It could have been a great day, the best of his career, but instead it was the worst. Yet Saturday's epic contest also made Dion O'Cuinn eagain prouder than he's ever been to be Irish, and the Lansdowne Road crowd happier than they've ever been before to have him. It was that kind of day.

He's a class act, a real gazelle about the pitch. O'Cuinneagain was employed for the first time as an open side in his first start in the Five Nations, and left a lasting impression. His innate athleticism and that of Eric Miller, was effectively used with the pair being deployed as target runners further out from the fringes in midfield. Their work-rate and tackling were also top drawer.

All of which was scant consolation to the softly-spoken and abject O'Cuinneagain. "We're all terribly disappointed with the result. We gave our all but unfortunately I felt we actually lost the game ourselves with three or four moments of ill-discipline and not thinking at the end.

"But I was just very proud to be Irish today and very proud of the boys. We'll bounce back against Wales when we'll be out to prove a point."

You'd have thought that O'Cuinneagain's upbringing in Western Province would have included a fair few bruising encounters, but of Saturday's game he said: "for about 20 minutes in the second-half it was the most physical game I've ever played. It was very hard, as you would expect against the French. Generally, I thought we stood up to it very well except for three or four moments of ill-discipline."

In this O'Cuinneagain was bucking the trend which would have seen David Humphreys as the fall guy. "I don't think Humphs should take the blame. His tactical play was brilliant and if it wasn't for our own indiscretions we had the game won. But for that, we wouldn't have needed to rely on that last penalty.

"Humphs had a mammoth task because he was targeted by the French attack and his defence was brilliant. He stood up to them, and you couldn't have asked any more from him in that regard."

As O'Cuinneagain said, there's no doubt that this Irish squad has the collective spirit and resilience to take this latest blow on the chin and come bouncing back for more, but he accepted that a 3-0 win would do in a stroke what three or four more moral victories would achieve.

"They say winning is a habit and losing is a habit. We've just got to turn the corner now. We've three very close Test matches in a row. We just need to get a win under our belt and I'm sure we're going to become a force to be reckoned with come World Cup time. If we had beaten France it would have been the start of great things but I think we can go and beat Wales in two weeks' time."

"The boys are very disappointed but they're ready to fight for the next one. Paddy (Johns) said a few good words at the end, we've got great belief in our management, we've got great belief in our team and we know we can get there."

As defeats go, this one sucked. "This is most definitely the worst I've ever had. I've lost some close games but that's the worst one," he said, his eyes seeming to well up as he walked away.

By contrast, the next player to pass through the car park, Emile N'Tamack, could afford to joke that "it was easy," before admitting: "but each time at Lansdowne Road I never see an easy game. Every time."

While never confident France could play another get out of jail card against Ireland, N'Tamack never gave up hope either. "No, confidence no. Because we had the weather in the second-half, but had Humphreys kicked that penalty, then we were beaten. We are happy with the win but we are sad for the style of game we played but it was a great Five Nations game.

"For the mind, the win is good but each game is never the same and we wait in the World Cup (quarter-final) to meet Ireland again."