Six Nations: France vs Ireland could be title defining says Eddie O’Sullivan
Former Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan admits this weekend’s encounter between Ireland and France will be a defining game in the context of the 2022 Six Nations.
Ireland continued their excellent form, comprehensively beating Wales 29-7 and taking their tally to nine wins on the bounce, while France beat Italy 37-10 in the opening round.
“Crunch game”
O’Sullivan is convinced this could be one of the biggest games in this year’s Six Nations and the winner will have one eye on taking the championship home.
“This is probably the crunch game of the tournament. I think these are the best two teams,” O’Sullivan told the BBC.
“Whoever wins this one will be eyeing up the championship for sure.”
“If you look at the level of rugby Ireland and France are playing at the moment I think they are the pick of the crop.”
Although Ireland and France started the tournament with bonus-point wins, O’Sullivan believes both sides can build and improve on their opening round performances making for a mouthwatering clash in Paris this weekend.
“Ireland know they have to improve going to Paris and the French have admitted they have to improve as well,” observed O’Sullivan.
“France know if they are below par against Ireland, Ireland will beat them and Ireland know if they are below par France will beat them.
“We go to France in great fettle but knowing that there is work to be done. It’s an intriguing match-up and depends on which team improves the most.
“Ireland looked more than 22 points better than Wales and although I wouldn’t say that it was the complete performance there was still a lot to admire.
“The accuracy of our attack meant we basically tore the Welsh defence apart at times and they looked all at sea.
“We knew going into the game we were the better team so it was a question of delivering while being the favourites at home and you can say without a shadow of doubt that we did that.
“The weather was a factor but there were times in the first half when we were a bit sloppy and made life difficult for ourselves. We went in 10-0 up at the break but were certainly better in the second half.
“Ireland will be happy with the result but I think there’s still quite a lot more in this Irish team. They had quite a few turnovers and didn’t score in the last quarter when they may have kicked on and put another 15 or 20 points on Wales.
“We hope that doesn’t come back to haunt us at the end of the season in the points difference race.”
O’Sullivan sees the French side trying to smother Ireland by fronting up physically something that may be on Ireland coach Andy Farrell’s mind when he selects his side.
“I think the French will be very physical as if Ireland get time and space to play they can pull any team apart,” he added.
“I think France are afraid that if they let us get into a rhythm in the game we could cause problems. They may go very physical with us up front or maybe very physical at the breakdown. We can expect that I believe.
“With that in mind, does Andy Farrell bring an Iain Henderson into the front five to give us a little bit more ballast? That’s something he has to look at.
“I suspect that may mean moving away from the gameplan and the style of rugby that is working for us so he’ll probably want to stay where he is and play that quick tempo game, keep moving the ball, keep moving the strike point and let them worry about us.
“If France had beaten Italy comfortably it might have been good for us as they might have been a little bit too comfortable in their skin but they know they didn’t fire on all cylinders so they’re going to be working very hard this week to make sure they do against Ireland.
“I’m confident Ireland will go there and make it a tight game – one moment in the game might make the difference like it did with Johnny Sexton’s late drop goal in 2018.”
READ MORE: Six Nations: Ireland dominates our Team of Round One
Six Nations Team of the Week
Planet Rugby writer Stan Wilson talks through our team of the week for round one of the Six Nations.