Six Nations Championship/ France 26 Ireland 21: If not quite Groundhog Day, then certainly a sense of déjà vu.
Akin to two years ago, albeit on a smaller scale, Ireland emerged from the Stade de France stirred by a last-quarter comeback and re-energised by having discovered their inner selves in their hour of crisis. Regrets, though, they'll have a few.
For all the relief then and ensuing hype of a Triple Crown in Twickenham, history will show the self-inflicted wounds of the opening 50 minutes or so two years ago, when France pulled 43-3 clear before hanging on for a 43-31 win, ultimately could be said to have cost Ireland the RBS Six Nations crown and even a Grand Slam.
In fact, French relief at hearing the final whistle was even more acute on Saturday as Ireland came to within a score of completing what would have been a less fanciful but still remarkable comeback.
For 50 minutes or so France were sensational, the pace, footwork and lines of running of the outside three - Aurélien-Rougerie, Cedric Heymans, and Vincent Clerc - threatening havoc every time they arrived onto the ball with depth and stunning timing.
Yet even when gasping for breath in that first period, Ireland were showing discernible signs of improvement, not least in bringing more intensity with their clearing out at the breakdown, though Ronan O'Gara and Brian O'Driscoll will regret a few wayward kicks.
They had, too, taken heed of the need for more depth when moving the ball, but at times they still became a little too flat, such as when Marcus Horan and Malcolm O'Kelly statically took a popped ball from Eoin Reddan nearing the 15th minute.
Dimitri Szarzewski having made a huge hit on Reddan, you sensed maybe the timing was occasionally a little off because of the Wasps scrumhalf being there instead of the near-fixture of the last eight seasons Peter Stringer.
In Reddan's defence, it seemed he was illegally taken out at the base by Lionel Nallet, but French alertness to the opportunities arising from turnover ball - when defences are less organised - was typified by what happened next.
Vincent You Know Who pounced on Jean-Baptiste Elissalde's crafty, quick-witted and perfectly weighted box kick to score the first of his first-half hat-trick.
Elissalde is this team's hub and creator-in-chief as well as place-kicker and is blessed with quite extraordinary vision. He probed the blind side for David Skrela, enjoying one of his better matches for les Bleus, to split the gap between Denis Leamy and Geordan Murphy - which the former probably should have filled - before putting Clerc away for his second.
A stray ball from the base was the cue for another try off turnover ball, when Heymans skinned Andrew Trimble and Clerc stepped inside Rob Kearney.
It hasn't helped Scotland or Ireland that the luck of the bounce has decidedly favoured France, and after the resumption Elissalde's grubber when he was fed off the base by Julien Bonnaire ricocheted painfully off O'Driscoll for Heymans to steam onto the ball and make everybody else look like they were being towed.
French and Irish fans alike groaned and winced in sympathy with O'Driscoll when the replay was shown on the big screen, and in the circumstances, there could be no criticism of the Ireland captain if he had little to say in the ensuing huddle.
In any event, whatever was said, Ireland kept their heads up and kept having a go. Their defensive line speed seemed to even improve, or at any rate suddenly France were making no inroads. Irish accuracy and precision improved too, denying the French turnovers to attack off.
Jamie Heaslip and Leamy grew into the match; Mick O'Driscoll and Rory Best made effective contributions off the bench. It helped that the Irish were no longer suffering pain in the collisions.
Here again they were indebted to Marc Lièvremont for taking off Szarzewski, who in making one try-saving tackle on Reddan and two massive hits in the build-up to Clerc's first and third tries, had possibly been the most influential forward on the pitch.
The Irish scrum and maul began rumbling forward. Whatever else, Nigel Owens could not be accused of being a homer on this day. Aside from awarding Ireland a penalty try for a second infringement at a five-metre scrum against the hapless Dax 30-year-old Julien Brugnaut when the Irish scrum by no means appeared certain to shove their way over the line, the Welsh referee's penalty count was 9-1 in Ireland's favour, with one additional indirect free to France.
That penalty try and a mauling try, David Wallace burrowing over, turned the game on its head.
Heymans countered into a blind green alley. O'Driscoll, making space out of nothing and attempting as many offloads as the rest of the team put together, continued to strain every sinew. One single-handed offload was too high for Murphy when, had it gone to hand, the winger would have scored.
Leamy made a stunning covering tackle on David Marty to prevent France breaking away,
O'Gara made it a one-score game, and you wished Ireland had put more trust in a pack now featuring six Munstermen rather than moved the ball out to where Murphy kicked through for Girvan Dempsey.
There might even have been a case for bringing on Peter Stringer for that endgame.
You'd have bitten the hand off anyone offering this performance beforehand and most especially after 50 minutes.
But you'd have loved another five minutes even more.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 15 mins: Clerc try, Elissalde con 7-0; 18: O'Gara pen 7-3; 19: Clerc try 12-0; 23: O'Gara pen 12-6; 39: Clerc try, Elissalde con 19-6 (half-time 19-6); 49: Heymans try, Elissalde con 26-6; 58: penalty try, O'Gara con 26-13; 59: Wallace try, O'Gara con 26-18; 75: O'Gara pen 26-21.
FRANCE: C Heymans (Toulouse), A Rougerie (Clermont), D Marty (Perpignan), D Traille (Biarritz), V Clerc (Toulouse); D Skrela (Stade Français), J-B Elissalde (Toulouse); N Mas (Perpignan), D Szarzewski (Stade Français), L Faure (Sale); A Mela (Albi), L Nallet (Castres, capt); F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), T Dusautoir (Toulouse), J Bonnaire (Clermont). Replacements: L Jacquet (Clermont) for Mela (17-23 mins and 51 mins), W Servat (Toulouse) for Szarzewski, J Brugnaut (Dax) for Faure (both 47 mins), L Picamoles (Montpellier) for Ouedraogo (62 mins), M Parra (Bourgoin) for Elissalde (65 mins), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier) for Skrela (76 mins). Not used: A Floch (Clermont).
IRELAND: G Dempsey (Leinster); G Murphy (Leicester), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), A Trimble (Ulster), R Kearney (Leinster); R O'Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Wasps); M Horan (Munster), B Jackman (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster); D O'Callaghan (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster); D Leamy (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: M O'Driscoll (Munster) for O'Kelly (54 mins), R Best (Ulster) for Jackman (61 mins), T Buckley (Munster) for Hayes (77 mins). Not used: S Easterby (Llanelli), P Stringer (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster), S Horgan (Leinster).
Referee: Nigel Owens(Wales).
