RWC Analysis: France v Ireland

by Brendan Cole

With both teams announced, the question now is what each coach is trying to achieve with their selection. It has been argued that Eddie O'Sullivan is, in the case of Andrew Trimble, trying to appease the northern branch of Irish rugby. On the other hand, the fact of the matter is that O'Sullivan knows France like to attack down the wings with big, ball carrying forwards. Unlike some other teams, they are prepared to allow their back row players to sit on the wing rather than play off the ten or twelve.

Instead, they use their large centres in the carrying roles down the middle and allow their six, seven and eight more of a free rein. A perfect example of what this French team is all about was Sebastien Chabal's try down the wing against Namibia. While the ploy doesn't work quite as well as this every time they try it, the logic of picking 'wing defenders' - effectively two converted centres in Shane Horgan and Trimble - rather than out and out striking wingers still makes sense.

Geordan Murphy, the unlucky party in that he has not only been dropped from the team but also from the squad, could argue that his much talked about missed tackle on Raphael Ibanez at Croke Park was as much a product of trying to defend against multiple French players at once as a lack of technique or whatever else. But O'Sullivan is entitled to take a view that in the same situation - a situation that is likely to arise more than once during Friday's match - a bigger, stronger and defensively more aggressive player such as Trimble is likely to do better.

O'Sullivan and Murphy: a question of trust

While there has been a lot of focus on Murphy's feelings about not being used until the 82nd minute in the game against Namibia and not at all against Georgia, the Eddie O'Sullivan angle on those two incidents might very well be that the coach learned something about himself. Basically, O'Sullivan can now be fairly certain that when he and his team are under pressure and he turns to look at his bench, he, for whatever reason, is not prepared to introduce Murphy. While it may seem unfair, and while Irish supporters generally might not agree, ultimately the coach must have confidence that the players on his bench can handle the situations he envisions using them in.

By removing Murphy from the bench, he removes an uncertainty factor from his own mind, and possibly from the minds of the selected starting players as well. That said, bringing Gavin Duffy into the squad, a player who has struggled to be picked consistently at Premiership level in England and would not automatically command a starting place with any of the 'big three' Irish provinces, is hard to understand. Along with Murphy, Brian Carney, a proven performer in pressure situations, would seem to have far superior claims.

As to the first XV selection, even though O'Sullivan might well have expected the much larger Aurelien Rougerie, an effective performer against Argentina, to make the first XV ahead of Cedric Heymans and Vincent Clerc, the logic of his selection still stands up. Oddly, it seems like Clerc - who scored the last minute winning try at Croke Park - is almost being used a psychological pre-match mind game by Laporte as much as anything else, which is surely a mistaken approach to team selection.

Reddan in, Stringer out, Boss number two: style question is key

Looking at the Eoin Reddan in ahead of Peter Stringer call at scrum-half, the role of team captain Brian O'Driscoll must be taken into account. In rugby, the coach is a relatively modern addition to the scene and the captain and certain senior players generally play a quite considerable role in team selection. O'Driscoll was plainly disgusted by Stringer's intercept pass against Georgia and the strength of the emotion he displayed immediately afterwards - screaming, aggressively gesturing and basically losing his cool - would also indicate that he may not have been particularly delighted with the player's form prior to the error. In terms of Isaac Boss being 'passed over' - Reddan, in pecking order terms would have been thought of as the third scrum-half - the differing styles of the players in question is central.

While Reddan is a more complete player than Stringer - in that he can carry the ball and kick better - they are both mostly about service to the backline and rhythm. Boss, meanwhile, is much more in the 'fourth back row' mould. Similar to South Africa's Fourie du Preez he is a player capable of carrying the ball, taking a hit without crumpling, and threatening around the breakdown. Ultimately, he has a slower and less accurate service. He is on the bench for use late in the game against tiring opposition forward packs that will theoretically lack the speed to take advantage of his slower pass and are vulnerable to his snipes and breaks. Given the malaise that currently afflicts his team, and the fact that it is built around getting quick ball to the centres, I doubt if the possibility of starting Boss even crossed O'Sullivan's mind.

Michalak, Traille, Marty: kicking options

Farther out, Bernard Laporte's selection of Damien Traille and David Marty in the centre is, on the face of it, bizarre. Yannick Jauzion, fit but on the bench, is, in terms of the style that he plays, the best in the world at what he does. It may be that because the selected out-half Frederic Michalak is a moderate kicker out of hand, Laporte felt he needed Traille. Traille is a superior kicker option offering excellent length from his own '22. Another aspect to the wing attack gameplan may be that France will attempt to target the space in behind Irish wingers as well as posing a running threat in front of them.

