Ireland’s Six Nations squad just about edged past the Italians last weekend, but will they be able improve enough to beat the powerful French side?
By Conor Ward
Never in doubt really was it – The Italian Job! Ireland made such hard of their task last weekend that it made anything pulled off in the movie (both movies in fact, when you include the 2003 remake, a very underrated piece of work) look like pretty simple stuff by comparison, the proverbial piece of cake.
So inept was the handling at various stages that one might have reckoned that the ball was carrying some deadly virus and therefore should be thrown away with the utmost of urgency.
With the Italians buoyed by our failure to capitalise on some glaring opportunities, we almost conspired to lose the game, only for the trusty boot of the Roginator to save the day.
But the late heroics aside (to be fair, the entire team played their part in setting up that score), it was a performance far below what this team is aiming for and nowhere near the level required to compete in the tournament over the course of the next few weeks.
It is ultimately two points on the board, so there’s probably not too much point in continuing to pore over it, but like some lad from Kerry who got off at the wrong subway stop on his first visit to New York, Kidney and his troops must know they are not in a good place with the French coming to town this Sunday.
Cobwebs
Will the performance improve? I would say definitely. It simply has to. Quite a few cobwebs will have been cleared off (that reminds me of all that dusting I have to do around the house), the areas to work on will have been swiftly identified and mistakes will surely be greatly reduced – simple passing and catching for starters.
The problem is, against a team as good as the French, will the inevitable improvement from last week be enough? With just one change in personnel – Jamie Heaslip reclaiming the No 8 spot after recovering from injury – the onus is on the same players to get their act together in the space of just eight days.
Looking at the two teams on paper offers about as much comfort as falling asleep drunk on a small two-seater couch.
The victory at Croke Park two years ago after a truly enthralling game teed us up for Grand Slam glory, but that result should not lull anyone here into any false sense of security. Hard reality is that we need to be at our very best to think about getting results against those boys.
Looking at the two teams on paper offers about as much comfort as falling asleep drunk on a small two-seater couch. While their pack is not enormous, it’s a dependable unit well proven at the top level and gave an assured performance last week against a Scottish eight, which is no pushover.
Whatever is being said about scrum laws and refereeing (does anyone really know what’s going on there?), for an international side our front row is barely adequate and if that unit gets exposed again, we’ll be…well, you know where!
The French back row worries me too. Imanol Harinordoquy is a daunting figure and in great form, captain Thierry Dusautoir is a wonderful athlete around the pitch, and Julien Bonnaire won’t be found wanting.
On top form, the Irish trio do have the talent and power to take them on, though it remains to be seen if they can hit the heights or if they’ll get a decent platform from the front five.
Marc Lièvremont’s backline is not a typical French line-up. They are more about power than flair, with big units in the centres in the shape of Aurélien Rougerie and Damien Traille. That pair is not as talented as the O’Driscoll-D’Arcy combination – but if they are on the front foot and running onto ball at pace, they will do major damage.
Clément Poitrenaud comes in at full-back. This is a guy likely to do anything at all on any given day, and I could frankly watch him for hours on end he plays with such great swagger and creativity. Let’s just hope we don’t see too much of it this time out, but the key is to cut off the supply lines and halt their attacking momentum.
Another worrying aspect is the French bench, which includes the likes of Jerome Thion, Sébastien Chabal, Dimitri Yachvili, Yannick Jauzion and Vincent Clerc. They are likely to compound the problems if and when introduced. We have O’Gara’s experience and nous in reserve along with a few solid operators, but nothing like that kind of firepower.
The unknown quantity is how France turn up on the day, what mood they might be in, and whether they’re prepared to fight hard to the finish without letting complacency kick in. I hate to be a pessimist, but I really find it hard to see how we can win this game. It would take a monumental effort from the pack along with plenty of magic from the likes of Jonny Sexton and O’Driscoll, and probably a decent slice of luck too.
The bookies make France odds on favourites. They are not often wrong.
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