French Squad

corny

France squad:

Forwards: Nicolas Mas, Lionel Faure, Benoit Lecouls, Fabien Barcella, Dimitri Szarzewski, Benjamin Kayser, Sebastien Chabal, Lionel Nallet (captain), Romain Millo-Chluski, Thierry Dusautoir, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Louis Picamoles, Imanol Harinordoquy.

Backs: Sebastien Tillous-Borde, Morgan Parra, Lionel Beauxis, Yannick Jauzion, Benoit Baby, Florian Fritz, Julien Malzieu, Cedric Heymans, Clement Poitrenaud, Maxime Medard

A few surprises in there. Elissalde not being picked is another strange decision from Lievremont. Very inexperienced half backs with no cover for Beauxis. We could take on their pack too, like we did in the second half last year. They've still pace out wide but no Clerc to worry about.

All in all not the best French side ever to play us IMO. Not too bad.

padser

corny wrote: »

All in all not the best French side ever to play us IMO. Not too bad.

Agreed - but more then adequate to trounce us (considering the fantastic rugby we have player since ~ July 07 - and no real sign that its about to change over the next week or so)

Serenity Now!

I don't know what the hell Lievremont is up to. Is it arrogance? Does he know something nobody else knows?
Strange cookie. Bet he'll bung Chabal into lock as well, a position I've never seen auld Seb play well in.

Noopti

Weaker than it could be, but still has potential to pose real problems for us if we don't control the game.

Still see us beating them though.

sm.org

Advantage us in the pack, slight adavantage France in the backs. Could be a close game.

redmca

I don't see an advantage to the French in the backs ...... of course our backline is still hard to predict .... only 3 certainties as I see it
10 ROG
13 BOD
15 Rob Kearney

I would go for O'Leary as SH, but the other 3 spots are really up to how Kidney sees it. The permutations are endless, but 1 way or another, we should match the French at the very least.

Noopti

True, our pack could really beat up this French pack.
And if they do the game should be ours for the taking.

Serenity Now!

Noopti wrote: »

True, our pack could really beat up this French pack.
And if they do the game should be ours for the taking.

Need to boss the lineout. That French lineout would be a good'un. The Irish lineout of O'Connell and O'Callaghan as main jumpers hasn't been working that great in the ERC as already admitted by O'Connell himself.

Noopti

Serenity Now! wrote: »

Need to boss the lineout. That French lineout would be a good'un. The Irish lineout of O'Connell and O'Callaghan as main jumpers hasn't been working that great in the ERC as already admitted by O'Connell himself.

Tbh I think what the forwards really need to do is getting in their faces. The French hate that.
Do what they did to England in Croker 2 years ago, and the rest will sort itself out.......in theory!

dub_skav

I think we have them matched in a lot of places, but Dusautoir could ruin our day

Noopti

dub_skav wrote: »

I think we have them matched in a lot of places, but Dusautoir could ruin our day

Dunno about that. Dusatoir is a fine player, but I can see the French being more worried about the Irish backrow then vice versa.

toomevara

Best chance in years to beat the French. On paper we should have the edge. Lievremont's decision not to include Ellisalde is virtually suicidal. Its almost as if the guy actively wants to loose his job. We'll get alot of change if we target the 10 channel with our divine backrow. Beauxis is a good player, but no more. Weakest French half combo in the 6n for quite some time.

But...and of course this is the kicker, France are our bogey team, and alas, unlike the green jersey, dragging on the French maillot seems to give Les Bleus an extra 10-15%...

padser

toomevara wrote: »

We'll get alot of change if we target the 10 channel with our divine backrow.

I assume in our 'divine backline' you are including BOD, Fitz and Kearney - three players (all potentially outstanding) that have been part of the Leinster that can't score tries to save their lives (and I'm a Leinster fan).

Why on earth does anyone think Ireland are about to suddenly start playing well - when they havn't in about 1.5 years? Unless I have missed a few games recently there hasn't been any significant improvement yet.

LeeroyJones

backrow, not backline mate!

claiming divinity in either is bit much though!

toomevara

padser wrote: »

I assume in our 'divine backline'

Do us a favour padser and read me posts before launching into a rebuttal. I was of course referring to our backrow, which to the uninitiated, is 6,7,8...in Ireland's case i'd happily put ours up against any team in the world....

and Leeroy,by the Gods, I've definitely seen a divine spark in Ferris and Wallace this season....!!

corny

toomevara wrote: »

Best chance in years to beat the French. On paper we should have the edge. Lievremont's decision not to include Ellisalde is virtually suicidal. Its almost as if the guy actively wants to loose his job. We'll get alot of change if we target the 10 channel with our divine backrow. Beauxis is a good player, but no more. Weakest French half combo in the 6n for quite some time.

But...and of course this is the kicker, France are our bogey team, and alas, unlike the green jersey, dragging on the French maillot seems to give Les Bleus an extra 10-15%...

Definitely. I assume he'll start with Parra at 9. He's a busy player with a lot of potential but he is only 20. Beauxis is only 23, granted he has a few more caps, but still young. They have to be targetted really. Fritz, Jauzion, Medard, Heymans, Poitrenaud (i think that'll be their backs) can all do damage with good clean ball. If we start up front and force their half backs to play behind a beaten pack they'll crumble in defeat.

toomevara

corny wrote: »

Definitely. I assume he'll start with Parra at 9. He's a busy player with a lot of potential but he is only 20. Beauxis is only 23, granted he has a few more caps, but still young. They have to be targetted really. Fritz, Jauzion, Medard, Heymans, Poitrenaud (i think that'll be their backs) can all do damage with good clean ball. If we start up front and force their half backs to play behind a beaten pack they'll crumble in defeat.

Yeah corny, I'd go with the french backline you've picked, which frankly is bloody brilliant....if the 9-10 service is smooth,and it starts to purr we're in trouble (Clement's odd inevitable eccentric moment aside), we've got to keep them on the backfoot....and keep the pressure on. Definitely a fascinating game in prospect and one which has the potential to be the game of the tournament....

Incidentally what are the bookies saying?

Padjoe

Bookies are saying -

Ireland -3 10/11
France +3 10/11

or

Ireland 4/6
France 6/5

Can't wait for this match...... Should be a good one but lets hope france don't shaft us again like 2yrs ago :eek:

corny

Lets hope "the bookies are always right" applies on Saturday.

LeeroyJones

Lecouls and Chabal now serious enough doubts for the match...

not the biggest loss to their squad-certainly can't help matters though