has had his critics but in November 2009 he could at least lock the scrum in the 80th minute from which Brian O’Driscoll dotted down under the posts to earn the draw against Australia. Alas, here Tony Buckley was completely undone by Jean-Baptiste Poux and Steve Walsh granted the French a relieving penalty.

It’s true that Walsh pinged Ireland four times at scrum time, and Poux had also driven Mike Ross upwards, while the front-row combinations continually changed, but the talented Buckley really needs to deliver there for his team and for himself.

The French hit the ground running with a purpose and an attacking shape which pleasantly surprised most of the doubters in the press box. Pushing up hard on the outside, their defensive line speed was impressive and to roars of approval from the home crowd, Thierry Dusautoir led from the front with his usual impression of a human wrecking ball.

Ireland were forced to live off scraps – two lines from depth and at pace (praise the Lord) and ensuing clean breaks from Seán O’Brien being about the summit of them in the first half-hour. Some of this was of their own making, as they coughed up ball cheaply and at one point lost three successive line-outs.

With the brilliant Dimitri Yachvili pulling the strings and Francois Trinh-Duc running the back line, the French recycled quickly and came onto the ball with their customary width and depth. They also pummelled the 10-12 channel but Ronan O’Gara and Paddy Wallace withstood the barrage.

Andrew Trimble came off his wing with perfect timing to nail Maxime Mermoz and snuff out one well-worked overlap, Rory Best partially atoned for his wayward darts by doing well to haul down Vincent Clerc after being chipped, and there was also a good defensive ‘shooter’ by Keith Earls, who looked dangerous all night but, endemic of the first-half flaws, he fluffed a right to left pass to Luke Fitzgerald.

However, from one high-tempo bout of recycling deep, Ireland could do little to stop Alexis Palison brilliantly popping the ball out of the tackle for Clerc, running a superb ‘ghost’ trailer, to score his customary try against Ireland.

But they somehow limited the damage, while the French lost a little of their attacking shape with the enforced departure of the dangerous Mermoz. David Skrela’s arrival meant that Trinh-Duc, for the most part, switched to inside centre. Skrela wasn’t a World Cup out-half on home soil in 2007, and four years on hasn’t become one now. Furthermore, Damien Traille wasn’t a World Cup full-back in 2007, and four years of playing mostly in his preferred role of inside centre, he hasn’t become one either. Only with Maxime Medard’s uplifting arrival did their back three carry its usual menace from deep.

A pointer toward the second-half revival came by way of Paddy Wallace’s clever touchfinder, some good patience in possession and strong carrying by the impressive Cian Healy and Denis Leamy, and O’Gara’s 47-metre penalty.

That set the tone. Ireland opted more for front of the line ball, played more territory through some typically sumptuous kicking by O’Gara, while also having patience in possession and showing a willingness to run from deep. Three more handsome penalties took Ireland to within a point before he missed a difficult one from the touchline.

Yachvili, five from five and reviving France with his intelligent options, pulled France clear again before Earls came within an unlucky bounce of scoring after chipping Palison.

Going up several levels from last week, there were plenty of strong individual performances.

Leamy had stood tall when the going was tough and Eoin Reddan’s service was snappy, before the heavy artillery arrived off the bench. Paul O’Connell, simply immense and a rallying point for the likes of Donnacha Ryan and Donncha O’Callaghan, and Jamie Heaslip made huge impacts.

It also has to be said, Conor Murray slotted in seamlessly – looking every inch like he belonged in this company, he was polished and assured at the base, and strong in contact – and, as France’s kick-chase game and covering went AWOL, Felix Jones also caught the eye.

Encouragement enough in all of that, both for next week’s return meeting and beyond.

Pity it got away.

Scoring sequence: 4 mins Yachvili pen 3-0; 17 Clerc try, Yachvili con 10-0; 28 Yachvili pen 13-0; 38 O’Gara pen 13-3; 48 O’Gara pen 13-6; 53 O’Gara pen 13-9; 58 O’Gara pen 13-12; 66 Yachvili pen 16-12; 71 Yachvili pen 19-12.

FRANCE: D Traille (Biarritz); V Clerc (Toulouse), D Marty (Perpignan), M Mermoz (Perpignan), A Palisson (Toulon); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), D Yachvili (Biarritz); S Marconnet (Biarritz), D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), L Ducalcon (Castres); J Pierre (Clermont), R Millo-Chluski (Toulouse); T Dusautoir (Toulouse), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz), R Lakafia (Biarritz). Replacements: D Skrela (Clermont) for Mermoz (27 mins), G Guirado (Perpignan) for Szarzewski, J-B Poux (Toulouse) for Marconnet (both 55 mins), L Nallet (Racing Metro) for Pierre (59 mins), M Médard (Toulouse) for Traille (64 mins), J Bonnaire (Clermont) for Harinordoquy (65 mins), M Parra (Clermont) for Yachvili (77 mins).

IRELAND: R Kearney (Leinster); A Trimble (Ulster), K Earls (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster), L Fitzgerald (Leinster); R O’Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), M Ross (Leinster); D O’Callaghan (Munster), L Cullen (Leinster), D Ryan (Munster), S O’Brien (Leinster), D Leamy (Munster). Replacements: F Jones (Munster) for Kearney (47 mins), P O’Connell (Munster) for Cullen (50 mins), T Buckley (Sale) for Healy, J Heaslip (Leinster) for Leamy (both 51 mins), J Flannery (Munster) for Best, C Murray (Munster) for Reddan (both 60 mins), F McFadden (Leinster) for Trimble (67 mins), Healy for Ross (70 mins).

Referee: S Walsh (NZRU).