King staying positive as Ireland fall in 'game of inches'

A missed opportunity for history at Stade Marcel-Michelin, but Ireland will "get better and better" from their experience in Clermont-Ferrand, according to captain Erin King.

Just as it was in their World Cup quarter-final, Ireland couldn't make their first half dominance count against France, who turned a 7-7 half time scoreline into a 26-7 bonus-point victory , denying Ireland a first ever away win in this fixture.

The term "fine margins" gets thrown around a lot in rugby, but it has never been a more appropriate term to describe their first half, with Ireland seeing three tries ruled out by the TMO, while Brittany Hogan was also held up over the line in the opening minutes.

And the Ireland captain was left to wonder "what if?"
"Obviously, we're probably frustrated," King said after the 26-7 defeat.

"Like Scott said, if we'd gotten those few tries that weren't tries in the first half, it would have looked really different going into the second half.

"But that's just rugby, and sometimes it's about the ball, it's inches, it's a game of inches, especially when you're competing with the likes of France and the best in the world, it comes down to them fine margins."
"It's frustrating, but on the flip side, we show what we're capable of and that we can compete with them," she added.

"We're such a young squad and the learnings that we've gotten from that, you can't get that anywhere else.

"I think we're going to look at them learnings and tweak a few things, but really proud of the group and we're just going to keep getting closer and closer and better and better, I think."
The Irish players and management had been bullish about their chances of ending their nine-year wait for a win against the French during the week, and the manner of their first half dominance showed there was substance to that confidence, as King, Aoife Wafer and Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald dominated at the breakdown, which saw just under three-quarters of the opening half played in French territory.

"It was an amazing place to come to, and an amazing crowd to play in front of, and I think we don't go into our shells anymore.

We really thrive off that energy," King added.

"We wanted a fast start, and I think we really brought that.

It's so great we’re getting all these experiences and all these learnings, and we're only getting better and better.

"Our squad is so young, so every opportunity we get to play in front of crowds like this, it's only getting us more experience and getting us better.

So we'll take the positives out of that.

"I think we're so lucky that the women's game is growing and things like this aren't occasions anymore.

"It's just almost another game for us, and we place emphasis on focusing on ourselves and the game being the priority.

And I think the girls stuck to that, and we can be really proud of that."