Ireland’s RBS 6 Nations clash with France was tonight given the go-ahead after the Stade de France passed a pitch inspection by referee Dave Pearson.

Time is a healer, they say, but have Ireland had enough hours, minutes and seconds to put right the wrongs of last Sunday’s effort and produce a performance against France tonight in Paris?

SCRUM

France scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili has been ruled out of Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations clash against Ireland in Paris with a back problem.

Ask the question as to what Ronan O’Gara and Mike Ross have in common and the instinctive answer would probably be not a lot, apart from the fact that they are both members of Declan Kidney’s Ireland squad.

France have brought Imanol Harinordoquy into their team for Saturday’s Six Nations home clash against Ireland in one of four changes to the starting lineup from last weekend’s victory over Italy.

EXPECT a few tweaks here and there but there will be no “knee-jerk reaction” by the Irish brains trust this week as they digest last Sunday’s defeat to Wales and prepare for this Saturday’s follow-up against the French in Paris.

France have promoted Imanol Harinordoquy to their starting line-up as one of four changes for Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations clash with Ireland.

New France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has included two uncapped players in his provisional 30-man squad for the RBS 6 Nations.

Harlequins boss Conor O’Shea will send his players into battle tomorrow against a team he describes as the “Barcelona of European rugby”.

THE one area of consistent performance from the unpredictable French has been the solidity of their set piece.

PROP Jean-Baptiste Poux thinks his team’s resurgence at the Rugby World Cup has happened mainly because it stopped trying too hard to copy other teams, and simply got back to doing things the French way.

France 14 Tonga 19

WITH just two days separating the games against Connacht and France, Declan Kidney’s resources were always going to be stretched this week, so yesterday’s injury update from Carton House was timely and welcome in equal measure.

Mike Ross believes Ireland will put in a stronger 80 minutes against the French in the Aviva next weekend having learnt lessons from Saturday night’s defeat in Bordeaux.

Toulouse coach Guy Novès has made four changes to his side, from the one that defeated Biarritz in their Heineken Cup quarter-final clash in San Sebastian, for tomorrow’s last four match with Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, kick-off 3.30pm.

BIARRITZ centre Damien Traille has lost his battle to be fit for the Heineken Cup final after failing to recover in time from a fractured forearm.

IT was billed as a meeting between two of Europe’s heavyweights but some pugilists pack a harder punch than others and that was true down by the banks of the River Garonne on Saturday.

PREVIEW: Toulouse v Leinster

FRANCE will bid to enhance their place at the top of the RBS 6 Nations Championship table when they play Wales on Friday night.

France coach Marc Lievremont has made two enforced changes for Les Bleus’ RBS 6 Nations clash against Wales in Cardiff on Friday night.

France lock Lionel Nallet has warned Les Bleus to be on their guard against Ireland this weekend – but has not been overly gushing in his analysis of Declan Kidney’s Grand Slam champions.

France coach Marc Lievremont has made just two enforced changes to the team that beat Scotland for Les Bleus RBS 6 Nations clash against Ireland.

FRANCE have been hit by a triple blow ahead of their Six Nations clash against Ireland with the news that Aurelien Rougerie, Luc Ducalcon and Benjamin Fall have all been forced to pull out of the side.

France have been hit by a triple blow ahead of their RBS 6 Nations clash against Ireland with the news that Aurelien Rougerie, Luc Ducalcon and Benjamin Fall have all been forced to pull out of the side.

Toulouse 23 Cardiff Blues 7

CARDIFF BLUES will have revenge on their mind as they face Toulouse at the Millennium Stadium today.

Benoit Lecouls will play no part in Toulouse’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Cardiff Blues after being ruled out with a recurrence of a neck injury.

Injury-hit Toulouse will have to draw on all their experience to overcome London Irish in the Heineken Cup semi-final at Twickenham on Saturday.

Scrum-half Morgan Parra will make his first start for France in Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations Championship match against England in Paris.

LIONEL FAURE admits his call-up to the France squad for the RBS 6 Nations Championship allowed him to dodge the potentially painful dilemma of switching his allegiance to England.

Uncapped Francois Trinh-Duc will play at fly-half in a much-changed France side for Sunday’s RBS 6 Nations match against Scotland at Murrayfield.

France coach Bernard Laporte has rung the changes for Friday night’s World Cup bronze medal match against Argentina in Paris.

FRANCE have made nine changes to their starting line-up to take on Georgia in their final World Cup Group D match at Marseille on Sunday.

FRANCE coach Bernard Laporte named his side yesterday to face Ireland in tomorrow’s crunch Rugby World Cup clash in the Stade de France, and there were a number of surprises.

Toulouse know they will have to win the physical battle if they are to overcome Leicester in Sunday's Heineken Cup semi-final.

PIERRE BERBIZIER has been confirmed as the new head coach of the Italian national team.

RENOWNED Bondi Beach, a few miles outside of Sydney, was the spectacular setting yesterday for the utterly predictable French selection to face Ireland in the quarter-final of the World Cup in Melbourne on Sunday.

Tony Marsh today completed a courageous comeback from cancer when he was named ahead of Damien Traille to play in France’s opening World Cup clash against Fiji.

France coach Bernard Laporte insists he isn’t worried by the return of England’s star players for the second Test at Twickenham tomorrow.

Last weekend Frédéric Michalak was playing for France Under-21. This week he has been included in the France A team to play Ireland A.

Australia 29 France 17

France coach Bernard Laporte has recalled Stephane Glas to Les Bleus’ squad for the Six Nations game at Scotland on March 23.

France coach Bernard Laporte has bemoaned the injury curse that has plagued his team after having to make four changes for Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Wales.