'The result doesn't lie, congratulations to France' - Andy Farrell

Andy Farrell was quick to congratulate France on a deserved Guinness Six Nations victory as they saw off a spirited Ireland comeback.

Ireland had come in on the back of nine wins in a row but fell short against a powerful Les Bleus outfit, 30-24, which was good enough for a losing bonus point.

"The result doesn't lie, congratulations to France," said the head coach, whose side battled back from the concession of an early try and a 15-point deficit four minutes into the second half to trail by just one with half an hour to play.

"I thought they deserved the win because that’s what the scoreline tells us, that’s sport.

"We move onto the next one.

"Obviously France played a very good game from the start.

"It wasn’t a plan of ours to go 10-0 down after six minutes. At one stage 22–7 down.

"All credit to France. I must say credit to spirit and fitness of our side to be in with a chance of victory at the end."

Asked what he had learned about his team, who were missing captain Johnny Sexton through injury, Farrell told RTÉ Sport. "I already knew we had character, I already knew the squad was unbelievably fit and the strength was something that we expect of ourselves.

"Maybe any side that comes here to Paris and gets to within a point, having been 22-7 down [has character].

"We’ve seen many times France take advantage of that [lead] and tip over the edge. That wasn’t the case with us. Our mental strength was very good.

"There are plenty of positives. You can see by James [Ryan’s] body language, he’s probably sore and a little bit fed up that we have lost.

"It’s hard to take when you have put in such a tough shift like that, especially with that fight and character."

Ireland were within six points in the 72nd minute when they opted to kick a