Ireland must beware French renaissance at World Cup, warns Jake White

South Africa’s World Cup-winning coach Jake White has warned Ireland that France are a completely different proposition than meeting them in the Six Nations.

White, now director of coaching at Montpellier, said that France adopt a completely different approach to the World Cup and that is the primary reason they have been so successful.

France’s worst finish came when Philipe Saint-Andre was on the wing and they were knocked out by England in the quarter-finals in 1991. That is the only tournament they have failed to make the semi-finals and White said that while they have never lifted the Webb Ellis Cup, finishing three times as runners-up, twice in third and once in fourth can’t be ignored.

“They know how to perform in this tournament. Even when they do not do well in the pool, they can lift their game for the play-offs,” White said.

Saint-Andre has failed to win four times against Ireland in the Six Nations since he took charge after the last World Cup.

But White warned Joe Schmidt’s men that those results count for little against France in the World Cup. The South African said that he believes the reason they have done so well in the World Cup is that they can’t carry out wholesale changes to the squad in the middle of it.

“It is a unique situation in France where they make ten changes and everyone accepts that as the norm. And that is why I think France have been so successful at World Cups.

“It’s because they have to pick the 31 players and they have to manage those 31 players over a period over seven weeks which they have tended to do with some sort of success. They have got to World Cup finals three times. They have got to semi-finals really, really often.

“So the team that wins between France and Ireland is going to be nicely set up. It was always going to be a key game but Ireland would need to look at France’s form in World Cups than pay too much attention to what has happened in the Six Nations. The French have had more time to prepare than Six Nations and that also has been a factor in them doing so well at the World Cup,” added the 52-year old.