Erin King says Ireland must learn to win the fine margins if they’re to muscle into the Women’s Six Nations top two.
Ireland had the better of the first half in Clermont but had three tries ruled out by the Television Match Official and another held up.
This meant the teams went in all square at the break, 7-7.
Ireland’s failure to turn their dominance into points came back to bite them in the second half as France ran in three unanswered tries to secure a 26-7 victory.
It leaves Ireland still waiting for their first victory on French soil, and their first win over France since 2017. A run now stretching to nine matches.
“Obviously, we’re probably frustrated,” said Ireland’s captain, King.
“Like Scott [Bemand, head coach) said, if we’d gotten those few tries that weren’t tries in the first half, it would have looked really different going into the second half.
“But that’s just rugby, and sometimes it’s about the ball, it’s inches, it’s a game of inches. Especially when you’re competing with the likes of France and the best in the world. It comes down to them fine margins.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Ireland centre Aoife Dalton, who had 11 carries and made ten tackles.
“We know we’re close, but when you play these top teams, it just comes down to us not being able to convert. At least one of them scores in the first half just came back to bite us a bit,” she said.
“We felt like we had a performance in us and if we could get our game going in a fast start we’d be able to test them and hopefully go to level 80. But we just couldn’t do it.”
Revenge
Motivated by a desire to avenge their 18-13 World Cup defeat to France in September at Sandy Park, Bemand’s side had started with an intensity and directness.
An early yellow card for France winger Pauline Barrat helped the visitors gain the momentum in front of a sold-out crowd of just over 17,000 at the home of Clermont Auvergne.
Cliodhna Maloney-MacDonald was forced over for Ireland’s opening try, but only after she (held up) and Brittany Hogan (double movement) had both been denied.
“We wanted a fast start, and I think we really brought that,” said King.
France rumbled over to level, although Aoife Wafter felt she’d prevented to grounding.
Ireland thought they were back in front when Maloney-MacDonald powered over, only for it to be ruled out for a knock-on by Emily Lane in the build-up.
It brought to an end a hugely impressive but frustrating first half for Ireland, who should have been well ahead.
Indeed, just under three-quarters of the first half had been played in French territory.
Frustrating
France took the lead for the first time ten minutes into the second half.
The home side had 14 points from six visits to the Irish 22, compared to just seven points from double the amount of visits for Ireland.
“It’s frustrating, but on the flip side, we show what we’re capable of and that we can compete with them,” added King, who was captaining Ireland for just the third time.
“We’re such a young squad and the learnings that we’ve gotten from that, you can’t get that anywhere else.
“I think we’re going to look at them learnings and tweak a few things, but really proud of the group and we’re just going to keep getting closer and closer and better and better, I think.”
The Six Nations takes a break next weekend with Ireland welcoming Wales to Affidea Stadium, Belfast, on Saturday 9 May.
A third consecutive third place finish in the tournament will now be the aim for an Ireland side which King says is “only getting better and better”.
“Our squad is so young, so every opportunity we get to play in front of crowds like this, it’s only getting us more experience and getting us better.
“So, we’ll take the positives out of that.”
Last weekend’s third round matches also produced wins for England over Scotland (62-24) and for Italy against Scotland (41-14).
