Biggest Performance of Farrell Tenure Required to Shock France

At 3pm this afternoon a depleted Ireland will take on the formidable French at the Aviva Stadium (Coverage 2pm, Virgin Media One)

Following an opening weekend defeat to Wales, Andy Farrell’s Ireland will need to bounce back in heroic style to take anything away from today’s fixture. Already a daunting fixture, the absence of Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray and James Ryan to injury as well as a suspension to Peter O’Mahony makes life even more difficult. Billy Burns, Jameson Gibson-Park, Rhys Ruddock and Iain Henderson, who will captain his country for the first time, are tasked with filling the significant void.

France make two changes to their team that beat Italy 50-10 last Saturday. In a tactical switch, Clermont star Damian Penaud starts on the wing ahead of Teddy Thomas to help deal with Ireland’s anticipated aerial bombardment. Castres flanker Anthony Jelonch also comes into the team ahead of Dylan Cretin.

Although Ireland performed admirably with fourteen men last weekend, this will be a whole new challenge. Superstar scrumhalf Antoine Dupont starts and will certainly be one for Ireland to watch closely throughout. Dupont assisted four tries and scored one in the space of an hour against Italy in round one of the competition to wow the rugby world. Ronan O’Gara this week even referred to the Toulouse playmaker as the best player on the planet.

Partnering Dupont is another mercurial young talent Mathieu Jalibert and Ireland will do very well to win the kicking game against the dynamic French backline. The wet and windy weather conditions may have suited a Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton conducted Ireland but they instead line-up with a pairing who prefer the short game. Both Jamison Gibson-Park and Billy Burns’s natural game is to keep ball in hand and execute inventive kicks where necessary rather than focusing on winning the territorial battle. It is important that Ireland play to their strengths to combat Fabien Galthie’s men and it will be fascinating to see which approach is taken come 3pm.

Ireland could enjoy perfect accuracy at the set-piece and dominate up front for long periods of this game and still come away empty handed. France’s defence under Shaun Edwards has been incredible for the last year or so and they will not surrender points half as easily as the French teams of the last decade. Open-field running, innovation and creating chances from nothing remains firmly in their DNA, however. Spoiled for dangerous runners and intelligent passers, don’t be surprised to find France breaking and offloading end-to-end if Ireland offer them a hint of a gap to exploit. Electric Racing 92 winger Teddy Thomas coming off the bench in the second half could indeed prove decisive.

The last time these two teams met was on Halloween when France ran out as convincing 35-27 winners. A few months further down the line and Ireland find themselves without either of their halfbacks in the Six Nations for the first time since 2011, with pack leaders James Ryan and Peter O’Mahony watching on from the stand and France suddenly looking like 2023 World Cup favourites. A 13th minute red card for France wouldn’t go astray if Ireland are to have a good crack at this one.

Ireland: Hugo Keenan, Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe, Billy Burns, Jamison Gibson-Park; Cian Healy, Rob Herring, Andrew Porter, Tadhg Beirne, Iain Henderson (capt), Rhys Ruddock, Josh van der Flier, CJ Stander

Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Ed Byrne, Tadhg Furlong, Ultan Dillane, Will Connors, Craig Casey, Ross Byrne, Jordan Larmour

France: Brice Dulin, Damian Penaud, Arthur Vincent, Gael Fickou, Gabin Villiere, Matthieu Jalibert, Antoine Dupont; Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Mohamed Haouas, Bernard Le Roux, Paul Willemse, Anthony Jelonch, Charles Ollivon, Gregory Alldritt

Replacements: Pierre Bourgarit, Hassane Kolingar, Uini Atonio, Romain Taofifenua, Dylan Cretin, Baptiste Serin, Anthony Bouthier, Teddy Thomas