france vs ireland

this is undoubtedly the most important match of the tournament for both teams.

france must win or else face a shock exit, and ireland cannot be happy after their dismal performance against georgia, finally scraping a 14-10 victory against a minnows of a side in world rugby terms.

i cannot see france losing this match-up at home. do so will mean the head of bernard laporte, the french coach. he, and everyone else knows it.

anyone who watched the thrilling six nations match between ireland and france when ireland came so close to lifting the triple crown, knows that ireland can take it to the french.

final score of that game: ireland 17-20 france

but today, the french are playing at stade de france, in paris, not at croke park stadium, in dublin...and unless ireland play completely different rugby from that which they played against namibia and georgia, france will simply be too strong for them.