But Briggs is adamant that Ireland can still head into their next game against Scotland with a lot of confidence from the way they matched up to Les Bleus.

He said: “The crowd were brilliant but at the end of the day it is not a victory. We came here to win and we did not achieve our goal so we are bitterly disappointed.

“It (the try) was a little bit too late. We will take it on the chin and regroup over the next couple of weeks.

“It showed that we can live with France who are an incredible team. We'll live and learn, we're a young squad, we're developing and we'll bring it again for the Scotland match.

“We need to keep improving and believing in ourselves. There’s a great spirit and we are learning all the time. I hope we can carry that on.”