Farrell: It’s The Type Of Test We’ve Got To Embrace

The blockbuster fixture on Thursday week was on most people’s lips at the Six Nations launch in Edinburgh, and it has certainly been one to savour with the victorious team in this match-up going on to lift the trophy the last four years.

Ireland won back-to-back Six Nations titles after beating France in 2023 (32-19 in Dublin) and 2024 (38-17 in Marseille), before les Bleus, who were winners in 2022, gained some revenge last March with a 42-27 victory at the Aviva Stadium.

The two sides – both ranked in the world’s top five – opening this year’s Six Nations is a mouth-watering prospect, and there is the added novelty factor of a Thursday night clash due to the Winter Olympics opening ceremony taking place the following day.

Asked about coming up against the French first up, Farrell said: “We’ve had it before in Marseille after the World Cup, so that was a big game at the time. Anytime that you’re going to play a world-class French side in Paris is going to be difficult.

“I would have thought we all agree it’s as hard a place as anywhere in world rugby to go and get a victory. There’s not many people coming out with a victory there.

“So that’s the type of test that we’ve coming up against, and that’s the type of test that we’ve got to embrace and hopefully flourish in as well.

“It’s certainly different (playing it on a Thursday). I’m talking to you today, so that’s one day, and then we’ve lost another two days, haven’t we? But the only thing to say is it’s the same thing for both teams.

“It is tough enough preparing an international side to get up to speed because nobody really cares how many days of preparation you’ve had. They all expect you to be good, don’t they? And rightly so. It is what it is, and we crack on with it.”

Leading bookmakers have France as title favourites, followed by England and Ireland in that order. Farrell’s men finished third in last year’s Championship, won two of their four November matches, and have suffered some untimely injuries, particularly in the front row, coming into this campaign.

The-pre tournament odds also refect France’s impressive form over the last twelve months and that the fact that they have three home games on their schedule, while a resurgent England have won 11 Tests since losing in Dublin at the start of the 2025 Six Nations.

It has been nip and tuck between the teams when you consider that France, despite a 26-25 loss in London, went on to be crowned champions last year. All three finished with a record of four wins out of five, with Fabien Galthié’s charges finishing just a point clear of England, and two ahead of Ireland, in the end.

Farrell accepts that Ireland, having lost their grip on the trophy after two title-winning seasons, are now the hunters rather than the hunted. Will they be able to use that to their advantage in the coming weeks, and does it help that they are not considered the favourites?

“That’s what we want to be, we don’t want to be scared of being favourites,” he replied. “Why would we want to do that? We want to be the best that we can be.

“We realise there’s always going to be differences every single year, in regards to people retiring, loss of form, injuries, etc. Sometimes an injury toll is 100% to be expected, but sometimes it’s larger than what it normally is.

“So therefore, the dynamics of your group do change a little bit, but all those experiences will stand to you hopefully in the here and now. Those experiences have to stand to you. That’s all that we can control.”

The Wigan man’s full focus is on ‘how we go about our business and preparing well to hit the ground running’ in Paris. A key component of that is their work this week at a warm-weather training camp in Portugal, which kicks off on Tuesday.

He was philosophical when speaking about the injuries that have sidelined some of his players in the lead up to the Six Nations. There was further disruption following the BKT United Rugby Championship’s latest round, with Jack Boyle (Achilles tendon) and Tom Ahern (neck) both sustaining injuries.

Loosehead prop Boyle, who was in line to feature against France due to Andrew Porter and Paddy McCarthy both being sidelined, will undergo a procedure on his Achilles this week. Missing out on a potential first Six Nations start was a huge blow to the 24-year-old.

“It’s looking that way (that Jack’s injury is a serious one),” admitted Farrell. “Gutted for him because he was disappointed not to get a game in the autumn, and he took it in the right way.

“He went back to his province in Leinster and played the house down and really showed great character. So he’d have been hoping for this type of chance.

“Obviously with the injuries there to ‘Ports’ and Paddy, he’d have been hoping for this chance. It’s devastating for him and for us because we would have loved to have seen him take his chance, you know.”

The injury-enforced absence of the Leinster loosehead trio has opened the door for the likes of Munster duo Jeremy Loughman and Michael Milne, while Finlay Bealham and Tom O’Toole also have the ability to switch across, the latter having played at loosehead against Fiji last season.

Billy Bohan has replaced Boyle in the wider squad, earning his first Ireland senior call-up after just five appearances for Connacht. The 20-year-old wore the number 1 jersey against Montpellier and Montauban, and got almost 50 minutes under his belt against Leinster.

It is a strong start to the Connacht Academy prop’s professional career. A grandson of Mick Doyle, Ireland’s 1985 Triple Crown-winning coach, he played with the Ireland Under-20s last year when he first came to the attention of the senior coaches.

Farrell clearly sees a lot of potential in the Kildare youngster, saying: “It’s a magnificent story. It might have come a little earlier than he or others would have expected but he’s certainly a talent.

“We have watched his progress with the 20s, and he comes from good stock there with his granddad.

“He is a student of the game and he had a big game for Connacht at the opening of their new stand against Leinster at the weekend. To be the starting prop there says a lot about where he is at this point in time.”

On the calf injury that ruled Porter out of the initial 37-player squad, he added: “At this moment in time, all being well, ‘Ports’ could come back into it towards the latter stages (of the Six Nations), but when that is I don’t know because there’s a process that he needs to go through.”