The final game in Thursday's opening match day at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club was a hard-fought affair, with France prevailing 43-0 against Ireland at the IRB Women's Rugby World Cup in Edmonton, Canada.
The half time score was 17-0. Tries were scored nine minutes apart by Catherine Devillers and Estelle Sartini. Devillers added her second try in the 32nd minute. Sartini kicked one conversion.
As the first half dew to a close a spirited dash by Fiona Coghlan to midfield brough the fans to their feet with vigourous applause for her efforts.
In the second half Ireland attacked the try line with vengeance, but was unable to cash in on its prime field position.
With 18 minutes gone in the second half France converted a try by Devillers
to go ahead 24-0. After the back-breaking try Ireland kept pressing to put points on the board but were turned away by a gritty French defence.
Down by 24 points Germaine Healy of Ireland earned a trip to the sin bin. With time winding down France added to its lead with tries by Christine Le Duff, Delphine Plantet and Devillers and two converts by Le Duff.
A brief shower in the second half tested the ball-handling skills of both
teams and when the game ended fans gave both teams a rousing ovation for their efforts.
QUOTES
France captain Estelle Sartini: "It's a good start for French team. Ireland is a hard team. Very tough with heart. We wanted to run forward with the ball every time we had it and run hard and keep the ball in our possession so the Irish couldn't get their hands on it."
France head coach Philippe Laurent: "In the first half the forwards worked really had. They played really well in the scrums and also on defence."
Ireland captain Sarahjane Belton: "We fought to the end. That's kind of a characteristic of our team is we don't give up and we never have given up and we never will give up. We will always fight until the bitter end, especially in this competition. Every point counts right until the 80th minute we were striving for our five points. We were striving for our penalties and that is something we will always do."