If Laporte can make Trimble - who has never looked great fielding ball in behind or on top of him - and Horgan drop deep in order to counter the kicking threat, he will open up the field that bit more for his marauding back row - of which he has picked one extra in Sebastien Chabal.

Marty's selection, on the other hand, is puzzling for the simple reason that he of all the French backs looked the most out of form against Namibia. In fact he looked to be the only player making the sort of basic handling errors Irish fans have come to know only too well from watching their own team over the last few weeks. Unlike Jauzion though, he is more of a strike runner than an offloader, and with Frederic Michalak likely to be the key distributor, Laporte may have felt he needed to offer his out-half a midfield passing target .

Michalak is unarguably a flaky player but the fact is Lionel Beauxis, who, with David Skrela injured is one of the other options, has never looked anything more than a fairly competent out-half when playing for Stade Francais or for France. Laporte could also have gone for Traille, Jauzion and Marty as a 10-12-13 but Traille - basically a better and more rugby union savvy version of Andy Farrell - has never convinced as an international 10 and Michalak, for all his failings, undoubtedly has enough X-factor to worry Ireland's midfield defence.

Laporte under pressure?

Ultimately though, both backline selections indicate that we are looking at coaches making poor/uncharacteristic decisions under pressure. Leaving out Jauzion for the biggest game of his career in Laporte's case and picking Duffy on the bench and dropping Stringer from the squad in O'Sullivan's are not things either would have envisioned making before this competition started.

The pack, where the battle may be won and lost is another area where the pressure on both coaches has led to them making some ostensibly odd selections. Here O'Sullivan has been more true to form than elsewhere and stayed conservative under pressure. From one to three, the reality is that both his props (Marcus Horan and John Hayes) have actually performed quite well in the last two games and in any case he has no viable options to change things around.

Jerry Flannery in for Rory Best, meanwhile, is a change that has been crying out to be made regardless of Best's injury. Flannery may not have looked in top form in Argentina, but he had done more than enough in the Namibia game, let alone against Georgia, to justify inclusion as a starter.

Middle seven: Ireland's problem

The Irish second and back rows are another story. Simply put, it is reasonably clear that it is somewhere in the middle seven of the Irish side from the second row to the half backs that the problem with this Irish team resides. It is also one of the few areas that Ireland appear to have viable options in terms of changing things around.

Alan Quinlan and Malcolm O'Kelly would appear obvious alternatives to the current incumbents. One aspect of these selections may be that O'Sullivan and forwards coach Niall O'Donovan have put together patterns and a gameplan with the selected back five in mind. The thinking may also be that by changing Stringer out and Reddan in, they may also cure the back and second row problem.

Laporte, meanwhile, has opted for the ball carrier Chabal alongside an athletic lineout operator in Jerome Thion. Thion, with some support from number eight Julien Bonnaire, will be France's key lineout man while in a sort of tradeoff Chabal will bolster the ball carrying and loose play ability of the back five. It's best to see Chabal and Bonnaire as almost having interchangeable roles: in some areas of the game Chabal will act as a back row, while Bonnaire will at times effectively be the second row.  

Ireland have bulk - France have mobility

In the straight back row battle, France are slightly more mobile but also smaller. The form of Serge Betsen and Simon Easterby in particular may turn out to be vital; neither have hit the heights as yet but both are when at their best massively influential. The question of whether Ireland have the right seven in David Wallace to bring out the worst in Michalak must also be asked. Ideally - as Leinster showed against Toulouse when they beat them in France - a player slightly quicker off the mark and with a better ability to respond and change direction based on what the opposition is doing, would be better suited to the task than David Wallace, who is reportedly still struggling to change direction properly due to his injured ankle.

At eight Denis Leamy has been Ireland's best forward so far and there is no reason he will not continue in the same vein. Bonnaire, aside from his lineout ability, is a good support and link player; similar to Imanol Harinorduquy but possibly more hardworking.

Ultimately, the team selections reveal coaches under pressure: both have picked teams peculiar in shape and form - Chabal and Reddan in, Jauzion and Murphy out and so on and so forth, and neither would have envisioned Friday's XVs as likely starting lineups before the tournament got underway. Which of the two has gotten it right will not be revealed until around 10pm on Friday night. Roll on Ireland v France.

Click here to read Leinster and Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman, who has played with or against most of the players on both teams, on the head to heads between Ireland's players and the French in Friday night's match.