Ragged Ireland hand it to France

Ireland's failure was abject, a litany of schoolboy errors, breaches of discipline at crucial times and rank bad play. That they are a more accomplished team than Saturday's opponents would be disputed only by the most ardent of French advocates, but in the light of such overwhelming disappointment that renders defeat all the more galling.

The statistics make for grim reading. On three occasions Irish players knocked on over the French line; two penalties (six points) were conceded through crass indiscipline, and for the last 30 minutes Ireland enjoyed a one-man advantage after French second row Thibaut Privat was sent off for punching, his second yellow card offence.

Sub-standard performances also shackled Irish ambition. A few escaped the malaise, principally Shane Horgan and David Quinlan behind the scrum, replacement second row Donnacha O'Callaghan who was excellent, and Simon Best in the loose. Open-side flanker Michael Haslett worked hard.

Coach Brian McLaughlin was forthright: "We did not take our chances. Three times we spilled ball over the line and we gave up a lot of turnover ball in contact. We had no killer instinct when the opportunities arose. I am not going to make excuses for the players. They know what was expected of them and that they did not fulfil those expectations.

"They have been told that. We did not follow the patterns set down and we ended up trying to play rugby in areas of the field that only created problems for ourselves."

McLaughlin and team manager Eddie Wigglesworth also expressed disappointment at the reaction of some of the more senior players to the loss of influential second row Robert Casey with an ankle injury after 13 minutes.

At that juncture, Ireland controlled proceedings and should have been two tries in front. Casey's departure seemed to have the effect of a family bereavement on some of his team-mates.

Before the tournament, the importance of players taking responsibility was stressed. Unfortunately, few adhered to that principle. Ireland also suffered through the performances of key players. Jeremy Staunton has enjoyed a superb season in which his potential and ability has burned brightly, with only the occasional flicker.

On Saturday, his place-kicking aside, there was nothing but darkness. The harder he tried the worse he played. It was impossible not to feel sympathy. Why then did the management persist with him for 80 minutes when he was patently struggling? McLaughlin conceded: "I suppose we were hoping for that little spark he can provide.

"There was also the place-kicking, which he did very well. We felt that to lose a second key player might have had a damaging effect on the players."

Of course the culpability extended a great deal further than a single player. Kevin Hartigan, Staunton and Paul Neville all knocked on over the French line, Haslett (a refereeing error) and Des Dillon conceded six points (two penalties) for indiscipline, while left wing Jonathan Davis and the back row will not want to see a video of the two French tries.

While Ireland scrummaged capably when facing eight opponents, they failed to budge a French pack with seven players, crucially on a series of five metre scrums.

Horgan's performance in the centre was one of the few positive aspects to emerge from the match. The Lansdowne player was outstanding, beating his man on every occasion: sadly, possession came his way far too infrequently.

Ireland did produce passages of good rugby and could even have snatched victory, but Dillon was adjudged to have put his foot in touch inches from the line after Tom Keating and Quinlan had conjured the opportunity in injury time.

Horgan did cross for a try minutes earlier, but on this occasion the other touch judge spotted Keating's foot in touch in the build-up.

Ireland's only try was a penalty try awarded by referee Stewart Piercy after France killed the ball on their line following Staunton's quick tap penalty. Ireland led 10-8 at the interval - they should have been a further 14 points in front - and 16-15 after 51 minutes, but silly mistakes would cost them dearly.

Instead of taking an easy penalty with eight minutes to go to reduce the deficit to five points, they opted for a series of fruitless scrums, and only in injury time did Staunton kick a penalty that guaranteed Ireland a bonus point under the Super 12 rules by which the tournament is run. They were the only losing side to do so, but that offered scant consolation on a bitterly frustrating afternoon.

Scoring sequence: 8 mins: Boyet drop goal, 3-0; 12: penalty try, Quinlan conversion, 37; 16: Bidabe try, 8-7; 42: Staunton penalty, 810. 43: Bidabe try, Skrela conversion, 15-10; 48: Staunton penalty, 15-13; 51: Staunton penalty, 15-16; 53: Boyet drop goal, 18-16; 67: Skrela penalty, 21-16; 70: Skrela penalty, 24-16; 83: Staunton penalty, 24-19.

IRELAND: T Keating (Blackrock College); D Quinlan (Blackrock College), S Horgan (Lansdowne), K Hartigan (Garryowen), J Davis (Dungannon); J Staunton (Garryowen), K Campbell (London Irish); S Baretto (Terenure College), J Flannery (UCC), S Best (Newcastle); M O'Driscoll (UCC), R Casey (Blackrock College); P Neville (Garryowen), L Cullen (Blackrock College, capt), M Haslett (Cambridge). Replacements: D O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution) for Casey (13 mins); A Flavin (London Irish) for Flannery (54 mins); D Dillon (UCD) for Neville (68 mins).

FRANCE: D Traille; P Bidabe, C Heymans (capt), D Skrela, B Artola; B Boyet, A Albouy; JB Poux, A Gaubert, M Benbouhout; T Privat, P Guffroy; E Vermelen, O Dussault, J Bouilhou. Replacements: Y Rey for Dussault (52 mins); W Servat for Gaubert (60 mins); JF Pedesseau for JB Poux (60 mins); G Cloup for Vermelen (84 mins).

Yellow cards: T Privat (France), M Haslett (Ireland).

Sent off: T Privat (France).

Referee: S Piercy (England).