Areally, really good Test match where the country , as a whole, needed a victory to sustain ourselves. Ireland won yesterday because of the ability to compete and a desire, which in truth, was fiercer than their French opponents.

The key to this game, and it was a game which Ireland on a number of occasions attempted to throw away, was that they hit France hard enough in the contact zone and pressurised them close in. In most phases, Ireland's quality, accuracy, execution and efficiency were superior to anything the French could muster. Except in one area.

There is no question in my mind that Ireland wanted to use the box-kick/bomb as an offensive weapon and they also played a huge amount of hard-fought possession with aimless kicks downfield. Now, playing downtown is all and well in the Magners League but with a game French side, who looked irresistible at times, it was a high risk ploy and I would have thought the touchline would have been a far easier target. But that said, the French did deploy their defensive cover with great economy and only when O'Gara was in the zone, did he manage to make his kicks count.

The game changed at half-time. France were given a whole heap to think about as the teams came out of the tunnel. In truth, they were the more effective side in the first half.

Ireland's first concession of a try in the 11th minute of the first half set the alarm bells ringing. O'Driscoll missed a tackle, Ireland were slow to react to a chip and when the ball eventually went wide, Bowe's tackle on Malzieu was just awful. When you are outnumbered out on the wing, the cardinal rule is to make sure that the ball carrier doesn't give the ball away in traffic. Malzieu was tackled low by Bowe and he was strong enough to take the tackle on his terms and feed inside to Harinordoquy.

France looked comfortable. Beauxis was controlling the game and the back row were in command of the breakdown and the tackle zone.

On 20 minutes, the French out-half was emptied by Brian O'Driscoll who had one of those F**K You games. Beauxis wasn't quite the player after that tackle nor did he have somebody inside him who could help.

Ireland, at this stage, were creeping into the game and were again subconsciously competent and absorbed most of the French pressure that came.

They effectively hit France with a knock-out punch from a gloriously conceived wrap-around move off O'Connell's line-out feed. From the position of the line-out on the field, you would not have expected Ireland to attack from within their own 40-metre line. Bowe came off his wing and Ireland's midfield checked France's drift. His pass to Kearney was flat enough to give him enough impetus to burst through the tackle of Jauzion, he made a crucial off-load in the tackle and in traffic to Bowe who had come on his outside. He had enough momentum to go for another 15 metres. When the recycle came, it was O'Connell's swivel pass again that checked everyone. O'Gara spotted a mismatch and he fired one out to Jamie Heaslip, who only had Faure to beat. Heaslip accelerated inside him and then stepped outside the dilettante Poitrenaud for a super try. Poitrenaud will not appear again in this championship. He was rubbish yesterday.

Ireland were lucky again when they were playing box-ball Russian roulette. Chabal ended up making a great burst down the left wing just before half-time and was just caught in the nick of time. Ireland were saved! But Beauxis got the drop-goal to make it 13-10 at half-time.

As the second half wore on, France were making mistakes – some forced, but a lot unforced – while losing confidence and direction. O'Driscoll's try was what we had been waiting for, for a long time. His line inside was too direct for Beauxis' and once he had broken the line, Malzieu was too easy to step inside.

France were back in the game after Medard picked up Beauxis' chip over the top and the last 20 became a battle of wills, a test of mettle. Ireland had a will of iron, nerves of steel, a heart of gold and balls of brass. Their intelligence and efficiency was no accident. D'Arcy got over in the 66th minute after some thundering charges by O'Connell, O'Callaghan and Ferris. It was brilliant to see him back.

Ireland were exposed as the French chased the game. Six points is not an awful lot to catch up on but once again it was the small things, the non obvious that swung it back for Ireland. Heymans, who had just come on, received Ireland's kick-off and Fitzgerald came flying through and put him on his arse. Heaslip, on his feet, was quickest to react, Heymans would not release, that made the game safe. What was heartwarming was Ireland doggedly just would not concede a try near the death even though the game was beyond French reach. In fact, the last five minutes, defensively, was their best period of the match. Their line was as tight as a camel's arse in a sandstorm.

Lievremont hasn't a clue what he is doing. Even the Samaritans would hang up on him and it is unlikely that he will see out the year. Uncle Deccie, this could be the start of something beautiful.

nfrancis@tribune.ie