A fourth successive Test victory over France – something Ireland have not achieved since 1927 – is the goal for Joe Schmidt’s men in Paris as they look to stay in RBS 6 Nations title contention.
2016 RBS 6 NATIONS: Saturday, February 13
FRANCE (2nd) v IRELAND (3rd), Stade de France, 3.25pm local time/2.25pm Irish time (live RTÉ Two/BBC One/RTÉ Radio 1/IRFU Live Blog)
Team News: Rob Kearney came through training on Thursday morning and will start the round 2 match at full-back, with his younger brother Dave Kearney slotting in on the left wing with Andrew Trimble completing the back-three.Simon Zebo and Keith Earls both trained but are not 100% fit and will not be risked this week.
The centre partnership of Jared Payne and Robbie Henshaw remains in place with Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray named together again at half-back.
Sean O’Brien has come through training and will start at openside flanker, combining with CJ Stander – last week’s man-of-the-match against Wales – and number 8 Jamie Heaslip in a powerful back row combination.
O’Brien’s recovery from a hamstring injury sees Tommy O’Donnell move to the replacements. The rest of the pack, led by captain Rory Best, is unchanged from the 16-all draw with Wales.
Richardt Strauss comes onto the bench for Sean Cronin, while fellow Leinster players Eoin Reddan and Fergus McFadden are also included among the replacements.
Commenting on the delayed team announcement, head coach Joe Schmidt said: “We were just trying to clarify the fitness of Simon Zebo and Keith Earls, both of whom we have left out of the squad. One of the reasons it took a while was that they got through training but at the same time we just felt they weren’t 100% fit and it was a risk.
“There’s nothing worse than having someone replaced early in the game who wasn’t potentially fully fit, and having someone come off the bench who isn’t fully fit isn’t probably the best thing to do when you’re going to Paris.
“Simon Zebo was just a little bit sore and couldn’t stretch out his knee fully. Keith Earls will probably complete the last step of his HIA (head injury assessment) tomorrow, but we have to name a team today.
“It’s one of those things with a six-day turnaround, particularly when you’re travelling. If we had another day at home we could hedge our bets a little bit, but we have to get on a plane at 3.15pm this afternoon, and we’ve got to take the players that are available to play.”
Meanwhile, France head coach Guy Noves has made six changes to the team that edged out Italy on a 23-21 scoreline in Paris last Saturday.
With Louis Picamoles sidelined with a hamstring injury and Gaël Fickou missing out due to personal reasons, Yacouba Camara comes into the back row and Maxime Mermoz gets the nod at outside centre.
It will be Toulouse youngster’s Camara first Test start and second successive cap at just 21. His inclusion at openside flanker sees Damien Chouly move to the number 8 position.
Hugo Bonneval drops to the bench to make way for Teddy Thomas on the right wing, while both props have been swapped as Jefferson Poirot and Uini Atonio are preferred to Eddy Ben Arous and Rabah Slimani respectively. It will be the 23-year-old Poirot’s first start, and a second for tighthead Atonio.
The sixth and final change sees Stade Francais clubman Alexandre Flanquart start ahead of Paul Jedrasiak in the second row. He was used as a replacement in France’s 2014 Six Nations and 2015 Rugby World Cup defeats to Ireland.
France’s starting back-line includes three players making their second starts at international level – strong-running centre Jonathan Danty, Sevens specialist Virimi Vakatawa, who ran in a try from the left wing during the Italy game, and scrum half Sébastien Bézy.
Notably, hooker and captain Guilhem Guirado, lock Yoann Maestri and Chouly are the only survivors from the French team that started that World Cup pool clash in Cardiff last October. Les Bleus are aiming for their first win over Ireland since 2011.
Noves said of the personnal changes: “In modern rugby, there is no starter or replacements. It’s more of a relay. It’s not a sanction. Of course the players are evaluated but we also want to see the players in the squad play.”
FRANCE: Maxime Médard (Toulouse); Teddy Thomas (Racing 92), Maxime Mermoz (Toulon), Jonathan Danty (Stade Français), Virimi Vakatawa (FFR); Jules Plisson (Stade Français), Sébastien Bézy (Toulouse); Jefferson Poirot (Bordeaux-Bègles), Guilhem Guirado (Toulon) (capt), Uini Atonio (La Rochelle), Alexandre Flanquart (Stade Français), Yoann Maestri (Toulouse), Wenceslas Lauret (Racing 92), Yacouba Camara (Toulouse), Damien Chouly (Clermont Auvergne).
