IRELAND HEAD COACH Philip Doyle took solace in his side’s resilience in the face of French power during their 25-18 defeat in the Women’s World Cup third place play-off.
The Irish pack were demolished at scrum time at Stade Jean-Bouin, as the likes of 107kg prop Elodie Portaries, 100kg lock Assa Koita and 95kg No. 8 Safi N’Diaye made their sheer mass felt in the tight for les Bleues.
“Look, it was very obvious that we had a hard time up front,” said Doyle, who now steps down as Ireland coach. “Scrums were under pressure all day and that’s basically where we lost that game.
I thought our attacking abilities when we did attack were quite good and we were creating things, but if you don’t get decent set-piece we all know that you pay the price.”
Captain and loosehead prop Fiona Coghlan – who retires from Ireland duty alongside Doyle today – said the French tidal wave of power at scrum time was simply impossible to prevent.
“Our scrum was very strong through the pool stages, but it’s just disappointing to turn around [like that] and it was something we have worked hard on,” explained Coghlan.
“We were trying to fix it as we went, but to give away that penalty in the second half changed the flow of the game a bit and we couldn’t clear our own lines in the red zone. It’s a disappointing finish.”
And yet, there were positives for Ireland despite the result, nowhere more obviously than in two sharp tries, an improved defensive shift and the steely unwillingness to allow France muscle their way to a more comprehensive victory.
Doyle outlined his happiness with Ireland’s performances and fourth-place finish at this World Cup.
“I’m delighted with the performance the girls put in. It showed without a doubt that the English game was a bad day and a one-off. We proved to everybody out there that we were deservedly in the semi-final, unlike some people quoted in the press.
“I think this World Cup has been immense for Ireland; I think it’s the experience of getting to a semi-final and learning how to play a semi-final. We’ve done that now, so let’s hope that in three years we’re back again. Why not? I think we’ve done ourselves immensely proud.”
33-year-old Coghlan echoed that sentiment in reflecting on the 2014 World Cup as a whole:
It’s been an amazing tournament, we reached our goal of being in the top four,” said the UL Bohemians player. “Obviously when you get to the top four, you want more. We didn’t quite get there but we reached our goals and we’re leaving the jersey and the ranking in a better place than coming into the competition.”
Another beacon of positivity for Ireland was the superb Grace Davitt try on the stroke of half time, with the Ulster centre chipping short over the French defence, regathering the ball on the bounce and running through fullback Jessy Tremouliere to score.
“Grace practiced that in training two days ago and we all took the mick out of her, saying ‘don’t you dare!’,” said Doyle. “That just sums up Grace Davitt in a nutshell. Her work ethic has been exceptional for all the years she’s playing.
“The way she’s worked on her conditioning and will to go forward has been exceptional. She’s incredibly physical and now we see, skillful.”
Yet despite the physical effort Ireland put into this final fixture of the tournament, France’s relentless and overpowering size told a tale of superiority in the end.
Look at the physical size of these French ladies, we were giving away lots of kilos,” said Doyle. “We tightened up our defence, looking at the chop tackle and trying to stop the French girl in the collisions.
“It wasn’t rocket science, but we wanted to flood the contact channel when they got isolated. On their maul, we were working in pairs trying to come through the maul and split them. In the first half, it worked quite well but trying to defend a massive pack is bloody hard.”
