RUGBY:And so it came to pass that form mattered, and Ireland could not undo the baggage of history, the last five meetings and, most pertinently of all, the last month or so. Though les bleus themselves looked there for the taking for stretches in the first hour, the better, more purposeful, more complete team/squad came good and with one bound and a 25-3 win France were free. The cockerel came home to roost, and so too did a few Irish chickens.
Despite a figurative guillotine blade hanging over them like no French team in history, they averted the ignominy of becoming the first hosts to go out of a World Cup in the pool stages. Instead, Ireland face into a long nine days before meeting the Pumas in Parc des Princes next Sunday. Presuming Argentina run up a bonus point win over Namibia in Marseilles this evening, then because of their failure to obtain a bonus point in a lucky win over Georgia and in emphatic defeat here, Ireland will have to win by more than seven points and score four tries to avoid going out at the pool stages for the first time in six World Cups.
For all the anticipated improvements in physical commitment and passion, all the flaws in this ill-prepared team or squad - take your pick - gradually manifested themselves. Although there was an improvement in intensity and in contact, Ireland again fell away amid worsening concentration and skill levels - classic signs of a team that have been overtrained.
But much of this can also be attributed to the apparent lack of remedial action taken to rectify the problems that surfaced in the warm-up games and the poor quality wins over Namibia and Georgia. That the Irish lineout buckled under intense French pressure - targeted by the selection of Julien Bonnaire - was not a huge surprise. Laughably, it took until the 72nd minute of the third match for the vastly experienced aerial specialist Malcolm O'Kelly to make his debut in this Coupe du Monde.
Simon Easterby improved, it is true, but David Wallace and, more curiously, Denis Leamy are not making their anticipated impact, not to mention a host of others such as Ronan O'Gara, Gordon D'Arcy and, more understandably, Shane Horgan.
Eoin Reddan's elevation worked, it is true, but Andrew Trimble's selection on the wing backfired, as did an appallingly selected, typically under-used bench. O'Kelly, Neil Best and Denis Hickie have to come back into the team, and Alan Quinlan and Geordan Murphy into the match-day squad at least. In executing skills, in accuracy and precision, Ireland again looked badly coached as well as badly prepared and selected.
"Obviously I'm very disappointed to be well beaten, and we were beaten by the better side, no question about it," admitted O'Sullivan. "Two areas caused us problems. Our discipline - we had a penalty count of eight against us up to half-time, so there was a problem there because we were being done off the park, and our lineout didn't perform tonight. So our discipline and our lineout put us in a bad place."
Though the odds must even be against such a sadly malfunctioning Ireland team even beating Argentina, O'Sullivan maintained: "We have to think about what we did wrong and what we need to do to get the job done next week. This is the pool of death, and we always knew it would come down to the last game and that's the way it exists."
No French team has ever taken the field with such weight of their country's expectations, fears and pressure on their shoulders. In fact, the occasion was set up perfectly for Ireland and, on the night that was in it, Stade de France was arguably the best ground in the world to be playing France. Anywhere else, Toulouse or Marseilles, or even Lansdowne Road or Croke Park for that matter, would have better suited France.
Talking to former French players briefly, such as Serge Blanco and Aubin Huber, along with several of their journalists, it was clear not only was this the biggest game in France's history but their nerves were palpable. And the Stade de France crowd were a worrying part of the equation.
Utterly illogical really, but, to some degree this match was set up for an Irish reaction to events of late and a classic French fall, all the more so as the astonishing number of green-decorated Parisian cafés almost turned the area into a little corner of Ireland.
The shock for the home team therefore, and the boost for the Ireland team, when they saw over 30,000 supporters wearing green, must have been worth at least a converted try. It helped sustain an adrenalin-fuelled improvement in the first half, but ultimately the Green Army deserved better.
The estimated 30,000 plus even gave renditions of Amhrán na bhFiann and The Fields of Athenry. They were excellent, and whatever about the claim that this is a golden generation of Ireland players, they have fallen well short of what they are capable.
The key was hounding the French to distraction in the critical opening quarter. Instead, in their over-exuberance, Ireland conceded a rash of penalties and, for all their passion and commitment to the physical exchanges, they rarely looked like crossing the whitewash.
Ireland have reverted to a relatively conservative, kicking side, incapable of rediscovering their higher tempo, running and offloading game of almost a year ago which resurfaced against England and Italy in the last Six Nations. They look desperately in need of a new direction, but one not readily available to them in the next week, whatever about more of the same for the next five years.
