Philippe Saint Andre revealed there was no sense of celebration in the France dressing room after the 17-17 draw with Ireland.
Frustration and deflation as French and Irish rue missed chance
France head coach Philippe Saint Andre revealed there was no sense of celebration in the France dressing room after the 17-17 draw with Ireland.
Les Bleus battled back from 17-6 down at the half to earn a point and stay in the hunt for the Six Nations title.
But their Grand Slam hopes were ended by Ireland, who held on under intense pressure in the closing stages.
"There was a feeling of defeat, not that of a draw in the dressing room," Saint Andre admitted.
"When you give away 10 points, it's really hard to win the match against Ireland, who defended very well and bothered us with their umbrella defence.
The former France winger, however, was proud of his players, saying they showed great character to come back into the game.
"At 17-6 I asked the players to be more direct because it had started to rain and it was a bit like Irish weather out there," he added.
"We had ambitions, a desire to go forward, but at the highest level, you have to be much more precise."
Captain Thierry Dusautoir said France should have won a game they dominated. "The win was within our grasp," he said. "But when you give away so many points you just get what you deserve."
Huge effort
Ireland were equally disappointed with the result after leading at half-time in an interrnational in Paris for the first time.
"I am disappointed for the lads, they put in a huge effort," said Ireland coach Declan Kidney. "We believed in ourselves, we played our own game and did not panic in the second half.
"If you're not disappointed after a result like that you should not be in the job."
Captain Paul O'Connell added: "We have the feeling we lost an opportunity. We are very disappointed with our second half performance, we turned over the ball a few times. We're very frustrated, very disappointed.
"At half-time we said we must score first, which is what you say every time you lead away from home, but France are a very good side.
"They're World Cup finalists, they nearly won the World Cup so they were always going to come hard at us.
"Unfortunately they got the first score. Had we got the first score it would have been really good for us.
"To not score in the second half was very frustrating. To not tag on at least three points was our undoing."
