It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, but there was no beating around the bush after a frustrating performance.
There are a host of reasons why Ireland couldn’t get the job done against France, but as in every game, it pretty much boils down to points on the board.
And Ireland didn’t get them. Not for the entire second half. And even when they were troubling the scoreboard in the opening stanza, it was for the odd three rather than the fives and sevens required to put the hosts away.
“Not scoring any points in the last 50 minutes did us in,” admitted Devin Toner plainly (It was actually 42 minutes, after Johnny Sexton’s third penalty in the 38th minute). “Not being able to capitalise when we had the ball. That’s the main part I think.
“It was going well. Coming in at half-time, 9-3, we had the upper hand. We didn’t feel like they were going anywhere, our defence was good. It didn’t feel like they were going to be able to get points. Obviously in the end they put the pressure on us.”
Much was made of the six-day turnaround from the opening weekend against Wales, but Toner believes that had little bearing on the Ireland’s performance.
“We’re not going to look for excuses. I don’t think so, to be honest. We’ve been looked after us very well this week in training. We were all on top of our recovery and we all prepared well. It’s not something we can make excuses about.”
Ireland’s chances of an unprecedented third championship in a row now look dead and buried but Toner is not giving up hope.
