Jamaica’s senior Reggae Girlz fell 3-0 to powerhouse France in an international friendly contest that demonstrated their tenacity as much as it did the defensive lapses at the Stade Auguste-Bonal on Friday.

Facing a French team ranked 10th in the world, the Reggae Girlz showed early cohesion and confidence that hinted at the prospect of another brave performance similar to when they held the same opponents to goalless stalemate at last year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup.

But as the game wore on, France’s unrelenting pressure found cracks in Jamaica’s defence, resulting in two costly errors in the first half that set the tone for a challenging evening.

Clara Mateo (22nd), captain Wendie Renard (39th) and Sandy Baltimore (48th) got on the scoresheet for France, who in all honesty, could have won by a much wider margin.

Despite the result, Reggae Girlz Head coach Hubert Busby emphasized the value of facing elite teams like France.

“Coming up against a really good French team in a really competitive environment was always going to be tough, but I thought overall, as the game went on, the team got better. Again, I think these are the games that we want to play and we have to just keep on building on what we want to do as we head into the next window,” Busby said in a post-game interview.

“When you bring in new players into the group, you can see that they are a little bit disjointed, so the more that we can continue to be together and keep building as a group, the better we'll be. So as of right now, we kind of turn the page and get ready for the next window in Jamaica when we host South Africa. And then we look to build on the, the principles that we've laid this week and look to correct some of the things that we didn't do as well in tonight's match,” he added.

The Girlz showed no signs of being intimidated in the opening minutes, as they moved the ball effectively and kept France’s backline engaged at times.

But as France settled and pressed deeper into Jamaica’s territory, the Girlz’s defence began to struggle under the mounting pressure. The French breakthrough came when Chantelle Swaby attempted to clear, but the ball went astray and into the path of Mateo, who swiftly fired past Rebecca Spencer in goal for Jamaica.

France continued to apply pressure and consistently found gaps in Jamaica’s defence as they created numerous chances which required Spencer to be on her toes. On one of those occasions, the Tottenham Hotspur goaltender got down well in time to parry an effort from Kenza Dali.

However, minutes later Renard eluded Allyson Swaby and Vyan Sampson deep in Jamaica’s 18-yard box and used the full length of her lanky figure to soar high head home Mateo’s weighted corner kick to put France 2-0 up at the break.

Busby, seeing the need for adjustments, made tactical changes in the second half, particularly in the middle of the park, with hopes of getting in behind France’s high defensive line.

Still, the Girlz struggled to contain the French attackers and another defensive mishap saw them fall further behind. This, as Baltimore rifled a left-footer past Spencer after Delphine Cascarino’s cross eluded Tiffany Cameron, who attempted to head clear.

Though three goals down, the Girlz tried to play their game and Jody Brown skipped a defender on a break in the 63rd minute, but her shot was charged down by a second defender.

Five minutes later Kayla McKenna had a grand opportunity to pull one back for the Girlz, but her first touch to get around France’s goalkeeper Constance Picaud in a one-on-one situation was too heavy and the opportunity went begging.

France thought they had another when Renard again headed home from close range, but the goal was called back by VAR for an offside in the build up play.