Skipper Brian O'Driscoll was left to rue missed opportunities after Ireland fell to a 25-22 defeat to France on Sunday.
Ireland skipper laments error-count against France
Skipper Brian O'Driscoll was left to rue missed opportunities after Ireland fell to a 25-22 defeat to France at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
The hosts scored three tries to France's one, but errors and indiscipline allowed Morgan Parra and Dimitri Yachvili to score a combined six penalties.
And O'Driscoll thought his side passed up a golden opportunity to win the match when deep in France territory in the closing stages.
"We had a chance with three minutes to go. We were 10 yards from their line, they were scrambling but we coughed up another ball," he said.
"I thought we were going to do to them what they did to us at Croke Park four years ago when they won in the last minute, but again we coughed up the ball too easily.
"When we scored our tries we had taken it through a number of phases, but when you turn it over after three or four it's hard to build momentum.
Bitter
"The chance was there for us to take it but we didn't. That's a bitter enough pill to swallow. We felt like we had massive capability to score tries. The chances were there but we weren't clinical and that's what's killing us.
"There are just little things that need tweaking, but these are the fine lines between winning and losing Test matches."
Ireland coach Declan Kidney echoed the centre's comments, although he took time to praise an improved showing from his side.
He said: "The feeling is that's an opportunity lost. We had too many turnovers. We won the try-count 3-1 but still lost the match so we'll have to look again at the penalties to see which ones were under our control.
"We need to keep playing this way and get used to doing it at Test level. It is the right way forward for us.
Win
"There's no point crawling away now and just trying to play a damage limitation game. That won't win us anything. The try count is of no consolation to me. People have paid to get in and are looking for us to win.
"An improved performance means you're not in the doldrums, but at the same time we want to win."
France boss Marc Lievremont was impressed with the way his side secured the right result, although he admitted to a few nervy moments at the end.
"We're very satisfied with the outcome. In the last few minutes there were mistakes due to impatience and this made the match stressful," he said.
"They managed to score tries and put us under pressure over 80 minutes. With more patience we'll learn to find solutions to these problems.
"I liked the way we bounced back. It could have been a totally disastrous match but we fought our way back. Ireland could have won but overall we played well."
