Head-butting Bru must be on his best behaviour to win over Laporte

FALLEN idol Yannick Bru and Christophe Dominic will attempt to persuade French coach Bernard Laporte of their worth in tonight’s A international against Ireland at Ravenhill.

Toulouse player Bru fell foul of the law when he head-butted an Agen opponent off the pitch late last year. He served the suspension of six weeks but now must persuade Laporte that he is a reformed character.

Ireland A have had mixed fortunes in their opening games, securing a draw against Scotland and victory over Italy while France lost 30-13 to England at Northampton but beat Scotland 30-15 a fortnight ago.

Certainly, with England on the horizon, Ireland will feel they are well in with a chance of capturing the A title, even if the Grand Slam and Triple Crown is beyond them.

Meanwhile, Scotland coach Ian McGeechan insists he is still relishing the challenge of his role despite successive defeats against Ireland and France.

"The biggest pressure we have is on ourselves," he said ahead of the meeting with the Welsh. "Like in anything else, you want to be winning and you work as hard as you can to try and make sure the next game is about winning.

"You take things from the previous games to hold on to and to change and put them into the next game, which is Wales.

"You use what has been there and see how you take it forward which is part of the excitement of coaching and playing. You have that challenge every time you go out and you focus on the next game."

But McGeechan has urged his team not to gift points to the opposition as they did in Paris a fortnight ago where Scotland crashed to a 36-3 defeat.

He said: "We actually nullified them in the things they had become very dangerous in and their tries came from good personal execution. What disappointed us was the unforced mistakes in possession which were significant in a lot of the points and you can't afford that against good sides."

McGeechan's Welsh counterpart Steve Hansen is desperate for a win in Edinburgh, especially after the heroics against Clive Woodward's England.

And hooker Gareth Williams shares that expectation, saying: "It was a good performance against England, but we need a win now.

"There is no reason why we can't carry our form on from the England game, but Scotland are in the same situation as us, having also lost their opening two matches. I am hoping that we get a positive result."

Gloucester's James Simpson-Daniel, named on the right wing for England's RBS Six Nations match against Italy at Twickenham on Sunday, missed training yesterday with an ankle injury.

But England are confident he will be fit in time for the game.

IRELAND A v France A, Ravenhill, 7.30: G Darcy; J Topping , J Staunton, D Quinlan, T Robinson; P Burke, N Doak, capt; R McCormack, P Shields, S Best; D O'Callaghan, J Davidson; S Easterby, K Dawson, E Miller. Replacements: J Blaney , P Bracken, M O'Driscoll, A McCullen, B O'Meara, B Everitt, M Lawlor.

Ireland under-21 (v France, Musgrave Park, 7.30pm): T Bowe (Queens), R Lane (UCC), K Matthews (UL Bohs), B Murphy (do) J Hearty (Blackrock College), M. Rainey (Glasgow), F O'Loughlin (Shannon); S Keogh (UCC, capt), N Ronan (Lansdowne), J Muldoon (Galwegians), N McComb (Dundee), D Gannon (UCD), J Moran (UCD), R Best (Belfast Harlequins), E McGovern (Old Crescent).

Replacements: K Corrigan (UCD), D Fitzpatrick (Belfast Harlequins), S O'Connor (Cork Con), C Potts (St Mary's College), C O'Loughlin (Buccaneers), D McAllister (Terenure College), P O'Brien (UCC).