Spirits are high in the Irish camp.
The opening day loss to Scotland has plunged Joe Schmidt’s men into must-win territory already. France are in town and Ireland have a heap to play for.
With England likely to thrash Italy this weekend and world ranking positions bunching up, Ireland will need to follow up their own victory over the Azzurri at the Aviva Stadium.
Schmidt described the French as “very dangerous” at Thursday’s team announcement but he has been able to name his strongest squad since Ireland beat Les Bleus 24-9 at the 2015 World Cup.
That squad gathered at Lansdowne Road this morning and there was a jovial mood about the place. It helps that, in Johnny Sexton, Ireland have a world-class operator back in the 10 jersey. Simon Zebo gave us an insight of what Sexton is like to play with:
“Nah, no-one would be afraid to tell him if it was a weak call or if the space wasn’t there. He is exactly the same, he will say it to you.
“He is very open-minded. He always has his ears switched on and it is a collective thing. It is a team environment and there is no-one who overrides anyone else’s thinking or ideas.”
Zebo was certainly not afraid to wind Sexton up at Ireland’s photo-call before the final training session. Spotting that he was late arriving to take his front row spot, Zebo nipped in and looked pretty pleased with himself:
When Sexton arrived and couldn’t find the sheet bearing his name, it all kicked off.
Zebo and Conor Murray were surely in cahoots…
The Leinster boys didn’t know what to make of the Munster hunour
Paddy Jackson wished he’d thought of it
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While Rory Best warned others off his seat. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT ARM!!
And Cian Healy wasn’t dropping his pose for anyone
Luckily, it all got sorted in the end and Zebo was turfed to the back row
Order restored.
