France ‘as good as there is’ but Kiss sees enough to give Ireland real hope

This is the part in the movies where one actor surveys the scene and remarks that things are quiet, too quiet. So be it. Right now, quiet is good.

The bit of ciúnas is to be welcomed after a month in which Keith Earls had to pull out of the opener, Gert Smal pulled out of the tournament and Dave Pearson was left with no option but to pull the plug on the original Paris game.

If there is any potential glitch between now and kick-off in Paris — when the temperature is expected to touch a balmy 13C — it probably resides within the heads of those players tasked with thumbing their noses at history and expectation.

Yesterday’s press conference in Carton House only added to the general perception that this Ireland team is not merely entering the lion’s den but about to stick its head right down the beast’s great big mouth.

If it wasn’t a treatise on Julien Bonnaire’s epic lineout prowess it was the running threat of Julien Malzieu and Wesley Fofana, the size of Francois Trinh-Duc or just general proclamations about the famed Gallic mystique.

“They are as good as there is,” said assistant coach Les Kiss. “One of the dangers when you lock into analysis and watch game after game after game is you just see the potency of their team and it doesn’t just end with their back line.

“It begins with the forward pack that has quite subtle skills as well. All their back row can offload and play a bit of footie as well and stick out in the wide channels and run like the wind so it poses a difficult challenge for sure.

“But, when we played in Croker against them [in 2009] we got on the money against them and we scored three tries to one last year and we know in our own bones that there is something there that can handle that. We just have to go and do it in Paris.”

Problem is that no one has done it in Paris since Brian Ashton’s England won in 2008 but, as Kiss added, that has to change at some stage and Ireland are adamant they will not be placing their opponents on a pedestal.

That said, the week thus far has been dominated by players and coaches preaching the gospel of caution, on the need to batten down hatches in the first quarter which, given Ireland’s habitual slow starts there, is perfectly understandable.

Assistant coach Mark Tainton reiterated how playing loose can be “very dangerous” in Saint-Denis but the fear is that Ireland paralyse themselves against a French side that stuttered into its stride against Italy and Scotland.

The initial postponement has changed, if not everything, then some things and Kiss admitted there will be subtle tweaks to the Irish game plan from that drawn up last month given the additional evidence accrued from Murrayfield.

“There were some subtle shifts, definitely. The way Scotland went about their business certainly showed up some other aspects of their game that was interesting, in defence and in attack as well, so a few little changes.

“If you look at that game, it was probably very similar to ours against Italy.

“But as they worked their way into game they did what France can always do.

“They hurt you in those moments when you don’t expect it.

“Scotland played well and really put the heat on them, challenged at the breakdown, spread the ball wide and made France work hard.”

That will do for a start tomorrow.