Ireland go down fighting

France 19 Ireland 15

Philip Doyle’s side came close to denying the French on home soil for the first time in their history thanks to a feisty second-half performance, but in the end, the 2014 World Cup hosts had too much in the tank.

France were the favourites going into the tie, given they had not conceded a try in their previous four games, but two pushover tries by Munster’s Gillian Bourke on the 58th and 70th minutes tainted their clean sheet.