France are formidable, but beatable

HISTORY beckons for an elite band of Irish sportsmen in the Stade de France this evening.

The last and only time an Irish team won at the stadium in St Denis was ten years ago, when Brian O’Driscoll scored his memorable hat-trick of tries. None of their predecessors prevailed over the French when matches were staged in the Parc des Princes – the previous victory for an Irish side came in the old Stade Colombes in 1972, when not a single member of today’s squad was even born.

Ireland have beaten France in Paris only once in the lifetime of the current players and three of them will be back in the Stade this evening to relive the memory. It will always have especially happy memories for O’Driscoll, but Ronan O’Gara and John Hayes were there too.