Ireland team vs. France: Form players rewarded and a welcome return

"It's a whole new beast."

Now that Wales and Italy are in their respective wakes, the Six Nations' two best sides are set for a collision course in Dublin, this Saturday. Andy Farrell has named his Ireland team for the game, and Dan Sheehan is the big omission. Ireland defeated Wales 34-10 in Cardiff while France survived a wobble or two to see off a determined Italian side, in Rome. Talking to the assembled media at the IRFU's High Performance Centre, Ireland winger James Lowe teed up this weekend's clash with France. He commented:

"They're a world-class side, they've shown it for a good couple of years. Their nine-10 combo [Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack] is pretty scary, their back-rowers are world-class, a midfield that’s very dangerous and a back three that would put the sh***ers up most teams. "Individually they’ve got some pretty good firepower, so hopefully they don’t string it all together. It's a whole new beast around the corner."

[caption id="attachment_275661" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Johnny Sexton, Josh van der Flier, Peter O’Mahony and Tadhg Beirne pictured at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. (Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile)[/caption]

Ireland team has one change

While the Ireland team to face France is expected to be a mirror image of the XV that started against Wales, Dan Sheehan's hamstring injury sees him miss out and Rob Herring start as hooker. There is also a change on the bench, with Rónan Kelleher coming in. Bundee Aki and Jack Conan had been pressing for starts, while Matt Williams was seeking for Iain Henderson to move into the second row so Tadhg Beirne can start at blindside.

IRELAND TEAM TO FACE FRANCE

15. Hugo Keenan 14. Mack Hansen 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Stuart McCloskey 11. James Lowe 10. Johnny Sexton 9. Conor Murray 1. Andrew Porter 2. Rob Herring 3. Finlay Bealham 4. Tadhg Beirne 5. James Ryan 6. Peter O'Mahony 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Dave Kilcoyne, Tom O'Toole, Iain Henderson, Jack Conan, Craig Casey, Ross Byrne, Bundee Aki.

We'll be keeping track of all the team news, rumours and comments from Fabien Galthié and Andy Farrell in our live feed RIGHT HERE:   Ireland vs. France kicks off at 2:15pm on Saturday, February 11th at the Aviva Stadium, in Dublin.

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