Around half-past-six it was all a little quiet in the Stade de France, the rapt crowd of 80,000 seemed to be too nervous to sing or scream or shout any more for a game they thought they had seen their team win once, twice, three times already. Ireland never actually held the lead, but they never stopped chasing it either. Joey Carbery had just kicked a penalty to cut three out of France’s six-point lead. They could have gone for the corner, they had scored twice from attacking lineouts already, but they were confident, had all the ball, and, like everyone watching, felt sure there was one twist left in this dizzy game.
France’s head coach, Fabien Galthié, made a point of telling his squad all about how Ireland’s captain, James Ryan, had promised he and his team were going to hush the fans at Stade de France the day before the game. And now, for a moment at least, Ireland had.
