Ireland v France Reaction:There was a temptation to delve into the bottom drawer of cliches regarding the unpalatable nature of defeat and scatter them to the four winds at Croke Park. Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan largely declined as the post-match inquisition shunted him towards a verbal collision with New Zealand referee Steve Walsh and demanded he pinpoint the exact level of disappointment he felt.

He wasn't here to make excuses, nor was he about to criticise an official whom he felt had handled the game well. Instead he simply bemoaned lady luck's fickleness, the bounce of a ball eventually denying Ireland a victory their second-half performance probably merited.

O'Sullivan's overview of this historic afternoon was typically candid. "(We made) a slow start, didn't get our hands on the football a lot and France dictated the pace of the game. We lost the first couple of set-pieces, a lineout and a scrum when the ball rebounded off a secondrow's knee. We were really trying to contain the French for the first 20 minutes.

"Once we got our hands on the ball we got back at them. At half-time I was fairly happy at two points down. We had got ourselves into the game, got a handle on how it was going. In the second half we just held on to the ball a lot better and took them on. We mixed it up between moving it away or punching it around the sides or mauling them and made them work hard. It was always going to be nip and tuck."

Having alighted on the general issues of the Irish performance he got down to the brass tacks of a couple of refereeing decisions.

"We were a bit unlucky a couple of times in the second half. We initially got breaks, Geordan's (Murphy) one, Marcus' (Horan) one, that didn't go our way. I think a try at that time might have sealed the game. When he (Walsh) blew the whistle on Geordan's one, he said 'sorry guys'. That happens. I think the fact that they knocked it on and a French player picked it up, he automatically assumed that the advantage was over.

"He wasn't to know that we'd intercept the pass. That's just the luck of the draw. In fairness it could happen to any referee. The Marcus one? You could call it any way. We had Simon (Easterby) in a similar situation last week and it went our way. I thought Steve had a good game.

"He called it down the middle. He refereed consistently at the breakdown. There was no messing and we all knew where we were. I don't think Steve had an influence on the outcome of the game. It just didn't happen for us."

Outside of those two instances, O'Sullivan felt the game ultimately might not have been left to chance, pointing out that Ireland regrouped memorably during a fine second-half performance and put themselves in the perfect position to win the game.

"We still showed a lot of composure in terms of the last score we got. It came from a lineout inside our own half and the boys put a fantastic maul together. We were ahead and we knew that the pressure was on them, that they couldn't do anything silly and give away field position or a penalty. We got them to give up a penalty and Rog (Ronan O'Gara) nailed it.

"You couldn't do any more than we did. The ball broke the wrong way at the restart. It was one of those bounces that went away from us. They hit it on the run. I can't say anything to the boys other than they gave it everything, played their guts out. It was a cruel way to lose a game of rugby by any standards."

Irish captain Paul O'Connell spoke about the seconds leading up to France's last hurrah. "As soon as that penalty went over, we went back and spoke about securing the drop-off. We, or I, didn't do that and the bounce of the ball then went their way. That's what decided the match. It's disappointing but that's the way it is."

O'Sullivan added: "What happened at the end of the day was a bad bounce of a ball. It was tough to take. I thought we had done enough to win the game, were much smarter in the second half and probably controlled the game better. We had the French where we wanted them. They weren't very happy with the way things were going and they needed a lucky break to win that game. They happened to get it at the death.

"It's hard to swallow a loss like that. If you did something stupid, like give away a penalty and they kicked it or drop the ball going over the line; you could then say it was our own fault.

"I can't say anything to the lads because they did everything they had to do to win that game. The game was decided on a lucky break but that's sport. We're all sick about it. If we had that last 20 minutes back I wouldn't have changed anything. We had field position, we wore them down. We got into the strike zone and got four points ahead."

O'Connell added: "The crowd was incredible. I thought at the start we weren't going to do it (the occasion) justice but I think we did. We showed a lot of character and guys pulled together. It was so positive out there in the second half. It was a great day except for the last two minutes." That encapsulates the afternoon.