{"id":416506,"date":"2026-04-25T06:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T06:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/416506\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T06:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T06:50:14","slug":"ireland-go-to-france-with-ambitions-of-breaking-into-six-nations-top-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/416506\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland go to France with ambitions of breaking into Six Nations top two"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE FACT IRELAND are comfortable talking about their chances in Clermont tonight is proof in itself of the progress that has been made under Scott Bemand.<\/p>\n

You have to go back to 2017 for the last time Ireland beat France, and some of those experiences have been harrowing ones. Being nilled in 2018. Shipping 47 points at home in 2019, and 56 on France\u2019s next visit in 2021. In 2023, a wooden spoon year for Ireland, France came to Cork and won 53-3.<\/p>\n

There was no hiding from the fact this was two teams operating on different levels.<\/p>\n

Now, Ireland feel the gap has closed, and have solid evidence to support this belief. France won this fixture in Belfast last year but a 27-15 loss felt like one that got away \u2013 with Ireland trailing by just two points entering the final 10 minutes. Later that year, Bemand\u2019s team lost a thrilling World Cup quarter-final in Exeter by five points, with the fallout dominated by Axelle Berthoumieu\u2019s bite on Aoife Wafer which went unpunished on the day.<\/p>\n

The hurt of that one has bled into this latest instalment, which kicks-off at the unusually late time of 9.10pm [8.10pm Irish time, Virgin Media Two\/BBC iPlayer] \u2013 a new experience for many of this squad.<\/p>\n

Captain Erin King says her team are searching for \u201crevenge\u201d against Les Bleus. Fullback Stacey Flood has warned the French they should be \u201cworried\u201d about what is coming their way tonight.<\/p>\n

Strong words, which require a statement performance at the very least.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should have confidence going into this game,\u201d says Flood.<\/p>\n

\"stacey-flood\"
\n Stacey Flood. Ben Brady \/ INPHO<\/p>\n

Ben Brady \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to say third time lucky, but we\u2019re making our own luck this weekend because we should have had them in the Six Nations last year, could have had them in the World Cup, so I think it\u2019s about knowing what we can do and being brave and confident going into the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo just knowing that we\u2019ve grown from this time last year and from the World Cup to hopefully finish off a game with a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last weekend\u2019s win in Galway should have tee\u2019d them up nicely. Coming out of a 33-12 loss to England in round one, Bemand\u2019s team were vibrant and accurate against Italy, scorching into a 45-10 lead at half-time and finishing with nine tries to their name.<\/p>\n

There was confidence and variety across Ireland\u2019s performance, with key players such as Aoife Wafer and Beibhinn Parsons at their game-breaking best.<\/p>\n

So too Dannah O\u2019Brien, who kicked excellently despite the usual challenging wind blowing in from the Atlantic. Still only 22, O\u2019Brien looks increasingly confident and calm at international level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tonight the Tullow native wins cap number 33 for Ireland, and if her team are to pull of something special at the Stade Marcel-Michelin, expect O\u2019Brien to be at the heart of it. Arguably, she\u2019s now the most important player to Bemand\u2019s plans. In Ireland\u2019s last four games [v Italy, England, and the 2025 World Cup meetings with France and New Zealand], O\u2019Brien has been tasked with going the full 80.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think experience as a 10 is a huge part of it,\u201d O\u2019Brien says.<\/p>\n

\"dannah-obrien\"
\n Dannah O’Brien. Ben Brady \/ INPHO<\/p>\n

Ben Brady \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just learn so much from different scenarios. Playing against the wind and stuff, just different international games give you different experiences and it\u2019s kind of invaluable.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think just the way the team has grown over the last few years, that\u2019s helped me an awful lot as well. Because it\u2019s just built consistency, and thankfully, I\u2019ve been able to grow through that journey as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still feel like I\u2019ve a lot of growing space. I\u2019m still only 22 but I definitely do feel like I\u2019ve grown into the position. And, thankfully, I\u2019ve had good consistency and opportunities to grow in this squad. I feel like it\u2019s still only the start, but there\u2019s definitely a lot more to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the other end of the scale, you have an experienced head like Linda Djougang, one of just two players in tonight\u2019s squad [along with Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald] to have passed the 50-cap mark.<\/p>\n

