Leinster Rugby : France 33 v 10 Ireland

Speaking after the game a frustrated Brian O'Driscoll said: 'We certainly don't think we've come to the end of a cycle. Obviously there is huge disappointment.

'We haven't felt that for over a year but results like that are quite grounding at times. Not that we ever thought we were infallible but you get a reality check from those sort of games. You realise you haven't got everything bang on and we've got to use that to our advantage by putting the small things right.

'It's only a shame we don't have a game next week to put it right but hopefully we'll be back on it when we go to Twickenham.

'We spoke about not letting them get off to a good start and we might have created some momentum if Gordon (D'Arcy's) chip and chase had come off and we had gone 7-0 up but it was an impressive all-round display from them.'

France surged 17-3 ahead by half-time with tries from William Servat and Yannick Jauzion.

Ten of those points arrived while prop Cian Healy was in the sin-bin, guilty of an early tackle on Francois Trinh-Duc, with the kicking of Morgan Parra also keeping the scoreboard active.

Gordon D'Arcy was denied a try by the bounce of the ball after he charged into space and chipped ahead with winger Vincent Clerc, so often Ireland's try-scoring nemesis, coming to the rescue.

FRANCE: Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Alexis Palisson (Brive); Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Clermont); Thomas Domingo (Clermont), William Servat (Toulouse), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Lionel Nallet (Racing Metro), Pascal Pape (Stade Francais), Thierry Dusautoir (CAPTAIN, Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz)

REPLACEMENTS: Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais), Julien Pierre (Clermont), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Frederic Michalak (Toulouse), David Marty (Perpignan), Julien Malzieu (Clermont)

IRELAND:

15: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) / Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster) 32
14: Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13: Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) CAPTAIN
12: Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11: Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
10: Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster) / Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 69
9: Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster) / Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster) 69

1: Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2: Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster) / Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 61
3: John Hayes (Bruff/Munster) / Tom Court (Malone/Ulster) 51
4: Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster) / Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster) 61
5: Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
6: Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
7: David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
8: Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

REPLACEMENT NOT USED: Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)

REFEREE: Wayne Barnes (England)

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