Interesting to hear who stepped up after a loss that seriously damages Irish hopes.
Tommy O’Donnell hoped to have a big say in an Ireland win, today, but he surely believed he would not feature until the second half.
Instead, the Munster flanker was brought on after only 19 minutes as Sean O’Brien – his hamstring woes returned – limped off.
He had a solid game but will be kicking himself for not bringing down a flying Maxime Medard for the 71st minute French matchwinner. Given the fact that Ireland led the match for over an hour, the manner of their 10-9 loss was hard to take. He told us:
“I don’t know if it is [my most galling defeat]. There was probably some U14 game where my heart got ripped out.
“That is definitely tough. It is definitely one we could have won, should have won and it hurts.”
O’Donnell believes Ireland needed to be cuter, smarter and more accurate in possession but acknowledged a stagnant scoreboard had not helped matters.
Coach and captain [Rory Best and Joe Schmidt] are usually inundated with media duties after a match but O’Donnell revealed just who spoke up after the final whistle.
Interestingly, given the fact that Ireland are said to have a player-driven environment, it was the Kiwi who attempted to gee up his troops.
“Joe had a few words. He made it evident that we are dependent on results but, knowing how the past championships have gone, you never know how the cards are going to fall.
“We’ll see by tomorrow night we’re we are sitting.
“Let those tired bodies recover, get back into camp and take it from there.”
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