As bad beats go, Ireland failing to cover the handicap against France last week is right up there with the tale of woe from Benie Des Dieux backers at Cheltenham on Tuesday.

The mare traded at 1/33 in running but Ireland would probably have been an even shorter price to win by more than 13 and 14 points had the original handicap lines still been live during the game.

France had barely been in the opposition’s half in the match, and Ireland should have already had 50 points on the board when they scrummed down 26-0 up on the French five-metre line late on, with the visitors down to 14 men and already penalised three times at the same set-piece.

A penalty try was probably only about two scrums away, but then the ball squirted out the side door, and France somehow scored two converted tries in the last four minutes to edge it back to 26-14.

I only reference the above because it illustrates that Ireland still aren’t at the top of their game, even though their dominance in that match was at a level that you rarely see in any game of rugby, club or international.

France were absolutely woeful, equally as bad as they were in that 44-8 loss at Twickenham, so for Ireland only to win by just 12 points has to be viewed as hugely disappointing, however much you dress it up and view the stats.

There was an absence of accuracy and a lack of that clinical nature to their play against a side that travel worse than most of my bets have at the Festival this week.

Ireland will have far fewer try-scoring opportunities against a mean Welsh defence on Saturday, so they need to take their chances whenever they present themselves, be it by boot or by hand.

To be fair, the Irish undoubtedly played their best match of the tournament against France – though that isn’t saying much – and, remarkably, they still have a chance of winning the Six Nations, for all they are 20/1 chances. And they have named a pretty formidable starting XV, and squad, for this match.