By Brendan O’Brien
Joe Schmidt has warned that Ireland will be facing a much-improved French side at the Stade de France this Saturday from the one that scraped past a gutsy Italian side in the same Paris venue last weekend.
Guy Noves’ first game in charge of ‘Les Bleus’ looked like ending in disappointment deep into the second-half when they trailed the visitors, but they pulled through to claim a 23-21 win which Schmidt believes will stand to them this weekend.
“It’s inevitable unfortunately that they will improve,” said the Kiwi. “It’s all very well to train, even (in) pressure scenarios, but there is nothing like the pressure of a Test match.
“The scoreboard was starting to tick over and at 18-10 (behind) that showed real resilience and calmness that they were able to work their way back to 18-17 and get in front and win the Test match.”
Noves has made
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There was a 20-minute delay to the normal team announcement at the team’s base on Thursday afternoon as Schmidt and his fellow coaches awaited definitive medical word on the fitness or otherwise of Munster pair Simon Zebo (knee) and Keith Earls (concussion).
'He's Back!' @SeanOBrien1987 to start for @IrishRugby vs France on Saturday, here he is @CartonHouse today! pic.twitter.com/vYFlT4djth
— Inpho Photography (@Inphosports) February 11, 2016
Both were close but neither made the cut in the end and were replaced in the side by Dave and Rob Kearney respectively, while Sean O’Brien was fit enough to slip back into the back row in place of Tommy O’Donnell who bumps Rhys Ruddock off the bench.
Here's the correct Ireland team with @TommyoDonnell87 on the bench. #ShoulderToShoulder #RBS6Nations pic.twitter.com/QzhzZPQO43
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) February 11, 2016
“One of the reasons it took a while was that they got through training but at the same time we just felt they probably weren’t a hundred per cent fit and they were a risk,” Schmidt explained.
“There is nothing worse than having someone replaced early in the game because he wasn’t fully fit and having someone coming off the bench who isn’t fully fit isn’t the best thing to do when you are going to Paris.”
The good news is that Jonathan Sexton has been rated fully fit to play despite the neck injury he suffered in the second-half against Wales and Schmidt’s confidence in his well-being is such that Paddy Jackson has been allowed back to Ulster for the weekend.
It is the lack of time on the paddock that seems to be concerning him most and he explained that his players have banked a grand total of 95 minutes of actual training since the Wales game, with 33 minutes of that on Tuesday when a number of players sat it out.