Even before Ireland's team announcement blow, this one was edged by France.
This Saturday in Dublin, Ireland and France face off in the Six Nations. Our Ireland France combined team shows just how class, and close, the two teams are.
France were made to sweat for their opening Six Nations victory, while Ireland made short work of Wales at the Principality Stadium. On Saturday afternoon, the world's two highest ranked sides will face off to see who can take control of the championship table.
Looking ahead to the match, myself and Jason Hennessy sat down at JOE headquarters and thrashed out a combined XV. In truth, I felt confident going in but Hennessy talked me into his No.10 choice and had a novel solution for midfield.
Ireland France combined team debate
First off, we were just selecting the combined Ireland France team off the XVs selected for this weekend's game. So, with Tadhg Furlong and Dan Sheehan out, it was a simple enough choice to go with an all-France front row.
I argued for Paul Willemse in the second row, to partner Tadhg Beirne, but Jason Hennessy made a solid argument that James Ryan was the form pick. In the back row, we both moved Gregory Alldritt from No.8 to blindside to get him in the XV.
Antoine Dupont, James Lowe, Damian Penaud and Hugo Keenan were all agreed, easily enough, as was Garry Ringrose at outside centre. While I initially plumped for Stuart McCloskey, moving Gael Fickou to No.12 satisfied me. That left us with more time to argue over Romain Ntamack or Johnny Sexton for the 10 jersey.
IRELAND & FRANCE COMBINED XV
15. Hugo Keenan (Ireland)
14. Damian Penaud (France)
13. Garry Ringrose (Ireland)
12. Gael Fickou (France)
11. James Lowe (Ireland)
10. Roman Ntamack (France)
9. Antoine Dupomt (France)
1. Cyril Baille (France)
2. Julien Marchand (France)
3. Uini Antonio (France)
4. Tadhg Beirne (Ireland)
5. James Ryan (Ireland)
6. Gregory Alldritt (France)
7. Josh van der Flier (Ireland)
8. Caelan Doris (Ireland)
Catch that debate, and more, in our RugbyJOE show here:
