Marsh expecting tough test

Tony Marsh is virtually unique among the French squad in being able to boast a 100% record from his meetings with Ireland. But he is not expecting Sunday’s all Six Nations showdown in Melbourne to be as comfortable as the day Les Bleus swept to the Grand Slam.

Two years ago at the Stade de France, Marsh spearheaded a devastating attack on the men in green which sent them spinning to a 44-5 defeat.

It was as flawless a performance as the Kiwi-born centre has ever been involved in and more of the same is required this weekend as France look to follow the All Blacks and become only the second team to reach three successive World Cup semi-finals.

“When you look back to that match, you would have to say everything went right for us,” recalled Marsh.

“We got a lot of ball early in the game, decent go-forward, good field position and they hardly got near our line.

“It was almost a perfect performance and while it would be nice to think we can do it again this weekend, I don’t think we can bank on it.”

That win stands alone among a sequence of three Irish victories against their Gallic rivals, including this year’s 15-12 triumph in Dublin which Marsh missed as he fought his successful battle against testicular cancer.

The results highlight the difficulty posed by Eddie O’Sullivan’s men, who are still cursing their luck following the single-point defeat to hosts Australia last weekend.

And though France will start favourites at the Telstra Dome, Marsh is steeling himself for an uncomfortable evening, particularly as he is the man going head-to-head with brilliant Brian

O’Driscoll.

“I have a lot of respect for Brian,” admitted Marsh. “He is someone well capable of taking hold of the game and winning it for Ireland.

“Ireland could have won the game on Saturday. They have a good set of forwards and they competed well at the set piece.

“Overall, they have a well-balanced team and we are definitely going to have our work cut out. We will have to step up a significant amount from anything we have done so far.

“We have not studied them in too much depth because we prefer to concentrate on what we do, but they have a good pack of forwards and competed well at the set piece against Australia.

“Over the last few years they have shown they are capable of beating anyone.”

Bernard Laporte was the first of the eight quarter-final coaches to name his team for this weekend’s matches, emphasising the confidence he has in a side he believes is closing in on tournament heavyweights England, Australia and New Zealand.

So far, the French have produced some flowing rugby, although unlike Sunday’s opponents, who are emerging from bruising encounters with Argentina and Australia, both of which went right down to the wire, they have largely been untested.

“It’s been a funny tournament for us because we haven’t had a tough game and though we are at the World Cup, it has just been like a long tour,” said Marsh.

“But now the pool games are out of the way, we are coming down to the business end of the competition and there is pressure on everyone to perform.

“The lack of a really intense game is a worry because we don’t exactly know how well we are playing and no matter how hard you work in training, it is no substitute for actual match practice.

“But you never know, it could also help us. We are relatively fresh and Ireland might be a bit battered and bruised.”