When he considers the basic stats of the game - Ireland had more possession, more time in France's 22 than France did in Ireland's, more turnovers, and conceded fewer penalties - it's hard for Robbie Henshaw to take defeat.
France's 15-13 victory was their first in Dublin since 2011.
"It’s a tough one, when you look back at the stats it shows how dominant we were," said Henshaw.
"I suppose we need to be a bit more clinical and take the chances when they come. Unfortunately, Lowie’s foot hit touch. It’s possibly a different game if that’s a try.
"I think those fine margins, you don’t really get second chances at this level and we’re seeing that now over the last couple of weeks, that we really need to take our chances when they come. I think that’s probably what is standing out. We’ll have a good look at it in detail over the next few days.
"It will be hard to look at, we’re all very disappointed, particularly because the effort was so positive from everyone. We really went after it and it just shows what France have when they do pull together, they put together a good few miracle offloads and when they keep the ball in hand. It showed how dangerous they can be if you give them a sniff."
Though Ireland have lost the opening two games of a Six Nations for the first time, Henshaw believes there are positives to take from the last two weekends.
"There was definitely some really good parts of our set-piece, we definitely showed dominance in our scrum today, good dominance in our maul when it got going, and we were definitely unlucky to not get James Lowe in the corner in the first half. So there’s loads of positives to take.
"We’ll just have to analyse it in detail. Last week it's tough when we go a man down in the first half, so that’s hard to take, but there’s a positive in that, in staying in the game for so long."
Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
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