France’s rout of Italy fails to convince Schmidt

So, the French have their tails up while the Irish find themselves navel-gazing after a third straight defeat against the Welsh.

Not the kind of script anyone wanted to read before another trip to our traditional Parisian graveyard this weekend but Joe Schmidt believes Philippe Saint-André’s side were not nearly as impressive against Italy as the scoreboard might have suggested last Saturday.

“I know a lot of the French players very well and I think people can get carried away by that 30-12 scoreline,” said the Leinster chief, who completed his northern hemisphere coaching apprenticeship at Clermont Auvergne.