RUGBY:IRELAND AREN'T exactly shirking from meaningful skirmishes in the build-up to this World Cup and by later tonight they will know a good deal more about themselves. Declan Kidney's men are looking to crank things up another level but the problem is that France are straining to hit the ground running.
Save for the front-row, where two of their six props are to be culled from the 32-man squad, the French squad has been set in stone since June. Unlike their Euro counterparts, the French could scarcely countenance the idea of 40-plus players being together in camp for five weeks. It would be war.
Instead, they are intent on taking out their frustrations on Ireland and it seems doubtful that the greater competition for places in the Irish squad will necessarily make them more competitive. France will have a capacity night-time crowd of 34,000-plus that will assuredly revel in welcoming Les Bleus back to one of the country’s rugby heartlands.
No matter the venue, though usually Paris, Irish teams have tended to struggle hereabouts. The win in 2000 (aka Brian O’Driscoll Day) remains the only victory in Ireland’s last 20 visits to France since 1972. There would appear to be a psychological block about playing the French, all the more so on their own soil, something made more curious by Ireland’s record over England in recent times.
This is also made curious by the knowledge that Leinster and Munster have led the way in overcoming that mental block with repeated Heineken Cup wins in France, and mostly in their southern heartlands. Go figure.
Kidney attributes this to the numbers game, with France have 14 professional teams to Ireland’s quartet, and the semi-professional ProD2 which backs this Top 14 up.
“The last match we were architects of our own downfall,” he reminded us yesterday in reference to the 25-22 defeat at the Aviva. “We got three tries and conceded one and lost the match.”
Having also pointed to the penalty count, and thus the need for discipline tonight, tellingly he added: “Sometimes it’s a mindset. We needed a few Heineken Cup wins to start believing in ourselves. We’ve two matches here this season, as we’re back here for the Six Nations, so we need to get used to being over here and putting our best foot forward.”
Kidney was speaking pitchside as Ronan O’Gara began his kicking practice at tea-time yesterday on a glorious evening with temperatures still in the mid-20s. This is the ground where Kidney, O’Gara and Munster memorably overcame Toulouse on a burning hot Saturday afternoon in 2000, another watershed win which ultimately did prove something of a turning point, for Munster if not Ireland.
“It does bring back memories,” he said, smiling broadly, “though it doesn’t seem like 11 years. I remember the tunnel being a long way from the dressing-rooms. Fantastic memories personally. But the lads won here as well four years ago. There might have been a criticism after that but if the same happens tomorrow night when we win, I’ll settle for that.”
The odds would appear against it. Although the first-choice Irish front-row ought to hold up well and with Donnacha Ryan in the back-row there are line-out options. There is also impact from the bench, but the French team bustles with physical intent, with a core of experienced Biarritz players to guide the battering ram debutant Raphael Lakafia.
Flanked by the human wrecking ball that is Thierry Dusautoir and the wonderfully athletic Imanol Harinordoquy one has visions of them being launched down the 10-12 channel. Indeed, from nine to 13, Ireland don’t exactly bristle with physicality.
All that said and done, Kidney maintained that Ireland need to focus on themselves. The degree to which their attacking game keeps its shape and the ball, while asking questions of France, will also determine the damage Dimitri Yachvili can orchestrate from the base when launching those big target runners.
“Last week, we turned the ball over a few times, a few dropped passes but also a few chip throughs, some of which were successful, some of which were easy turnovers for the opposition,” said Kidney. “It’s at times like that you need to be patient. It’s about playing through phases. We can’t just have set-piece and go through one or two phase, we need to putting through nine, ten and eleven phases to break teams down, more pertinent here because we know France are the best side on capitalising on mistakes.”
And therein lies another rub.
REPLACEMENTS
FRANCE: G Guirado, J-B Poux, L Nallet, J Bonnaire, M Parra, D Skrela, M Medard.
IRELAND: J Flannery, T Buckley, P O'Connell, J Heaslip, C Murray, F McFadden, F Jones.
Forecast: France to win.
