Fitzgerald wants Ireland to be expansive against France

Ireland’s showdown with France is shaping up to be a high-octane thriller after Luke Fitzgerald became the latest member of the Irish camp to demand all-out attack.

A day after Declan Kidney urged his players to show the courage to take the RBS 6 Nations champions on at their own game, Fitzgerald has echoed his coach’s call.

The Lions winger turned full-back believes the only way to upset the favourites at Aviva Stadium on Sunday is to throw everything at them.

“Two years ago when we beat France in Dublin we really went at them, challenged them and their defence,” he said.

“You can’t sit back against these guys. If you do they’ll just kill you.

“We’re going out with the mindset that we want to stretch them.

“Hopefully we can do that because that’s the brand of rugby we want to play, an expansive style. It’s going to be a tight match.

“I’ve only played against them once and I was lucky to be on the right side of the result that time.

“France is always an enjoyable match, especially from an outside back’s point of view because opportunities do open up.”

Since November Ireland have adopted an offensive gameplan more suited to the current laws and their own attacking riches.

The teething problems evident during the autumn were still apparent against Italy last Saturday when they needed a Ronan O’Gara drop goal two minutes from time to prevail 13-11.

But there were also tantalising flashes of brilliance as they frequently cut Italy open only to prove uncharacteristically wasteful in their finishing.

Fitzgerald knows there will also be opportunities against France, who dazzled in a 34-21 victory over Scotland last weekend, and has implored his team-mates to capitalise on them.

“We want a better performance, especially in defence because France are tough to defend against,” he said.

“To get one over them in that aspect would be really important for us confidence-wise.

“Defensively it’s very important for us to spoil and slow down their ball because if they do get quick ball they’re hard to stop, especially when they get some momentum up.

“From what we’ve seen of them against Australia in the autumn and Scotland last week, there will be chances.

“When we hit our purple patch it’s very important to take our chances.

“It would be good to see our attack come together and be clinical.

“Some of the guys who made mistakes against Italy will never make those mistakes again.

“It’s very important that we get it right this week for our confidence levels.”

Fitzgerald is bemused that during analysis by TV pundits of the Italy game he was criticised for his defending during Luke McLean’s wonderful late try.

As full-back the 23-year-old was the last man in defence and he is convinced he made the correct call in refusing to stay wide as the Azzurri approached the line.

“The guys in the studio said Brian O’Driscoll should have pushed me out, but Brian said to me I had to step in,” he said.

“I talked to (Ireland’s defence coach) Les Kiss about it, we analysed it and he said I did the right thing as well.

“If you’re the last person you don’t just stand there and let it go down the line.

“Once the attack gets outside the last defender, as full-back you must step in. That’s one of the rules of defence.

“I was really surprised that (Harlequins director of rugby and TV pundit) Conor O’Shea got that one wrong.

“But it was a good try, they executed it well.”