AFTER-MATCH REACTION:MATHIEU BASTAREAUD peeked shyly around the partition, startled by the stampede he sparked among the media. The clamour to talk to the 21-year-old, who for the second week in succession had produced a very accomplished and influential performance in the centre, saw him instantly disappear under a phalanx of microphones.

The 17-and-a-half stone colossus, whose mature, aggressive defence had thwarted Ireland time and again, was replaced by a softly-spoken young man, who was a great deal more discommoded in this environment than he has been over the past fortnight on the pitch.

At this point in his career he is more eloquent on the pitch, alternating between wrecking-ball defence and intelligent offloading to create chances for team-mates. He felt his most recent performance was more complete than his two-try display against the Scots, suggesting he was pleased to have been able to put enough pressure on Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll to occasionally jolt them out of kilter.

He conceded that France enjoyed a modicum of good fortune in the opening 20 minutes.

“We took a bit of time to get into the game. It was a little like a boxing match, we were both observing each other. Seeing as both teams were very cautious, we needed to size each other up and then we were better able to play after that.”

Coach Marc Lièvremont had emphasised certain areas that required improvement after the Scotland victory and one of those was discipline. Bastareaud explained: “We saw that we were penalised a lot against Scotland even though our goal was to give away as few penalties as possible.

“So that was a positive point. We made progress in our tackling, in attack and we won the duels. After that it became much easier. I think Morgan (Parra) and Francois (Trinh-Duc) knew how to handle the match by alternating very well between running with the ball and kicking it.”

Having wrestled the Grand Slam crown away from the current kingpins, Ireland, his French inquisitors were keen that Bastareaud endorse the credentials of France’s ability to succeed their visitors as Six Nations champions. The young centre was cautious.

“That’s the goal. I think every team would like to win it. We’ve got an advantage on the others at this point (the England game had yet to be played) but we’ll take it one game at a time. We’re not even halfway. We’ve climbed one step but there’s still a lot more to do.

“It’s true that it’s always nice to beat the champions. We did it last year against Wales. But now we have to be careful because we have a tendency to get carried away easily.”

A few feet away, Stephen Ferris was sporting the facial marks that underlined the hugely physical nature of the collisions. He was one of the few Ireland players to be able to break the gain line in what was a highly-credible performance given his recent injury limitations that saw him miss out against Italy and threaten his participation at the weekend.

“I was here for the World Cup but I never got to play. I really enjoyed the whole build-up, the game itself started off really well for us, they looked a bit sketchy under the high ball and we were getting into it.

“But we gave away a couple of stupid penalties and the next thing you know we’re down to 14 men and 10 points down. But we should have bounced back, we have enough experience in the team to have done that but fair play to France, they were clinical and probably in the end thoroughly deserved the win.”

He cited Ireland’s missed opportunities to score just before the interval as a pivotal moment.

“What happened just before half-time was crucial. I was talking to the lads in the changing-room after, there were a couple of opportunities there for us.

“Tommy’s (Bowe) on the wing; if the pass had come across there would have been 10 points in it.

“It’s something that last year we probably would have executed so we need to have a think and probably go back to the drawing board. If we had have got a score just before half-time it would have changed things.

“I think we’ve all learned that the difference between winning and losing in international rugby is very small margins and if we can get those small things right for two weeks’ time, we’ll definitely be a different team.”

They’ll need to be as the chariot is gathering speed.