When asked if he’d had the chance to scout the French, Schmidt admitted that he got “good look” at France’s narrow 23-21 opening victory over Italy.

“I did get a good look and we can't afford to be quite so narrow defensively against France,” said Schmidt.

“You can get away with that against Wales but it's a real risk against the French, the width they played with was pretty impressive at times.

Saturday’s tie represents a third meeting of the sides instead a year, with Ireland looking to claim a hat-trick of victories having won on Valentines Day in Dublin last year as well as beating the Les Bleus 24-9 at the Rugby World Cup this past October.

While that should fill most coaches with confidence, Schmidt was keen to praise the approach new French head coach Guy Novès is trying to implement.

“I think you're just going to have to be careful no matter what you do.

“Because they're audacious at the moment in what they're trying to deliver, and if they make it work, boy can they run up a big score in a real hurry.

“So we're going to have to make sure we're very clinical with the ball, and try not to allow them too many opportunities.”