Doris, another genially named storm, has left a trail of damage in her wake. Her after effects could have a significant impact on events at the Aviva Stadium come 5pm or thereabouts on Saturday.
Compounding the knockout element to the Ireland-France set-to, the forecast is none too rosy.
Mindful of how a similarly inclement forecast overtly affected the Irish team's mindset in Edinburgh – perhaps contributing to them playing a tad narrowly – Joe Schmidt is seemingly less inclined to let it affect their tactics in advance this time around.
“We are trying to stay positive about the forecast. The last time we got distracted about the forecast leading into Scotland,” he admitted, adding: “The forecast was poor and the conditions were ideal. We’ll see if Doris has done her best at that stage and she’s blown through and if she will give us a chance to play.
“If not, we’ll adapt to the conditions. With Conor (Murray) and Johnny (Sexton), they will look to adapt and manoeuvre us around either through the hands or off the foot. It just depends on what the conditions actually turn out like.”
Indeed, a blustery, showery day – if it comes to pass – is liable to place a greater premium on Ireland’s kicking game, and particularly that of Murray and Sexton. Aside from hoping for an injury-free return for Sexton, Schmidt’s is optimistic for what his returning playmaker will bring.
"I think he's a great orchestrator of play. I think he navigates us around the pitch really well and I think he sees things very much early and that allows other players to get into good positions. He brings other players into the game well because his experience is such that his option taking is often very good and he varies play well for us. Having said all that, I think that's something that Paddy Jackson is growing into as well which is exciting for us."
Peak performance
Sexton has proven his ability to hit peak performance following lengthy lay-offs, specifically at Test level and at home to France two seasons ago, and the Irish coach believes the player will bring a freshness as well as leadership.
Asked to put a percentage figure on Sexton’s level of fitness, Schmidt ventured: “I think he would be in the 90s. He feels really good. One of the things about playing week to week is that it has a cumulative, attritional effect, and he hasn’t had that. There’s a real freshness, a real spring in his step. Johnny feels great, and that’s great for us. He will bring that energy into the group.”
Of course, no conversation regarding Sexton, especially in the prism of an Irish-Gallic tête-à-tête, would be complete without reference to the buffeting he has received in previous meetings, and was perhaps fuelled by the unlikely notion that Mathieu Bastareaud would be restored to break up the Gaël Fickou-Rémi Lamerat midfield alliance.
“We’re both, I’m pretty sure, conscious of how driven the referees are to stamp out foul play,” Schmidt said of himself and his counterpart Guy Novès, “so it’s not been a discussion point at all. At this stage, I don’t have any plans to meet the referee (Nigel Owens). I don’t tend to meet the referee before games, they’ve got a tough enough job to do without people complicating it.”
The stakes, all the same, could hardly be higher. For then there will be three. By 7pm on Saturday evening, the five-way battle for the 2017 Six Nations will be trimmed by two after a double-header of title eliminators, beginning with Scotland v Wales at Murrayfield.
“Yeh, mathematically there’s not too many other ways of looking at it,” said Schmidt. “England have obviously got a little bit of a flyer on everyone else, because they’re the only unbeaten team, so for ourselves, Scotland, Wales and France, there’s going to be two teams that are left hanging in and two teams that are effectively out of the race for the top spot and will be scrambling for the other places.”
Net effects
One of the net effects of Sexton, Rory Best and Jack McGrath being recalled makes for a stronger bench, all the more so with the fit-again Iain Henderson, Peter O'Mahony and Andrew Trimble also restored alongside the demoted Paddy Jackson, Cian Healy and Niall Scannell.
Ireland will need it as well to counteract the French bruisers.
With the return of centurion Best and Sexton, Ireland’s starting XV has 700 Test caps between them, compared to France’s 387, while the bench has a further 234 caps, as against France’s 83. The average age of the Irish team is 28.9 years, compared to France’s 26.9.
Although two of France's three changes are enforced, arguably they are the better for it in two and possibly each instance. Not alone was the sevens specialist Virini Vakatawa culpable for both Scottish tries in France's 22-16 win in Paris a fortnight ago, but the restored Yoann Huget is better in the air as well as defensively.
Bernard le Roux's tackling is probably a nod to the ball-carrying of the Irish backrow while reinstatement of Rabah Slimani, whose introduction off the bench helped turn the scrum tide in France's win over Ireland last season as well as against Scotland last time out, looks like a signal of scrummaging intent.
“Certainly the backrow and I think the frontrow will both be crucial areas,” said Schmidt. “I do think with them starting (Rabah) Slimani it probably suggests they are going to go after a really explosive scrum first-up and with (Guilhem) Guirado there and (Cyril) Baille, who’s been really impressive, it also gives that option of that real power impact with the size and strength of Uini Atonio and (Christopher) Tolofua, and the experience of (Eddy) Ben Arous and the know how he has.
“So I think the frontrow is going to be a real battle and I think the backrow is going to be a real battle as well, (Charles) Ollivon coming off the bench – I think he’s about 6’ 6”. He’s a big, big man. So they’re going to bring some very big humans off the bench and that’s going to be a real challenge for us.”
