Comprehensive 53-3 winners when the two sides met at Musgrave Park in the second round of last year’s tournament, France wrapped up a bonus point victory by the 62nd minute courtesy of tries from Pauline Bourdon Sansus, Marine Menager, Madoussou Fall and Agathe Sochat. However, Aoife Wafer and Aoife Dalton crossed over for Ireland in the closing minutes and with Italy set to visit the RDS tomorrow week (March 31), there are some positives for their head coach Scott Bemand to glean from this game.

Without a win over France since the 2017 Six Nations, Ireland endured a difficult start when Bourdon Sansus dotted down for a third-minute try that was supplemented by a conversion from her half-back partner Lina Queyroi.

This was an ominous start for Bemand’s charges, but after the French experienced some unexpected issues with their line-out, Irish fly-half Nicole Fowley cut the gap to four points by comfortably knocking over a 40-metre penalty on 14 minutes.

In addition to Fowley (playing in the Six Nations for the first time since 2019) deploying an effective kicking game, stout defensive work from Ireland was frustrating their French counterparts as the opening half progressed.

Yet Les Bleues maintained a potent attacking threat and they were in for a second try just past the half-hour when winger Menager side-stepped an attempted challenge from Lauren Delany to cross over in fine style.

Having supplied the extras to this five-pointer, Queyroi also slotted a 38th minute penalty between the posts to leave Ireland 17-3 in arrears at the interval.

The visitors did their utmost to hold firm on the resumption, but after initially coming up short from a series of five-metre drives, France added a third try when their powerful lock Fall crashed over underneath the posts on 47 minutes.

With Queyroi maintaining her perfect record off the tee from the ensuing conversion, Ireland were now staring down the barrel of a sixth straight Championship defeat – following on from last year’s winless Six Nations campaign. France, on the other hand, now had a bonus point in their sights.

While debutant Kelly Arbey had a try ruled out in the 56th minute for an earlier forward pass, hooker Sochat rounded off a set-piece move inside the final-quarter to ensure the French came away with a maximum return from this game.

Credit must go to Ireland, however, as (instead of allowing their heads to drop) they continued to play with considerable spirit in the dying embers of the play.

From their first sustained spell of possession inside the opposition ‘22’, blindside flanker Wafer powered over on 71 minutes – under intense pressure from the retreating French rearguard. Even though France’s replacement hooker Elisa Riffonneau responded at the opposition with a try off another effective set-piece manoeuvre, Dalton capitalised on a defensive error to touch down three minutes from the end.

Scorers for France: Tries – P Bourdon Sansus, M Menager, M Fall, A Sochat, E Riffonneau. Pens – L Queyroi. Cons – L Queyroi (4), M Bourgeois.

Scorers for Ireland: Tries – A Wafer, A Dalton. Pens – N Fowley. Cons – D O’Brien (2).

FRANCE: E Boulard; K Arbey, N Konde, G Vernier, M Menager; L Queyroi, P Bourdon Sansus; A Deshaye, A Sochat, A Khalfaoui; M Feleu, M Fall; C Escudero, G Hermet, R Menager.

Replacements: M Bourgeois for M Menager (44), E Gros for Fall (51), A Mwayembe for Deshaye (56), A Chambon for Bourdon Sansus (61), E Riffonneau for Sochat, C Joyeux for Khalfaoui (both 65), K Zago for Feleu (67), L Tuy for Queyroi (72).

IRELAND: L Delany; K Corrigan, E Higgins, A Dalton, B Parsons; N Fowley, A Reilly; L Djougang, N Jones, C Haney; D Wall, H O’Connor; A Wafer, E McMahon, B Hogan.

Replacements: D O’Brien for Fowley (h-t), G Moore for McMahon (51), F Tuite for Wall (56), M Scuffil-McCabe for Reilly, S McGrath for Haney (both 63), M Deely for Corrigan (67), N O’Dowd for Djougang, S Delaney for Jones (both 77).

Referee: K Roche (USA)