Heads must rule hearts if Irish want to join heroes

So back we go to Stade de France, where the pitch has thawed since that icy debacle of three weekends ago and the intrigue surrounding this RBS 6 Nations clash tomorrow between France and Ireland (3pm, Irish time) has increased considerably.

It is easy to speculate that had Ireland actually kicked off against the French in the cold night air of February 11 then they would have been dispatched with all the blood-curdling efficiency of an over-enthusiastic revolutionary on a deadline at the guillotine.

You get the picture. In the wake of a narrow defeat to Wales and having been unsettled by the citing, albeit unsuccessful, of Stephen Ferris that followed it, Declan Kidney’s side would have pitched up in Paris just six days later and been sacrificed at the altar of French running rugby.

Yet a week of sub-zero temperatures in the City of Lights got Ireland off the hook and gave Kidney time to get his team’s act together.

Of course the enforced inactivity from the postponement came at a cost and it took a very rusty opening 40 minutes against Italy last week before we saw the sort of intensity and purpose that will be required tomorrow if the Irish are to have any hope of recording a first win in France since 2000.

There is no reason why they shouldn’t but it will need a performance from a side playing to its potential for the entire 80 minutes against a side that can play poorly and still inflict maximum damage at any moment.

France have shown that in both their games to date, wins over Italy and then Scotland, with performances that tell you all you need to know about their rugby. At Murrayfield last Sunday in that squeak past the Scots they were eight parts infuriatingly flaky and two parts irresistible — and that was all that was needed to beat Andy Robinson’s side.

Ireland will not be as easy to defeat, one would hope, but it will require the sort of concentration in defence that was worryingly absent in the first game and a half of their campaign thus far to ensure they have a chance of winning as Philippe Saint-Andre’s side need only a sniff of a lapse to cause havoc in opposition territory.

“If you look at their two games... they were clinical,” Kidney said of the French. “They were willing to defend and soak up and then the minute Italy made a mistake they pounce and they get their four tries.

“It was pretty much similar against Scotland too. The way their structure is, they have a week leading into that first match and as time goes on they’re just in camp now, they’re not chopping and changing between clubs. They have two wins under their belt and that bit of momentum. You don’t get to a World Cup final without being as good as they are. They’re a classy side and they’ll have learned a bit from last week. But if you don’t concentrate for 80 minutes and you switch off it only takes them 10 seconds to run the length of the pitch and score.”

And while Ireland showed signs of improvement in that second half against Italy, there will need to be more of the same against a French side that will no doubt run out with their new coach’s anger still ringing in their ears following that near-upset in Edinburgh.

Like Kidney in Ireland, Saint-Andre resisted the calls for new personnel and aside from the enforced introduction of Clement Poitrenaud for the injured Maxime Medard at full-back — hardly a weakening of France’s attacking threat — has preferred continuity to change. They will not be as bad again and the one tactical change he has made, returning Julien Bonnaire to the back row, signifies the coach’s intent to bolster a misfiring lineout and improve what was a lacklustre effort at the breakdown in Edinburgh.

As for the scrum, the French pack relished every opportunity to pack down in Murrayfield, spurning tap-and-goes for more chances to collide with the Scots, and Ireland’s forwards will have to step up to that challenge.

It is not a challenge that should overawe Ireland, however. As Kidney referenced when announcing his side this week, his players have performed well on French soil already this season for their provinces and in environments more hostile than Stade de France.

Repeating those feats in an Irish jersey has proven a step too far on previous visits but that should not preclude the class of 2011 from breaking the mould tomorrow. You sense it will come down to the way Irish players utilise what is between their ears rather than the size of their hearts that will determine whether they join the heroes of 2000 or join the long list of also-rans.