The China Mail - The French were clinical, we were not, says Irish coach Easterby

Easterby was speaking after the French swept aside the Irish with 34 unanswered points from 13-8 down early in the second-half -- the hosts scored two consolation tries at the end to make the score look respectable.

The Irish had dominated the first quarter of the match but sterling French defence prevented them scoring a try.

It puts France -- who managed to win convincingly even though talisman Antoine Dupont went off in the first-half injured -- in pole position to win the title next Saturday.

"It is disappointing obviously," said Easterby.

"I think we just didn't take enough of our opportunities," he added.

"We conceded too many points ourselves in moments when, had we prevented them from getting over the line at times, they wouldn't have got that little bit of momentum into the game.

"That's probably the difference between the two sides today."

Easterby, standing in for Andy Farrell who is off preparing for the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, said he had felt at only 8-6 down at half-time his side could "kick on".

"We were confident that if we started well, which we did in the second half, that we could make them pay in terms of our fitness and our ability to go well in the second half which we've done in previous games in the tournament," said the 49-year-old.

Two yellow cards -- one for Joe McCarthy in the first-half the other for Calvin Nash in the second period -- did not help their cause.

- 'It's gutting' -

However, it was Nash's which hurt them most, especially as referee Angus Gardner also opted to allow a French try despite a referral to the Television Match Official that Irish flanker Peter O'NMahony had been obstructed.

Easterby, though, said "you don't want to reflect on those things".

"That would be something to study internally first and then we'll give our feedback to Angus Gardner and his refereeing team.

"So I wouldn't want to comment on that."

Ireland captain Caelan Doris agreed with Easterby over the mood in the dressing room at half-time being upbeat due to the resilience his team has showed in previous tight encounters.

"We'd been behind by a couple of points against Australia and England, there was no shortage of belief," he said.

"We started well. But it was that middle 25 minutes of the second-half, we just weren't good enough.

"Our collisions, our discipline. They can create something from nothing from go-forward ball and that happened two or three times in a row."

Doris, who had a tough time with Gardner who at one point simply said "I don't want to talk to you Caelan", remarked it was not the way they had wanted to finish the home Tests careers of Cian Healy, Conor Murray and Peter O'Mahony.

"I do not think it's how we envisioned the weekend going," said Doris, who along with Finlay Bealham and Jack Conan were presented with special caps for their 50th Test appearance in the dressing room after the match.

"A special day for the three lads. A special day for the 50th cappers and we wanted our best performance of the campaign today with the added incentive of that and finishing on a high for those lads at home in front of a full home crowd and it's gutting in there.

"It's not a happy changing room."

Doris said they wanted to rebound and round-off their campaign on a positive note against Italy in Rome next Saturday.

The Irish trail France -- who host Scotland -- by two points and have a vastly inferior points difference too.

"Regardless of how the table is shaping up we still want to get our best performance out there and finish on a high for the lads (the trio who retire at the end of the tournament) and as a team as a whole."

N.Wan--ThChM