Ireland’s grand slam chase ended in a hole in the road here and their championship aspirations took a bruising as well, left relying on things to go their way in next weekend’s final round. The hope that Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray and Cian Healy could sign off their last game on Lansdowne Road with a significant win were scrapped with the final post still in the distance.

France were immense, initially on defence and then – when they had survived that onslaught – in putting the rest of their game together. And they managed for 50 minutes of it without Antoine Dupont.

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