Dubai: Tries from Jamie Heaslip and Louis Picamoles saw Ireland and France draw 13-13 on a drizzly Dublin evening on Saturday.

The result keeps open the possibility that France could spiral towards first their first winless Home Nations campaign since 1969 and claim their first wooden spoon since 1999.

For Ireland, more questions will be asked over their inability to capitalise on good starts and dominant positions, as another disappointing second half performance saw them stutter to a grinding halt in a game that should have been a full-steam-ahead victory over a diffident opposition lacking confidence.

Billed as a mental battle for two teams nursing psychological scars from poor performances in this year’s Six Nation, Ireland’s rejuvenated vigour saw the home side control most of the round four Gaelic-Gallic encounter, but come out level pegging against an ever unpredictable France team who remain without a Six Nations win this season.

In a frustrating stop-start 80 minutes on the broken and muddied Irish turf, the home team’s set-piece initially gnawed away at France’s intentions of resisting an Irish uprising in Dublin.

The home contingent at the Aviva stadium would have been encouraged to see a marked improvement in the line-out from their doleful effort in Edinburgh two weeks ago, and the renewed vim to the Irish catch-and-drive got the home side on the front foot early on.

With ten minutes gone, a 40-metre Irish gallop up the middle of the pitch from a line-out won Ireland another throw inside the French five-metre zone.

The Irish pack, powered forward by their early success at the set-piece, exposed the visitor’s Achilles’ heel and marched through a flimsy French guard to send under-fire skipper Heaslip over the line for the first converted try of the game.

Tit-for-tat three-pointers from Michalak and Paddy Jackson then took the score to 10-3. As the half progressed, Ireland’s 21-year-old number 10 showed signs of an increasing maturity on the international stage.

The Ulster youngster landed two penalty attempts from three, both from challenging 40-plus metre positions from wide on the right touchline to give Ireland some early breathing space at 13-3, while the inclusion of his mercurial counterpart continued to baffle.

Michalak, chosen as penalty kicker for the day over Morgan Parra — another mystifying decision from the French camp considering the scrum-half’s 84 per cent kicking success rate in the French Top 14 league this year — missed two penalties Parra would likely have slotted and confused his teammates in attack, opting for plays that the blues were seemingly unprepared for. Ultimate French prowess when it works, European absurdity when it doesn’t.

Although France made the running in the first half, clocking up 129 metres made to Ireland’s 79, the home side were good value for their ten-point lead at the break.

In a fragmented second half, in which frenzied periods of play repeatedly fizzled out into nothing, Ireland failed to add to their 13-point half-time tally and France made the most of Ireland’s regular second-half impotence.

Parra, given the opportunity to kick at goal, slotted a tough 40-metre penalty wide on the left touchline, adding further incredulity to the decision to select Michalak as dead ball kicker in the first half, and rest the game on a seven-point margin at 13-6.

Though France hardly threatened the Irish line all game, the forced substitutions of both Ireland’s centres — Brian O’Driscoll and Luke Marshall, who were taken from the field dazed simultaneously — led to a determined drive over the line from Picamoles with less than six minutes on the clock to give the visitors a converted try and tie the scores up at 13 apiece.

Ireland looked to hit back instantly from the restart and, when Connor Murray lifted the ball over the heads of the French outside quarters into the try zone, a rapidly advancing Keith Earls was nudged out by the superb Picamoles, who showed heroism in defence merely two minutes after touching down for France’s five points.