French test the measure of how far Ireland have come

STRAINING: Ireland's Dorothy Wall strives to keep the maul moving during Ireland's comprehensive Women's Six Nations win over Italy at Galway's Dexcom Stadium. Pic: Inpho

Women's Six Nations: Ireland 57 Italy 20

With this dominant performance added to a sense of grievance from last September’s World Cup quarter-final exit, Ireland will travel to Clermont’s Stade Marcel-Michelin with plenty of motivation and belief that a Rd 3 victory over France is within their grasp.

History is not on their side, having never won on French soil in 13 attempts nor beaten Les Bleues in their last nine meetings dating back to 2017.

Yet the last coming together of France and Ireland was a close-run thing, an 18-13 last-eight defeat in Exeter which left a bitter taste in Irish mouths, and French flanker Axelle Berthoumieu with a mouthful of Aoife Wafer’s arm. 

The bite, when Ireland were leading 13-0 on 42 minutes, went unpunished during the game but resulted in a 12-match ban after the fact.

Head coach Scott Bemand described that afternoon as “the game that could have, should have, would have”. Yet it was a game of fine margins and an Irish performance that adds hope to the thirst for vengeance which will accompany his squad into Saturday’s Women’s Six Nations round three encounter.

Irish captain Erin King admitted as much following her side’s emphatic nine-try demolition of the Italians in front of a home record 9,206 crowd at Dexcom Stadium when she agreed Ireland’s 2025 World Cup experience would fuel preparations this week.

“I think we'd be lying if we said it wasn't a bit of a revenge game,” King said. “I think we're that little bit more eager because of that. I suppose we showed in that game what we're capable of and that we are able to compete with the top four in the world and break into that top two of Six Nations.

“So, it'd be great to do it and put our talk into action.” 

The head coach sees the previous gulf in quality between Ireland and France narrowing based on that quarter-final showing from his players.

“What we know are the things we took from the quarter-final, the game that could have, should have, would have,” Bemand said. “You know, played again, if you play that 10 times, eight of them probably go your way.

“So, we know we've closed the gap. We're confident in our ability, or growing our ability to get to fire shots in such occasions. But going over to France, call it as it is, going over to France is one of the ultimate tests.” Bemand was more than satisfied with the response he got from his players in an electric first-half performance that belied the sluggish start at Twickenham seven days earlier, when England powered to a 21-0 interval lead on their way to a 33-12 opening-round victory.

Scrum-half Emily Lane, No.8 Aoife Wafer, debutant wing Robyn O’Connor, and prop Ellena Perry contributed tries in that first 40 minutes at Dexcom on Saturday but the opening period belonged to player of the match Beibhinn Parsons whose hat-trick of tries on her home ground was the undeniable highlight, fly-half Dannah O’Brien’s five successful conversions helping Ireland to a commanding 45-10 lead at the break.

The first-half fireworks proved a tough act to follow, though Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald stretched Ireland’s lead to 50-10 on 42 minutes before Veronica Madia’s response in the 49th. Brittany Hogan ended a long spell without a score in the 72nd minute as O’Brien added her sixth conversion while centre Alyssa D’Inca claimed a try bonus point for the Italians. Yet it was not nearly enough to prevent a second heavy Italian defeat in succession to the Irish, who won 54-12 in 2025.

Now comes the next challenge and Bemand believes Ireland are ready to meet it.

“It's going to be an incredible place. People that have been to Clermont know it's not a hostile environment, but the stands are steep, people are on top of you, people are going to have flags, there's going to be a band. It's the next layer for us.

“Now, we go there and if we're in a position to win it, we know it's going to be a tight game. If we go there and France come out on top, we know it's going to be a tight game. So, we're now starting to talk about margins and not about occasions and coping.

“So, we've got to go over there and we've got to take our best game with us. We've got to train for that this week, but we're developing a group that becomes more experienced as we go.

“So, is it this year? Could be. Why not? We get our best game out there and we believe we've got the characters and the firepower in the group to do that. And if it's not this time, then we'll go after it again next year, but we're definitely closing the gap.” 

IRELAND: S Flood; B Parsons, A Dalton (E Higgins, 53), N McGillivray, R O’Connor (A McGann, 56 - HIA); D O’Brien, E Lane (K Whelan, 67); E Perry (N O’Dowd, 53), C Moloney-MacDonald (N Jones, 53), L Djougang (S McGrath,53 ); R Campbell (S Monaghan, 53), F Tuite; B Hogan, E King – captain, A Wafer (D Wall, 53).

ITALY: V Ostuni Minuzzi; G Buso, A D'Incà, S Mannini, L Muzzo (M Sillari, 56); E Stevanin (V Madia, 43), S Stefan (A Bitonci, 56); G Maris (S Turani, h-t), V Vecchini (C Cheli, 56), A Pilani (V Zanette, h-t); V Fedrighi, E Costantini (G Duca, h-t); F Sgorbini, A Ranuccini (B Veronese, 59), E Giordano - captain.

Referee: Ella Goodman (South Africa).