The virtual meeting kicks off with a promo video for the tournament sponsor.
In it, Cork's best actor, Ronan O’Gara, beseeches the assembled team to take this seriously. There is an enormous opportunity, he says.
"Pull the finger out". Someone chuckles.
"Do you think I'm funny?" he says en Francais, channeling his inner Tommy DeVito.
Looks like maybe the Oscar nomination went to the wrong Rebel.
"I’m telling you, the director said it as well on the day," smiles the former Munster and Ireland out-half, now in charge of back-to-back Champions Cup winners La Rochelle.
"Cillian Murphy, we might see him again, you never know."
But, on to the serious business. Two titans of rugby, both broken to different degrees by World Cup heartbreak, meet on Friday night in Marseille in the opening match of the Guinness Six Nations.
Will that Webb Ellis hangover spill over into what we’ll see?
"No, the feeling I get over here from the French team is that they might be freed up a little bit because there has been a huge focus on 'de-possession', kicking game," says O’Gara, who won 16 of his 128 Ireland caps against Les Bleus.
France kicked 57% of their possession in the 29-28 quarter-final loss to South Africa.
"They lost the aerial battle badly," he adds.
"They had a plan but, as the expression goes, everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the face.
"France got three punches in the face and they got absolutely obliterated by the South African kick threat.
"They were going for balls with their eyes closed, they were batting it back and presented tries for South Africa.
"Maybe with a bit of hindsight they feel that they had more to offer with the ball and I would probably agree with that.
"They are very dangerous. I think they were fascinated by data and kicking metres.
"When you look at [Jonathan] Danty, [Gael] Fickou, [Damian] Penaud, [Louis] Bielle-Biarrey, [Yoram] Moefana, [Thomas] Ramos, [Matthieu] Jalibert, they all can play and they are all really fast.
"They’ll have threats all over the park. For me it’s [a] fascinating [match-up] between a lot of x-factor, and a cohesive, structured, unbelievably fit Ireland team."
France boss Fabien Galthie is without the services of Antoine Dupont, "the best player in the world", says O’Gara.
With Toulouse partner Romain Ntamack also out, the former Racing 92 and Crusaders assistant reckons Ireland can make hay targeting the half-back department, notwithstanding likely pairing Maxime Lucu’s current form and Jalibert’s class.
"A good coaching ticket seeks the opportunities in the opposition," says the 46-year-old.
"They will both have analysed each other inside out.
"Analysing and doing it with an inferior team to you in training, because theses are the guys who are starting that are the best in both countries, and they rep it against guys who competing for their places but they are better than them, sometimes the plan works well in training.
"But in the moment of truth, Ireland will go after Lucu, which is normal when the best player in the world isn’t playing at the weekend."
O’Gara reckons the new surroundings will inspire the players with the Orange Velodrome hosting the game with Stade de France out of commission ahead of the Olympic Games.
"It’s brilliant. As a sportsperson, this is what you want to do, you want to play in the best stadia in the world," he says.
"For me, it’s up there because of the atmosphere. The mentality in the south of France is very different to the north of France, so there’ll be passionate rugby people down there as well.
"There will be bands, there’ll be a brilliant atmosphere around the ground, it’ll be a treat for Irish fans.
"But, also, as a player, it’s very different going to the Aviva with a home crowd… there’s a massive satisfaction as a sportsperson if you can do the job away from home.
"If Ireland were to get a result this weekend, it would be a bigger statement than they have done in the past."
Watch Wales v Scotland in the Under-20 Six Nations on Friday from 7.05pm on RTÉ Player
Follow a live blog on France v Ireland in the Guinness Six Nations on Friday from 7.30pm on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch Wales v Scotland in the Guinness Six Nations on Saturday from 4pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
