France 40
Ireland 5
Ireland fell to their second defeat of the Six Nations campaign as they were overpowered by a slick France side in Toulouse on Saturday afternoon.
The French had the bonus point wrapped up by half time and added two more in the second half as they made light work of a positive but error-prone Irish side.
Melissande Llorens, Laure Sansus, Audrey Forlani and Clara Joyeux all crossed in the first half as France took a 26-0 lead into the break.
Sansus added a second after the break and, though Eve Higgins eventually got across the line for Ireland, Emilie Boulard sealed a very comfortable win for France.
Ireland looked to play attacking rugby but were overwhelmed by the home side’s power in the scrum and found the line speed of the semi-pro French side difficult to deal with.
The set-piece was a constant concern for Ireland as neither scrum nor lineout ever functioned, with the former leaking penalty after penalty in both halves.
Ireland travelled to Toulouse with little expectation of victory and so it proved as they were blown away by a relentless French side early doors.
France led from the second minute as an extended period of pressure ended with Dorothy Wall infringing at the ruck and Caroline Drouin put the penalty over the bar.
It was all the home side for the opening few minutes but Ireland looked to have got the game’s first try as Higgins crossed on eight minutes.
Sam Monaghan pulled out a wondrous offload from the back of a lineout and the centre danced her way through the French defence to go over.
The referee’s attention was called by the TMO, however, to an incident earlier in the move as Wall was rightly pinged for holding back a French player.
France took full advantage as France went up the other end and led within three minutes as the hosts monstered the Irish scrum before Llorens was fed in for an easy run-in.
Drouin added a second penalty to put her side 13-0 to the good and, though Aimee Leigh Murphy Crowe put in an outstanding tackle to deny Boulard a try, the pressure didn’t relent.
Francehad begun to use their scrum as a weapon and, after marching the Irish pack back and the inevitable penalty advantage was signalled, Sansus cantered over on the blindside.
Try number three came just past the half hour as the impressive lock Madoussou Fall was held up short but Forlani comes in to take the ball and burrow over.
The bonus point came two minutes before half time as Joyeux grounded the ball in the corner despite a superb effort from Neve Jones to hold it up on the ground.
Ireland introduced Beibheann Parsons, who has been controversially benched for the first two games of the championship, for Eimear Considine at the break.
She had a brush with the law inside two minutes as she was judged to have put in a high tackle on Boulard, but she got away with just a penalty conceded.
The relentless French surge continued, though, and Sansus again profited off the back of a dominant scrum to scamper over the line.
And then came the best period of Irish play of the game, a sustained period of pressure in the French half.
A powerful Linda Djougang carry put France on the back foot and Nicole Cronin found Higgins in midfield. There was no doubt this time as she jinked her way to the line.
Familiar problems resurfaced as Ireland once again proved the architects of their own misfortune as they dropped the ball playing out from their own five-metre line.
Under pressure, Ireland conceded a penalty and France took a quick tap, moved it quickly left and Boulard touched down in the corner.
The same player was sin-binned in added time as she inadvertently made head-to-head contact with Higgins, the referee rightly mitigating it down from the standard red.
France: Emilie Boulard; Cyrielle Banet, Maelle Filopon, Gabrielle Vernier, Melissande Llorens; Caroline Drouin, Laure Sansus; Coco Lindelauf, Laure Touye, Clara Joyeux, Madoussou Fall, Audrey Forlani, Axelle Berthoumieu, Gaelle Hermet (captain), Romane Menager.
Replacements: Celia Domain, Annaelle Deshayes, Assia Khalfaoui, Celine Ferer, Julie Annery, Alexandra Chambon, Jessy Tremouliere, Chloe Jacquet.
Ireland: Eimear Considine; Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, Eve Higgins, Stacey Flood, Lucy Mulhall; Nicole Cronin, Aoibheann Reilly; Linda Djougang, Neve Jones, Katie O'Dwyer, Nichola Fryday (capt), Sam Monaghan; Dorothy Wall, Edel McMahon, Brittany Hogan
Replacements: Emma Hooban, Chloe Pearse, Christy Hanley, Anna McGann, Hannah O'Connor, Kathryn Dane, Enya Breen, Beibhinn Parsons
