THE 17 point defeat was a very hard pill to swallow for the Irish side after an incredibly brave performance which saw them lead with 20 minutes to go. At that stage, however, the physical toll began to tell and that allied to a number of unforced errors allowed the French to run out easy winners.

The loss of Keith Wood just before half time was a huge blow to the Irish side. His leadership was missed, as was his physical presence around the park. The line outs were not as smooth either in the second hall, although this would have been due more to the change in personnel than any fault in Allan Clarke's throwing, which is reputedly excellent.

During those last 20 minutes we made a number of simple mistakes. Apart from failing to win our own line out ball, which is essential, we lost possession far too easily. In fact, it was from one such occasion when we had possession and lost it that the French scored the vital try.

I also thought it was unfortunate that at 15-12 we didn't kick more up and unders instead of running at them, which we did on occasions even when we were outnumbered.

We won sufficient ball and in particular rucked very well, which allowed us to keep the French on the back foot. But once they went ahead and we were forced to take the game to them with time running out, errors followed giving the French the space they needed to score further tries.

The difference between the sides after 60 minutes was that the Irish had absorbed a lot of physical punishment both in defence and in attack. Some people will claim that they were not fit enough in that last 20 minute phase, but that is absolute rubbish. I believe that those guys could not be any fitter than they are.

In any physical sport when you absorb punishment for that length of time it takes its toll. I felt that the French looked physically stronger and bad more big men than Ireland and overall would have been far more used to such physical intensity.

It required more Irish tacklers to stop the French forwards than the reverse. Some of the Irish tackling, particularly in the first hall, was bone crunching. But it was as physically hard for the tackler as for the ball carrier. I do not feel there was anyone at Lansdowne Road who did not feel that the players earned every penny they were paid for that performance. I suspect too that there were a lot of sore bodies on Sunday morning.

The French will be pleased with the final result. The former French players I spoke to after the match were impressed with the Irish commitment and fighting spirit which they felt had been lacking in recent times.

The pack performed extremely well and the quality of the ruck ball produced was better than we had seen for a long time. Eric Miller and Jeremy Davidson were probably the pick of the bunch on the day, but all must take some credit for the display.

The backs will probably be disappointed in that they didn't make greater use of some of the real quality ball that came their way. Apart from an early run from James Topping, we didn't create anything of any real worth whereas the French always looked capable of scoring, even from deep in their own half.

We will have to work on this area of the game and we will have to improve on our scoring ability and our use of the ball when we have it because on this occasion we have proved that we are capable of getting possession. Our defence was certainly up to it for most of the game but apart from one driving maul which the French deliberately collapsed early in the second hall, we never looked like scoring a try.

I was hoping that at 15-12 we might get a blockdown or a lucky break to put us further into the lead. Even at 15-19, it still looked possible that we would get such a break. In fact, on one occasion a knockdown by Niall Hogan near the French line bounced unfortunately for Ireland in a position where a favourable bounce would certainly have led to a try.

In all, we should be pleased with this performance bearing in mind the circumstances before the match when expectations were so low. I hope it is a standard that will be improved upon. We certainly cannot afford to treat this like the improved performance against Australia which was followed by an abysmal performance against Italy.

I'm sure the coach would have seen that there was sufficient material to work with, but the area in most need of improvement is our use of possession.

In view of the results of the A international and this one, I believe that the IRFU need to address the question of back play in general. As a rugby playing nation we spend a lot of time working with forwards but I don't think enough time or energy has been put into developing back play. This applies to all levels in the game.

There was general sympathy for the Irish team after the match and most people felt they deserved better than this. I would imagine there was ferocious disappointment in all the players. But when they see the video they will see that the basis is there on which to develop a decent side. If we can address a couple of crucial areas, such as cutting out simple mistakes and improving our use of the ball when we have possession, this Irish team could become a vastly improved side.