Australia have lost 48-0 to France to crash out of semi-final contention at the women’s rugby union World Cup in Ireland. The Wallaroos are winless after conceding eight tries in their second group match in Dublin on Sunday and sit third in pool C after their narrow loss to the host nation Ireland last week to begin their campaign.

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Winger Shannon Izar did the damage for France, completing a hat-trick by the 25th minute as the world No4 side took a 29-0 lead into half-time. Australia’s attack was repeatedly undone by turnovers while the opposition benefited from the dominance of their forwards, who completed 16 offloads to two. Inside centre Chloe Pelle picked up a double, while French flanker Romane Menager was named player of the match.

Wallaroos coach Paul Verrell admitted his side were outclassed. “Tonight we were outplayed by a better side,” he said. “They were well drilled and started the match at a high intensity and we weren’t able to match them.

“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.”

Ireland and France are both undefeated after the home side saw off the last-placed pool C side Japan 24-14 on Sunday. Four-time champions New Zealand are top of pool A after trouncing Hong Kong 121-0, while Canada are also undefeated thanks to a 15-0 win over Wales. England beat Italy 56-13 in pool B, while the USA claimed a 43-0 win over Spain. The top-four seeded teams go through to the semi-finals.