Following their 19-17 loss to Ireland in the first pool match of the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup at University College Dublin, the Wallaroos suffered a 48-nil drubbing to France at the same venue on Saturday.
Sydney University Women’s Rugby Club member Grace Hamilton was in the starting line-up for the match which saw the well-drilled French run in eight tries, with wingers Shannon Izar scoring three and Chloe Pelle crossing for a pair.
SUWRC’s other Wallaroo, Ashleigh Hewson, was rested for the match.
Wallaroos coach Paul Verrell said the Australians were outplayed by a better side. “France were well drilled and started the match at a high intensity and we weren’t able to match them,” he said.
“To record a result like that after the promising performance we put in against the Irish is disappointing, but we must now turn our attention to our final pool game against Japan, which will be an important match for us.
“We’ll continue to recover and prepare well over the next four days ahead of the final pool game and our move to Belfast for the play-offs.”
Australia will play Japan in their final pool match this Friday (2am AEST) when they will look to secure a position in the fifth-placed finals heading into the next round of the competition.
The Wallaroos are in Pool C of the competition alongside hosts Ireland, as well as France and Japan. Other teams contesting the 2017 World Cup are New Zealand, Wales, USA, Italy, Canada, Hong Kong, France, Japan, England and Spain
Scoreboard
Ireland 19 (Larissa Mulhoon, Ciara Griffin, Sophie Spence tries; Nora Stapleton 2 goals) defeated Australia 17 (Mahalia Murphy, Shannon Parry, Hilisha Samoa tries; Ash Hewson goal).
France 48 (Shannon Izar 3, Chloe Pelle 2, Audrey Forlani, Romane Menager, Gaelle Mignot tries; Audrey Abadie 2 goals, Caroline Droulin 2 pen goals, Montserrat Amedee pen goal) defeated Australia 0.
