Ferris would be a monumental loss

IF DECLAN KIDNEY is keen to present fresh challenges to his high-achieving national squad, then Saturday’s crunch clash against France fits the bill perfectly. With just a solitary win in the French capital in the past 38 years, conquering the Stade de France this weekend is a potential fast-track to glory.

Ten years on from Ireland’s last triumph in Paris only John Hayes, Ronan O’Gara and hat-trick man, Brian O’Driscoll survive. This trio have been at the receiving end of French flair enough times in the interim to appreciate more than anyone the challenge on offer this weekend.

The noughties have been an exceptional time in Irish rugby but for some reason, 2000 apart, trips to Paris have remained as traumatic as the dreadful 1990s. Even in the comparatively good times that characterised the 1980s (two outright championship wins and a share with the French in 1983), trips to the Parc des Princes carried a government health warning — travel at your peril.