Sunday best, and nothing less

THIS is where things really get serious for Ireland. Tomorrow’s Six Nations encounter with reigning champions and Grand Slam winners France will not only determine the nature of Irish ambition for the rest of the championship, but give us a glimpse of what should be expected later this year at the Rugby World Cup.

A victory at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 3pm) will be Ireland’s first over a top-tier side in four attempts since the defeat of England at Twickenham 50 weeks ago and will confirm that Declan Kidney’s side have what it takes to match fire with fire against the best in the world.

Defeat in Dublin to Marc Lievremont’s adventurous and powerful outfit not only means an end to Six Nations title hopes at just the second hurdle but signals an extended run among the global also-rans.

Are Ireland capable of knocking over a big gun, not just tomorrow but in a World Cup quarter-final come October? The answer is most certainly yes, if they deliver a proper and all too rare 80-minute performance that their potential and ambition suggests is within them, even with such a high injury count.

Yet last Saturday’s far from convincing 13-11 victory over Italy in Rome allowed the nagging doubts to resurface that, but for a brief shaft of sunshine that pierced the November darkness in defeat to New Zealand, dominated Irish rugby talk throughout the autumn.

Vulnerability in the front row, indiscipline at the breakdown and a plethora of handling errors were the problems exposed at Stadio Flaminio, all feeding the perception that this Ireland team is not at the races in comparison to the heroes of 2009.

Yet the victory, however fortuitous, allows the Irish to take some momentum into tomorrow’s affair and cling to the belief, however optimistic, that Kidney’s team is just a couple of final passes away from being a very fine outfit.

A sharp increase in individual skill levels was the stock phrase attributed to what is required against the French this week, most recently echoed publicly by backs coach Alan Gaffney, when asked yesterday about Ireland’s commitment to running rugby becoming a risk against one of the best counter-attacking teams in world rugby.

“We’ve got to be a lot more accurate, for sure,” Gaffney said. “We got away with things last week against Italy that we wouldn’t get away with, with France. But that’s the pressure that these guys like playing under. They fully understand that but we’re not going to withdraw. We’re still going to go out and play the way we know.”

Full-back Luke Fitzgerald also spoke about the need for a big improvement: “I think some of the guys that made those mistakes, they’ll never make them again but it will still be very important to get it right this week, just for confidence levels and definitely for going on further in the championship. And especially because it’s a home game and you need to do well in your home games. It’s really important for us.”

With Fitzgerald an integral part of a very attack-minded back three that includes wings Keith Earls and Fergus McFadden, Gaffney followed his head coach’s mantra that flair must be matched with flair against a side that was rolled over eight times by Australia in November before shipping three tries to the formerly try-shy Scots last Saturday night.

“There’s no doubt we’re going to try and go out and play attacking rugby,” Gaffney said. “Obviously we’ll have to temper that and balance that depending on the conditions. All things being equal we will attack them — that’s the only way to play a French side, whether you’re playing at international, Heineken Cup level or wherever you may be.

“There’s no point sitting back against the French, that’s exactly what they want you to do.”

As Fitzgerald pointed out, channelling the 2009 victory by three tries to two, France has a defence waiting to be unpicked.

“The last time we won against them, two years ago, we really challenged them and their defence. You can’t sit back against these guys, they’ll just kill you, so we’re going to go at them and try and stretch them. I’m hoping we can do that too because that’s the brand of rugby we want to play, an expansive style.”

Ireland couldn’t be less clinical than they were last week and if ever a complete performance was needed by Declan Kidney’s men, it’s tomorrow against the French. The bookies have written them off and the department by department analysis also points towards France.

Yet, maybe Ireland are just one final pass away from stepping up a level and returning to the top table.