Ronan O’Gara left surprised by France’s Gael Fickou move
France's Gael Fickou attempts to hand off Romania's Mihai Macovei (right) during the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Ronan O’Gara admitted the switching of Gael Fickou from France’s midfield to the wing for their potential Guinness Six Nations title decider against Ireland tomorrow night had taken him by surprise.
French coach Fabien Galthié, who yesterday named his team for the Stade de France clash, made just one change in personnel from the side which saw off Wales in a warm-up Test in Paris last week with try-scoring wing Teddy Thomas ruled out through injury.
Instead of replacing like for like, though, the head coach has resisted the temptation to hand a debut to O’Gara’s La Rochelle star Arthur Retière and instead moved Fickou from inside centre to the left wing, and bringing in a new 12 in Arthur Vincent to partner Virimi Vakatawa. Retière is included on the bench.
Both sides will go looking for a bonus-point victory that for Ireland will ensure they stay top of the table and win the 2020 title while France, starting a point behind the Irish in a tie for second with England, could also win the title if they do better than the English manage earlier in the day in Italy.
“I was surprised, I didn’t see that Fickou on the wing selection coming but I think that probably comes with the opposition in mind,” O’Gara told the .
“I think if they were playing anyone else they would have started Retière but they might think they could be setting him up for a difficult first game under an aerial bombardment by Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton.
Ireland’s only change also came in the centres with Robbie Henshaw replacing the injured Garry Ringrose but O’Gara believes the biggest loss is the absence of wing Keith Earls with a back issue.
Despite the impressive two-try debut from Hugo Keenan against Italy, the former Ireland fly-half said: “I think Ireland will miss Earlsy at the weekend.
"I genuinely believe that, I think they’re a more dangerous team when he plays there but Keenan looks like he’s really hit the ground running and the interesting thing for me is the French back three is very unsettled, very unproven.
"I really liked that quartet of Dupont, Ntamack, Fickou and Vakatawa but that’s been broken up now. That said, French have an advantage that Dupont and Vakatawa are two of the biggest X-factor players in the world at the minute.
"They’re deadly in unstructured play.”
A Bouthier (Montpellier); V Rattez (Montpellier), V Vakatawa (Racing 92), A Vincent (Montpellier), G Fickou (Stade Francais); R Ntamack (Toulouse), A Dupont (Toulouse); C Baille (Toulouse), J Marchand (Toulouse), M Haouas (Montpellier); B le Roux (Racing 92), P Willemse (Montpellier); F Cros (Toulouse), C Ollivon (Toulon) - captain, G Alldritt (La Rochelle).
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