French players know Ireland are better than them now

The psychology of sport is based on preparing better, believing you are better, and being better than the opposition. And at the elite level, possessing a ruthless, clinical instinct to drive home that superiority.

French rugby has lost that intangible in relation to their first Six Nations opponents, Ireland. French players have come to realise that the Irish players are better than them at the moment. That’s a reflection of where French rugby is. They accept that. In the past, they never did.

The French have come to appreciate that in a tight game, Ireland won’t ever give up, or ‘release the win’, as they say in France. Accepting defeat does not happen.

This Ireland team has a strong mentality, is skilful, and is armed with a strict Schmidt game plan.

What must happen for Ireland to implode in Paris tomorrow? Fall a long way.

To draw a form line from France’s most recent Test — the draw at home to Japan — to Ireland’s evisceration of the Japanese there last summer is a steep curve. Joining those dots is to believe that Japan underwent a remarkable rugby transformation since the debacle last summer when Ireland put 85 points on them in two Tests.

And Japan has not undergone such a transformation.

I’ll be on a flight when the French team is announced but it’s a fair bet Jacques Brunel’s selection will differ significantly from the French team I’d pick. And that’s no reflection on the new coach.

Put it like this: If Ireland’s strongest team played its second strongest, the ‘A’ team would win convincingly. If you put a first XV against a second XV in France, I have no clue who would win that game. No-one would.

Few if any of the current French team are remotely near world class at this stage. Disagree?

If you are picking the best Six Nations team in their respective positions, who features from the French? Is there a back from France who gets into an Irish 15-9?

The French back row, which should feature Toulouse’s Yacouba Camara is dripping with the capacity to deliver big moments but they can be three out of 10 or nine out of 10, depending on which mood takes them. The worst you will get from any of the Irish back rows in Paris is seven out of 10.

I am not going to stick the knife into any of Brunel’s coaching appointments before they get a game under their belts, but it is asking a lot of lineout coach Julien Bonnaire, the ex-Clermont back row who has never coached before, to have that aspect of the game running smoothly in such a short, compressed amount of time.

As good as he may prove to be, I don’t believe Test level is a place to find your feet. It’s not an environment to be discovering whether you have it or not.

The Irish psyche in us all believes it keeps bad luck at bay if we promote some sort of a case for an outmatched opponent.

The Irish players and management are singing the same tune this week about the opening 20 minutes tomorrow, but that could be as much about a review of the Scotland game last season as a forewarning about the French.

Brunel’s best chance is that the Stade de France is a good deal harder to play in as a visiting team than Murrayfield. It’s a more intimidating ground. France have to come out Saturday.

This is a rugby country that sacked an in-contract coach for the first time in its history in Guy Noves. They are being scoffed at now. There has to be a reaction.

But the Achilles heel remains, that behavioural tick I am blue in the face of mentioning: discipline is not practised on a daily basis. It is not part of the package.

And you don’t switch it on the first weekend of February. France will be full of hustle and bustle and Nigel Owens likes a tight game, so he is always central to the outcome too.

I like the new out-half Matthieu Jalibert a lot. But there’s a skill in blooding a young fella. Fair enough if Brunel has decided to give him 10 Tests to bed himself into the position and find his feet. Confidence is crucial at No 10, but he hasn’t even played Champions Cup. Be warned, though. He has been good in the Top 14. Better than good.

And if the gods smiled on him early, he could take off. The French psychology is such that while an Irish lad might build his confidence over a two-month period, the French soar in the space of five minutes.

If Jalibert’s first two touches are good and the crowd get in behind the team, they become possessed like no other sporting nation.

His half-back partner Maxime Machenaud will have significant input into the tactical direction of the French. Brunel’s style is more or less decided for him. The game of rugby now has been distilled down to two basic options — play the middle or play for width.

A lot of the attack shapes have become very familiar. Playing off your scrum-half or your out-half with different wrinkles on it. And the Racing scrum-half is in a rich vein of form, which has fuelled his confidence.

FFR president Bernard Laporte has a big job on his hands. The money washing around the Top 14 has lured many of the southern hemisphere’s best players, thereby restricting game time for French players.

I saw two examples in the Top 14 this week of players playing smart, winning rugby. Maybe it was a coincidence that none were French.

I presume those who criticised Montpellier’s Ruan Pienaar of bad sportsmanship as he ran down the clock before converting a try to defeat Clermont on the road were having a laugh. What was be meant to do, give them a leg back into the game? Are they right in the head?

Racing 92 also beat Castres away and their current form is reflected in the French squad tomorrow. But in the side last weekend were great rugby warriors, competitors such as Census Johnson, Patricio Albacete, Anthony Tuitavake, and Donnacha Ryan, fellas who’ve given a lot to the game of rugby over 15 years, and who know how to win.

It was heart-warming to see them enjoy a game of rugby in the mud. Ryan had another big game too.

For whatever reason — and there are no shortage of theories — French rugby has lost its way. I was there for nearly five years. I learned a lot and saw a lot. France is a vast country of cultures and values though and the possibility of kindling what I am experiencing here in New Zealand already is remote at best.

Here just a month and I know already my coaching education hasn’t plateaued or isn’t anywhere near doing so.

Rugby here, you are living it. This isn’t work experience or a tour. This is nitty-gritty, and everything is important. It all tracks back to performing on the pitch.

Personal development, time away, everything okay with your family? With your diet, lifestyle? What do you need to perform? Nothing is out of reach. For every single player on every single topic. It is so thorough.

And the humble thing is genuine. Right down to training gear. Players aren’t anal about having a perfect matching kit. Lads just show up, train hard, and go home.

They raise a lot of good rugby people in New Zealand, very matter of fact. The national set-up in France needs more like that. Ireland has them.

One such is the head coach. Joe won’t allow any Irish player look beyond the 80 in Paris tomorrow, but once it’s done, watch his eyes light up at the prospect of what lies ahead. Three home games to be treated as a block with no mention on March 17.

Whatever emerges tomorrow, we surely will see Jordan Larmour start against Italy. If he is going to the World Cup in 2019, he needs all the Test experience he can get.