Ireland’s momentum starting to build ahead of game that could dictate Six Nations fate

There was, of course, no mention of winning the title just yet, but Joe Schmidt

admitted that if Ireland are to be in the shake-up on the final weekend, then in all probability tomorrow’s rendezvous with France is a must-win.

Central to Ireland’s chances of being contenders is the well-being of their most influential player, Johnny Sexton, who plays his first game since Ireland’s win over Australia last November.

Sexton’s concussions, combined with a broken jaw, has limited him to just seven games for his primary employers, Racing Metro, this season. The Parisian club will surely want him to play their Top 14 clashes at home to Clermont on February 21st and Grenoble on March 7th – the Six Nations’ two ‘idle’ weekends. For the outhalf, therefore, to still be standing in Ireland’s Murrayfield finale on March 21st, he will need to come through six consecutive weekends after his 12-week lay-off.

"Yeah, and it was a concern last year through the Six Nations as well," said Schmidt on that precise point.

“Having the time off is probably the best preparation for putting together six games back to back. But with Racing playing Clermont next week, I’m sure they’ll want to put their best team out, and that is far from ideal. It is not a circumstance we control.

“Yes, it is a concern looking down the line. But we are very much focused on this week. If we can get a result this week, then we stay in the hunt. If we don’t, I think it would be very hard to be at the top of the tree in six weeks’ time.”

Heavyweight Lions

Schmidt, as expected, recalled the heavyweight Lions’ Test-starting trio of Sexton, Jamie Heaslip and Seán O’Brien to his starting line-up, as well as Cian Healy to the bench. In addition to Sexton, Healy not played since September and O’Brien has only played 50 minutes’ rugby since September, after last week’s intended comeback was hamstrung in the warm-up.

Nevertheless, the returning triumvirate are amongst nine Lions in the starting team and they have also amassed 146 Irish caps between them, compared to the 13 which the replaced trio took into the Stadio Olimpico. While Schmidt maintained that Ireland were still unlikely to be at their most fluent, that experience brings a certain comfort to the head coach.

Tight moments

“I think it builds a little bit of confidence. Having those people around, they know that those players have been in some tough, tight moments before. They have been in some very successful moments as well. Therefore, their decision making, their leadership, does add a bit of confidence.

“Hopefully it adds a bit of organisation as well. That’s no disrespect to Ian Keatley, who I thought did a great job last week and he really grew into the game. But those experiences have built a degree of confidence and a degree of organisation that become a little bit automated because they have been in situations before and have worked their way through them, or having not worked their way through them, learned from them.”

Rory Best has been cleared of any concussion problems after a full-contact session and thus retains his place. With Jordi Murphy providing the back-row cover, à la Keatley, Tommy O’Donnell is the unluckiest of all to drop out of the match-day squad. Although Eoin Reddan trained all week, the strength and presence around the fringes of Isaac Boss has been preferred as the more like-for-like back-up to Conor Murray.

The Irish head coach looked a little more uneasy than he normally does at a team announcement. It could have been the repeated questions about Sexton’s fitness and well-being.

Normally patient whatever the line of questioning, eventually, when asked if he had considered naming Sexton on the bench, Schmidt simply said: “No.”

On the premise that France are scarcely consistent from week to week, Schmidt doubted Saturday’s result would have much bearing on their World Cup pool finale eight months hence. Indeed, his knowledge of the French from his three years with Clermont may well be keeping him awake.

Asked what French traits scared him the most, he paused and said: “Their individual abilities to beat us one-on-one; their individual abilities to physically dominate us. I don’t just mean in the physical, confrontational manner. I mean to be able to physically beat us to the space with the footwork they have.

Breaking a tackle

“I had the luxury of coaching Wesley Fofana for a few years. I don’t think there’s many better than him in world rugby at being able to change an angle, whether it is taking a hard line and breaking a tackle or to take an out-line and skin a tackle, so that it doesn’t exist. There’s those sorts of things.

“How do we contain [Mathieu] Bastareaud? I think the try Teddy Thomas scored against the Australians [is an example of] that individuality – you can never rest against the French because they can pull a rabbit out of the hat.

“It is the same with [Damien] Chouly. The fact that he was on the end of that Pascal Papé pass last year, we were never going to catch him because he’s an athlete. That’s probably what fear I have, the greatest fear I have, because they do have that talent.”