French out-half feels for Sexton

Jonathan Sexton received support from an unusual quarter yesterday, as France out-half Francois Trinh-Duc admitted he can empathise with the Leinster man’s struggles to make the Ireland number 10 jersey his own.

Sexton is the man charged with piloting Ireland to a rare success in Paris, his third successive start in a green jersey that Declan Kidney has swapped between him and Ronan O’Gara in recent years.

Trinh-Duc will be his opposite number at the Stade de France tomorrow but he has endured selection struggles of his own, sitting on the bench while scrum-half Morgan Parra was reinvented as an out-half at the World Cup by former France coach Marc Lievremont.

“I know the problem myself a little,” laughed Trinh-Duc when asked about Sexton’s ongoing battle with O’Gara. “I think that everyone has been there. In a national team it happens more often. And then you have O’Gara, he’s a legend in Ireland.

“(But) Sexton is a very good player, a very good kicker. I remember the successful penalty he kicked at Montpellier to draw the game. We’ll be monitoring him.”

Sexton isn’t the only threat to French hopes, but despite Les Kiss’s protestations that Ireland aren’t just a “choke tackle team”, Trinh-Duc admits it’s an area France have examined.

“We’ve spoken about it because they turned over three balls in this way against Italy. It’s imperative to support as quickly as possible at the breakdowns and carry the ball a bit more with the intention of going lower, without going to ground either.

“We’ve been analysing (Ireland) for 15 days. We’ve done a lot of work and looked at certain things. It’s their own (defensive) system. Often, you’ll find a winger or back row forward inside the fly-half to make the offside line more dense. We’ll try a few things to make sure we can avoid falling into their traps.

“I hope these things will work and will allow us to score.”

Nonetheless, after somewhat unconvincing victories against Scotland and Italy, the France out-half reckons their Six Nations campaign truly begins tomorrow — even if he doesn’t rank Ireland among the favourites to win the competition outright.

“Our most difficult matches are the three last. We must be able to raise our game from now on as the Welsh are without doubt the most impressive.”