Six Nations: Ireland lose control of title defence as Maxime Medard adds late blow to injuries

Devin Toner has accepted that Ireland may well have let an unprecedented third consecutive Six Nations title slip with the 10-9 defeat to France in Paris on Saturday.

Ireland have lost control of the Six Nations after Saturday’s defeat following their opening 16-16 draw with Wales in Dublin.

Toner admitted Ireland’s fate was out of their hands while flanker Tommy O’Donnell said coach Joe Schmidt had told his players they were now relying on favours from their rivals.

Maxime Médard’s late converted try denied Ireland a second successive win in Paris for the first time in 89 years, and leaves Schmidt’s men unlikely to retain their Six Nations crown.

“It’s obviously out of our hands now,” said Leinster second row Toner. “But there’s still always a chance. Look at last year – it came down to the three final games.

“But the next one’s going to be huge – at Twickenham, where we haven’t won for a while. So that’s going to be massive. The big frustration is that it’s not in our control any more.”

Ireland will take on England at Twickenham on Saturday week but will spend the coming fallow week counting another lengthy injury list.

Mike McCarthy suffered concussion, Johnny Sexton was “knocked around”, in Schmidt’s words, Sean O’Brien damaged a hamstring and Dave Kearney is likely to miss the rest of the tournament with shoulder damage.

Ireland’s creaking scrum effectively cost them victory, with two of France’s replacements, Rabah Slimani and Eddy Ben Arous, turning the screw at the set piece.

Médard scored after France had taken four reset five-metre scrums as Ireland could do little other than concede penalties under intense pressure.

Munster flanker O’Donnell said that Schmidt told his players in the dressing room that Ireland’s chances of silverware have been seriously hampered. “Joe made it evident that we’re depending on results,” said O’Donnell. “But in this championship, you never know how the cards are going to fall.

“We’ll just have to refocus on England, recover, get back into camp and take it from there. We’ll see how things go. Going on the two previous Six Nations Championships, it goes down to the final three games. We’ll definitely have to give it our all in the next three games.”

Toner allayed fears over his Leinster locking partner McCarthy, who was removed from the field on a stretcher and wearing a neck brace.

Toner said McCarthy was on his feet after the match, despite a hefty concussion. “Mike was up and walking about in the changing room, feeling quite well,” said Toner. “I don’t think he remembers the incident so there’s maybe a little bit of a concussion. He did the head injury assessment and I think he did quite well in it, but obviously what happens next is up to the medics. He wanted to walk off the field but they wouldn’t let him. He’s not too bad.”

Yoann Maestri’s late hit on Sexton and Guilhem Guirado’s high tackle on Dave Kearney could yet bring the citing commissioners into action.

Toner admitted Ireland were well aware of the rough-house tactics, but insisted there was no place for retaliation. “The temptation’s always there, but we do pride ourselves on our discipline and we pride ourselves on being able to rise above it,” he said.