IRELAND’S RIVALS HAVE been queuing up to heap praise on Joe Schmidt’s side ahead of this weekend’s Six Nations kick-off, and Thierry Dusautoir is next in line.
The France captain leads his team into another Championship on Saturday evening when they welcome Scotland to Paris, as the French begin the challenge for what they hope will be their first Six Nations triumph since 2010.
As defending champions, Ireland are being tipped by many to repeat their success of 2014, and Dusautoir admits they’re looking well-placed to do so.
“Yes, I think so,” said Dusautoir, when asked if Ireland’s status as favourites is justified. However, as is generally the case, the Toulouse flanker believes there are four teams capable of finishing at the top of the pile.
“They [Ireland] have got a good [world] ranking — they’re third, I think — and they beat Australia and South Africa. They have confidence and they’re right now the best team in Europe. But you can’t forget England, Wales and the French team. As always, it will be really interesting to follow the championship.”
With home advantage, France will be expected to see off the Scots this weekend. However, an area of concern for Philippe Saint-Andre’s team is their Six Nations form on the road in recent years.
Since 2011, the French have won just three of their 10 away fixtures in the competition. Only Scotland and Italy have had a poorer return in the same period. France have three away games to contend with in this year’s campaign, including trips to Dublin — a week on Saturday — and London.
Although they’ve only beaten Scotland away from home in the last three campaigns, Dusautoir is adamant that France don’t have major issues on their travels.
“As you know, French people like to play at home,” said the 33-year-old back-row forward, who recently ended speculation about a move to Leicester Tigers by signing a new contract with Toulouse.
“We just have to think about ourselves. I don’t really care about playing away or at home. We’re going to take games after games. We have a young team but I think that we can show how good we are.
“We’re not thinking about the other teams, we’ll just be focused on our job. We’re not going to think about playing against Ireland or England. The most important game is the next game.”
