Here we are, back in France. Like we’ve never been away.
With the first leg of the Guinness Six Nations taking us to the Algarve in Portugal for Ireland’s training camp, there were more than a few accidental slips of ‘Merci’, rather than ‘Obrigado’, and a few ‘Bonjour’ instead of ‘Ola’. Three months on, the World Cup has clearly left a mark.
We’ll find out tonight whether or not the World Cup has been parked by Andy Farrell’s Ireland. The coach and the players insist it has.
With Ireland on the rebound, it’s probably for the better that the Stade de France is off limits ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. While the Stade gave us some unforgettable memories in September and October, it also gave us the most painful of them as we watched Ireland meander from phase to phase in desperate search of a winning try against the All Blacks.
The French will be away from their usual home, but it doesn’t exactly level the playing field. The Orange Velodrome in Marseille has hosted its fair share of French internationals in previous years, while a chunk of this Irish team know how intimidating an atmosphere can be generated there after La Rochelle’s supporters took over the stadium before the Champions Cup final against Leinster in 2022.
Both France and Ireland may have had their legs swept from under them in the World Cup quarter-finals, but for the last three seasons they have been the most consistent teams in the game, and although the result has gone the way of the home side in the last few meetings, they’ve provided arguably the two best games of the last two Six Nations championships, in particular last season’s 32-19 win for Ireland at the Aviva Stadium where the sides shared four tries and 38 points in an electric first 40 minutes.
Most of the supporting cast from that day remains the same, but the two top-billed characters have stepped aside. Johnny Sexton’s retirement has paved the way for Peter O’Mahony to captain Ireland, while Jack Crowley takes over at out-half on his 10th cap.
France have also undergone a major change, with Antoine Dupont temporarily stepping aside to work with the Sevens programme ahead of the Olympics.
If we thought there was pressure on Crowley filling Sexton’s boots, it’s arguably bigger for Maxime Lucu who starts at scrum-half for the hosts. The 31-year-old has won 18 caps for France down the years, with several of those being short cameos in games that were long won. On three occasions in the last three seasons, he was left sitting on the bench for the full 80 minutes, the occupational hazard of being the back-up to the world’s best player.
While Ireland’s half-back pairings have been consistent across the last 10 years, France chopped and changed their combinations at will during the 2000s and 2010s. Since 2019, Dupont and Romain Ntamack have been locked in as the starting pair.
Of France’s last 23 Six Nations games, Dupont and Ntamanck have been the starting half-backs in 19 of them, with Ntamack missing four games of the 2021 championship due to injury. You’d have to go back as far as the 2019 Round 2 defeat to England at Twickenham for the last time France started a Six Nations game with neither player on the pitch; on that occasion Morgan Parra and Camille Lopez wore nine and 10 as Les Bleus were thumped 44-8.
Matthieu Jalibert (above) starts at out-half tonight, joining his Bordeaux-Begles teammate Lucu in the half-backs. Those who watched the French side hammer Connacht in the Champions Cup will confirm they’re more than a decent back-up duo.
Lucu is one of five changes to the French line-up from their quarter-final defeat to the Springboks. Francois Cros replaces the injured Anthony Jelonch, Paul Gabrillagues and Paul Willemse come into the second row, with Thibaut Flament injured and Cameron Woki on the bench, while Yoram Moefana is preferred to Louis Bielle-Biarrey on the left wing.
With such a major change for Ireland coming at out-half as Jack Crowley takes over from Johnny Sexton, it’s understandable that Andy Farrell wants to keep continuity in his side elsewhere. With Jamison Gibson-Park inside him and the centre pairing of Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw outside him, Crowley is being thrown into the deep end with decent armbands.
Mack Hansen and Jimmy O’Brien’s injuries have allowed Calvin Nash come onto the right wing for a second cap – his first in the Six Nations – and he could have a major role to play in this game.
France’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to South Africa saw them badly exposed under the high ball in wide channels, and it’s resulted in Moefana chosen over Bielle-Biarrey on their left wing. Nash has impressed with his workrate and appetite to get on the ball infield under Munster’s gameplan, but he’s also exceptional as a kick-chaser, something he demonstrated just down the south coast in Toulon three weeks ago for his province.
If you were to make a list of Ireland’s post-World Cup priorities, their set-piece would surely be at the very top of if.
Against New Zealand their scrum proved to be too aggressive for their own good as they conceded three penalties off just five sets, and although the players and management felt they were hard done by with those calls, scrum coach John Fogarty admitted this week that they need to become better at adapting their scrum-style to accommodate the referee.
The lineout issues go deeper than the World Cup, with Ireland struggling to find a consistent platform for their attack to shine.
“It’s pretty important isn’t it, not just the possession and territory, but the feeling you’ve got as a forward pack as well,” said the Ireland head coach Andy Farrell.
“You couldn’t put any more time into it than we did, the lads are obsessed with it and desperate to have a good lineout performance, in the scrum as well and most other areas.
“We’ve got tremendous operators and led by somebody who loves lineouts in Paul [O’Connell, forwards coach] and we’ve got fantastic world-class operators in that department.”
Considering those lineout difficulties, the decision to pick Joe McCarthy (above) over James Ryan appears to be a bold one, but the 22-year-old Leinster lock has earned his shot in a major Six Nations game.
McCarthy’s inexperience is offset by a lot of Test rugby nous on the bench, with Ryan joined by Rónan Kelleher, Cian Healy, Finlay Bealham, Ryan Baird and Jack Conan in a 6:2 split, while Conor Murray and Ciarán Frawley cover the backs.
Likewise, France have also gone 6:2 with their replacements, and among them is Posolo Tuilagi. The 19-year-old, who comes in at a reported 6ft 4in and just under 150kg, is the latest off the famous Tuilagi production line, and terrorised the Ireland U20s in last summer’s Junior World Championship final.
On Wednesday, Farrell agreed it would be one of the “great” wins if Ireland were to come away from Marseille with four match points, and their record of just three wins away to the French in the last 40 years illustrates that.
The defending Grand Slam champions will need to pull off something very special if they’re to start their title defence with a win.
Verdict: France
France: Thomas Ramos; Damian Penaud, Gael Fickou, Jonathan Danty, Yoram Moefana; Matthieu Jalibert, Maxime Lucu; Cyril Baille, Peato Mauvaka, Uini Atonio; Paul Gabrillagues, Paul Willemse; Francois Cros, Charles Ollivon, Gregory Alldritt (capt).
Replacements: Julien Marchand, Reda Wardi, Dorian Aldegheri, Posolo Tuilagi, Cameron Woki, Paul Boudehent, Nolann Le Garrec, Louis Bielle-Biarrey.
Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Calvin Nash, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Jack Crowley, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony (capt), Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Cian Healy, Finlay Bealham, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Ciarán Frawley.
Referee: Karl Dickson
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