As a nation oft renowned for arrogance, the French cannot understand why Ireland are not more confident going into today’s game.
After all, Ireland have beaten France three times and drawn twice in their last five meetings. It is clear who has the upper hand.
Midi Olympique wring their hands over Ireland’s recent dominance over Les Bleus in a feature entitled ‘La Conquête De L’Eire’ [The Conquest of Éire].
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt is described as ‘the great Satan of French rugby’ after his efforts with Leinster and the men in green.
There is praise for Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton, the battling Rory Best and the finesse of Simon Zebo.
The bi-weekly rugby paper also highlight how quickly the Irish nation has taken CJ Stander to their hearts.
A piece on Christian Johan Stander explains how he packed his bags in his early twenties and set off for Munster to pursue the dream of playing Test rugby. His ‘MVP’ performance against Wales is lauded and writer Par Marc Duzan declares all of Europe should beware of Ireland’s back row power when Peter O’Mahony returns from injury.
Par Simon Valzer, writing for Midi, likens Ireland to the Springboks of the North.
Ireland’s propensity for physicality, choke tackles and swarming into rucks is very similar to that of the South Africans, Valzer argues. He proclaims, though, that Ireland are not infallible.
Le Figaro returns to a running theme across French outlets this week – Johnny Sexton and his history of concussions.
In a piece entitled ‘Ireland playing with the health of Sexton’s brain’, concern is expressed for whether or not the Irish outhalf should be out on the pitch at all.
Also in L’Equipe, there is a feature on Ireland captain Rory Best that traces his rugby journey from Banbridge RFC and Belfast Harlequins to leading his country today.
The paper uses a Joe Schmidt line about Best – The gentleman farmer – for its’ headline.
Time for the expert view and Le Parisien get the views of former France internationals Thomas Lombard and Jean-Pierre Élissalde.
Will France win? One says ‘yes’, the other ‘no’.
That’s cleared that up, so.
Finally, we return to L’Equipe for their wonderful feature on some great battles between Ireland and France in recent years.
Philippe Sella’s tour-de-force in 1986 and Brian O’Driscoll’s hat-trick heroics, in 2000, are included.
Ronan O’Gara, in an interview with the paper, describes that 27-25 win in 2000 as the moment France began to respect Ireland for the first time in a long time.
