Ireland take another Six Nations hammering as France win by 50

Les Bleus battered Ireland by a record 50-point margin, with seven of their nine tries coming after their loosehead prop Annaëlle Deshayes was red-carded

DESPERATE MEASURES: Cyrielle Banet of France is tackled by Méabh Deely of Ireland, for which Deely was shown a yellow card, during the TikTok Women's Six Nations Rugby Championship match at Musgrave Park in Cork. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Women’s Six Nations 

Ireland 3 France 53

France played an hour of this Six Nations contest with 14 players, not that anyone noticed.

Les Bleus battered Ireland by a record 50-point margin, with seven of their nine tries coming after loosehead prop Annaëlle Deshayes was red-carded. That incident led to Ireland’s only points; a Dannah O’Brien penalty to mark her first Six Nations start.

It leaves Ireland winless from two games, with only eight points scored, and a minus-76 points difference.

Ireland wanted to bring the physicality they lacked against Wales early in front of the Musgrave Park crowd. That they did, if just for the opening moments before France’s power began to tell. Aoife Dalton and Linda Djougang forced turnovers on the ground and they would’ve had two more but for play being called back for earlier indiscretions.

When France got going forward, they ate up the ground with ease. Captain Audrey Forlani and Charlotte Escudero charged over would-be tacklers as if they weren’t there and Forlani was at the end again to burst over from close range.

Their second try came in the 13th minute. Carla Arbez’s kick somersaulted off the ground and cruelly back over the head of Natasja Behan. Caroline Boujard, the winger with the lightning-bolt scrum cap, was onto it in a flash.

Pauline Bourdon pulled both conversions badly left and wide.

Ireland got a lifeline when Deshayes was sent-off for a dangerous high hit on Deirbhile Nic a Bháird. O’Brien was impressive with the boot and slotted the penalty to cut the gap to seven, 10-3.

The numerical disadvantage didn’t slow France down and they scored more tries with 14 players in the second quarter than they did with a full complement in the first.

Arbez’s dink over the top created the opening and Ireland’s ruck defence fell asleep, with Forlani steaming straight through and offloading for Bourdon to dot down. Debutant Morgane Bourgeois successfully took over the kicking duties for her first international points.

The missed tackle stats were the most damning. Ireland were averaging close to a missed tackle every minute of the first half, despite having 45% possession. They had more missed tackles by the half-hour (26) than they did all day against Wales (25). By the half, they had averaged a missed tackle for every four attempts (33 out of 128 attempts). France had missed five.

Of course, France’s deadly precision and pace accounted for a good chunk of that disparity.

Bourdon charged down O’Brien to give them the bonus point by the 32nd minute. It was the same minute in which Wales had secured their try bonus.

Three minutes later, Bourdon turned down a sure-fire chance at a hat-trick, scrum-halving to Gabrielle Vernier to finish off a line-out maul move. Bourgeois narrowly missed both conversions.

Only a Behan tackle stopped Cyrielle Banet adding a sixth try, keeping it to 27-3 at the break.

Ireland were improved on the restart, led by the dynamic Nic a Bháird and Grace Moore. Their pack forced the first of two scrum penalties, while there were debuts for Emma Swords, Kathryn Buggy, and Clara Nielson.

France didn’t enter the Irish 22 for 15 minutes but once they did, they scored each time. Both came from mauls, with Agathe Sochat finishing the first and Banet diving over after the second. Bourgeois converted the first of the two.

They almost added an another in the 70th minute but Méabh Deely stopped Banet by pulling her back by the ponytail. Deely was sin-binned and Vernier crossed in the corner moments later.

The French scrum had its best moment late on, driving over for Charlotte Escudero to collapse on the ball. Jessy Tremouliere converted both.

Scorers for Ireland: Pen - D O’Brien.

Scorers for France: Tries - P Bourdon 2, G Vernier 2, A Forlani, C Bourjard, A Sochat, C Banet, C Escudero; Cons - M Bourgeois 2, J Tremouliere 2.

IRELAND: M Deely; A Doyle (L Delany 71), A Dalton, V Irwin (A McGann 51), N Behan; D O’Brien, M Scuffil-McCabe (E Swords 51); L Djougang (K Buggy 71), N Jones (C Nielson 76), C Haney (S McGrath 57); N Fryday (capt) (H O’Connor 71), S Monaghan; D Wall, G Moore (B Hogan 57), D Nic a Bháird.

Sin bin: M Deely (70-80).

FRANCE: M Bourgeois; C Banet, M Menager (M Dupouy 60), G Vernier, C Boujard; C Arbez (J Tremouliere 51), P Bourdon (A Chambon 58); A Deshaye, A Sochat (E Riffoneau 64), C Joyeux (A Khalfaoui 57); M Feleu, A Forlani (capt) (M Picut 65); A Berthoumieu (C Lindelauf 24), E Gros (G Hermet 51), C Escudero.

Red card: A Deshaye (21).

Referee: H Davidson (SRU).