Replacements: Camille Chat (Racing 92), Rabah Slimani (Stade Français), Eddy Ben Arous (Racing 92), Paul Jedrasiak (Clermont Auvergne), Loann Goujon (Bordeaux-Bègles), Maxime Machenaud (Racing 92), Jean-Marc Doussain (Toulouse), Hugo Bonneval (Stade Français).
IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster), Jared Payne (Ulster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht), Dave Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt), Nathan White (Connacht), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Mike McCarthy (Lansdowne/Leinster), CJ Stander (Munster), Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster).
Replacements: Richardt Strauss (Old Wesley/Leinster), James Cronin (Dolphin/Munster), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster), Tommy O’Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster), Eoin Reddan (Old Crescent/Leinster), Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster), Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster).
Referee: Jaco Peyer (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Television Match Official: George Ayoub (Australia)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): France to win: Evens; Draw: 16/1; Ireland to win: Evens
Pre-Match Quotes: Joe Schmidt (Ireland) – “It is supposed to be quite windy and potentially drizzly as well, so it could come down to a really important set piece battle for us. I thought we problem-solved the scrum superbly in the second half last week.
“One of the things you have to do is anticipate what the opposition is going to do at scrum, sometimes you look for solutions outside your team because the legalities of what is happening need to be looked at, but in the end if that’s not happening you just have to sort it out yourself and I thought we actually got a couple of really good scrums on them (Wales).
“So, we’ve worked hard at that this week. We know (Uini) Atonio and (Jefferson) Poirot are new in there, (Alexandre) Flanquart has come in as well. They’ve had three changes to their starting tight five.
“Flanquart is a very big man, a very good lineout operator. (Yoann) Maestri is the heart of their engine room and they’ll still have (Guilhem) Guirado, who is like Besty – their skipper – and those two will go head-to-head in a very tough battle.
“You are always confident that you are going to get the work ethic from an Irish team. I don’t think I have ever been involved, either with Leinster or with the Irish side, where there hasn’t been a real intensity to the application of the job at hand.
“And so that always gives you confidence because you are not as quite as organised as you would like to be. If you have had late changes you still know the work ethic is going to be there and that is hopefully going to create enough opportunity that you can tip the balance on the scoreboard.
“One of the great things about sport is nobody is utterly confident because with the vagaries of sport you just don’t know what that result is going to be at the end of the 80 minutes.
“One thing we can be confident of is performance-wise that the players will give their utmost and sometimes you are just hoping that that is enough to get the result.”
Rory Best (Ireland) – “From our point of view we got caught cold (in the scrums) in the first half against Wales. It was bit of a different combination in the entire front five and CJ (Stander) coming in to the back row for the first time too.
“We worked a few things out at half-time and we improved as the game went on. We’re under no illusions that this is going to be a sterner test again, and the big thing for us is to make sure we’ve done our work on them – but also to make sure that we keep pushing forward.
“We’ve got to make sure we don’t start this game tomorrow cold, the way we did against Wales. The first scrum tomorrow has to be slightly better than the last scrum against Wales, and so on and so forth throughout the game.
“France have got a very, very good squad, so no matter who is picked it’s a tough challenge. Three changes in the front five certainly freshens things up but by no means weakens them. It paints a slightly different picture for us, so we need to make sure that we are geared accordingly.
“The four props haven’t changed from their matchday squad last week. We pride ourselves on putting as much attention and detail into the subs as the starters. A lot of the time it’s the end of the game where you’re winning it. So for us it was just a change in emphasis as to who was starting and who was on the bench.”
Pre-Match Links –
FFR Notice To Ireland Supporters Travelling To Paris
Head-To-Head: Ireland v France
Ireland v France: Facts & Figures
Irish Rugby TV: Schmidt, Best & Kearney On Paul O’Connell
Recent Meetings –
2013: RBS 6 Nations: Ireland 13 France 13, Aviva Stadium
2014: RBS 6 Nations: France 20 Ireland 22, Stade de France
2015: RBS 6 Nations: Ireland 18 France 11, Aviva Stadium; Rugby World Cup Pool D: France 9 Ireland 24, Millennium Stadium
Support Ireland on www.irishrugby.ie/facebook or search #ShouldertoShoulder or #FRAvIRE on www.twitter.com/irishrugby.
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