Ciara Griffin says earlier French class will count for nothing

Ciara Griffin says Ireland’s Six Nations victory over France earlier this year will mean nothing ahead of Thursday’s World Cup showdown at UCD.

Tom Tierney’s side must beat the French to reach the semi-final stage of the tournament, but come into the game off the back of two lukewarm performances against Australia (19-17) and Japan (24-14).

The hosts were expected to defeat both easily, but made hard work of the opening game against a physically superior Australian team, and needed all of their fighting spirit to come from behind against a Japan side that looked a class above in the first half but ultimately couldn’t hold out against Ireland’s fitness.