The Irish came out fighting in the second half but despite a strong effort from the girls in green a last-gasp converted score from Claire Molloy was merely a consolation.

“We had most of the possession but we fell asleep for 20 minutes and that's when they capitalised and scored their try. Then it was just too little, too late really,” said Coghlan.

“There was a huge home support but after half-time it was all us. In fairness, credit to France and their defence but it was all us.”

After their first game against Wales being called off for a frozen pitch with Ireland up 10-3 at half-time, Coghlan and co were looking to continue their form into the Stade du Hameau.

And after losing to France by just two points in a 12-14 game at home last year, Coghlan lamented the moments that proved vital and insisted things could have been different if they had have gone their way.

“We had a few bad decisions and a few unforced errors but hats off to the girls for the way they came back,” she added.

“We were trying to force a penalty at the end. We thought we had one under the posts but the referee played on. We tried to keep the ball in hand to try and get either a score or a penalty out of it but unfortunately it didn't go our way.”