UNDER-20 WORLD CUP/Ireland v France:THE OLD saying 'you keep your friends close but your enemies closer' could not ring any truer for the Ireland U-20s this week as they prepare to open their IRB Junior World Championships campaign against France in the Argentine city of Rosario this afternoon.
Lest they forget who they are facing, they are sharing a city centre hotel with Les Bleus and everywhere they go they are met by the young men who denied them a Grand Slam in the spring and are determined to put a dent in Irish ambitions at the home of local football team, Newells Old Boys.
“I suppose it is a bit strange because we’re playing them tomorrow and we keep bumping into them,” captain Rhys Ruddock admitted before adding with a wry smile, “we wouldn’t have much to talk about anyway, we just nod at them and that’s it”.
The clash with France is the first of a gruelling eight days for the Six Nations champions and it won’t get any easier when they play England on Wednesday, while host nation Argentina lie in wait on Sunday.
The IRB have cut the tournament to 12 teams from the 16 that took part in Japan last year, creating three pools of death, of which Ireland’s looks the toughest. The top team automatically qualifies for the semi-finals, with one team from three joining them based on their group results.
Coach Allen Clarke is under no illusions of the task facing the side he guided to the Six Nations.
He has kept faith with the 15 who claimed the title against Scotland at Dubarry Park in March and while his goal is to qualify at the top of the group, he knows exactly how tough the challenge will be.
“We want to get out of our group as the number one seeds,” he said. “If you do that anything is possible, that’s our goal.
“If you look at our group, you imagine that only one team is going to go through to the knockout stages of the tournament. All of the teams have the potential to beat one another so as a result of that if you lose one game then you can’t lose sight of your ambitions.
“Our focus has solely been on France and we’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves. Obviously we have knowledge of England this season as well, but that’s not on the lips of the players at present and by the third game we’ll have seen Argentina twice as well.
“It’s going to be a tight group and it’s going to come down to fine lines in games . ..”
The French are a big, powerful side who beat Ireland 20-15 in Beguerre in February but Ruddock and his players are aware of what went wrong on that night and are keen to set it right.
“There’s probably enough incentive anyway in playing the first game of the World Cup,” the blindside said. “But, certainly the fact that they beat us and the fact that we felt we underperformed in that game gives us extra incentive and point to prove.
“We struggled to win our own ball at the set-piece and certainly their driving maul from the lineout hurt us. They’ll probably look to do the same again but we’re confident that we have the players and the attitude to stop them.”
FRANCE: B Dulin (Agen); C Lagain (Bayonne), R Lamérat (Toulouse), R Bartholomew (Toulon), J Sinzelle (Toulon); JM Doussain (Toulouse), A Bales (Agen); X Chiocci (Toulon), M Ivaldi (capt) (Toulon), S Abadie (Agen); J Souza (Lyon), G Often (La Rochelle); A Roulin (Clermont), T Molcard (Biarritz), A Erban (Agen). Replacements: K Le Guen (Stade Rochelais), E Ben Arous (Racing Metro), R Taofifenua (Perpignan), K Gimeno (Beziers), G Bosch (Perpignan), M Lamoulie (Agen), H Bonneval (Stade Francais).
IRELAND: A Conway (Leinster); T O’Halloran (Connacht), E Griffin (Connacht), N Spence (Ulster), S Zebo (Munster); I McKinney (Ulster, J Cooney (Leinster); J O’Connell (Leinster), N Annett (Ulster), S Maguire (Leinster); D O’Callaghan (Munster), B Marshall (Leinster), R Ruddock (capt) (Leinster), D Ryan (Leinster), P Butler (Munster). Replacements: D Doyle (Leinster), B Cagney (Munster), B Hayes (Munster), B O’Hara (Munster), M Heaney (Ulster), N Reid (Leinster), D Hudson (Leinster).
