Coach takes lessons from last year’s Paris defeat into the first Six Nations game to feature the world’s current top two
“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.
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.
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.
Fabien Galthie oversees a training session in Dublin. The France coach has labelled Ireland ‘the best team in the world’.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.
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.
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