Preview: Ireland v France

 

But, ahead of Saturday's Six Nations clash in Dublin, Saint-Andre can take heart from the fact that Les Bleus are yet to lose at the new-look Aviva Stadium. Clearly therefore, there is little to choose between the sides.

 

Throw in the fact that Ireland and France will also be locking horns in the World Cup later this year and Saturday's clash takes on even more epic proportions.

 

Saint-Andre's three encounters with Ireland since taking over have ended in two draws and last year's narrow defeat in Paris that sealed Brian O'Driscoll's perfect send-off.

 

But fast forward to 2015 and Joe Schmidt's Ireland have continued their upward curve while France are still struggling to find consistency.

 

Les Bleus' win over Scotland last weekend was probably more emphatic than the 15-8 scoreline suggests while Ireland had to toil before eventually seeing off Italy in Rome.

 

And Saint-Andre admits his side will need to find another gear if they are to end his hoodoo against the men in green.

 

"Ireland are an extremely disciplined side. They usually give away only around eight penalties whereas the Scots give up 13 or 14," Saint-Andre said.

 

"They are full of confidence.

 

"They have won eight in a row and are the favourites for the title. We have to compete with them in every area, duels in the air where they are very strong, tackle hard and not give an inch.

 

"It is important for us to win an away match against a major team, but to do that we have to be more effective than we were against Scotland."

 

Saint-Andre has only made one change from the side that struggled to see off Scotland last weekend and that is injury-enforced as Eddy Ben Arous comes in at loosehead prop for Alexandre Menini.

 

Meanwhile for Schmidt and Ireland there are a few new faces, if indeed you can call the likes of Jonathan Sexton, Jamie Heaslip and Cian Healy new faces.

 

Sexton returns at No.10 after completing his enforced rest for concussion protocol that saw him sit out the Italy clash.

 

But while the Racing Metro flyhalf has garnered most of the column inches this week in the build-up, Schmidt admits that he is just as worried about France's No.10.

 

"Flyhalf Camille Lopez is a very good player, an intuitive and instinctive player and that allows them to play in a number of different ways," he said.

 

"We're prepared for the various tactics that the French may employ. They'll use that narrow channel sometimes but I don't think they'll deprive themselves of width.

 

"With so many players returning to the fold we're probably not going to be as fluent as we'd like to be but we'll try to be as clinical as we can this weekend and hopefully that's sufficient."

 

 

For Ireland: The return of both Jonathan Sexton and Jamie Heaslip is massive for the Irish, they are fantastic players but hopefully they will not be too rusty. The centre pairing of Jared Payne and Robbie Henshaw are slowly making a name for themselves as they continue to string together some great performances.

 

For France: Mathieu Bastareaud is a massive force for the French and forms the perfect foil for Wesley Fofana in the centres while the back three of Scott SPedding, Yoann Huget and Teddy Thomas can be deadly. One of the most interesting players to watch all weekend will be the reserve prop Uini Atonio who weighs in near on 150 kilograms.

 

Head to head: The centre battle will be immense with the battering ram that is Mathieu Bastareaud trying to breakdown the new, but impressive, Irish pairing. There is also a big battle between the loose trios with both teams boasting very balanced back row forwards.

 

 

 

2014: Ireland won 22-20, Saint Denis

2013: Ireland drew with France 13-13, Dublin

2012: France drew with Ireland 17-17, Saint Denis

2011: France won 26-22, Saint Denis

2011: France won 19-12, Bordeaux

2011: France won 25-22, Dublin

2010: France won 33-10, Saint Denis

2009: Ireland won 30-21, Dublin

2008: France won 26-21, Saint Denis

2007: France won 25-3, Saint Denis

 

Prediction: Neither Ireland nor France were very impressive against arguably weaker opponents in Italy and Scotland respectively. However, the Irish are still very much the favourites to lift the trophy while the French are far too unpredictable. It should see the Irish take it by 7 points.

 

 

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Paul O'Connell (captain), 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Jack McGrath.

Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Martin Moore, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Jordi Murphy, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Felix Jones.

 

France: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Teddy Thomas, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Bernard Le Roux, 7 Damien Chouly, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Pascal Pape, 4 Yoann Maestri, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Eddy Ben Arous.

Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Uini Atonio, 18 Vincent Debaty, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Loann Goujon, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Remi Tales, 23 Remi Lamerat.

 

Date: Saturday, February 14

Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Kick-off: 17.00 (17.00 GMT; 18.00 French time)

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Leighton Hodges (Wales)

TMO: Graham Hughes (England)