Ireland suffered another heavy loss in the Women's Six Nations today at Musgrave Park, going down 3-53 to France.
Many of the same issues which troubled Ireland in last week's loss to Wales, were again evident this afternoon: passive line speed, an inability to get over the gain line, poor first phase play, and an a litany of unforced errors.
The loss to Wales in particular, given the state of the WRU, hammered home just how poor of a state Irish women's rugby is in at the moment, something which stems from years of underfunding and a lack of support from the IRFU.
It is a truly unenviable situation to be in for the team, who, despite huge efforts on the field, are held back by forces beyond their control.
Speaking in her post-match interview, Nichola Fryday was understandably emotional as she discussed the loss and the 'pride' she felt for her teammates.
Yeah, I'm really proud of the girls for that effort. It wasn't easy, and I think we showed a lot of heart and resolve coming back from last week and I'm proud of the girls for that.
We didn't get certain things right and we've maybe lost a bit of momentum through that game.
But you couldn't doubt the fight in the girls up until the 80th minute and for me that's all you can ask for.
Nichola Fryday In Tears After Ireland Loss
"We'll come back fighting from this."
Ireland captain Nichola Fryday speaking to @GraceDavitt after that tough defeat to France in Cork.#IREvFRA | #TikTokW6N pic.twitter.com/cPaU2SERgj— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) April 1, 2023
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"Yeah, like our focus was to meet them physically up front, and I think we showed that in our maul defence and in our scrum as well.
"But I think we met them at times physically and met them at the line and I'm proud of the girls for that because that's what we spoke about.
"But then you have to do it for 80 minutes and then at times maybe we didn't keep that focus.
"We'll take our learnings from this and we'll regroup as a group and come back. Like there's a lot of positives there from today, but there's a lot of work ons as well and we'll come back fighting from this."
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