WORD FROM FRANCE is that Fabien Galthié will be sticking with his 7/1 bench split this weekend.
The French went with that forward-heavy selection against Italy last time out in the Six Nations, bringing on six of them at the same time in the 49th minute.
And it seems they’ll go 7/1 again this weekend in Dublin.
Galthié will be naming a strong starting pack, with les Bleus hopeful that Grégory Alldritt will be fit to start at number eight after he tweaked his groin yesterday.
But it looks like France will have another seven forwards to call on from their bench against Ireland.
Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Dorian Aledegheri, Emmanuel Meafou, Hugo Auradou, Oscar Jégou, and Anthony Jelonch or Alexandre Roumat are set to make up the seven-man French forward unit on the bench, with scrum-half Maxime Lucu providing backline cover.
Ireland have faced a 7/1 bench before, of course, with Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks using such a selection against them at the 2023 World Cup.
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The South Africans had used their 6/2 Bomb Squad to help them win the 2019 World Cup before unveiling the 7/1 in their friendly against New Zealand before the 2023 tournament. It was used against Ireland in the pool stage and then again for the World Cup final win over the All Blacks.
The French clearly liked what they saw but Ireland have some sense of what’s ahead.
“They’ve a lot of faith in their backs to stay fit,” said Ireland assistant coach John Fogarty when asked about France’s 7/1 split.
“We know they’re interchangeable in their back positions, they can play, and they’ve got some very useful forwards, so you can understand it.
“They probably feel they’ve got some forwards that can cover in the backs as well.
Emmanuel Meafou is expected to return to the French 23. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
“Were they trying it out for us? Maybe, I don’t know
“It doesn’t change our plans a huge amount. We haven’t overly discussed it. When we played South Africa in the World Cup, there were the same questions around, ‘What do you think? How do you manage it?’
“We’ve got a very fit group of forwards that we have a lot of confidence in and we’ve got real change-up as well. So, you know, we’re confident in the way we’re selecting the side. And, yeah, we haven’t spoken a huge amount about 7/1.”
While Ireland usually go with a traditional 5/3 split of forwards and backs on their bench, they are among the teams who have dabbled with a 6/2, which has become far more common in recent years.
There are obvious advantages in being able to introduce more fresh forwards but there are risks involved in not having three backs on the bench.
Ireland A were hit by backline injuries after going for a 6/2 bench in their recent game against England A, meaning back row Max Deegan ended up playing on the wing.
Scotland went for a 6/2 bench split against Ireland in this Six Nations but were unlucky to lose starting out-half Finn Russell and wing Darcy Graham in the first half when they collided with each other.
When there’s only one back on the bench in a 7/1, the risk is even greater.
“It would spook us,” said Fogarty. “It’s something we wouldn’t do. We don’t necessarily want to go there with a 7/1 for those reasons.
“You saw against Scotland, you lose two players to a head collision early in the game. They went 6/2 for that game and it hurt them.
The Springboks have used 7/1 benches, including in the World Cup final.
“It happens during a game, these things happen where you lose players and it becomes very difficult then to play the game the way you want to play it. We haven’t really gone there much.”
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Ireland know that there’s a huge test ahead up front this weekend in Dublin.
The French have a new powerhouse lock in Lyon’s Mickaël Guillard, while gigantic Toulouse second row Meafou is set to return from a lung infection on the bench.
There are plenty of other sizeable units in the French pack like tighthead prop Uini Atonio but Ireland are confident they can handle what’s coming their way.
“We need to be accurate in our maul, height becomes a really important factor for us as well around our carries, our breakdown, our maul, our scrum, all those pieces, we need to be really accurate and we need to be at our height,” said Fogarty.
“We feel we’re as physical as any team. We’re a big side, we’re powerful.
“We need to be smart in how we’re doing things and that leads to nice accuracy. So there’s a focus on those things throughout the week.”
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'It doesn't change our plans' - Ireland not fussed by French 7/1 split
WORD FROM FRANCE is that Fabien Galthié will be sticking with his 7/1 bench split this weekend.
The French went with that forward-heavy selection against Italy last time out in the Six Nations, bringing on six of them at the same time in the 49th minute.
And it seems they’ll go 7/1 again this weekend in Dublin.
Galthié will be naming a strong starting pack, with les Bleus hopeful that Grégory Alldritt will be fit to start at number eight after he tweaked his groin yesterday.
But it looks like France will have another seven forwards to call on from their bench against Ireland.
Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Dorian Aledegheri, Emmanuel Meafou, Hugo Auradou, Oscar Jégou, and Anthony Jelonch or Alexandre Roumat are set to make up the seven-man French forward unit on the bench, with scrum-half Maxime Lucu providing backline cover.
Ireland have faced a 7/1 bench before, of course, with Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks using such a selection against them at the 2023 World Cup.
The South Africans had used their 6/2 Bomb Squad to help them win the 2019 World Cup before unveiling the 7/1 in their friendly against New Zealand before the 2023 tournament. It was used against Ireland in the pool stage and then again for the World Cup final win over the All Blacks.
The French clearly liked what they saw but Ireland have some sense of what’s ahead.
“They’ve a lot of faith in their backs to stay fit,” said Ireland assistant coach John Fogarty when asked about France’s 7/1 split.
“We know they’re interchangeable in their back positions, they can play, and they’ve got some very useful forwards, so you can understand it.
“They probably feel they’ve got some forwards that can cover in the backs as well.
“Were they trying it out for us? Maybe, I don’t know
“It doesn’t change our plans a huge amount. We haven’t overly discussed it. When we played South Africa in the World Cup, there were the same questions around, ‘What do you think? How do you manage it?’
“We’ve got a very fit group of forwards that we have a lot of confidence in and we’ve got real change-up as well. So, you know, we’re confident in the way we’re selecting the side. And, yeah, we haven’t spoken a huge amount about 7/1.”
While Ireland usually go with a traditional 5/3 split of forwards and backs on their bench, they are among the teams who have dabbled with a 6/2, which has become far more common in recent years.
There are obvious advantages in being able to introduce more fresh forwards but there are risks involved in not having three backs on the bench.
Ireland A were hit by backline injuries after going for a 6/2 bench in their recent game against England A, meaning back row Max Deegan ended up playing on the wing.
Scotland went for a 6/2 bench split against Ireland in this Six Nations but were unlucky to lose starting out-half Finn Russell and wing Darcy Graham in the first half when they collided with each other.
When there’s only one back on the bench in a 7/1, the risk is even greater.
“It would spook us,” said Fogarty. “It’s something we wouldn’t do. We don’t necessarily want to go there with a 7/1 for those reasons.
“You saw against Scotland, you lose two players to a head collision early in the game. They went 6/2 for that game and it hurt them.
“It happens during a game, these things happen where you lose players and it becomes very difficult then to play the game the way you want to play it. We haven’t really gone there much.”
Ireland know that there’s a huge test ahead up front this weekend in Dublin.
The French have a new powerhouse lock in Lyon’s Mickaël Guillard, while gigantic Toulouse second row Meafou is set to return from a lung infection on the bench.
There are plenty of other sizeable units in the French pack like tighthead prop Uini Atonio but Ireland are confident they can handle what’s coming their way.
“We need to be accurate in our maul, height becomes a really important factor for us as well around our carries, our breakdown, our maul, our scrum, all those pieces, we need to be really accurate and we need to be at our height,” said Fogarty.
“We feel we’re as physical as any team. We’re a big side, we’re powerful.
“We need to be smart in how we’re doing things and that leads to nice accuracy. So there’s a focus on those things throughout the week.”
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7/1 bench France Ireland six nations 2025