\"linda-djougang\"
\n Linda Djougang. Ben Brady \/ INPHO<\/p>\n

Ben Brady \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s fixture will be a special one for Djougang. Back in 2021, a year before the first full-time professional contracts were introduced for women\u2019s rugby players in Ireland, the prop signed up to go full-time for a season with Clermont-based ASM Romagnat Rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like a second home,\u201d Djougang admits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really, really proud, to be honest, to go back home, see the girls in Clermont, go back and see the yellow and blue jersey. Yeah, it\u2019s going to be a mixed feelings, really.\n<\/p>\n

I feel like I built my core skills there, especially in the scrum because when I went I was really just breaking through into the Irish system.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it was really to just be [learning] with scrummaging, I\u2019m still learning, I\u2019m such a young prop, too, and it was just really gaining that experience and no better place to go than France to learn to just get that experience with the scrummaging and the way they think about the scrum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can talk about it all day, but it\u2019s just, I just love the way they play, the offload constantly, the French style is so different. They play such a different system compared to even England and all that. It\u2019s just jou\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really good for me to just be part of it and understand the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

France have taken their time to find that jou\u00e9\u00a0over their opening wins of this championship. At half-time against Wales they were level 7-7 before going on to win 38-7, and a week later they turned a 5-0 half-time lead into a 40-7 defeat of Italy.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s aim is to start fast in France, and then have the mental and physical edge required to stay the distance in the second half.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got the benefit now with our group of having come through the World Cup piece where we had full stadiums, a lot of noise, lot of expectation, even if it\u2019s like internal expectation,\u201d says Bemand.<\/p>\n

\"scott-bemand\"
\n Scott Bemand. \u00a9INPHO<\/p>\n

\u00a9INPHO\n<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing away to France is a class experience. We were away in England two weeks ago, so we\u2019ve had a recent opportunity of stepping into that sort of arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a completely different group to two years ago walking into that space.\u00a0So as we continue to evolve, as we continue to get more confident in ourselves and our performances, I think we\u2019re ready for this one.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo this now becomes an excitement, an anticipation rather than nerves and of what could happen. So look, we\u2019re ready for this, we\u2019ve trained well this week, we\u2019re now recovering, we travel, we\u2019re going to enjoy it, the weather looks good over there, and we\u2019ll be absolutely gunning to start and get out the blocks when the whistle goes on Saturday night.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve talked the talk. Now comes the hardest part.<\/p>\n

FRANCE: Pauline Barrat; Ana\u00efs Grando, Aubane Rousset, T\u00e9ani Feleu, L\u00e9a Murie; Carla Arbez, Pauline Bourdon Sansus; Ambre Mwayembe, Mathilde Lazarko, Assia Khalfaoui; Kiara Zago, Madoussou Fall Raclot; Axelle Berthoumieu, Mana\u00e9 Feleu (capt), L\u00e9a Champon.<\/p>\n

Replacements:\u00a0\u00c9lisa Riffonneau, Yllana Brosseau, Rose Bernadou, Clo\u00e9 Correa, Siobhan Soqeta, Charlotte Escudero, Alexandra Chambon, Lina Queyroi.<\/p>\n

IRELAND: Stacey Flood; B\u00e9ibhinn Parsons, Aoife Dalton, Nancy McGillivray, Robyn O\u2019Connor; Dannah O\u2019Brien, Emily Lane; Ellena Perry, Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Linda Djougang; Dorothy Wall, Fiona Tuite; Brittany Hogan, Erin King (capt), Aoife Wafer.<\/p>\n

Replacements:\u00a0Neve Jones; Niamh O\u2019Dowd, Eil\u00eds Cahill, Ruth Campbell, Sam Monaghan, Katie Whelan, Eve Higgins, Anna McGann.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE FACT IRELAND are comfortable talking about their chances in Clermont tonight is proof in itself of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10634,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-416506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-france-women","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}