As this warm-up series drags on for the Irish team, the matches are becoming more and more like episodes of the hit TV show “Lost” - I'm going into them with many questions, none of which get answered - instead I get a ton of different questions.
And if it weren't for the pressing matter of the squad being named today, I could have a field day with that analogy, but I best not. Though let's just say Paddy Wallace was a front-runner to be the Smoke Monster and leave it at that.
So let's get down to analysing this one shall we. And analyse we must. This writeup is much longer than normal, but that's only because I want to demonstrate just how far away from “World Cup ready” we looked on Saturday evening.
I want to focus on three sequences in particular – the one that led to the first French try (that goes back a good six minutes the way I see it), and those that came after a scrum for either side in the second half.
Of course, we got off to a great start, taking an 8-0 lead. He may have been facing the smallest Frenchman on the pitch, but it was still a powerful finish from Healy.
Ironically it took the visitors 22 minutes to get the ball into our 22. And if you want to be overly cynical and suggest the French “weren't interested” in that time, go ahead. I for one thought we started brightly, took the game to the opposition, though like always, I did retain doubts that we could sustain it for a full 80 minutes.
Things began to go pear-shaped on 24 minutes. We had just forced a turnover off a French lineout courtesy of Donncha O'Callaghan and for me it is at these stages of the game when we just cannot afford to make mistakes. The French backline had been set for a move so the second we steal possession we should be making as much hay as we can.
Well O'Leary flung it to Earls – sadly his instincts at this moment were compromised by a desire to get it to the far side of the pitch which either came from the coaches' instructions or his backline's screams.
What resulted was an absolute shocker of a pass that had to be retrieved by Andrew Trimble and brought into contact with little or no support, which resulted in the predictable penalty to France which got them on the scoreboard.
I believe this was preying on Keith Earls' mind when he ran into Johnny Sexton on 26 minutes. You can clearly see in the replay that the outhalf is calling for the ball. You can also see that he is in the better position. As much as I don't want to appear to be defending the Leinster player for the sake of it, I can't see any justification for our left winger to be doing anything but withdrawing and preparing for a pass once it was caught.
But much like an argument that was made for Luke Fitzgerald's poor form this year, I believe Earls still had his crucial mistake from earlier on his mind and was trying to make up for it. And to make yet another vital error in that situation can only serve to multiply your dip in confidence.
From the ensuing scrum Jamie Heaslip managed to halt them at our 22 with a superb piece of jackling, one of many instances of him doing that on the day. Then enter one Mr Tomás O'Leary.
At full time I tweeted this. It's a bit harsh I know, but as you can see several agreed. And you'd be forgiven for thinking it was all because of “that pass”. Well it wasn't.
Even with our bright start I couldn't understand why O'Leary was passing every single time the ball was presented to him. It had to be a result of coaching instructions, because that is just not his game. As Thornley has said in his defence of the Munster scrumhalf being Kidney's favourite, he's there for his “physicality”. So why wasn't he taking on his opposite number once or twice off rucks and scrums to prove it?
Plus there was the fact that he was often creamed by French forwards whether it be attacking as you see in the lead photo, or being steamrollered by prop Nicolas Mas in the 1st half.
Anyway...after Heaslip's forced turnover, O'Leary chose to box-kick. And given what I said about the importance of making the most of transition situations, it wasn't a bad call. But it WAS a woeful kick. It's called a “box-kick” because it is meant to stay in the 5m tram-lines. This didn't even stay in the 15m line.
And although the fact that Trinh-Duc both attempted and made a drop goal was unusual from that situation, I'd be a lot more worried about what Quade Cooper and the Aussie backline could do to punish such a poor kick.
So just like that, it was 8-6. the French tails were up, and all from our own doing. And it wasn't to stop there. Right from the kickoff O'Callaghan gets pinged for being off his feet and we're back under pressure with a lineout outside our own 22.
Here is where we could see the difference between the two sides. Having worked hard to build a lead we seemed to do everything we could to give it away. The second France get a good attacking position they show the ability to turn on the magic. And before we knew what hit us, Cedric Heymans was touching the ball down over our line.
