Ireland - and winger Andrew Trimble - have suffered back-to-back defeats © Getty Images

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Ireland wing Andrew Trimble has blamed a slow start for their 19-12 loss to France at the Stade Chaban-Delmas on Saturday.

France raced into a 13-0 lead early on following Vincent Clerc's try, with Ireland's rearguard action - led by the boot of Ronan O'Gara - proving to be too little, too late.

"They came out of the blocks fairly quickly but we knew they were going to do that," Trimble said. "They like to start fast to take the pace out of your own game. If they don't do that, they end up chasing their tails a little bit.

"If things don't go their way they have a habit of getting frustrated and a bit tired. Then the game flipped and it looked like we were going to be in the ascendancy but we never quite got there.

"It's tough coming to France. The crowd get on your backs and there's bit of a carnival atmosphere, everyone's having a good time. It's very difficult to stop the rot and get back into the game, but we did manage to change the tide a bit."

Trimble admitted that Ireland's inability to maintain possession proved to be their downfall, with similar problems arising from last weekend's loss to Scotland.

"It's the same as against Scotland last week - if you can't hold on to the ball it's going to be a long night, especially when you're playing in the south of France," he said. "Considering how many turnovers we made, we did well to hold on to the game as well as we did. We deserve a lot of credit for that. We showed bits and pieces when we did hold on to the ball."

Ireland have an immediate opportunity to avenge defeat with the teams set to meet again on Saturday, while on Thursday a second string face Connacht.

Meanwhile, France will be without centre Maxime Mermoz for next weekend's trip to Dublin. The Perpignan midfielder suffered a knee sprain in Saturday's victory, with coach Marc Lievremont confirming a lay-off of around two weeks.