O'Driscoll rues missed opportunity

Brian O'Driscoll voiced Ireland's heartache following their agonising 25-22 RBS 6 Nations defeat by France at Aviva Stadium.

Tries from Fergus McFadden, Tomas O'Leary and Jamie Heaslip were not enough to prevent the champions from leaving Dublin with a second win of the tournament.

O'Driscoll viewed the afternoon as a missed opportunity after Ireland were once again undermined by their error count, saying: "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 added: "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.

"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."

France coach Marc Lievremont was pleased with his side's response each time Ireland ran in a try.

He said: "We're very satisfied with the outcome. In the last few minutes there were mistakes due to impatience and this made the match stressful.

"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."