Ireland Women made it three from three in the Women’s Six Nations with a hard-fought 13-10 win as Leah Lyons second-half try helped them past France.
In a tight first half Nora Stapleton’s penalty was the only score but France looked set to take control early in the second with a try from Caroline Ladagnous.
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But as the wind dropped Ireland were able to take advantage of their lineout and Lyons went over, with Stapleton adding a further penalty.
And although France pushed at the end, they found themselves pegged back for too much of the second half, and saw their hopes of defending their title ended.
The wind was in Ireland’s favour in the first half and they used it to good effect to dominate territory in the first 20 minutes.
While they pushed France back and made regular incursions into the 22, they struggled to convert it into points.
Nora Stapleton missed one penalty attempt, her effort coming back off the post, but on 12 minutes she gave her side the lead. Following a hold in the scrum by Romane Ménager she made no mistake to make it 3-0.
France had spent much of the game on the back foot but responded well with a long period of pressure in the Irish 22.
They were causing problems with their maul, and after two successive collapses Paula Fitzpatrick was sent to the sin-bin.
That came just before the break, and although they couldn’t score initially, they flew out of the blocks at the start of the second.
A good rip in a tackle saw France get the ball back. Scrum-half Jade le Pesq broke and despite a loose ball in midfield they recovered and centre Elodie Poublan fed partner Caroline Ladagnous who raced over. Jessy Trémoulière slotted the difficult conversion to make it 7-3 to the visitors.
Ireland got Fitzpatrick back, and almost immediately France lost the outstanding Marjorie Mayans to a yellow card for failing to roll away at a tackle.
The home side took immediate advantage from a well-worked maul. The ball was claimed in the lineout and popped straight to Sophie Spence in a second pod. She made good ground and the ball was then transferred back for hooker Lyons to score.
Stapleton converted to make it 10-7 with half an hour remaining.
Ireland were playing the conditions better and handling errors caused issues for the French, with Stapleton adding another penalty with 15 minutes remaining.
France responded immediately through Trémoulière but then lost second row Audrey Forlani to a yellow card late on for not rolling away.
And although they got their hands back on the ball, they couldn’t force their way back into Irish territory as the home side held on.
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