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12th February 2022
07:15pm GMT

Hugo Keenan reacts after a France try, which was subsequently disallowed at Stade de France. (Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile)[/caption]
"Listen, of course it's not the right call because they haven't won the game now. It's easy to look back retrospectively. "But, in real time, all of us were obviously deliberating it here (in the studio). Because they had success from the previous maul, that van der Flier had got his try from, it seemed like the obvious route to go. They were six points behind so they'd have to score at least another penalty to only draw the game. Seven points would have put them into the lead if they had scored the try and knocked over the conversion. "I'm just surprised - with this team's mentality, they go to the corner so often. And yet, when it got tight like this, they didn't back themselves."The comments of O'Driscoll were echoed by former Wales star Gareth Thomas, in the ITV studio, and Shane Horgan in the Virgin Media studio [back in Ireland]. Asked about the decision to go for the posts, rather than an attacking lineout, James Ryan responded:
"I felt like that was the right decision at the time... we backed ourselves to get within three points and win the game after that.""It's the right decision," said Ireland coach Andy Farrell in the same post-match briefing."There's no doubt about that."
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