The streets around the stadium were quiet the day before the game, but if you listened carefully you could hear the crackle. It was there in the conversations at the coffee shops, and between the kids chattering at the bus stops, it was in the snatches of talk radio coming from the open windows of the cabs idling at the rank around the corner, and in the glimpses of the TV screens in the pubs along the Pembroke Road. “Dan Sheehan’s going to be a big miss for us.” “France are bound to be better this week.” “At least Conor Murray’s playing.” “If we play the way they did in the first half against Wales ….” It’s only going to get louder now. And by Saturday afternoon, it will be deafening.
Every Test match matters, but this one matters more than most. It’s the first time the two best teams in the world have played each other in the Six Nations. Ireland have been top of the rankings since they beat New Zealand in Wellington last summer. It is a reward for a run of form in which they have beaten every team in the top 10 except the one right behind them in second place. France have won the past three games between the teams, by eight in 2020, two in 2021, and six in 2023. No doubt that Ireland feel they have something to prove, to themselves as much as to everyone else. Being first doesn’t much matter if second is better.
“We nearly got there in Paris last year,” says the head coach, Andy Farrell, “but nearly is not good enough.” He says Ireland learned a lot about themselves in that defeat. The problem wasn’t technical, it had nothing to do with their defensive system, attacking setup or scrummaging. It was psychological. Farrell says they lost because they failed to impose themselves on the French. A lot of what they’ve done since, he says, has been about making sure they don’t make the same mistake again. “It’s about taking our game to them,” he says, “it’s about how you walk forward to meet whatever is in your way. You have to go for it. Full on. Push yourselves on to the opposition.”
Ireland have done some talking about that defeat this week. “There’s been a bit of thought going into it,” says the forwards coach, John Fogarty. “This time we want to be the very best version of ourselves. We’re focused on putting out a performance we can be proud of. We didn’t do that the last two times we played these guys.” In Paris last year, Fogarty says, “we lost our way a bit. We were put under pressure, and we didn’t deal with it, we went off script, started trying to fix things on our own. That was the huge lesson from that match, and we’ve carried it into all the games we’ve played since. So I’d like to think that we’re a different side now.”
It will help that Johnny Sexton is playing, too. He missed last year’s match with an injury. There’s a few out this year too. Sheehan’s injury is a blow, especially given that they are already missing Tadhg Furlong. But they’re lucky that Murray came through. His father was badly injured in a bike accident earlier this week, and is in hospital undergoing emergency treatment. Understandably enough, it took a couple of days for Murray to decide he was in the right frame of mind to play.
France have a few injuries of their own, and were pretty lacklustre against Italy last week. Farrell didn’t read too much into that match. “I still see the same dangers all over the park, I still see them being hard at the breakdown, I still see them being very good in broken play, I still see them being aggressive with their line speed, I still see their set piece as strong. And they still found a way to win.” France have made a habit of doing that. “What’s been very impressive is their temperament,” he says, “they’ve got a plan A, B, C and maybe a plan D as well. They’ve always found a way to win in the last 12 months.”
Ireland: H Keenan (Leinster), M Hansen (Connacht), G Ringrose (Leinster), S McCloskey (Ulster), J Lowe (Leinster), J Sexton (Leinster, capt), C Murray (Munster); A Porter (Leinster), R Herring (Ulster), F Bealham (Connacht), T Beirne (Munster), J Ryan (Leinster), P O’Mahony (Munster), J Van Der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster).
Replacements: R Kelleher (Leinster), D Kilcoyne (Munster), T O’Toole (Ulster), I Henderson (Ulster), J Conan (Leinster), C Casey (Munster), R Byrne (Leinster), B Aki (Connacht).
France: T Ramos (Toulouse), D Penaud (Clermont), G Fickou (Racing 92), Y Moefana (Bordeaux), E Dumortier (Lyon), R Ntamack (Toulouse), A Dupont (Toulouse, capt); C Baille (Toulouse), J Marchand (Toulouse), U Atonio (La Rochelle), T Flament (Toulouse), P Willemse (Montpellier), A Jelonch (Toulouse), C Ollivon (Toulon), G Alldritt (La Rochelle).
Replacements: G Barlot (Castres), R Wardi (La Rochelle), S Falatea (Bordeaux), R Taofifenua (Lyon), F Cros (Toulouse), S Macalou (Stade Francais), B Couilloud (Lyon), M Jalibert (Bordeaux).
Besides, the French have been building towards this one. “This one is a final, against one of the finest opponents we have faced,” says their head coach, Fabien Galthié. “Without offending all the other nations and especially those from the southern hemisphere, Ireland have been the best team in the world since last summer. They went past us and they have held on to their top spot in the rankings ever since, even despite our 14 consecutive victories, they are in front of us.” France won here in 2021 – the last time anyone beat Ireland in Dublin – but that was during the pandemic, and the place was empty. It is going to be a different proposition this year.
France spent the week preparing for it in Rome, because they had a six-day turnaround between the games and did not want to waste time on travelling back to France. They had plenty to work on, especially their discipline. They conceded 18 penalties against Italy, twice as many as they usually do in a Test. Galthié said they spent a lot of time trying to understand what went wrong. Don’t bank on them making the same mistakes again.
Both France and Ireland can win this match, both France and Ireland can win this championship, and both France and Ireland have it in them to become the great team of this era. But only one of them will, and whoever it is will only do it by going through the other.
