THERE WAS NO more obvious sign that Ireland have managed to close the gap to France than the fact that Scott Bemand’s side trailed just 17-15 with 10 minutes left in their Six Nations opener in Belfast on Saturday.

Just two years ago, the French visited Ireland and ran in nine tries in a 53-3 win.

The year before that, Ireland lost 40-5 in France. 

So clearly there is a shift in this relationship.

Yet this Ireland team don’t want praise for closing gaps. They want to win as many Test matches as possible. They were in a battle last weekend in Belfast and came out on the wrong side of a 27-15 scoreline.

The job now is to learn from their errors and improve for this Sunday’s visit to Italy.

One of the key areas Ireland will focus on is their kicking. Their errors in this department were punished ruthlessly by the French.

It should be said that Ireland delivered some classy kicking too.

The moment below from out-half Dannah O’Brien was among the highlights and left her team in position to pressure the French just before half time.

It’s a beautiful touch from O’Brien, who uses a low, fizzing, banana kick to find grass on the inside of French scrum-half Pauline Bourdon-Sansus.

The ball then takes an unusual trajectory out towards the touchline and leaves France with a five-metre lineout. Ireland back row Erin King steals it but the home side are unable to take advantage by scoring before the break.

There were other nice moments in Ireland’s kicking game, with O’Brien prominent as she kicked from hand 19 times. Fullback Stacey Flood was also central with 11 kicks and had some classy involvemens.

However, Ireland will have reflected that all three of France’s tries in this game stemmed from their kicking errors.

Early on, Flood kicked out on the full down the right.

It’s a marginal thing but France benefit as they pile pressure onto Ireland from the resulting lineout, pinning them into their 22 for a full five minutes before centre Gabrielle Vernier scores.

The second French try comes in similar circumstances as Flood kicks out on the full down the right again.

This time, France score directly from the resulting lineout as right wing Marine Ménager dots down on second phase.

Of course, Ireland will know they can defend better once they’re in these areas of the pitch but the frustration will have been that they gave France ‘access’ through something that was in their control.

Unfortunately for Bemand’s side, the issue continued in the second half as the French got a platform for their third try from another Irish kick error.

There’s an exchange of kicks and France fullback Morgane Bourgeois, who was also excellent off the tee, just manages to clear replacement Ireland centre Enya Breen, who has dropped into the backfield.

Breen has to turn back to retrieve the ball, adding more pressure to her return kick.

And the ball ends up on the wrong side of the touchline again as Breen errs.

France get a lineout close to Ireland’s 22 and score on third phase.

Again, Ireland will feel they could have defended better from the lineout.

The reality is that teams like France will also find a way into your territory, so defending well is crucial, but it’s frustrating to give the opposition platforms through your errors.

In all three cases, it’s a matter of metres as the Irish kicks go into touch but those are the metres that matter at the top echelons of Test rugby.

Ireland generally struggled with the task of ‘exiting’ their own half, with another instance allowing France to kick three points off the tee.

The French have just turned the ball over near the Irish tryline when scrum-half Emily Lane fires the ball back to O’Brien in the in-goal area.

France apply immediate pressure and O’Brien tries to step out of trouble before offloading to Flood, who attempts to clear under intense pressure.

With the ball blocked and bouncing dangerously behind the Irish tryline, skipper Amee-Leigh Costigan has to ground it for a five-metre French scrum.

France win a penalty in that scrum and kick three points off the tee.

Upon reflection, Ireland might feel they needed to be calmer in the instance above. Even one extra carry before trying to kick might have left them in a better position.

Scrum-half Lane didn’t appear to offer a box-kicking option, which can be very useful in positions like the one above.

The encouraging thing for Ireland is that their kicking errors are very fixable in a short space of time.

They will back themselves to tighten up their kicking game for the visit to Italy on Sunday as they look for a first win in this Six Nations.