Wood returns to the Ireland team for the first time this year as they take on Grand Slam-chasing France at the Stade de France on Saturday and he feels the side have not been praised nearly enough for their achievements under new coach Eddie O’Sullivan.

‘‘I don’t feel we’ve earned the credit we’ve deserved for winning our three home games,’’ Wood said.

‘‘We haven’t played as well as we can play that’s very hard to do every day but I think we’ve made certain progressions.

‘‘We haven’t harped on about it a lot but there’s a big building phase going on at the moment. As soon as Eddie took over we had to try and make a lot of changes with the future in mind.

‘‘We’re in the middle of that and that has to be geared to the (2003) World Cup. We’re in the middle of that situation and, in the context of that, I think three wins is pretty good.

‘‘We should be far more positive about that than we have been.’’

While Wood is sure Ireland deserve more credit he is quick to also heap it on Saturday’s opponents, adding: ‘‘France have shown that they’ve rediscovered some of the spirit they had before.

‘‘Bernard Laporte’s done a fantastic job. He’s tidied up the discipline of the side magnificently well.

‘‘Their Achilles’ heel over the years had been that they would give away penalties, get players sin-binned or sent off.

‘‘But he has come down unbelievably hard on that, tidied it up totally and in a way I suppose it’s stunted some of their natural flair.

‘‘But now they’ve got that base of discipline, the flair’s been added on top of it. They’re playing a very good style of rugby and they’ve been very impressive this year.’’