Wood, speaking at a news conference at Lansdowne Road, accepted that France were "fairly lethargic" in beating Scotland a fortnight ago but noted that they defeated the All Blacks in their previous match.

"Will the real France please stand up?" he asked. "I wouldn’t think France will play in the same fashion as they did against Scotland.

"France are a much better side than that. We know it and they know it. It’s going to be ridiculously tough."

Wood rated as 50-50 his team’s chances of ending their Dublin jinx, denying they were favourites but acknowledging the significant progress made under Kiwi coach Warren Gatland.

"We’ve gone from the situation where we were serious outsiders to win one of these matches," he said. "We’ve been getting much closer over the last few years.

"But with one win in 28 years in France and without a win for 16 years or whatever over here, it’s quite hard to make us favourites out of that situation."

Victory tomorrow would bring back the heady days of Ciaran Fitzgerald and Fergus Slattery in the early eighties.

The Irish achieved a breakthrough with their victory in Rome a fortnight ago, winning their opening championship match for the first time since 1988, but it is 18 years since they last won their first two matches.

The year 1983 was also the last time France were beaten in Dublin but, having ended their jinx in Paris last March, they feel the time is right to bridge another yawning gap.

Scrum-half Peteer Stringer said: "Everyone looking forward to the French game. You’d like to hope we could get a victory, even though it’s a tough challenge. Playing at home could bring even more pressure on us from the crowd.

"It will be difficult. They have a lot of players who didn’t play against us last year, like the half-backs and Magne at open side. They’re going to be fired up they won’t want to lose to Ireland two games in a row.

"Our main aim is to be consistent. Over the years Ireland have had one good season and then dropped away off the pace the following year.

"We’re looking for another good season like we had last year when we gained three wins, We have to aim for that and be recognised as a consistent international team."

While Ireland have adopted France’s renowned free-flowing style, averaging five tries a match, it is France who have demonstrated a marked last of consistency.

They followed up their 42-33 victory over the All Blacks in November with a lacklustre effort against Scotland a fortnight ago, even though they managed a 16-6 victory.

It is difficult to imagine the French repeating the errors of the Scotland match and coach Bernard Laporte has delivered a vote of confidence by naming a virtually unchanged line-up.

The introduction of seasoned scrum-half Philippe Carbonneau for the suspended Fabien Galthie has packed even more nous into a side bristling with experience.

Carbonneau, who will make his 33rd appearance, joins a XV containing 357 caps, 90 more than the emerging Irish, and that does not include old warhorses Cristian Califano and Abdelatif Benazzi, replacements able to boast 136 caps between them.

"I think the team will react in a positive way from the lethargic performance against Scotland," said Laporte. "Ireland could be in for a real backlash as the All Blacks discovered last November."

With just five wins over France in Dublin in the last 40 years, Ireland will afford their visitors due respect but last season’s historic win in Stade de France has removed a huge psychological barrier.

Ireland ought to have won at Lansdowne Road two years ago when a late penalty miss by David Humphreys enabled France to hang for a hollow 10-9 victory.

In fact, no more than two points have separated the two sides in their last three meetings and another close contest is envisaged tomorrow.

Around 10,000 Keith Wood face masks will be distributed to the 48-capacity crowd before tomorrow’s match in a promotion by Guinness.