It was a hard-fought battle but national loyalties were put aside at the final whistle.
It would be fair to say France put the hurt on Johnny Sexton at the weekend.
The Irish out-half was subjected to a number of crunching blows – some legal, some not – on Saturday and withstood most punishment until the closing stages.
Les Bleus zeroed in on Sexton from the start and gave him almost as much grief as the home fans at Stade de France.
Personally, Sexton had a fine game with a couple of over-peppered kicks out of hand his only real blemishes. He landed three successful penalties but it was not enough as Ireland fell to a 10-9 defeat.
With the game over and France stopping to return the favour of applauding their opponents off the pitch, France flanker Wenceslas Lauret saught Sexton out for a hug and some words of consolation.
The pair were teammates at Racing Métro for two years and had caught up with each other for a few words before kick-off. With the match consigned to the history books, that respect continued.
Lauret seemed genuinely concerned for Sexton, who had a large bag of ice placed on his injured shoulder after being called ashore.
Indeed, Lauret went so far as to pop his head into the Irish dressing room, post-match, to pass on his regards to Ireland and get an update on Sexton.
Nice to hear that there was at least one Frenchman looking out for Sexton.
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