Women: France 8 Ireland 7

Ireland’s Women came up short on Saturday afternoon losing by a single point in an exciting match against France that kept the crowd of 9,000 at Stade du Hameau, Pau, on their feet till the final whistle.

Ireland thought they had won a late penalty chance under the posts to win the game but the referee played on and the host team held out to take the game.

Due to a mix up in Paris over train times the Ireland team had to take an overnight train to Pau and with the kick off time moved forward, as a precaution against the freezing conditions, it was no surprise that the Irish girls were slow to get into the game allowing France to exert early pressure.

An unfortunate knock on by Ireland game France an attacking scrum ten meters out and wing Caroline Ladagnous crossed shortly after to give the hosts a 5 – 0 lead.

French centre  Sandrine Agricole added a penalty before the break as the home side, roared on by the vociferous support, took the Irish girls on up front.

Ireland were able to turn the tables after the break and it looked as though they had made an ideal start to the second half when Niamh Kavanagh sliced through the home defence to touch down only for play to be called back for an earlier infringement.

Ireland continued to up the pressure and brought on a host of players, including Ulster’s Larisssa Muldoon and Nikki Caughey for a final push after the yellow carding of French prop Cristelle Chobet on 68 minutes.

Muldoon and Caughey looked to up the pace of attack and Ireland made the player advantage count when wing forward Claire Molloy found space to cross with Niamh Briggs adding the extras to set up a tense finish.

Ireland did everything they could to force a late penalty but despite looking to have achieved just that right under the posts the referee played on and France managed to scramble clear and close out the game.

Speaking after the game Ireland Captain Fiona Coghlan viewed the game as a missed chance for Ireland’s first win on French soil.

We had most of the possession but we fell asleep for 20 minutes and that’s when they capitalised and scored their try. Then it was just too little, too late really.

There was a huge home support but after half-time it was all us. In fairness, credit to France and their defence but it was all us.

We had a few bad decisions and a few unforced errors but hats off to the girls for the way they came back.

We were trying to force a penalty at the end. We thought we had one under the posts but the referee played on. We tried to keep the ball in hand to try and get either a score or a penalty out of it but unfortunately it didn’t go our way.

Ireland Women: (15-9) Ashleigh Baxter, Niamh Kavanagh , Niamh Briggs, Grace Davitt, Alison Miller, Lynne Cantwell, Amy Davis. (1-8) Fiona Coghlan, Gillian Bourke, Ailis Egan, Marie Louise Reilly, Sophie Spence, Laura Guest, Claire Molloy, Joy Neville. (16-22) Paula Fitzpatrick, Ruth O’Reilly, Siobhan Fleming, Heather O’Brien, Larissa Muldoon, Nikki Caughey, Jennifer Murphy

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