There was a crushing defeat for the Irish at Castle Avenue last night with the French running in nine tries in this Six Nations fixture. With wing forward Aline Sagole in dominant form, the Irish had their hands full as the French scrum was solid throughout. The first half saw the two wings, Annabel Donnadieu and Estelle Sartini share four tries between them with the former helping herself to a hat-trick. The other came from Stephanie Provost.

Sartini's four conversions left it 33-0 at the break. Four more tries followed the break from Annick Hayraud, Marjorie Hans while Provost and Donnadieu added to their tally.

Scorers: France - A Donnadiue 4 tries; S Provost 2 tries; M Hans, A Hayraud try each; E Sartini try, 4 cons.

IRELAND: SJ Belton; J Sparkes, F Neary, J O'Leary, R Boyd; K McCarthy, J Morton; M Dolo, E Cullen, E Conen, A M McAllister, M O'Loughlin, R Reid, F Steed, C Murphy. Replacement: P Kelly for O' Leary, R Foley for Mc Allister, Y Comer for E Collins.

FRANCE: A Hayraud; E Sartini, N Amiel, E Maybon, A Donnadieu; M Hans, S Provost; D Roussel, D Irazu, V Bouillon, M Bonnin, M Poupart, A Sagols, A Barthe, A Alaphilippe.

Referee: H Lewis (WRU).