Beleaguered Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll rued his side's inability to live up to their pre-match hype after they were beaten 25-3 by France at Stade de France.

Vincent Clerc's brace of tries helped France to a vital Pool D win, aided by the boot of Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, while Ronan O'Gara's drop goal was all the Irish could muster.

And O'Driscoll told ITV1 afterwards: "We came across a very organised French defence.

"We knew we would need a class performance from one to 15 and that didn't quite happen.

"There wasn't enough of the performance we'd been talking about. When we had the ball we didn't do enough with it.''

He added: "The scoreline doesn't lie.

"France kept the scoreboard ticking over and it was a real sucker punch when they got their try.''

Ireland must now thrash Argentina in their last pool match or face the prospect of an early exit.

"We have got to go out to win it and play a lot better than that,'' O'Driscoll said.

"It's a big ask but stranger things have happened.

"You don't ever lose faith in what you're capable of, but so far we haven't produced that.''

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan believed poor discipline had cost his side.

He told ITV1: "I don't think they were 20 points better than us. I think it was eight penalties against us at half-time, we usually keep the penalty count below eight for 80 minutes.''

He added: "I think we played a lot better tonight, that's a very good French team.''

French captain Rafael Ibanez was pleased with his team's showing, particularly after their disastrous tournament opener against Argentina two weeks ago.

"It's a big effort from the boys,'' he told ITV1.

"We don't know if it's enough to finish top but if we carry on like that anything is possible.

"Tonight we played with some commitment and everyone played their part. We were pretty good under pressure, but we still have another game to finish (against Georgia).''