STUDENTS' INTERNATIONAL: Ireland team manager Maurice Field could barely contain his anger in the aftermath of his team's narrow failure in last night's Students international at Figeac. Defeat signalled a lost opportunity of achieving a grand slam. Ireland had already beaten England, Scotland and Wales, and Italy do not compete at this level.
France ... 27 Ireland ... 21: The target for the former international centre's ire was the Italian referee, whose performance he described as "obscene".
"I feel so sorry for the players that they lost out like this. You don't mind if you are beaten fair and square on the pitch but that wasn't the case," said Field.
"We are going to have a look at the video to see what the final penalty tally was but I can assure it it was unbelievably stacked in their favour. We received some sympathy from the French as they agreed with our assessment of the referee."
Ireland trailed 24-18 at the interval and both teams managed just one penalty apiece in the second 40 minutes. The visitors had tries from number eight Des Dillon and right wing Sheldon Coulter, while outhalf Mark McHugh kicked three penalties and a conversion.
IRELAND: D O'Sullivan (UCD); S Coulter (UUJ), K Lewis (DU), D Quinlan (Cambridge), S Keogh (UCD); M McHugh (UCD), E Reddan (UL); R McCormack (Athlone IT), J Flannery (UCC), P Bracken (Athlone IT), D O'Callaghan (UCC), T Hayes (Limerick IT), A McCullen (DU, capt), D Dillon (UCD), R Woods (DU). Replacements: J Fogarty (UCC) for Flannery; A Hughes (UUJ) for Woods; T Hogan (DU) for Hayes; A O'Brien (Cambridge) for McCormack.
