Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan hailed his side's fighting spirit despite going down to a 26-21 defeat to France.
Ireland coach pleased at his side's fighting spirit
Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan hailed his side's fighting spirit despite going down to a 26-21 defeat to France.
The Irish had looked down and out after 50 minutes after a Vincent Clerc hat-trick and a try from Cedric Heymans had seen the home side into a 26-6 lead.
However, Ireland came within five points of sharing the spoils after a penalty try, a score from David Wallace and 11 points from Ronan O'Gara.
And O'Sullivan was delighted with the response of the players when seemingly facing a hefty loss.
He said: "I feel France got out of jail.
"At 26-6, weaker individuals would have walked away and assumed it was over. But we kept believing we could win the game.
"We came back, kept our composure as a team, and we deserved better at the end of the day.
Integrity
"It told me there is integrity in this team, that they are all honest workers who give 110 per cent in a green shirt.
"We were unfortunate and I thought we played really well."
While O'Sullivan was pleased with Ireland's fighting spirit, France coach Marc Lievremont hailed his team's own battling qualities.
With the Irish steaming forward in search of an unlikely result, Lievremont was pleased with the way Les Bleus managed to hold out.
And the new French chief feels his side will learn from the victory.
"We are proud of the way our players performed," he said.
"We won but we suffered right until the last minute.
"We were punished for our mistakes and the same thing happened two years ago - France dominated at first and Ireland came back strong in the second half.
"The players will learn a lot from this but they showed a great will and desire."
