"Very disappointed" - 5 Talking Points: Andy Farrell and Caelan Doris react to Six Nations defeat to France

Friday, 06 February 2026 at 17:36

byTom Sansom

The opening match of the 2026 Guinness Men's Six Nations is in the books, with Ireland undone by a stunning display by France. Les Bleus began their title defence in emphatic fashion, as a thunderous 36-14 win set the tone for the competition ahead. A brace from Louis Bielle-Biarrey, along with tries from Matthieu Jalibert, Charles Ollivon and Theo Attissgobe handed France the daylight for the win.

Watch the Guinness Six Nations at your local Greene King sports pub.

Ireland responded with two scores, as Ulster back row Nick Timoney and Munster prop Michael Milne both muscled their way onto the score-sheet from the bench. After the match, Ireland head coach Andy Farrell was joined in the Stade de France press conference room by his captain Caelan Doris, to discuss what went wrong in the substantial defeat in the City of Light.

5 TALKING POINTS: ANDY FARRELL & CAELAN DORIS REACT TO DEFEAT TO FRANCE

1. FARRELL CAN'T HIDE HIS DISAPPOINTMENT AFTER DEFEAT IN STADE DE FRANCE

ANDY FARRELL: “I'm obviously very disappointed, through something that I never thought we’d be saying about this Irish team, we had a bit of a lack of intent in that first-half _ missed tackles, winning the scraps on the floor or the fight in the air, it’s just intent. And if that’s lacking you’re not going to win any international game, never mind one in Paris."

2. 'YOU MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK' - FARRELL CALLS OUT THE MARGINS OF DIFFERENCE IN DEFEAT

ANDY FARRELL: "Well I think you make your own luck in this game and you make your own luck by being ahead of the game, in most things probably without the ball, and I thought we certainly lost that battle in the first half.

"I think you make your own luck in things like the high balls, winning the scraps on the floor, running and through tackles and ourselves missing tackles, etc, that's the main part of the game, isn't it, and we certainly came off second best in that regard in the first half. We had a response to that in the second half and a galiant response, but it's not what we want to be, a responding team to something that we need to show up with from the get go.

3. CAELAN DORIS REVELS WHAT WENT DOWN IMMEDIATELY IN THE IRELAND CHANGING ROOM

CAELAN DORIS: "It was Faz that mainly spoke about coming back into work with an opinion. It doesn't start at zero. There's some good lessons to learn. There was a lot of good stuff in the prep. We're going to have to have a deep dive into how we can make that better. But there was a lot of good stuff in there as well. We're coming in with a proper opinion and seeing a reaction next week."

4. FARRELL REVEALS WHAT HE LEARNED ABOUT HIS TEAM IN THE TOUGH DEFEAT IN PARIS

ANDY FARRELL: "I learned a lot about the team and the individuals. I suppose these type of occasions, these type of events are a first for quite a few of our group.

"Every game that you play for your country, whether it be a big win or a tough loss, there has to be a learning curve. We have to take those learnings from that. As a group and as individuals, we need to use it in the right manner and move on.

"I felt that we had the right intentions with our preparation of how we wanted to play the game. Hopefully that does stand to us. But you cannot play the game at this level without having the right intention. It's an absolute must. It's the first thing that has to be done on the list to make sure that it's delivered every single time that we take a field."

5. DORIS DOES NOT WANT IRELAND TO BE A TEAM THAT ARE CHASING MATCHES

CAELAN DORIS: "There was some good resolve in the second half but we don't want to be a team that's chasing. We left ourselves too big a mountain to climb. And that's down to some passiveness in defence, not being connected, not being dominant in collisions, allowing them to flourish and keep the ball alive in attack."