How do you deal with an unstoppable force? You simply hope.
One of the biggest threats for Ireland ahead of their crunch Pool D clash with France is a little fella by the name of Mathieu Bastareaud.
By “little,” we mean 18 stone of thigh-pumping, line-breaking muscle and Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt reveals that he’s not expecting an easy afternoon’s work with the Toulon centre.
The way that the teams line up, you’d expect Keith Earls to be dealing with Bastareaud but Schmidt thinks otherwise.
He said: “I think more often than not, Keith will be marking up with Wesley Fofana and Wes is a speed agility athlete as well. He has got all sorts of elements to his game.
“We dont have someone who is the same size as Bastareaud in the squad anyway. I have got massive respect for what he brings to their team.
“We have long had difficulty in containing him. I remember seeing about four of our players hanging off him in the Stade de France two years ago, including Darcy and O’Driscoll, two of the best centres we have ever had.
“One thing I know, is that we both the centres have pretty much limitless courage and will put themselves in the way of Bastareaud or anyone else coming down that channel. We hope that is sufficient on Sunday.”
So do we Joe, so do we.