It was indeed a clinical line by Rougerie and a perfect handoff, but as much as I hate to say it, our captain was sold down the river in his coverage. I honestly can't remember ever seeing him being so stranded and when D'Arcy should have been covering the support runner, he instead had to tackle the powerful French number 13 which made the final offload and finish look extremely easy.
So my point is – in almost every phase of play in that six-minute spell, we were shown wanting. And these are all errors that just can't be there if you're to have any hope of reaching a final four in the World Cup.
Two second half scrums further highlighted the gulf between the two sides. First we had a perfectly-executed move by the French from their own 22.
Parra faked a run to the open side, Picamole took it off the base of the scrum and offloaded to Palisson before proceeding to block Sean O'Brien's ability to get in a tackle. Before you could say “sacre bleu!” the French winger was chipping it over Trimble and but for an unlucky bounce would have been over. Still, they forced a penalty and Parra's man-of-the-match-winning placekicking gave them a vital opening score of the second term.
Then just five minutes later we have a scrum in our own 22. We attempt a very similar move, only it's O'Leary that's looking for the pass from the number 8. Now – did Heaslip screw up the pass or did his scrum-half over-run it? I say 50/50. But the point is, our transmission was garbled where the French one earlier had been loud and clear.
And you probably don't want me to remind you about what happened next. All I'll say is, that was yet another time O’Leary should have showed his physicality by tidying up the play as best he could.
The most frustrating thing about the Munster scrumhalf's poor showing was the that many, including myself, presumed he was a shoo-in to start in New Zealand regardless. But when he was taken off on 50 minutes for Eoin Reddan, I got the sense that this was a message from the coaching staff that the “hook” had been demployed rather than it being a planned change.
From then on, things got better. Reddan did everything O'Leary didn't. The ball was much quicker, and the scrum-half “pick and go” was back on the table. Again, many cynics were claiming that the visitors had given up when we scored the last two tries, but I suggest these people either don't know what they're talking about or suddenly went blind when the likes of Rougerie and Heymans threw themselves into tackles into the final 10 minutes or when the French pack started a dust up after O'Brien's try which finished the match.
And of course, there WERE many positives. Andrew Trimble had yet another good outing and must be knocking on the door to start in New Zealand at this stage. Although Flannery breathed some fire into the pack when he came on, I thought Rory Best's display was a vast improvement on the previous week. Sean O'Brien was our man of the match in my eyes with Healy and Heaslip close behind. Not only was our own lineout better, we were even causing mischief on their throw. And how good was it to see Stephen Ferris barrelling forward for an offensive gain again?
Then there was the ROG/Sexton 10/12 experiment. I saw Johnny's reaction to O'Gara coming on. He didn't even flex a muscle towards the touchline. I think the move was planned. And since the Leinster man is such a solid tackler, let me say I find this a good option, however wary I may be of our two prized assets being on the pitch at the same time.
Sadly there were also more negatives - Shane Jennings didn't do enough to avoid our hoping David Wallace can recover from injury. Then of course there were our penalty gremlins...the referee that day, Craig Joubert, will be calling the shots when we play both USA and Russia down under so hopefully we'll be able to get on the right side of him when it matters.
Overall, I can't help but give the Irish set-up a C-minus for this showing. When you think of it, the result was almost a carbon copy of our defeat to the same Frenchmen back in February. 22-25 v 22-26, 3 tries to 1 vs 3-2. Which means we don't seem to have learned a whole lot since then!
And it can only leave you wondering if next Saturday's clash with the English will be a hindrance more than a help. As morale-boosting as a win would be, will it be worth a price similar to that paid by poor Felix Jones?
So when Declan Kidney announces his 30-man squad at 1pm on Monday, whatever decisions he might make, you can't exactly see it being received with a fanfare by Irish fans. From now on it's up to the players to prove that their time in September wouldn't be better served being stranded on a mysterious Pacific island.
No matter how much each individual wants to be on the plane, if they can't play together, our hopes will die alone. JLP
