Johnny Sexton lamented his side’s inability to combine ruthlessness with bravery after Ireland slipped to a 35-27 defeat against France and missed out on the 2020 Guinness Six Nations title.
Ireland went into the Stade de France showdown knowing they required a bonus-point victory – or a win by at least seven points – to snatch the title from England but four tries from Les Bleus thwarted their hopes in Paris.
Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, Virimi Vakatawa and a penalty try proved too much for Ireland and while Cian Healy, Robbie Henshaw and Jacob Stockdale all crossed it was not enough to prevent an eight-point defeat.
Sexton says his side showed no shortage of enterprise but rued their lack of cutting edge as England, who beat Italy 34-5 on Super Saturday, seized their first Championship title since 2017.
“We weren’t ruthless enough when we had the chance,” said fly-half Sexton, 35.
“Once we saw the other results we knew that we had to win by more than six or win with a bonus point, so we tried to do a mixture of it.
“We tried to go for brave calls and get some tries because we felt that there was some space there to be exploited.
“We had the chance to score, we had a few chances five metres out. We had a chance to go for it, we went for the try, a brave decision to go for another try before half-time and we were very close, but we weren’t accurate enough. We weren’t good enough to go and take it.
“I felt that they took their opportunities really well – sometimes off nothing or from our mistakes, even.
“It’s going to be tough to look at over the next week or so.”
Talismanic scrum-half Dupont got the hosts off to a flyer but stalwart prop Healy, celebrating his 100th cap for Ireland, hit back on 18 minutes.
Les Bleus’ sustained pressure was then rewarded with a penalty try just over ten minutes before half time but two penalties from Sexton kept the visitors in it with the score at 17-13 at the break.
An entertaining second period ensued, with Ntamack requiring just three minutes to dot down before two ice-cool penalties from the No.10 gave France a 28-13 advantage.
Henshaw then scored a brilliant solo effort for Farrell’s visitors but Vakatawa, a handful all evening, touched down under the posts on 70 minutes to all but end Ireland’s hopes.
Stockdale scored with the final play of the match but it proved too little too late as France held on to win a 62-point Paris bonanza.
Healy’s try marked his century in style and while Sexton hailed his evergreen front-rower, he admitted his team must bounce back quickly heading into next month’s Autumn Nations Cup.
“It’s an amazing achievement by Cian and we wish we could have won the game today,” he added.
“We’re looking forward to a new competition. Obviously today is going to hurt – we’ve got some very important players coming back for us and some new players to come in as well, so we’re looking forward to getting back and trying to bounce back from this disappointment.”
