Ireland and France have traded victories and losses in recent Six Nations campaigns but only one side ever looked like winning on Thursday night.
From minute one at the UCD Bowl, in front of a sell-out crowd, France tore into the World Cup hosts.
With the likes of Romane Menager, Caroline Ladagnous and Safi N’Diaye running amok, Ireland were forced to batten down the hatches and ride out one hell of a storm. They came up for air a few times in the first half but were mostly pummelled under the waves. 21-0 down at the break and fortunate it was not more.
Ireland then showed what they were made of with a stirring second half performance but, for all their possession and territorial advantage, they only managed one score and that was in stoppage time. World Cup dreams over and only fifth place, at best, to play for.
Given the fact that Ireland rallied so well and that France were always due to be a tricky prospect, Tom Tierney’s team did not cop too much flak as they left the field of play. On the contrary, they received a standing ovation from the home crowd.
Some may have tempered their criticisms of Ireland as they did not wish to be perceived as being overly critical of a female team. There are quite a few amateurs in the squad while the likes of England, New Zealand, France and Canada are very well funded.
Soft-stepping around the fact that Ireland were outclassed by France and guilty of a lot of poor play would, in fact, be doing them a disservice. They deserve to be critiqued as strongly and fairly as their male counterparts.
Unto the breach stepped former Ireland men’s national team coach Eddie O’Sullivan. Before, during and after the game, O’Sullivan laid his cards out and did not spare any Irish feelings. Not long after the final whistle, he declared:
“Our backline has been shambolic in the whole tournament. Today it was worse than ever… This backline here looked like they didn’t know what they were at.
“They’re not bad players and there is no point in saying that… [but] you have to ask the question, ‘What were they trying to do?’ We have an idea of what they were trying to do but they never got near the level of execution you need at this level.”
"Our back line has been shambolic in the whole tournament." – Eddie O'Sullivan. #IREvFRA #WRWC2017 pic.twitter.com/waKjaIeRqX
— eir Sport (@eirSport) August 17, 2017
O’Sullivan deflected much of the heat away from the players, and in the likes of Sene Naoupu, Hannah Tyrrell and Alison Miller Ireland have game-breakers, while suggesting that the coaching was not up to speed.
Kim Flood and Tania Rosser, two former Ireland players who were on punditry duty, initially looked taken aback by O’Sullivan’s comments but appeared to be agreeing with him on many points.
Harsh words but we are sure the players themselves will take some learnings from the former Ireland coach’s constructive criticism.
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