Shaun Edwards: 'It's the ultimate challenge in the northern hemisphere, to come to Dublin and win'

“I think he has a long experience and I hope he has inspired us for this weekend but we didn’t talk a lot about the handball.”

Fri, 07 Mar, 2025 - 18:03

Simon Lewis

France defence coach Shaun Edwards said he was channelling his inner Steve Collins, Bono and Phil Lynott to prepare Antoine Dupont’s team for the “ultimate challenge in the northern hemisphere” of playing Ireland in Dublin.

Ireland welcome Les Bleus back to Aviva Stadium on Saturday as they seek to continue their bid for a Guinness Six Nations Grand Slam in the penultimate round of the 2025 championship, while the French are looking for their first win over their hosts, home or away, since 2022.

France lost 32-19 on their last visit to the Irish capital in 2023, in what has gone down as a classic Six Nations match and both Edwards and captain Dupont on Friday described the size of the task facing them in this potential title decider.

“It's the ultimate challenge in the northern hemisphere, to come to Dublin and win,” Edwards said. “The last two years they have been absolutely marvellous, great to watch as well.

“I have been listening to U2 and Thin Lizzy all week. It was a pleasure to watch Steve Collins fights from the 1990s, so I am ready.”

France have finished runners-up to the Irish in the last two seasons having lost their head-to-head match-ups in both Dublin and Marseille, the latter when the former two-time men’s 15s World Rugby player of the year and current World Rugby men’s Sevens player of the year Dupont was absent in favour of pursuing his 2024 Olympic ambitions.

Asked what had set Ireland apart from the French in recent years, he replied: “It's true that this match in 2023, we are in the game. We made some strategic mistakes that cost us dearly.

“We know that there was a difficult tournament for us last year. But I think it's been more than two or three years.

“It's been four or five years that Ireland has been performing very well. They have lost very few matches with a very weak game. They have a very rigorous system that we know, attacking and defending.

“These are very clear processes that allow them to win matches against any team. They have won against all the teams in the world. They are doing a very good job. It also pushes us to be at our best level to be able to compete with this kind of team.”

Asked specifically about his opposite number, Jamison Gibson-Park, ahead of an eagerly anticipated showdown between the number nines, Dupont said France had to remain vigilant to nullify the threats he posed.

“He has been playing very well for several seasons now. He is very well-received, both with Leinster and the Irish team. We can feel that he has an impact on this team. He can be decisive in almost every game. As he is a key player, we know that these positions are always important. It will be up to us to be vigilant.”

The presence of French football legend and World Cup winner Thierry Henry in the national rugby camp earlier this week raised eyebrows given his infamous handball against the Republic of Ireland in a World Cup qualifier in Paris in 2009.

Earlier on Friday at his captain’s run press conference, Ireland skipper Caelan Doris had refused to be drawn on the suggestion there had been mischief at play from the French in using the invitation to the former striker.

In the same room at Aviva Stadium a couple of hours later, Dupont insisted the purpose of Henry’s visit was not rub salt into Irish wounds.

“There is no link between his visit and the game,” a smiling French captain said in English, “but yes, most of the time we talk about high performance and high level and how can you deal with the pressure away, especially during this important game.

“I think he has a long experience and I hope he has inspired us for this weekend but we didn’t talk a lot about the handball.”