A chasm in assessment and divergence in opinion, but this was mirrored equally in what the public thought about the match in general. An extremely difficult match to analyse definitively. I watched the video twice to see if my gut would tell me the answers more decisively. It did. . . I think.

France are a season and a bit away from La Coupe du Monde '07. They are not going to win it with this team or this coach. They are, if anything, more tactically fragile and mentally brittle than the team that thumped Ireland in the quarter-finals in RWC '03 and stopped playing in the last 40, then froze against an English team which had them for conviction but not conception.

You have got to hand it to Eddie Vite. He has all the pizazz of a parking meter, but his post-match press analysis is actually becoming colourful. His bullet-dodging skills have become balletic and he could naval gaze his way out of a massacre. But there is truth in a lot of the things he said after the French game. France flexed twice in the game, and I can't be sure whether it was second or fourth gear they were in at the time, but they both came off set plays (scrums).

Both involved a blind-side wing intervention. Both were pre-rehearsed moves.

Remind you of any team in particular? This is not the France we know.

My verdict is that if Ireland had played with relaxed concentration and composure throughout the entire game, the win would have come. Eddie has realised over the course of the last couple of months that his team has to become a lot less predictable, particularly when in possession, because they were getting picked off and found out in the video room.

Everybody else knew what they would try to do in any given position at any given time or situation.

The road map of ambition was almost worthy of praise. He was right, Ireland did play all the rugby and in both halves, it just wasn't the strategy to pursue in this match. We'll pursue specifics in a moment, but the stats which were bandied around in the papers were to a degree telling, astonishing even. Much was made of the tackle count. France made 148 tackles, Ireland made 35, a ratio in excess of four to one. Astonishing for a winning team to have made so many tackles . . . maybe Ireland did play all the rugby. However, it is not the tackle count that is significant, I think it is the corresponding statistic which is extremely relevant.

Ireland had 34 offloads in the tackle, France had 9, a ratio of just under four to one. France had to scramble to make their tackles, even when the big hits came in during the first half. Ireland came close four times, purely by playing the pill out of the tackle. Only in the Scotland versus Wales game last season do I remember more offloads. Ireland's most intelligently understated player, Shane Horgan, had eight offloads . . . a serious contribution to any linebusting initiative. If I was Mike Rud. . . if I was Scott Johnson I'd get the Welsh players to bury some antipersonnel mines down the right wing in Lansdowne Road next Sunday.

Variation was sadly lacking too from an offensive perspective, but Ireland's downfall was a malfunction in the concentration levels of their executive . . . numbers eight, nine, 10 and 15. Peter Stringer is absolved from any blame.

O'Gara's two blocked kicks were heart sinkers.

The second try conceded was just poor execution . . .

right idea, grubber kick in behind, French backs had been creeping, turn them.

The ball went straight into Marty's hands, he didn't have to adjust his line or his hair. The first block down was unforgivable.

Awareness was the prime requisite which was missing here. Ireland, after three attempted gain lines, got nowhere. All of the players who weren't in the ruck were hopelessly positioned to go forward, and the ball was so slow coming back O'Gara who should have been deep in the pocket by the time Stringer looked first. He was caught napping. He was flat, and Ireland paid dearly.

O'Gara is not afraid to put his body on the line. The guy has reasonable upperbody strength too, but he was flicked out of the way by Rougerie for Cedric Heyman's second try. He missed another two crucial tackles. Serious lapses in concentration from Ireland's controller and playmaker.

Geordan Murphy too was equally guilty. He has had some missed tackles in big games at crucial moments.

His miss on Rougerie for France's first try was straight out of Madame Tussaud's. Unforgivable at this level.

The quick drop-out and chase by Michalak was Basil and Manuel at their best. Conventional logic dictates that it is the fullback's ball, but Murphy was coming in on a sideways vector. Leamy had it covered and was best positioned to dive and pick up the ball. Murphy slid in from two yards away like a baseball player trying to steal a base. He was late.

He should have stood off and waited for Leamy to get to his feet and fend Michalak off. Heat of the moment or lack of concentration from a member of the executive?

Ditto for the intercept free licence . . . ok, do it responsibly . . . laissez faire or the bus fare home.

Leamy can be excused from much of the control/composure failure.

He had a huge game in many respects. But his inexperience caught him in two vital areas.

It was Leamy's first game in Paris. Somebody surely must have told him about the first scrum in Paris.

They should have a boot camp for number eights who are playing their first game in Paris with the Sergeant Major.

"Boy, wha cyu gonna do in the first scrum in Paris?"

"Sir, I'm goin to pack down between the two second rows, drive them in the scrum with all my strength, and lock the scrum with all my might, sir."

"You going to be sticking your head up out of the scrum looking for some girly-wirly back row moves?"

"Sir, no sir."

"You going to move from the lock slot to channel one position 'cos you like holding on to the blind side's ass?"

"Sir, no sir."

Check the video. Julien Bonnaire was like a pinball coil pulled back to the max as he shunted his two second rows in the scrum. If Osama Bin Laden had gone by on a moped, Bonnaire wouldn't have budged. The number eight was there to scrummage. Leamy gently nudged into the lock slot and then moved to the channel one slot. Ireland's scrum was like a crumple zone on an old Skoda . . .

game over. As a number eight you have to scrummage in Paris.

The other minus point for Leamy was his inability to deal in a mature way with crap scrum ball . . . effectively every Irish scrum for 50 minutes. He isn't a number eight, and Foley's intelligence was missed. I did get one call wrong though . . . on Easterby. My initial thoughts were that he had a poor game. The video saved him. Yet again he had a very productive afternoon. Ireland's back row were instrumental in the helter-skelter push for the line.

The decisive moment came with six minutes to go. Ireland won a lineout and O'Gara made a great angular break which concluded with him being stopped a metre and a half shy of the line. Somebody wearing a green shirt with number 17 on the back ambled up to the tackle zone, floundered around the side of the ruck, made no ground, and had the ball taken from him legally by Lionel Nallet. The French defence had been scattered, Ireland were attacking from a metre or so out from the line. Under the sticks for a guaranteed 38 points to 43 game. Five points in it with five minutes to go, and the French out on their feet.

A free turnover at the clutch moment. Six out of 10 you say? A genuine opportunity missed.