Ireland - 19 France - 29 A wet and miseable Ravenhill made for a none too happy night for the Irish A side. Unbeaten against home union sides for the last couple of seasons, the French remain a bugbear at this level, as this was Ireland's fourth successive defeat to their gallic counterparts

It was one of those nights when good players were often reduced to juggling with the ball. However, despite a truckload of penalties against them after the break, the French used the wind to better effect in the second half with their backs coming on to the ball with greater depth and pace.

Strong in the setpieces, especially the lineout, and with the Magne-like openside Julien Frier and co providing plenty of go-forward ball, the French have also unearthed another fine young all-round footballer in the scrumhalf Jean-Bazptiste Elissade. Though a peripheral figure, there were also some wondrous touches from Christophe Dominici.

In addition to the ultra-committed Donnacha O'Callaghan, once again the Irish back row stood out even on this most difficult night. Eric Miller ran hard; Simon Easterby shored up the blind side and worked his socks off, as did Kieron Dawson, who tackled well and stemmed the French flow.

The switching of Gordon D'Arcy and Jeremy Staunton was not a success, the former having a particularly mixed night, but both were far more effective after reverting to centre and full back respectively in the last half-hour. Staunton, indeed, had a good all-round game.

The game hinged on a contentious long-range try by the French substitute Guillaume Bousses with his first touch scarcely 20 seconds after coming on, but in truth the second half tide was all blue.

"We were very brave but our lineout didn't function and our kicking game was poor," admitted coach Matt Williams. "Overall we did well to stay so close but then a disastrous decision by the referee when he allowed their scrumhalf to kick the ball out from under our number eight's feet at the back of a scrum let them in from 50 metres and changed the whole game. They're a very good French side but we didn't help ourselves at times."

Given the slightly weakened Irish team, especially in the front row and out wide, Ireland would have taken the 9-3 lead that three Paul Burke penalties granted them after Fred Michalak's penalty had rewarded the visitors' early pressure.

However, a lost Irish lineout and a harsh penalty against Jeremy Davidson for a high tackle enabled Michalak to cut the lead, and then a turnover off a loose pass in midfield led to Frier breaking Paul Shields' tackle for a try.

Michalak converted and cancelled out another Burke penalty - when Pepito Elhorga deliberately obstructed the chasing Gordon D'Arcy after Burke's up-and-under had bounced over him - which was needlessly conceded for handling static ruck ball under the Irish sticks. That left it 16-12 to the French at the break, with Neil Doak not reappearing after breaking his nose and hurting his left shoulder when trying to stop Frier.

A Miller rumble off a close-range scrum took three players out and created the hole for Shields to score off Brian O'Meara's pass. But the French responded to going behind within three minutes when, shunting the Irish scrum, the lively Elissade pilfered the ball and fed Bousses to score from 40 metres out.

O'Meara's neat covering, as with Staunton in the first half, prevented a try from a Michalak chip through but gutsily though Ireland tried to run the ball into the wind from deep, a meaty drop goal by Elhorga and an insurance penalty by Michalak sealed the French win.

SCORING SEQUENCE

7 mins: Michalak pen 0-3; 12: Burke pen 3-3; 17: Burke pen 6-3; 23: Burke pen 9-3; 25: Michalak pen pen 9-6; 33: Frier try, Michalak con 9-13; 39: Burke pen 12-13; 40: Michalak pen 12-16; Half-time: 12-16; 55: Shields try, Burke con 19-16; 58: Bousses try, Michalak con 19-23; 69: Elhorga drop goal 19-26; 80: Michalak pen 19-29.

IRELAND: G D'Arcy (Leinster/Lansdowne); J Topping (Ulster/Ballymena), J Staunton (Munster/Garryowen), D Quinlan (Leinster/Blackrock College), T Robinson (Connacht/Buccaneers); P Burke (Harlequins), N Doak (Ulster/Belfast Harlequins); R McCormack (Connacht/Buccaneers), P Shields (Ulster/Ballymena), S Best (Ulster/Belfast Harlequins), D O'Callaghan (Munster/Cork Constitution), J Davidson (Ulster/Dungannon), S Easterby (Llanelli), E Miller (Leinster/Terenure College), K Dawson (London Irish). Replacements: B O'Meara (Leinster/Cork Constitution) for Doak (half-time), M O'Driscoll (Munster/Cork Constitution) for Davidson, M Lawlor (Munster/Shannon) for Robinson (both 60 mins), A McCullen (Leinster/Lansdowne) for Easterby (65 mins), J Blaney (Munster/Shannon) for Shields (69 mins), P Bracken (Connacht/Galwegians) for Best (74 mins), B Everitt (London Irish) for Burke (81 mins).

FRANCE: N Brusque; P Elhorga, F Cermeno, G Messina, C Dominici; F Michalak, J-B Elissalde; N Mas, Y Bru, O Milloud, J Thion, L Mallet, J Bouilhou, P Tabacco, J Frier. Replacements: B August for Bru (48 mins), G Bousses for Cermeno (58 mins), J-B Poux for Mas (61 mins), R Martin for Bouilhou (69 mins). Sinbinned: Elhorga (38-48 mins).

Referee: G Di Santis (Italy).