Donal Lenihan believes a better prepared France side will offer a stern test to Ireland when the sides meet at Aviva Stadium in the RBS 6 Nations on Saturday afternoon.
Lenihan, speaking on RTÉ2’s Against The Head, contrasted the preparations France are currently undergoing with those of last seasons.
“This weekend last year, France had 17 of their match-day 23 involved in the Top 14 six or seven days before the international,” the Cork native said.
“This time, they’re all down in Nice. They’ve been there since last Thursday and you can see, whatever about technically, they’re far more united as a group.
“I think Guy Noves has got into their heads.
“They’re playing for the French jersey and that makes them dangerous.”
France are in much better shape in terms of preparation heading to face Ireland, says Donal Lenihan #rterugby pic.twitter.com/feATjaWCVg
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) February 20, 2017
Reflecting on Ireland’s indifferent record in the Six Nations against France, former coach Eddie O’Sullivan said: “I think we’ve been prone to play very aggressive, in-your-face additional game.
“Whatever you say about France, they’ve got fantastic athletes - big, strong players.
“Their defensive system isn’t the greatest. It can be picked apart if you’re patient, if you don’t go to war on a toe-to-toe basis.
“If you move them around, they tend to run out of puff. They lose their shape.
“They struggle a bit as well with the fact that Top 14 rugby is very different than rugby in Ireland and Britain, where we move the ball a lot more. It’s more attritional.
“I think we have to move away from that attritional aspect of the game, keep the ball and pick them apart gradually.
“I think the balance between the kicking game and where we go after them, in terms of space rather than collisions, could be the difference between winning and losing the game.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Stuart Lancaster.
Where France I always feel are vulnerable is in multi-phase rugby,” the former England coach said.
“Defensively they're undisciplined and they don’t stick to their system.
“One or two players don’t have the capacity to play multi-phase rugby.
“If Ireland can keep the ball alive and keep the point of contact moving, I think they’ve got a real chance.”
