Flood Ready To Fire As Ireland And France Renew Rivalry

Flood was a key member of the Ireland Women’s Sevens team that achieved their historic qualification for the Olympic Games at the 2023 French leg of the HSBC Sevens Series in Toulouse.

The Dublin-born full-back, who wins her 27th Test cap this weekend, started all six games of the Olympic campaign in the summer of 2024, in front of crowds of over 60,000 at the Stade de France.

Notably, she also previously played in Clermont, alongside her older sister Kim, when the final rounds of the 2016 and 2017 World Sevens Series were held at Stade Gabriel Montpied, the home round of the Clermont Foot 63 football club.

Just a handful of kilometres away is the venue for Saturday’s Six Nations clash, Stade Marcel Michelin, and Flood cannot wait to battle it out with les Bleues as Ireland aim to build on their impressive 57-20 win at home to Italy.

“I think it’s obviously going to be one of our big games of the Six Nations, and especially having them away from home. It’s important to get a win away from home,” she said.

“We’ve only two (beating Italy and Wales in 2025), so getting one back on France from last year’s Six Nations and the World Cup, I think we’re ready to go.

“Obviously we always do (approach things) one game at a time, and we want to go into each game with something new. Looking forward to it, and I think we’re ready to go for this time, and it’s an important one to get the front foot on.”

The media may be billing this as a revenge mission following Ireland’s heartbreaking 18-13 Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat to France, but Scott Bemand’s side have a ‘next game’ focus that has served them well, and they will not deviate from that. He said they have ‘a belief in their best game’ and getting it out there on Saturday.

Flood donned the number 15 jersey throughout the World Cup, and crossed for Ireland’s second try against France, 24 minutes in. Her consistent form and durability have seen her play the full 80 minutes against England and Italy, on the back of retaining the Celtic Challenge title with the Wolfhounds.

Getting her hands on the ball more in attack last week, it was her long pass off her left side that put Béibhinn Parsons over for the first of her three tries. She also linked brilliantly with her wingers and Aoife Wafer for a terrific team score on the stroke of half-time.

“We’ve started to show off what our team can do more and more throughout the games, and I think it’s important for the squad to build and grow and just go into this weekend with confidence, and be brave to know that we can win this game.

“There were mistakes in the first game (against England), and also last week, so it’s quite nice that we had a lot of ball (against Italy), but that comes from our forward pack that gets us the front-foot ball so that we can play the pretty rugby out the back.

“I think it’s going to be a mix, and it has to be mix in all rugby. You have to have threats everywhere, so it was nice to get on the ball more but if the forwards need to take it on a few (times) more, and get the scores as well, that’s okay.”

Three of the backs crossed the whitewash in Galway, while four forwards, including prop Ellena Perry on her second successive start, touched down. Ireland scored 11 tries during the first two rounds, with five originated from the lineout, three from scrums, two from tap penalties, and one from turnover ball.

It is a similar case for France, who have chalked up a dozen tries so far, six from their lineout platform, two from scrums, and notably four from turnovers. Going back to that World Cup meeting, Manon Bigot’s turnover in her own 22 led to Joanna Grisez’s lung-busting score with 13 minutes remaining.

It has been noticeable that France were slow out of the blocks against both Italy and Wales, failing to score a point in the opening quarter of both matches. In contrast, Ireland have done most of their scoring in the first half, so Flood is hoping that trend continues and they can capitalise on it.

“I think France are known for the way they play rugby, so ‘jouer’, so it’s keep the ball alive. They are very strong up front. They have those flair players like (Pauline) Bourdon Sansus, their nine.

“So I think just stopping them up front, and not getting into too much of an arm wrestle with them. Making sure we’re moving them around, going through them and around them, like mixing our game up as well.

“Getting a fast start. Their last two games have been quite slow to start for them, so getting on top of that and making sure we can come away with a bit of gainline.”

The 29-year-old has high praise for the French public and the passion and noise they generate at big sporting events. She got a taste of that at the Olympics in Paris, and believes this Ireland side have what it takes to cope with the partisan atmosphere and give the visiting fans plenty to cheer about.

“I love a French crowd. At the Olympics we had a French crowd behind us and against us. I think they support rugby and sport so well. It’s going to be loud, it’s going to be noisy, there will probably be a band there.

“But I think we can take from that as well. Our families and friends and our support will be coming too. They’ve obviously made it a hard place to get to for us, but that never stops us.

“I actually take energy from the crowds. I love it. I think it’s so exciting when you can feel the crowd when you’re playing, but it is important to sometimes just block it out and just focus on what your job is, what your next job is, what you can do for the team to get a performance.”

Ireland have beaten France on three occasions before – in Ashbourne in both 2009 (7-5) and 2013 (15-10), before winning 13-10 in Donnybrook in 2017 – while les Bleues have not lost at home to Celtic opposition in the Six Nations since being edged out 19-14 by Scotland in Evreux back in 2003.