All the talk this Saturday is of Ireland and the potential Grand Slam, that would be only the fourth in the their history, but can France spoil the party? Given recent England performances it’s probably a bridge too far for them to leave the Aviva with a win and stop Ireland scoring a bonus point, but it’s possible.Â
A big French victory here, with the bonus point, would see them leapfrog Ireland, for 80 minutes at least and pile the pressure firmly onto Andy Farrell’s team.
France, Grand Slam winners just last year, come into this game on the back of a momentous 53-10 victory over England a week ago. Their performance was the best of the Six Nations so far, a true masterclass from the opening minute until the last. That will give them huge confidence going into this game, in front of a packed Stade de France and undoubtedly put the fear into Warren Gatland’s Wales team and their supporters.
The return of Gatland was welcomed earlier in the year but a change in fortunes hasn’t been as quick as many, including the New Zealander, would have hoped. They came into the weekend fifth in the Six Nations, thanks to last weekend’s 29-17 victory over and Italian team that gave Wales every opportunity to take the win.
Before that victory over Italy they’d scored just 27 points against Ireland, Scotland and England, so doubling that total would have been a welcome relief. They say to never go back, but although the Gatland homecoming hasn’t quite been the success he’d have wanted so far, a victory on French territory, against this great side, would be a great sign-off to end the tournament and leave things on a positive note ahead of the World Cup campaign this autumn.Â
In many ways the pressure if off Wales, they’re 20-point underdogs with the bookies and given how electric France looked last week the weight of public expectation isn’t upon them. That might free them and allow them to play their best rugby against a France team who up until last weekend hadn’t really hit the performance level that we’d grown accustomed to them playing at.
France squeezed past Italy in the opening weekend, got beaten fairly convincingly by Ireland the following week and then managed to take advantage of Scottish mistakes to beat Finn Russell’s men in Paris. If we’ve learned anything about France from their Six Nations form so far it’s that, while they might be the best team on the planet on their day, they are not consistently at their very best.
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