France Women 18 Ireland Women 6
Ireland's women's Six Nations defence took a blow after being defeated by a dogged French side in front of a hostile crowd in USA Perpignan's home ground the Stade Aimé Giral.
A physical Les Bleues showed their statement of intent after an initial opening quarter where both sides were getting a feel for each other.
French out-half Audrey Abadie and Irish fullback and captain Niamh Briggs exchanged penalties during this period.
With the French camped two metres from the Irish line and their maul in good shape captain and hooker Gaëlle Mignot crashed over for the first try of the evening at 20 minutes. Abadie failed to add the extras.
Less than five minutes later wing Caroline Boujard scored a stunning intercept try. This time Abadie nailed the conversion, taking the score to 15 points to 3.
Ireland’s women, however, did not wilt and after some good scrummaging that built a platform for the backs, referee Jess Beard from New Zealand awarded a penalty right in front of the posts, which Briggs slotted over to claw back to within nine points of the hosts.
The score remained 15-6 going into the interval. Buoyed by an 11,158 strong crowd, the French had a chance to further pull away less than four minutes into the second stanza but Abadie missed the penalty.
With La Marseillaise ringing out from the stands in the final moments of the match the Irish continued to press for the try that had eluded them all night with some stellar work from replacements such as out half Nora Stapleton and prop Lindsay Peat.
The final score of 18-6 did not reflect the Irish effort, although it was simple errors such as not protecting possession of the ball that cost them.
Scoring sequence: 5mins: A Abadie pen, 3-0; 14mins: N Briggs pen, 3-3; 20mins: G Mignot try, 8-3; 23mins: C Boujard try, 13-3; 25mins: A Abadie con, 15-3; 32mins: N Briggs pen, 15-6; Half time 69mins: L Deals pen, 18-6.
France Women: J Billes; C Boujard, L Godiveau, E Poublan, L Delas; A Abadie, Y Rivoalen; L Arricastre, G Mignot(capt), J Duval, C Ferer, A Forlani, L Grand, P Rayssac, Safi N'Diaye.
Replacements: Ait Lahbib for Arricastre (at 52mins),
Menagerie for Forlani (at 54mins),
Carricaburu for Duval, Sansus for Rivolen (both at 57mins), J Annery for Rayssac (at 60mins), Imart for AAbadie (64 mins),
A Sochat for G Mignot (74mins).
Ireland Women: N Briggs (capt); E O'Byrne White, A Donnelly, Sene Naoupu, M Coyne; N Caughey, L Muldoon; R O'Reilly, C Moloney, A Egan, S Spence, M L Reilly, P Fitzpatrick, C Molloy, H O'Brien.
Replacements: L Peat for R O’Reilly, C Griffin for H O’Brien (both at 47mins), N Stapleton for NCaughey (66 mins), Z Grattage for C Moloney (70 mins) F Reidy for A Egan (74mins).
Referee: Jess Beard (New Zealand).
