Ireland came agonisingly close to advancing to a World Cup semi-final after losing to France in Exeter on Sunday.
The players and staff will be bitterly disappointed that this is how their tournament ended. They had so many opportunities within the game that they'll feel this is the one that got away.
The weather conditions favoured Ireland in the first half, which allowed them to build a score and keep France scoreless. They started the second half strongly too. It wasn’t a case of hanging onto the French coat tails and being dominated for the game. Ireland were the aggressors and controlled the set piece exchanges, which goes a long way to winning a match in such difficult conditions.
Going into half-time at 13-0, Ireland would have been satisfied with their tally, but at the back of their minds they’d know that the period of pressure before half-time was a big moment in the game.
They failed to score after almost 10 minutes of being camped in the French 22. They rolled a maul deep into the French 22 meter area, then decided to take a scrum with the resulting penalty 5 meters from the French line. You’d wonder what would have happened had they stuck to their maul, although France had been competitive in that area.
Ireland had been totally dominant in the scrum, so you could see their reasoning. A scrum advantage allowed Ireland to have a free play to score. Confusingly, the scrum advantage was merely a free kick, meaning Ireland had to tap and go instead of opting for another scrum.
France held Ireland out in impressive fashion. Upon reflection, this was the moment that laid the foundations for the French win. Ireland didn’t build enough of a lead.
Statistically, Ireland would have expected to score more than four tries from their entries into the French territory. They scored just two.
A 13 point lead facing into a wind of that magnitude meant that they'd have to score in the second half to progress to a World Cup semi-final, which they failed to do.
Ireland will be frustrated with some of the moments that got away from them in the second half.
After six minutes of dominance at the start of the second half, Ireland had taken the sting out of the French rally, before a penalty was reversed to gift France three points. Ireland had won three scrum penalties, but as the third advantage was being played out, Aoife Wafer tackled the tackler and was deemed to have tackled a player off the ball.
France got a score on the board and started to chase Ireland down. The longer Ireland could have frustrated them, the more France would have forced their game and with the conditions in Exeter, it would have made life very difficult.
Ireland’s breakdown, or the French jackal threat, was another massive factor within the game. Ireland’s next entry into the French 22 was stopped by a jackal penalty, allowing France to get away from their own goal and set up their comeback.
Grace Moore was yellow-carded just seconds after taking to the field. It was an unfortunate head contact from an upright tackle, but it meant that she spent 10 minutes on the sideline, leading to the first French try.
Ireland’s defence from the tap and go penalty left Dannah O’ Brien and Aoibheann Reilly together on the short side of the ruck and France pounced with their forwards in a pre-rehearsed move. Given another chance, I’m sure Ireland would have split their resources differently across the pitch.
Still, Ireland were ahead up the 65th minute. They were attacking deep in the French half, and if they could have scored at all, you feel that France wouldn’t have been able to turn them over.
Ireland lost the ball in another breakdown and in typical French fashion, they transitioned effectively, getting the ball out wide to Grisez who couldn't be caught. Because of the conditions and Ireland’s attack tightening up to deal with the conditions, they were too narrow to stop the transition attack.
It felt as though the game was gone from them at this stage. However, Ireland rallied twice more to get to within metres of the French line. On the 71st minute, they were five meters from scoring but France came up with yet another breakdown turnover.
Losing a game is hard enough, especially when it marks the end of your tournament, but the most agonising part of this is that Ireland finished the game with possession and winning the game was slightly in their own control.
The won a maul penalty to kick closer to the French line but a disrupted lineout signalled the end of the game, and heartbreak for Ireland.
It’s hugely disappointing for Irish rugby fans. However, you have to give credit to Ireland for how they conducted themselves under Scott Bemand. A team that had to turn things around from missing the last World Cup and competing in WXV3, to competing with the 4th ranked team and arguably being the better team on the day.
This team have gained many more supporters throughout the tournament, and influenced the next generation, but it will offer little consolation in the days ahead as the team deals with their disappointment.
Watch New Zealand v Canada in the Women's Rugby World Cup semi-finals on Friday from 6.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
