THEY KNOW HOW to create an atmosphere in France. Long before Friday’s Six Nations opener kicked-off, healthy numbers of supporters had made their way to their seats ahead of what promised to be a special occasion at the Stade Vélodrome.
For the first time in six years, France were playing a Six Nations game outside of Paris and the locals were ready to make it a night to remember. There were sing-alongs, Dance-Cams and a mini light show before the players prepared to emerge from the tunnel, with even the French backroom staff getting a rousing reception during the team announcements – the PA calling first names, surnames roared back from the stands: “Défense, Shaun” – “Edwaaaards!”
It was quite the assault on the senses but the best was yet to come. With the lights dimmed the home crowd belted out a stirring rendition of La Marseillaise, the power of the anthem reinforced as the music dropped out halfway through.
Ireland were deep in enemy territory, but over the next two hours they rose to the occasion and claimed the night as their own with a statement 38-17 victory.
It was a supremely impressive performance by a group who had been utterly deflated by their World Cup exit on French soil three months previously. After the pre-game theatrics came to a close, it was Ireland who put on a show, taking the game to their hosts and storming to a record win in France.
Their accuracy and workrate stood out, but so too did their mental resilience as they managed to silence the home crowd. This has been a major focus for Andy Farrell and his coaching team over the last few years, and as France looked jaded by their own World Cup disappointment, Ireland appeared energised by the opportunity close one chapter and launch themselves into a new campaign.
After the game Farrell detailed why Ireland have placed so much focus on the mental side of their preparation.
“It’s like the rest of our game, there’s no end to it, the same as the journey,” said Farrell.
“There are more stops along the way and this was one of those. There’s no end to achieving the right mental capacity to be the best team that you can possibly be. But it is something that we value as huge in our psyche because, at the end of the day, the game’s all about decision making and it’s an emotional game, and once you make those decisions about how accurate you can be on the back of it.
“Over the years, it’s always been about physicality and getting one over on your opposition as far as that’s concerned but being accurate with your decision-making and then being able to be accurate with your physicality because of those decisions is something that we constantly strive to get better at.
“But more than that, making sure that we get over ourselves and not carry it on to the next challenge is something that is tough in an environment like that, with an atmosphere and when it means so much to the group.
“But we’re learning that pretty quickly actually so it’s getting better. Some are getting better than most but by and large we’re making good strides in that regard.”
The result leaves Ireland in pole position to drive toward back-to-back Grand Slams, an achievement no team has ever managed in the Six Nations era.
“We want to be in it at the last week but internally we’re hungry to be as good as we possibly can be,” said Farrell.
“In reality, it’s nice to get the victory and it being a nine-day turnaround [before the Italy game] now and bank holiday back home it means that the bank holiday can be a little sweeter for us. We meet back up on Monday night and get a few down days because we’ve been away for 12 days, away from the families.
That will be good for us but in reality it’s one win, it’s one win out of one and we’ve got to be on to the next one.”
Ireland welcome Gonzalo Quesada’s Italy to Dublin on Sunday [KO 3pm] for a fixture which has often allowed room for squad rotation over the years, but Farrell is mindful of striking the right balance this time around.
Italy ran England close in their own opening fixture and Ireland have 13 days to refresh themselves between that game and their round three meeting with Wales.
“Yes and no,” Farrell replied when asked if he intends to change things up for the Italy clash.
“Whatever’s right for the team. There’s always the balance about opportunity but also doing what’s right for the team and the cohesion of the team going forward. It’s a bit of an awkward one, isn’t it? We’ve only had one game together so we’ll how we shape up on Monday.”
A good night in Marseille ended with Farrell reporting no fresh injury concerns within the squad. The Ireland boss will hope to have Garry Ringrose back in contention after the Leinster centre missed the France game with a shoulder issue, but overall, his team look in rude health with Six Nations history in their sights.