Les Bleus, the defending champions, saw their title hopes vanish for good as a poor performance in Lansdowne Road saw them defeated 15-12 by Ireland.

They had previously lost their opening match 25-17 to England at Twickenham in February and despite their 38-3 thrashing of Scotland two weeks later, France have now given up any hopes of winning the RBS 6 Nations and are turning their attention to the World Cup in October and November.

"The Six Nations title has gone," Maso said. "We must now prepare for the World Cup without losing more confidence in our last two matches against Italy and Wales."