Scott Bemand says he expects Ireland to "fire some shots" at France in this Saturday's opening round of the Guinness Women's Six Nations.
Ireland face a tough start to the campaign on Saturday in Le Mans (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player), taking on a French side who have beaten them 40-5 and 53-3 in their last two meetings.
And while the Ireland head coach says his side will be up against it at the 25,000 seat Stade Marie-Marvingt, he wants his players to embrace the occasion.
"I want this group to not fear anyone," Bemand said.
"You know everybody in France is going to have flags and some sort of musical instrument. There's going to be loads of noise. Getting excited to go and partake in an occasion like that is why we're involved in rugby. I don't want us to fear going to France, I want us to be excited by that.
"France are going to be one of the favourites for the competition. They're a good team, [it has] probably not gone their way in the last few years in terms of results, it's not gone their way in World Cups, but they're up there as a World Cup contender.
"We're going to pay them the respect they deserve, but one of our outcomes is we're going to fire some shots.
"We want to get over there and get our game going. What it looks from the off, it won't be for lack of trying and I think we have the capability to really generate some momentum and we'll go from there."
The new Ireland coach (above) is expecting to have close to a full strength squad to choose from when he names his squad on Thursday, with out-half Dannah O'Brien expected to be available for selection after overcoming an ankle injury.
"We're in pretty good health as a squad," he said. "We picked up a few bumps and bruises of which Dannah is one, and we're returning very, very close to almost full availability.
"Dannah injured her ankle just after Christmas, and she's been working really hard, really hard. A young player, it's a first real injury, she's worked her way back to fitness, so she'll travel to France with us, and what role she takes, we'll see when we announce the selection.
"We're pretty confident she's in the hat for selection, so we'll see what we need when we get out there."
After last season's wooden spoon, both players and coaches have started the target for this championship is World Cup qualification, which would most likely require a top three finish, with the already qualified France and England expected to contest the title - the French have been runners-up to the English for the last four seasons.
Bemand, who won the championship six times with England as an assistant coach, says securing an early spot at the 2025 World Cup in England is a realistic goal.
"As a bare minimum, that's really important for Ireland," the former Harlequins, Leicester Tigers and Bath scrum-half said.
"We want to give people something go and cheer. We've said from the beginning there's a product we want to put on the pitch that'll get people excited.
"The Six Nations is an unbelievable competition, it's great. We're not interested in finish bottom of that. We want to perform, we want to pick up wins, but ultimately we want to qualify for the World Cup."
Watch France v Ireland in the Women's Six Nations on Saturday from 1.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
