'We've got the game to go there and cause problems' – Ireland braced for French test

IRELAND ARE TARGETING a milestone win in Clermont tomorrow, and while head coach Scott Bemand appreciates the feeling around the fixture, he’s not of the opinion it will define this Six Nations for his team.

Ireland head to the Stade Marcel-Michelin [KO 8.10pm, Virgin Media Two/BBC iPlayer] with the ambition of winning a Six Nations game in France for the first time, while also searching for a first win over Les Bleus since 2017.

Such an achievement would have looked beyond Ireland just a few years ago, but their rate of improvement under Bemand has seen the gap between the sides close significantly.

Bemand’s team faced France twice last year, the French pulling away to frustrate Ireland in Belfast before edging a thrilling, controversial World Cup quarter-final in Exeter.

And having delivered an impressive nine-try win over Italy in Galway last weekend, Ireland – who lost 33-12 to England in round one – feel they are in a good place ahead of their latest shot at toppling the French.

Ireland have ambitions of breaking into the top two in the Six Nations, and given France have finished second to England for the last six years running, this looks the key game towards achieving that goal.

However, Bemand doesn’t buy into the notion this game will ‘make or break’ this Six Nations for his team.

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“No, in the grand scheme of things, I don’t think it does [make or break the Six Nations], with the start of a new World Cup cycle, we want to keep getting better, we want to keep closing the gap, that’s one of the key things for us.

“The game against England, we let them get to a start that we didn’t want. France’s two games, they’ve only got going in the second half, so for us the ability to get a good start is going to be really important, but we know France are a different entity in France.

“They’re going to have a full stadium behind them, so we know it’s the toughest place to go. We know what we’ve got to do. So I think we’ll keep going after the goals that we’ve set ourselves at the beginning.

We want to keep closing this gap. Whatever happens, we know we’ve got the game to go there and cause problems, if we get that bit right, we’ll fire enough shots, we’ll get our game out there and the result will take care of itself.”

Ireland haven’t been shy about talking up their chances, with fullback Stacey Flood outlining her belief that France should be “worried” about what’s coming their way in Clermont tomorrow. 

Bemand has no problem with such fighting talk, given what he’s seeing behind the scenes.

“Do you know what I’ve been really impressed, the group hasn’t got ahead of itself,” Bemand says.

“In the same way, the group didn’t get too down on themselves when the result at Twickenham went the way it went, so I know different coaches talk about different stuff, over in Bath, Johann [van Graan] talks about never too high, never too low.

“Actually, there’s a series of games. If you look at the lads (men’s team), everyone thought Ireland were out for the count after the game in France and they came back and were within the kick of winning it (the Six Nations).

“So we know that we’ve played two games. We’re in this competition still. France can always produce a result, we know that against an English team. They’re due one at some point.

“So we’ll just keep going after ourselves and keep going after our own processes.

“The next game is France, which is great. It’s our next opportunity. We managed to take the positive stuff from the England game and put that on the pitch against Italy.

“We’ve got to take the best bits of both games and continue to go after our own 85-minute performance.

“I’m being specific around it going longer than the 80, because if it goes right to the death, we’ve got to stay confident in what we’re doing and understand that there’s some challenges that we’ve got to come through.

“So the group is, I’m going to say stable, and understanding that they’re not getting too far ahead of themselves in the same way if on the pitch, something doesn’t happen, wheels aren’t going fall off.”

Bemand’s team for Saturday shows just one change to the starting XV, with Dorothy Wall named in the back row as Ruth Campbell moves to the bench. One further switch on the bench sees Eilís Cahill replaces Sadhbh McGrath.