Has Irish rugby turned a corner....again?

After 50 minutes of yesterdays six nations encounter the knives were out for Eddie O' Sullivan. Again.

Irelands backs were being cut apart at will by the dynamic back line of Heymans, Rougerie, and Irelands perennial assasin in chief, Vincent Clerc. The lowly performance against Italy looked like being eclipsed by a slaughter in the Parisian evening.

Somewhere, somehow though, irelands forwards decided enough was enough. New faces Jamie Heaslip and Bernard Jackman stood shoulder to shoulder with experienced men like John Hayes and David Wallace and drove at the French time and time again, their persistance paying off with two tries and nearly a famous, unlikely victory.

Once again though, Ireland come out of a bruising encounter as moral victors. Where do they go from here? According to bbc.co.uk Irish manager Eddie O' Sullivan has mixed emotions on the game yesterday, describing it as "Gut wrenching," but adding that he was "very proud of our players."

But can we say where Irish rugby is after this performance? No according to www.independent.ie who believe that the game against Scotland will be much more telling on this Ireland team.

With players like Paul O' Connell and Shane Horgan to come back into the team, Ireland rugby is not in the dire position that was being forecast after the Italy game.

They just need another game to show how far they have come.