At least the genuine rugby supporter will be able to find a hotel room in Cardiff next weekend. The quasi-fan will cast an eye over Cheltenham, Israel or even the new Dundrum shopping centre. Anywhere but the broken-down Grand Slam bandwagon.

Maybe everyone got too caught up in the hype, as France clearly had Ireland sussed right from the opening shrill of Tony Spreadbury's incessant whistle.

The general feeling emanating from the South Dublin watering holes, though, was that times have changed. An Irish team falling bravely on their sword isn't enough anymore.

"The fact that we are disappointed that the Grand Slam is a non-event now is a sign how far the team has come," said Reggie Corrigan. "It's a disappointment, but we have to get over it very quickly because we don't have a lot of time to turn around this week."

With back-to-back Triple Crowns and the championship still on the table, by this morning Eddie O'Sullivan and his players will have moved on. Mervyn Murphy will have edited that squirm-in-your-seat footage of the dominant French maul and their backs cutting holes in the previously famed Irish rearguard.

Be assured, the victors will ride their new wave of euphoria back to Paris and rack up a cricket score against a faltering Italy in Rome.

"You are only one game in this tournament from a good season to a bad season," Denis Hickie pointed out. "If we don't do the business next week it will be quite a mediocre season with only three wins. In comparison to what Ireland have done in the last few years it would be down the pecking order. So we have a lot to play for.

"We didn't play well enough in the first half to win the game. If you look at every facet of our game, it wasn't up to scratch to beat France."

A key moment on Saturday came entering the final quarter. Ireland, trailing by nine, won a penalty in the French 22, but the three points were spurned as the players opted to go for a try off the lineout. Crucially, France weathered the storm, but O'Sullivan backed the decision.

"It's easy to sit in the stand, even as a coach, and say do this or do that," he said. "You've got to trust your players out there. They are in the battle zone. They get a gut feeling about it. (If) they want to put it in the corner, I'd back them to put it in the corner. At the end of the day, we were a whisker away from scoring a try there. You've got to go with your gut feeling, and there is no one with a better gut feeling than the guys on the pitch."

The big picture must be to ensure all the years of work it took to reach this level are not undone by Mike Ruddock's Welsh revolution. Denying them a ninth Grand Slam, and first since 1978, can save the season, as the straight-talking Malcolm O'Kelly put it: "There's still a championship and Triple Crown to play for. We want to go out there and spoil the Welsh party, to be honest."

Grand designs are confined to history and Karl Mullin's 1948 side, but don't cancel those flights just yet as another cliffhanger awaits in the principality.