He did not impress in the autumn either. When you are chasing the game, you have to take measured chances.

Some of the options chosen by Murphy were unacceptable. It's his last chance in a fortnight.

SHANE HORGAN RATING: 8 You have to make a distinction between the players who look good for the whole match as opposed to the players who only look good for 20-25 minutes.

Horgan's huge heart and his utter commitment to be involved in almost every single thing which Ireland did well was heart-warming. An immense performance in adversity.

BRIAN O'DRISCOLL RATING: 4.5 He got going in the second half and was reasonably impressive. When he broke clean through twice, he never backed himself to "nish the score, instead choosing to of"oad. Made a lot of mistakes in contact and should have come off earlier than he did.

GORDON D'ARCY RATING: 4 This rush defence just does not suit him and they will have to work off a much deeper alignment. Looked pretty good when the game went crazy in the last 25 minutes.

TOMMY BOWE RATING: 0 The worst winger Ireland have picked since Jack Clarke and that's pretty bad. Have I mentioned he has no pace?

Well he can't do anything else either. An unbelievable selection. No coincidence that when Trimble came on the pitch he scored a try and burst a couple of French players for effect.

RONAN O'GARA RATING: 2 Did quite a number of things well but when your playmaker and chief instigator commits so many cardinal errors which give the game away a rating of two is all he deserves. Quite poor. I have seen better calls at a barn dance.

PETER STRINGER RATING: 8.5 A heroic performance. Given the quality of some of the ball he had to deal with and the fact that most of the French pack seemed to be bearing down on him most of the time, his distribution was excellent. Made a couple of very good breaks which caught the French cold and kept Ireland going when they were dead and buried.

REGGIE CORRIGAN RATING: 3 Didn't suffer as much as the tight outside and made a minimal contribution. Playing in that type of game for a 35year-old is a big ask.

JERRY FLANNERY RATING: 6 Not a bad performance from the Munster player.

Didn't give away too many turnovers at lineout time and kept at it with a reasonably forceful display in the loose.

JOHN HAYES RATING: 3 Put through the mincer in the "rst half by Olivier Milloud which meant that he had to reserve all of his time, energy, concentration and strength just to try and keep Ireland's scrum solid. Didn't get around to doing much else.

MALCOLM O'KELLY RATING: 4 Reasonable line-out performance but not much else. Will have to make his mind up whether he wants to play at the top level.

PAUL O'CONNELL RATING: 8.5 Yet again the best Irish player on the "eld. Simply sensational drive, enthusiasm and courage. On the ball on nearly every loose play. I'd like another 14 Paul O'Connells for Christmas.

SIMON EASTERBY RATING: 2.5 Exceptionally quiet game and this time it can't be attributed to unseen work done at the breakdown.

The quality of tackling and tackle counts not up to par.

DAVID WALLACE RATING: 8 An imperfect performance.

The French has obviously marked him out as Ireland's chief linebreaker close in. He never let up and really bossed the loose exchanges as the game wore on with some powerful runs and big hits.

DENIS LEAMY RATING: 7.5 His best performance in a championship but is still very inexperienced at the base of the scrum. Had dif"culty dealing with bad ball when Ireland's scrum went backwards.

SUBSTITUTES SIMON BEST RATING: 0 There are no lifeguards at the gene pool.

DONNCHA O'CALLAGHAN RATING: 6 Played very well when he came on but the game was over.

ANDREW TRIMBLE RATING: 7 Smashing stuff. Should be in for next game.

FRANCE Christophe Dominici 6 Aurelien Rougerie 7.5 Florian Fritz 7 David Marty 9 Cedric Heymans 8.5 Frederic Michalak 4 Olivier Milloud 7 Raphael Ibanez 6 Pieter de Villiers 6.5 Fabien Pelous 7 Jerome Thion 7 Yannick Nyanga 6 Julien Bonnaire 6 Olivier Magne 8 Substitutes Sebastien Bruno 6.5 Sylvain Marconnet 5 Lionel Nallet 5 Remy Martin 6 Dimitri Yachvilli 6.5 Benjamin Boyet 5