Kidney: We must be patient against French

Having been forced to defend for the majority of last weekend’s disappointing loss to Scotland, Declan Kidney has emphasised the importance for Ireland to be patient in possession against France tonight.

"Last week, we turned the ball over a few times, a few dropped passes but also a few chip throughs, some of which were successful, some of which were easy turnovers for the opposition," he said.

"It’s at times like that you need to be patient. It’s about playing through phases. We can’t just have set-piece and go through one or two phase…We need to putting through nine, 10 and 11 phases to break teams down, more pertinent here because we know France are the best side on capitalising on mistakes."

Much has been made about Ireland’s return to the Stade Chaban Delmas tonight, the stadium where Georgia came so close to one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history.

But for Kidney it conjures up fonder memories of his time at the helm of Munster rugby.

"It does bring back memories," he remarked, "though it doesn’t seem like 11 years. I remember the tunnel being a long way from the dressing-rooms. Fantastic memories personally. But the lads won here as well four years ago."

"There might have been a criticism after that but if the same happens tomorrow night when we win, I’ll settle for that."

Ireland’s away record against Les Bleus does little to inspire confidence, with just one victory since 1972, but Kidney believes his team have the ability to win and should have gotten more from the 25-22 defeat at the Aviva in the Six Nations.

“The last match we were architects of our own downfall. We got three tries and conceded one and lost the match. Sometimes it’s a mindset. We needed a few Heineken Cup wins to start believing in ourselves.

“We’ve two matches here this season, as we’re back here for the Six Nations, so we need to get used to being over here and putting our best foot forward.”