THERE’S A THEME that emerges when members of the Ireland squad are asked to talk about the threats France might pose this weekend – expect the unexpected.
The French travel to Dublin for Saturday’s Six Nations clash under a bit of a cloud following their underwhelming performance against Italy on Sunday, but Andy Farrell’s squad are anticipating a response at Aviva Stadium.
They know just how dangerous this French side can be. Ireland have faced France three times under Farrell, losing on each occasion.
Les Bleus boast some fearsome power athletes – something Ireland now feel they are better equipped to handle – but the real beauty of this French group is their ability, or unpredictability, with ball in hand.
“They (can) all have unbelievable individual moments,” says Stuart McCloskey, who has never played Les Bleus at Test level but has plenty of experience against French sides with Ulster.
“There’s times in games when you sit back and are like, ‘this guy is out of this world’.
But I think what I’ve learned really (from playing French teams) is that you can grind them down, there’s mistakes in them. You stick to your game plan, don’t let them get the momentum and get on the front foot and get those wee short balls off nine, you can really get into them.
“You can force mistakes out of them. There’s mistakes in them.”
But as McCloskey is fully aware, there’s also magic in them.
“Some of the stuff they do, like they’re obviously well coached in defence but it’s off the cuff with (Antoine) Dupont, (Romain) N’tamack or any of their backs really, bouncing out, getting a hand-off and making a break, getting an offload and that’s when they’re at their most dangerous, so it’s constantly staying switched on and being aware of that because not a lot of teams can do what they do.”
Ireland head into the game without the likes of Jamison Gibson-Park, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy and Robbie Henshaw, but France are down key men, too.
Influential centre Jonathan Danty (knee) was missed in Rome, where 22-year-old Yoran Moefana partnered the experienced Gael Fickou in midfield.
“Danty’s fairly direct, isn’t he? I saw that when we were playing La Rochelle, he was pretty devastating against us when we were playing against them at the Aviva,” McCloskey continues.
“Fofana’s has got some more guile about his game, he has better feet and stuff but Danty’s that physical threat, he’s great at the breakdown so that will be something we won’t miss at the weekend.”
Ireland’s win over Wales last Saturday was McCloskey’s first Six Nations start since his Test debut in 2016.
With Henshaw injured and Bundee Aki light on gametime, the 30-year-old, who has been capped 10 times, is hoping to keep clocking up the appearances over the coming weeks in a bid to further his case ahead of the World Cup – where Ireland and France could lock horns in the knockout stages.
“We’re not looking at the World Cup right now, we’re looking at winning this game and winning the Six Nations. There’s obviously a plan in place for the World Cup but I know the players aren’t thinking about that now.
“Listen, France could come out firing and put in the best performance of all time and we might lose, playing against a winning team, but that’s rugby.
“It’s one against two, (in terms of world rankings) they haven’t lost in 14 games, we’re obviously number one in the world but we lost to them last year away so I suppose it’s probably the biggest game in the Six Nations, isn’t it, us against them and hopefully it will decide how it goes in the tournament.
“It’s a massive game.”
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