I’ve seen from an Irish sportsman

the bravery to go for it that made it so very, very special.

True leaders stand up in adversity.

What made it even more noteworthy was the context of the performance.

The slippery conditions hardly helped but we were short on energy and intensity, and riddled with mistakes by Joe Schmidt’s exacting standards. Aside from the final phase, we seldom moved out of third gear.

It was a tense, rusty, nervy performance. It wasn’t that we played particularly badly, but we just didn’t play.

That said, to win in Paris in the opening game is a massive statement of intent.

France have a young but hugely enthusiastic side finding their way and the crowd responded to their efforts in the most supportive way.

For the team in green it must have felt like 15 against the world such was the noise. The deal seemed sealed after Belleau’s successful conversion for a 13-12 lead.

We got out of jail, and that’s no bad thing. It was a watershed moment in a watershed game. We won playing well within ourselves and by the skin of our teeth.

There will be changes out of necessity to face Italy on Saturday as it will take some time to get the physical and emotional demands of Paris out of the system.

We won a game we thought we had lost and didn’t play well. I’d like to think it was the fear of coming up short yet again in a city where Ireland have so rarely won.

We did not come close to performing like the third-best team in the world save for those incredible match-winning minutes but we know we have that capability.

With varied selection through the use of ever-growing resources I believe we will pitch up to Twickenham for a Grand Slam decider on the final day of the championship.

While we could and probably should have lost on Saturday, we didn’t deserve to lose.

We underperformed, but to win in Paris in the opening game makes for some springboard. With that will come confidence and the all-important ingredient called momentum.

We won despite ourselves

– due in the main to the overriding mental fortitude of one man.