Donal Lenihan: Ireland have been here before. Often it ends well

Ireland need to deliver something different to halt this buoyant new French wave and find a way to take what is still a very inexperienced visiting side out of their comfort zone

ONE IN, ONE OUT: Munster’s Craig Casey gets a pass away during Ireland training as Johnny Sexton watches on. Casey will hope to make his Irish debut off the bench but Sexton misses out. Pic: Inpho/Billy Stickland

Heads and hearts aligned.

It needs to be one of those days but, then again, we’ve seen it all before. A team backed into a corner, ravaged by injury, written off by all and sundry who just dig that bit deeper to stop the carnage.

Last week it was Wales. It doesn’t matter that they scraped over the line, they got there.

This week Ireland are the ones looking down the barrel and in need of win over new tournament favourites France in order to keep their championship aspirations alive. 

This French team have become flavour of the month, due primarily to the quality of rugby produced over the last year. At a time when so many international teams have resorted to kicking more, France had taken a step back in time and re-engaged with their traditional broken field running and offloading game.

Their eight-try demolition of Italy in Rome, who normally offer more resistance in the opening rounds of the tournament before injury and fatigue wear them down, has put everyone on notice that France are getting better with every outing.

Despite the shattering defeat in Cardiff last Sunday, nobody could question the character, commitment, or determination of this Irish squad as their collective desire and will to win almost drove them to an unlikely victory, despite playing with 14 men for 70 minutes.

Camouflaged by this blood and thunder response was the quality of rugby played, especially in the second quarter, once Ireland held onto the ball. That has be the starting point this time out. To win at the top level of any sport, having the chemistry right in the team room is every bit as important as any technical or physical superiority.

In the absence of a trio of key leaders and test captains in Johnny Sexton, Peter O’Mahony, and James Ryan, along with veteran scrum-half Conor Murray, this Irish team has already been stripped back to the bare bones. Adding to the cause is the perception that, not for the first time, Sexton was targeted by forces on the periphery of the French camp pertaining to his personal medical history.

To win tomorrow Ireland will not only be required to go to the depths of the well for a second week in a row, but will have to align an unwavering commitment in attack and defence with a smart tactical plan delivered with pinpoint accuracy by a new set of half-backs in Jamison Gibson-Park and Billy Burns.

Breakdown efficiency.

For me, the most impressive of the reams of post-match statistics from Sunday’s game in Cardiff was Ireland’s efficiency at the breakdown, with 65% of their possession recycled in under three seconds. That was a big improvement on the autumn series.

That makes a massive difference, not only for the scrum-half, but for Ireland’s attacking options, as it offers far less time for the opposition to reset their defensive line. It happens as a consequence of fighting for a strong body position when posting the ball after the tackle and the accuracy of the first arriving support player in clearing out beyond the ball. 

In their desperation to slow Ireland’s recycle, Wales got sloppy, conceding the penalties that allowed Ireland back into the contest.

While the French back row were outstanding against Italy, they like to play with the ball off the deck. Ireland must not allow that to happen and need to hit the right balance in terms of committing numbers to the ruck and staying on their feet. Gibson-Park is also very busy off quick ball and will challenge the French fringe defenders with his pace.

Shaun Edwards has succeeded in convincing the French three quarters that working in unison, without the ball in defence, is every bit as important as having fluidity in attack. Ireland need to examine just how good their defensive discipline is on the back foot off quick ball. That will also help assist Burns with his kicking game in searching for grass behind the French back three.

Ireland’s revamped back row, with the hard-working Rhys Ruddock drafted in once again to help shore things up in the absence of Caelan Doris and O’Mahony, have a huge battle on their hands against a very athletic and powerful French trio. 

Tadhg Beirne will be required to supplement their work with another massive shift, while new captain Iain Henderson needs to add to Ireland’s carrying options and take pressure off CJ Stander, who will be undoubtedly be targeted by the French.

Balanced attack via hand and foot.

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing Ireland tomorrow is to achieve the right balance in their attacking armoury between kicking and passing. 

The problem playing against a side with so many running threats as this French outfit has is if your kicking fails to allow the chasers exert real pressure in the air, the likes of Brice Dulin and former Sevens specialist Gabin Villiere will cut you to shreds.

In anticipation of the aerial assault France have omitted Teddy Thomas, despite the fact that he has wreaked havoc against Ireland in the past, and replaced him with the more solid but equally destructive Damian Penaud. Thomas is held in reserve on a French bench lacking in proven cover at out-half, a potential problem if they lost Mathieu Jalibert early.

It’s not how often you kick the ball that counts, it’s how effective it is. Burns will have to put last weekend’s botched execution at the death behind him and find a level of accuracy off the boot that gives confidence to those around him. 

At the same time, both he and Gibson-Park need to size up the opportunities that may exist in the wider channels to attack with ball in hand if the French wingers drop deep to cover the backfield.

Ireland have struggled to achieve the right balance in that respect of late but to beat this talented French outfit, Ireland’s inexperienced half backs will be required to hit the ground running and get their game management spot on.

Much of Ireland’s attacking play depends on a productive lineout, an area of regression last year. While Andy Farrell will be pleased with the improvements made in this area against Wales, Paul O’Connell will be aware that, without O’Mahony and Ryan, Ireland face an altogether different challenge against a far better French line out than Wales had in Cardiff. 

Outside of their 22, they will challenge Ireland vigorously in the air but remain on the ground when defending the five-metre maul which they did so successfully in Paris only a few months ago.

That presents opportunities by shifting the drive early or calling their bluff with an attacking power play from quick ball off the top. Ever since the final whistle last weekend, the Irish coaching team faced a twin task.

Firstly they needed to address the psychological damage from a defeat of that nature and, of more importance, draw up a gameplan based on identified frailties in the French set up and present the tactical adjustments designed to exploit those deficiencies. That was something Ireland were brilliant at on Joe Schmidt’s watch. 

Ireland need to deliver something different to halt this buoyant new French wave and find a way to take what is still a very inexperienced French side out of their comfort zone.

The adverse weather conditions forecasted may help curb the attacking fluidity with which France have being playing with of late but, on the back of losing so many key players, Ireland will have to produce a monumental performance to win this one.

However unlikely, history has shown us that is not beyond the bounds of possibility.