Brian O'Driscoll says there are no 'panic buttons' being pressed after Ireland lost 22-26 to France on Saturday, their third World Cup warm-up defeat in a row.

Marc Lievremont's men overcame a slow start that saw them trail by eight points inside ten minutes, but scored 26 unanswered points to lead 26-8 on the 50 minute mark.

Jonathan Sexton and Sean O'Brien each touched down inside the last five minutes to put a respectable gloss on the scoreline for the hosts, but the defeat will give coach Declan Kidney a headache as he prepares to name his 30-man squad for the World Cup on Monday.

On this performance, some players may have played themselves out of selection, but O'Driscoll was reluctant to read too much into the defeat.

"This isn't the World Cup now, we're not in the group stages," he argued.

"There are no panic buttons being pressed. People will talk, but that's my first game this season and I'll get better, as will others. We're disappointed with parts of the performance, but we are still trying to build our final product, so that's something to work on next week."

England visit Dublin next Saturday for Ireland's final warm-up test and the Irish will hope to build some much needed momentum against Martin Johnson's side - as they did in the final Six Nations game last March.

Ireland were rounding off an underwhelming tournament when Johnson's Grand Slam chasing side visited Dublin.

The hosts outperformed England in every aspect of the game that day to record a 24-8 victory and a similarly impressive showing will be required next week if Ireland are to travel to New Zealand with any confidence.

"Obviously you want to learn something every game," said Kidney.

"The score was what it was but some aspects worked. We started better [than last week - a defeat to France in Bordeaux] and the set piece was stronger. The result is extremely disappointing and that's what you're judged on, it's not what we wanted.

"But it just shows we need all these games to get ready for the World Cup."

Prop Cian Healy left the field injured, but Kidney later explained that an already sore toe was trodden on by a French player and he will need just 'fresh air' to heal the bruising.

However, full back Felix Jones, making his first start for Ireland, presents more of a concern for the Ireland coach after he fell awkwardly on his ankle in the second half.

"Felix had an x-ray and there was no broken bone, but he will need a scan," said Kidney.

"It's only after that we will be able to assess it [his availability for New Zealand]. There's no bone broken so it's a check for ligament damage."

Jones' selection will be in doubt until the result of that scan is known, but Kidney is hoping for some positive news on the injury front from Tommy Bowe this week.

The Ospreys winger is key to any Irish hopes in New Zealand, but he has yet to feature for Ireland this season.

"Tommy joined in with us this week but we didn't think he was ready for this weekend," said Kidney. "He'll hopefully be putting himself forward for selection next week."

AFP