Higgins Claims Ireland’s Only Score In Six-Try Defeat

An improved second half showing, which included a slick Eve Higgins try, was not enough as Ireland went down 40-5 to highly-rated France at Toulouse’s Stade Ernest Wallon.

Higgins crossed in the 55th minute, sidestepping past player-of-the-match Laure Sansus in the process, but Greg McWilliams’ charges were always playing catch-up in their second TikTok Women’s Six Nations outing.

A disallowed Higgins try preceded a series of unconverted scores from Mélissande Llorens, scrum half Sansus, Audrey Forlani and Clara Joyeux as les Bleues built a 26-0 half-time lead.

Caroline Drouin contributed two penalties and as well as enduring scrum and lineout problems, Ireland struggled to retain possession with a high number of handling errors and a clutch of knock-ons.

The closing 40 minutes produced some positives for the girls in green, who host Italy in Cork next Sunday. Higgins did manage to open their account, but converted efforts from Sansus and Émilie Boulard sealed a comfortable home victory.

Neve Jones led Ireland’s early defensive effort, but France captain Gaëlle Hermet forced a penalty at the breakdown which out-half Drouin turned into the opening three points.

A lineout steal by Sam Monaghan allowed Ireland to build from deep, although Eimear Considine had to react quickly to tidy up scrappy ball and Aoibheann Reilly managed to kick clear past halfway.

Higgins unfortunately missed out on an eighth-minute try under the posts as Dorothy Wall was penalised for a pullback at the previous lineout. Still, Monaghan’s offload in the build-up and the centre’s crisp finish showed what the visitors could do.

Nonetheless, France increased their lead soon after, using a scrum penalty advantage to inject pace across the back-line and teenage winger Llorens reached over in the left corner past Considine.

With Ireland needing to iron out those set-piece issues and France continuing to dominate in the territory stakes, Drouin punished an offside to make it 11-0 in the 18th minute.

Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe denied Boulard a try with a crucial tackle, but the pressure told again when hometown favourite Sansus broke to the blindside of a scrum to score in the left corner, ahead of Wall.

The hosts maintained their stranglehold of possession and a powerful maul saw Madoussou Fall miss out on a try – Reilly did really well to stop her from scoring – before her second row partner Forlani got the grounding.

Ireland were struggling to hold onto the ball, a turnover at a maul robbing them of a decent attacking opportunity. In response, French prop Joyeux muscled over for a 37th-minute bonus point score despite the best efforts of Jones and Nicole Cronin to hold her up.

A late jinking run from Murphy Crowe, set up by great hands from Monaghan, raised the visitors’ spirits but the subsequent lineout off a penalty was stolen by les Bleues to add to Ireland’s growing frustration.

Christy Haney became Ireland’s third new cap of the 2022 Championship, helping to briefly steady the scrum on the restart. Beibhinn Parsons also entered the fray, replacing Considine in a rejigged back-three.

Penalties kept Ireland pinned back and the French scrum cranked up the power again. The Ireland pack, with Linda Djougang switching to tighthead, were driven back and Sansus used a clever dummy to complete her brace. Drouin sent over her first successful conversion.

Ireland responded with their best spell of the game, taking France through a mammoth amount of phases. Djougang and Haney carried strongly, the clearouts carried more venom and Stacey Flood showed her passing skills off quicker ball.

Murphy Crowe used good footwork on the right before Higgins outfoxed Sansus to the left of the posts and accelerated through a gap for a deserved score, which Cronin was unable to convert.

Now operating at a higher tempo, the tireless Lucy Mulhall brought Ireland forward again with a determined run up to halfway. However, with Annaëlle Deshayes a real powerhouse off the bench, France earned a couple of scrum penalties off Irish put-ins.

A costly knock-on in their own 22 led to Ireland conceding a sixth try, full-back Boulard the beneficiary of an overlap to run in close to the posts. Replacement Jessy Trémoulière, who had taken an initial quick tap, converted to make it 40-5.

Ireland had more possession during the closing stages, with Hannah O’Connor, Parsons and Kathryn Dane all prominent, but they could not take advantage of Boulard’s 83rd-minute sin-binning for a high tackle on Higgins.

TIME LINE: 3 minutes – France penalty: Caroline Drouin – 3-0; 11 mins – France try: Mélissande Llorens – 8-0; conversion: missed by Caroline Drouin – 8-0; 18 mins – France penalty: Caroline Drouin – 11-0; 23 mins – France try: Laure Sansus – 16-0; conversion: missed by Caroline Drouin – 16-0; 30 mins – France try: Audrey Forlani – 21-0; conversion: missed by Caroline Drouin – 21-0; 37 mins – France try: Clara Joyeux – 26-0; conversion: missed by Caroline Drouin – 26-0; Half-time – France 26 Ireland 0; 47 mins – France try: Laure Sansus – 31-0; conversion: Caroline Drouin – 33-0; 55 mins – Ireland try: Eve Higgins – 33-5; conversion: missed by Nicole Cronin – 33-5; 66 mins – France try: Émilie Boulard – 38-5; conversion: Jessy Trémoulière – 40-5; 80+3 mins – France yellow card: Émilie Boulard; Full-time – France 40 Ireland 5

FRANCE WOMEN: Émilie Boulard (RC Chilly Mazarin); Cyrielle Banet (Montpellier RC), Maëlle Filopon (Stade Toulousain), Gabrielle Vernier (Blagnac Rugby Féminin), Mélissande Llorens (Blagnac Rugby Féminin); Caroline Drouin (Stade Rennais), Laure Sansus (Stade Toulousain); Coco Lindelauf (Blagnac Rugby Féminin), Laure Touyé (Montpellier RC), Clara Joyeux (Blagnac Rugby Féminin), Madoussou Fall (Stade Bordelais), Audrey Forlani (Blagnac Rugby Féminin), Axelle Berthomieu (Blagnac Rugby Féminin), Gaëlle Hermet (Stade Toulousain) (capt), Romane Ménager (Montpellier RC).

Replacements used: Annaëlle Deshayes (Lyon Olympique Universitaire) for Lindelauf, Céline Ferer (Stade Toulousain) for Fall, Assia Khalfaoui (Stade Bordelais) for Joyeux, Jessy Trémoulière (ASM Romagnat Rugby) for Drouin (all 56 mins), Alexandra Chambon (FC Grenoble Amazones) for Sansus (60), Julie Annery (Stade Francais) for Hermet (63), Chloé Jacquet (Lyon Olympique Universitaire) for Vernier, Célia Domain (Blagnac Rugby Féminin) for Touyé (both 69).

IRELAND WOMEN: Eimear Considine (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster); Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union RFC/Munster), Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC/Leinster), Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC/Leinster), Lucy Mulhall (Wicklow RFC/Leinster); Nicole Cronin (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster), Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht); Linda Djougang (ASM Romagnat Rugby/Leinster), Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury/Ulster), Katie O’Dwyer (Railway Union RFC/Leinster), Nichola Fryday (Exeter Chiefs/Connacht) (capt), Sam Monaghan (Wasps/IQ Rugby), Dorothy Wall (Blackrock College RFC/Munster), Edel McMahon (Wasps/IQ Rugby), Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster).

Replacements used: Christy Haney (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) for O’Dwyer, Beibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht) for Considine (both half-time), Hannah O’Connor (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) for Hogan, Emma Hooban (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) for Jones, Kathryn Dane (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster) for Reilly (all 56 mins), Anna McGann (Railway Union RFC/Connacht) for Fryday, Enya Breen (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster) for Flood (both 73). Not used: Chloe Pearse (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster).

Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)