Six Nations: Ireland’s James Ryan looking to ‘quieten’ the French crowd

Dylan Coetzee

Ireland player James Ryan during the match Italy-Ireland in the Olympic stadium. Rome (Italy), February 27th, 2021 (Photo by Massimo Insabato/Mondadori Portfolio/Sipa USA)

Ireland lock James Ryan believes his team will need to find a way to “quieten” the mass of French supporters when they encounter Les Bleus at the Stade de France on Saturday.

Former Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan described Saturday’s clash in Paris as the “crunch” game of the tournament with the winner favourite to go on and claim the title. 

Ireland travel to France after beating Wales 29-7 in the opening round of the Six Nations to make it nine wins on the bounce while France made light work of Italy winning 37-10. 

The last time the Irish played in Paris in front of fans was on their way to their Grand Slam victory in 2018, winning the game 15-13.

Passionate fans

Ryan recalls the match fondly but knows the Irish will need to find a way to silence the 80,000-strong French fanbase.

“It was incredible,” he told reporters.

“The whole week was just class. I didn’t anticipate starting that game at all at the time and I was in the team and it was amazing, to be involved in a game like that was incredible.

“I just remember the noise in the stadium, the French were really getting behind their team and really getting involved in the game.

“The last time we went there (2020), there were 80,000 empty seats so this weekend there will be 80,000 people there and that’s another part of it, the crowd definitely play a part.

“I suppose we’ll have to do our best to quieten them, for want of a better word.

“You see how good French teams are in general, even domestically, French clubs are always tougher to beat when you go and play them away from home. I think it influences them as well. They love playing at home and they love having their crowd behind them.

“They get involved in the game, be it a kick, a penalty or a score, they really get behind them so I think they do play a part. It’s great though, it’s exciting for us as well.

“You want to go over there and play in these kind of atmospheres so we’re looking forward to it.”

All eyes will be on the Stade de France when the two sides clash in this epic encounter with Ireland sensing blood in the water and France inevitably prepared to stand their ground on their home turf. 

Both teams and fans alike know just how important this game is to their title challenge.

“We know it’s an unbelievable opportunity,” said Ryan.

“Weeks like this don’t come around often so we’re trying not to think too much about the occasion and just focus on our own performance, even though I’ve talked about the stadium and the atmosphere and how great that is.

“Faz (Andy Farrell) would be big on our performance and measuring our performance this weekend rather than the outcome. That’s what he’s big on and that’s what we’ll focus on again this week.

“We were happy, it was a good start. Probably the good thing about it is, as Faz said and he was right, it was a good start but there was a lot we could be better at.

“So it’s a good place to be with this week in mind. The general feeling was that we have another level in us so loads to improve on and work on and it’s an exciting week.

“This is one of the fixtures that you want to be involved in, away in the Stade de France, it’s such an amazing stadium and these are the games you want to be involved in so it’s a great feeling to the week so far.”

Ryan believes that whilst Ireland is confident and in-form it is important to stay “grounded” and keep working hard to improve.

“I think confidence is important as well, really important,” he added.

“Probably at the same time, I know what we spoke about last week, in 2018 we beat New Zealand at home in the Aviva and it was a massive win, the first time on Irish soil… then we rocked up and got steamrolled in the first game of the Six Nations.

“So I think we’re pretty grounded. We know that it’s a new campaign now and it’s not starting again but there can’t be any complacency, we’ve got to keep pushing forward.

“Even though we were happy with last week, this week is another challenge again and a good opportunity for us to keep pushing our boundaries.”

READ MORE: Win over France would put Ireland in ‘a good position’ to claim Six Nations title