Ireland must learn lessons

A dramatic last-minute defeat at the hands of Wales has left Ireland fourth in the table after the opening round of matches.

"The key thing is that we arrive in Paris knowing what we must do to get that win."
Rory Best Quotes of the week

"We should have closed that game out and that's what made that defeat so hard to take," said Best, who scored a try against the Welsh.

"That's the good thing about facing France so soon - we know we have to move on and learn from the mistakes.

"You need a little bit of hurt, a feeling in the changing room that you don't want to be back there."

Single victory

Ireland have recorded just a single victory on French soil in nearly 40 years. On two occasions, in 2006 and 2008, they fought back from a poor start only to find that they had ultimately left themselves with too much ground to make up.

"We can't do our usual and go to Paris and be 20 points down after 20 minutes," added Best.

"There's something about going to Paris that in the first half-hour we try to play them at their own game.

"We have to go there and must not get carried away with what they're doing. It's about implementing our game plan.

"The key thing is that we arrive in Paris knowing what we must do to get that win."

Stephen Ferris continues at blindside flanker for Ireland after being cleared of tip-tackling Wales lock Ian Evans by a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday.

The incident led to Ferris being penalised and Leigh Halfpenny converted the penalty to seal the late win for Wales. Keith Earls also returns at outside centre for Ireland in place of Fergus McFadden, who drops to the bench.