The Ireland coach Greg McWilliams tried to put in a protective context: “France are number three in the world, they’re an outstanding side, even with a player down. Their skill set was stronger than ours, we saw that, we saw their ability to move the ball, to use their foot work to get to softer shoulders, to get their offloading game going. They played at a pace that we couldn’t live with. Now we’ve experienced that we can work to improve on that.
On Saturday, Ireland had no answers. Their spirit never failed, and if their discipline was poor at times it was just a symptom of how much pressure they were under. There were short bursts of cohesion in attack, and a handful of gain-line triumphs, but not enough to make a difference. Ireland simply couldn’t cope with France’s power and their blistering athleticism. The visitors’ half-backs, Pauline Bourdon and Carla Arbez, controlled with the game with their vision and dynamism, and Bourdon, especially, was irrepressible. She had two tries before half-time and would have had a third without a hugely generous pass to Gabrielle Vernier a couple of metres from the Irish line.
Young Dannah O’Brien did well on her debut at outhalf, and on a blustery afternoon her thoughtful, prodigious kicking provided Ireland with a reasonable share of field position in the first half. But Ireland’s visits to the French 22 were undone by bluntness or handling errors, or both.
IRFURugby .... Such bad sportsmanship, glad it wasn't a MAN we'd never here the end of it .... stop wasting money on Women 15's, stick to 7's where we have a chance of picking 10 players, 15's need 35 on panel, not than in the whole of Ireland good enough !!
A hair raising win for Ireland!
Ironic picture contradicting the article title!
Should be a red card!
That’s some picture