The squad has been named but now Joe Schmidt has to whittle a starting XV out of 34 men bursting for a chance.
Joe Schmidt has confirmed his extended training squad for clash against France, this Saturday, and three big names were back – Johnny Sexton, Peter O’Mahony and Andrew Trimble. With Ireland captain Rory Best now fully over the stomach bug that saw him miss the Italy victory, the competition for jerseys is as hot as ever.
With Ireland already in must-win territory, as they seek to chase England, Schmidt is likely to keep changes to a minimum. Still, there are a few players that possess skill and precision in abundance that would yet force themselves into the reckoning.
In 108 years, Ireland have played France 95 times and won only 32. Ireland have enjoyed a good time, of late, against Les Bleus but they did fall to them in Paris during last year’s championship.
Tempo, solid set-piece and tempo [again!] will be key to turning Guy Noves’ men over so we are making a few changes for the game.
At fullback, Simon Zebo to replace Rob Kearney with Andrew Trimble coming in on the left wing. It will be an ask for Trimble to hit the ground running after a spell on the sidelines but he is a trusted lieutenant of Schmidt’s. He is a hare on the kick-chase, his aerial skills should trouble the big French wingers and he is quite often like another loose forward at the breakdown.
Zebo has plenty of fullback experience for Munster and Ireland over the past 18 months and is a greater, more precise, attacking threat than Kearney, who tends to take every carry into contact.
At outhalf, we are backing Johnny Sexton to come in from the start – replacing Paddy Jackson – and repeat the dose he delivered to France back in 2015 – playing at a high line, linking up with backs and kicking cleverly behind the French lines. Sexton is brave, skillful and stubborn enough to put his hand up for the big carries and his presence will enliven the Irish backline.
Our only other change from the team that destroyed Italy is Jack McGrath returning to loose-head in place of Cian Healy. He kept up is own side of the scrum against Zander Fagerson at Murrayfield and was a perfect ‘closer’ sub against a flagging Italian side at Stadio Olimpico.
With France looking to disrupt Ireland’s scrum as much as possible, in Dublin, one suspects both McGrath and Healy will have their work cut out for them, whomever wins the battle to be there for the first 50 minutes. Both men put in huge amounts of time on their preparation and are keenly aware of the boxes they must tick to target French weaknesses while providing stable attacking platforms.
Schmidt will name his team at Carton House on Thursday afternoon and, as has proved the case so far this championship, there should be a surprise or two.
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