The defending Six Nations champions were hoping to gain only their third victory in Paris since 1952 but were unable to get the better of an inspired France side, eventually losing 33-10.  

And while Kidney was far from happy with the performance of his team he admiited credit must go to the impressive hosts.

“We were always likely to lose if France got their tales up and we gave them a 14-point lead in the first half and afterwards they were able to just take the points as the came,” he said.

“We didn’t exploit the opportunities as well as we needed to have done. There is no need for complaints – the credit must go to France.

However, the coach does believe the sin-binning of Cian Healy proved a big factor in the loss.

“They scored ten points when we had a man in the bin so it was important,” he said.

“Leading up to the bin is what I will be taking a look at. It was one of those 50-50 games at that stage and then they got in behind us, a little tug of the jersey.

“You know these things happen but I will be taking a good look at it.”