Ireland’s players won’t need motivating for Saturday’s clash with France at Stade Marcel-Michelin in Clermont (KO 8.10pm), as Scott Bemand’s side look to avenge their World Cup defeat.
If they’re to do that, however, they’ll have to do something no Irish team has done before in the Six Nations – win on French soil.
Beaten 38-17 by France in Le Mans two years ago, 27-15 in Belfast last year and 18-13 in the sides’ World Cup quarter-final clash in September, the gap between them is undoubtedly closing.
So much so that Ireland flanker Aoife Wafer believes this Ireland side can make history.
“I think this group has always had belief and it’ll be no different in France,” she said.
“I think we owe them one. The key factors will be that physicality fight again.
“That first half against England, we lost that battle, got a bit of a telling off at half-time and came out and were a lot more physical than England.
“Doing that for the full 80 minutes will be crucial. The maul tries and forward tries will be really big as well because France have a big pack.”
It was in that Le Mans caldron in 2024 that Wafer announced herself on the international scene with an all-action display capped by a try.
She knows what to expect on Saturday night – and what Ireland need to do to counter it.
“They’ve got brass bands in all the corners, and our job is to make sure they go as quiet as possible,” she said.
“You put a challenge up to them and all of a sudden the trumpets stop and the crowd stops and we start to impose ourselves on the game and just be absolutely dominant in it.”
Controversial
It was France who controversially ended Ireland’s World Cup semi-final aspirations at Sandy Park, 18-13, with France’s Axelle Berthoumieu subsequently hit with a 12-game ban (later reduced to nine) for biting Wafer.
The incident occurred in the 42nd minute with Ireland leading 13-0.
TV footage showed Berthoumieu biting Wafer on the arm with both the player and then Ireland captain Sam Monaghan bringing the incident to the referee’s attention.
The Independent Foul Play Review Committee (FPRC) hearing concluded that the TMO could not determine “clear and obvious foul play” at the time.
“I think we owe them one. The key factors will be that physicality fight again
France went on to score 18 unanswered second half points to deny Ireland a first semi-final appearance since 2014 – as well as a first win over Les Bleues since 2017.
The stats from Sandy Park left Ireland’s players with nightmares; 66 per cent possession and 65 per cent territory, while they made just 105 tackles compared to France’s 273.
In addition, France conceded 17 penalties and had three players yellow carded.
“Like everyone, we’ll probably have a little bit of that quarter-final hurt in them,” said Wafer.
“It’s probably something that’ll stay with us for a little while. I know personally I probably think about it a lot still. We get another week to rip into them.”
Fine fettle
Ireland head to Clermont in fine fettled having bounced back from their opening round 33-12 defeat to defending Six Nations champions and World Cup winners England, by running in nine tries against Italy.
Galway-born winger Béibhinn Parsons crossed for a hat-trick of tries on a “dream come true” day, as Ireland stormed to a 57-20 victory at Dexcom Stadium in the first-ever women’s Six Nations match to be staged in Galway.
Emily Lane, Wafer, Robyn O’Connor, Ellena Perry, Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald and Brittany Hogan also touched down. Fly half Dannah O’Brien added six conversions.
“It meant so much to us after last week to come out and put in a dominant performance,” said Ireland captain Erin King.
“We place a lot of emphasis on putting our words into action.
“We talk a lot about working hard and enjoying the game that we play.
“We went out there and played with smiles on our faces. We showed what we are all about and capable of.”
France, by contrast, laboured to a 38-7 victory over a spirited Wales side at Cardiff Arms Park, despite the final scoreline.
Top two places
For Bemand, Saturday is a further chance for this group of Ireland players to further guage their progress – from collecting the Wooden Spoon in 2023 to challenging for a place in the top two.
It’s seven years since the England-France monopoly of the top two places in the Six Nations table was disrupted, and that was by Italy.
Bemand has made no secret of Ireland’s desire to muscle their way in to that picture, but with England unstoppable at present the next best thing is beating France.
“We have got to take stock of this performance and go to France next week,” said Ireland’s head coach.
“We’re going to go after ourselves, there are some things to tidy up from today but if we get those bits right, we know we can put in a performance to compete with the French.”
He added: “We’ve just got to keep going. We think we are getting better.
“We see it in training. The first game away to England is as hard as it comes, as it next week, but we will just be looking after ourselves and we’ll keep trying to get better every time we play.
“We think we are getting a better and better group for that.”