Hugo Keenan — 7: They lost the kicking battle overall but Ireland probably edged France in the air, where Keenan was excellent. He was also one of Ireland’s most dangerous attackers, making a couple of clean breaks on a day when Ireland had three in total. Made all his tackles and found a 50-22 towards the end, albeit that backfield space might have been explained by the fact that France were halfway to the airport at that stage.

Calvin Nash — 5: High tackle was, of course, a split-second decision but it was a mental error on a day when Ireland couldn’t afford a numerical disadvantage, as had been demonstrated during Joe McCarthy’s earlier sin-bin. Nash made positive contributions like a rousing aerial take from Romain Ntamack in the first minute and a nice touch or two infield, but the context of the yellow bumps him down from what would have been a 6.

Robbie Henshaw — 7: Like Keenan, was a disruptive force in the air and was at the heart of Ireland’s decent early spell. Won a turnover on the ground, too, before France took the game away from the hosts entirely.

Bundee Aki — 6: Made just four carries for minimal yardage before going off, presumably injured, on 55 minutes. Came up far bigger in defence, particularly in the first half.

Jamie Osborne — 6: Not going to be a Test winger long-term (not his fault that he was started there, either), but exited well for the most part on an otherwise fairly limited outing. It was partly limited, of course, because he had virtually no advantageous ball to work with.

Sam Prendergast — 5: Was put under savage pressure by an oppressive French defence and struggled with his decision-making as a result. Too many handling and kicking errors and didn’t really threaten the French on any discernible level while the game was competitive. Late interception can effectively be discounted just the same as Ireland’s late scores — the game had come asunder at that stage.

Jamison Gibson-Park — 6: Similarly to Prendergast, struggled to get anything going behind a pack that was second best almost across the board. Just didn’t make as many errors as the less experienced man outside him.

Andrew Porter — 6: Irish scrum was solid but their forwards in general made little material impact in the loose. Porter made five carries for three metres and eight tackles, which constitutes a below-average day for one of Ireland’s best ever players.

Dan Sheehan — 7: See above, basically, although Sheehan did make nine carries, three or four of which were thumpers, and finished Ireland’s first try. Overthrown lineout in second half looked like a miscommunication between jumpers as opposed to his own issue.

Finlay Bealham — 6: Similar to his front-row partners, really. Showed plenty of snarl in the first half and scrummaged well, but mostly a non-factor in the second half.

Joe McCarthy — 5: McCarthy probably played to about a 7 in the loose and he had three impressive takes under pressure in the lineout, too. But his yellow card was, within the context of the game, unforgivable. It cost Ireland only five points on the scoreboard, ultimately, but it changed the psychology of the game thereafter. The reward was never going to be worth the risk.

Tadhg Beirne — 6: Won seven Irish lineouts on a day when that particular set-piece was extremely steady but didn’t leave his usual mark on the game overall — which actually seemed unthinkable when he unknowingly took out Antoine Dupont. Was unable to stop Oscar Jegou from scoring at close range, but that reality would apply to most human beings in the world, really.

Peter O’Mahony — 6: Threw himself around and won five lineouts in his 48 minutes, bowing out for the final time at the Aviva just before things turned ugly for Ireland.

Josh van der Flier — 6: Just couldn’t affect the game to his recent standards against a more powerful French forward unit.

Caelan Doris — 8: Ireland’s best player, routinely robbing France on the ground and making 68 metres from a whopping 16 carries in just 64 minutes. Was pissing into the wind by the third quarter but didn’t take his foot off the gas until he was removed for a HIA.

Replacements — n/a: It doesn’t feel like a good use of time to go into individual performances for substitutes this week as most of them were introduced to a completely dead game, which skews everything.

France had effectively stopped playing by the time Cian Healy and Jack Conan bagged their tries, albeit Conan was worth a 7 even before his garbage-time score with 10 carries for 42 metres in less than a half.

Jack Crowley, too, had a couple of eye-catching moments even aside from his assist to Conan, including initiating a choke tackle on France in midfield.

Overall, though, France’s bench was nuclear and Ireland’s became something of an afterthought given the game-state.