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14-woman France tot up ugly scoreline against Ireland


Cyrielle Banet of France is tackled by Méabh Deely of Ireland, for which Deely was soown a yellow card, during the TikTok Women's Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Ireland and France at Musgrave Park in Cork. (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
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TikTok Women’s Six Nations: Ireland suffered a second straight Six Nations defeat after being thrashed 53-3 by France.

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The Irish needed a big performance following their opening weekend loss against Wales, but were torn apart by France – who easily made it two wins from two and ran in nine tries despite having Annaelle Deshaye sent off early on.

Audrey Forlani broke through a gap to find the opening try nine minutes in and they quickly earned their second five minutes later when Carla Arbez’s kick bounced fortunately for Caroline Boujard, allowing her to charge forward and touch down.

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Deshaye was shown a red card for a high tackle in the 20th minute and Ireland put their first points on the board from the resulting penalty but, despite being a player down France then added their third try after a good hand off from Forlani saw Pauline Bourdon burst through to ground between the posts.

Bourdon quickly scored a second after making a great block from Dannah O’Brien’s attempted kick to secure the bonus point and the scrum-half very nearly earned her hat-trick, but unselfishly passed for Gabrielle Vernier to cross.

Although Ireland had a brighter start to the second half, France used the driving maul effectively for Agathe Sochat to extend their lead and a bounced pass saw Cyrielle Banet ground in the right corner.

France showed no sign of easing up in the final 10 minutes as Vernier earned her second of the game before Charlotte Escudero finished off a dominant afternoon for the visitors with their ninth try.

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cnw 4 hours ago
Why South Africa's ‘scrum dominance’ gospel is spreading around the world

I think it was pretty much the top Bok team in the RGR PMcD. Snyman and Kwagga the only regular forwards missing from the Bok squad over the last 24 months. By the same token the ABs did not have Scott B or Tamaiti Williams (or Brodie or Frizzell - though they were not regulars in 2024/2025). But I agree that the gap between the ABs and this top Bok pack is significant at the scrum. And while I agree with NB that the penalty fest is “stoopid”, the ABs can’t expect to win the WC with a deficient pack. However, the combination of a back five of Scott B, Holland, Vaa’i, Lakai and Sititi has already clearly improved the power IMO. You may have also noted that the ABs had about a 45% continuity rate through the RGR in the forwards while the Boks had the same forward units from test 2 - 4. If Rennie is worth his salt, he will give this back five at least two of the NC games (Scotland and England), alongside EDG, Taylor and Newell, to continue to build cohesion and then have them play the NC final. Ditto with the impact pack - though I am undecided whether Numia or Bower, Tosi or Lomax -should be the LHP and THP.

Anyway back to your point, I think we saw the best Bok forward units in the RGR, and they are some distance ahead of the ABs. And no doubt they have plenty of room to get stronger. But I also think the ABs have significant room to improve, and are starting to do so.



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