Date: Friday, 2 February Venue: Stade Velodrome, Marseille Kick-off: 20:00 GMT |
Protection: Pay attention on BBC Sounds, BBC Radio 5 Reside & BBC Radio Ulster; dwell textual content updates, report, response & highlights on BBC Sport web site & app. |
Eire and France could have prevented one another in the course of the Rugby World Cup, however Friday’s assembly guarantees to jot down one other gripping chapter on this heavy-hitting rivalry and launch this 12 months’s Six Nations in spectacular type.
Up to now couple of years, this fixture has been unmissable. It has been the Six Nations at its loudest and most charming: full of huge hits, roars and scores.
In 2022, France received a pulsating Stade de France battle to take management of the title race.
They finally ended that match with the Grand Slam, however 12 months on they stepped apart as Eire exacted revenge in a Dublin basic en path to a clear sweep of their very own.
However quite a bit has occurred since these blue and inexperienced juggernauts final collided.
Each nonetheless carry the lingering harm from shattered World Cup goals. Having overwhelmed eventual winners South Africa within the group stage, Eire once more fell to the All Blacks in a bruising quarter-final.
Hosts France had been knocked out 24 hours later, edged out by the Springboks in a quarter-final for the ages. Neither staff have performed since. The journey right here has had no scarcity of sombre reflection.
There are modifications to key personnel, too. Whereas Eire captain Johnny Sexton’s post-World Cup retirement had been signposted lengthy prematurely, French skipper Antoine Dupont’s choice to skip the Six Nations and chase on his Olympic dream within the Sevens code shook his nation.
Whereas these developments rob this fixture of two of its most talked-about protagonists, it paves the best way for brand spanking new stars to emerge and for brand spanking new storylines to be written at Stade Velodrome on Friday.
Again to enterprise for Eire
Whereas one other depressing World Cup exit and the lack of certainly one of their best ever gamers have been heavy burdens to hold, Eire have been eager to keep away from discuss of ‘recent begins’ and ‘new eras’.
For them, that is straight again to enterprise as they go looking for back-to-back Grand Slams, which might be a primary within the Six Nations period.
Head coach Andy Farrell doesn’t see this 12 months as the beginning of a brand new four-year cycle, however somewhat the continuation of the journey which has examined his prices in each attainable approach since he took over in 2019.
Farrell, who will miss subsequent 12 months’s championship to supervise the British and Irish Lions’ tour to Australia, is readying a largely acquainted staff, with Joe McCarthy and Calvin Nash the one Six Nations debutants.
It’s a sturdy staff, too. Whereas Garry Ringrose’s harm is a blow, Robbie Henshaw is there to take his place and whereas McCarthy could solely be 22, he has graced the World Cup stage and has put up some distinctive numbers for Leinster in current months.
The Sexton succession plan is two-pronged. However whereas new captain Peter O’Mahony is lengthy sufficient within the tooth to not shiver on the hulking dimension of the French pack, there isn’t a escaping the concept this can be a huge evening for Jack Crowley.
Consider how a number of the Irish greats have used France video games to place their names up in lights. Brian O’Driscoll’s hat-trick in 2000, Sexton’s drop-goal in 2018. Friday might be Crowley’s flip to return of age on French soil.
Even when they’ve by no means performed in Marseille earlier than, this Eire staff know find out how to win and know find out how to embrace the depth of those huge nights.
So, too, do France. Even shorn of Dupont’s mercurial abilities and still-injured Romain Ntamack’s guile from out-half, Fabien Galthie’s facet nonetheless pack a severe punch and are thought of by many as championship favourites.
Bordeaux’s Maxime Lucu once more deputises for Dupont having fulfilled that function on the World Cup when Dupont was injured, whereas full-back Thomas Ramos, Mathieu Jalibert and Yoram Moefana have all been in effective type for his or her golf equipment this season.
And with skilled again rower Gregory Alldritt assuming captaincy duties and try-scoring machine Damian Penaud – who has crossed a exceptional 13 instances in his previous eight outings for France – beginning, France look in fine condition.
These two mighty groups have given us so many spellbinding Six Nations video games down the years. The stage could also be totally different however Friday’s curtain-raiser is certain to suck us again in yet again.
It’s not honest to name this a championship decider. It’s, nevertheless, positively a match of appreciable stakes, myriad subplots and one that can ship a sign to the opposite challengers.
Whether or not that sign is blue or inexperienced stays to be seen, but it surely looks like the most recent Six Nations present is about to kick off in a giant, huge approach.