Sobering night in Paris only highlights further how far Ireland’s star has fallen

Imagine being told in advance of Thursday night’s Six Nations opener the following: Ireland’s set-pieces would hold their own, securing all four of their put-ins in the game’s 11 scrums and retaining all but one of their 17 lineout throws, and they’d only lose the penalty count 6-4. You’d have taken it and, indeed, presumed it would be the basis for a very competitive game. Given it was anything but, and that France won every bit as emphatically as the 36-14 scoreline suggests, one can only deduce that Les Bleus were vastly superior to Ireland in all other aspects – be it attack, defence, the collisions, the breakdown, the aerial duel, winning the scraps on the ground and, most definitely,...