The portents look bleak

WITH the Rugby World Cup and the spiritual leaders who graced it, retired, the next seven weeks provides the platform for young talent and new heroes to emerge. That is the way it has always been.

Fate has decreed that Ireland meet their World Cup conquerors in their opening game. The French in Paris is a difficult assignment at the best of times and for a variety of reasons today will be no different. Melbourne aside, our recent record against the French has been very impressive with three championship victories in the past four meetings, but an element of fear hangs over today’s encounter.

On the face of things, the French have recovered well from their mauling by England in the World Cup semi-final last November. On the club scene, they have three sides in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup. The trouble with the French is that one never knows what frame of mind they are in until they arrive on the field. In the World Cup they looked the most exciting and well-balanced team in the tournament until the semi-final. When the weather turned nasty, the French threw in the towel. As Clive Woodward commented afterwards, it rains in France too.