This and the backline that really started to show promise in the second half of the Italian game, could leave Ireland leaving Paris in sombre mood.

15-Maxime Medard, 14-Vincent Clerc, 13-Aurelien Rougerie, 12-Wesley Fofana, 11-Julien Malzieu, 10-Francois Trinh-Duc, 9-Dimitri Yachvili, 8-Louis Picamoles, 7-Imanol Harinordoquy, 6-Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5-Yoann Maestri, 4-Pascal Pape, 3-Nicolas Mas, 2-Dimitri Szarzewski, 1-Jean-Baptiste Poux.

Replacements: 16-William Servat, 17- Vincent Debaty, 18-Lionel Nallet, 19-Julien Bonnaire, 20-Morgan Parra, 21-Lionel Beauxis, 22-Maxime Mermoz

bookies

Paddy Power are offering a fairly ‘generous’ 2/1 on the three favourites France, England and Scotland to get the result.

If you fancy a bit more value for your money why not have a go on the points handicap. For those of you thinking… What is a points handicap? this explanation should help

For those of you who aren’t Paddy Power are offering this little gem at 8/1;

Italy +21

England -2

Wales +5

For those of you, like myself, are looking upon this weekends rugby as you might look upon this evenings lottery draw might fancy the following, Paddy Power are offering 227/1 on this selection of (fairly unlikely) outcomes;

Be quick though, two of those games kick off in half an hour, good luck!

Team in full;

15 - Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 - Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 - Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
12 - Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 - Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
10 - Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
9 - Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
3 - Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
4 - Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 - Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster) (capt)
6 - Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
7 - Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

Replacements:

16 - Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
17 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 - Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
19 - Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) *
20 - Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 - Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 - Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

They didn’t though did they. So we have our mouth drowning contest for Saturday. For which Ireland have named their team, no great surprises, Rory Best faces a last fitness test and Kidney has gone for O’Gara and Murray as halfbacks. Team in full:

Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), B O’Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G D’Arcy (Leinster), K Earls (Munster); R O’Gara (Munster), C Murray (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster) or S Cronin (Leinster), M Ross (Leinster), D O’Callaghan (Munster), P O’Connell (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), S O’Brien (Leinster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: S Cronin (Leinster) or D Varley (Munster), T Court (Ulster), D Ryan (Munster), D Leamy (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster), J Sexton (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster).

The clocks are ticking, there will be some incredible match ups on the day, not least the Hadron Collider of a battle between back rows. Thankfully though, for those of us with an Irish persuasion, we have ROG on our side. Remember This:

This weekend, just in case anyone didn’t notice,  another Ireland victory powered them through to the Quarter Finals of the Rugby World Cup. Without wanting to get too ahead of ourselves its a special time for Irish rugby and a special group of players to boot. Which is all just great.

I started to wonder if the dream came true, how would that occasion be marked? I figured a good old fashioned Hollywood movie with an all star cast would be an entirely appropriate memorial to the acheivement. The big question being just who do Hollywood have on their team sheet that could match up to Ireland’s rugby stars?

I thought of a few to get the ball rolling:

Ronan O'Gara

Colin Farrell

Cian Healy

Jack Black

Rory Best

Jason Statham

Russel Crowe

Brian O'Driscoll

A tribute like this would not be complete without some input from the coaching staff. Likewise an Irish  film is never complete without an appearance from this guy:

Gert Smal

Colm Meaney

Finally, who could play the man who brought all of these talented individuals together? Who has the leadership? the insight? The man management to hold such powerful personalities together? Naturally there is only one choice:

Declan Kidney

15 - Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 - Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 - Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
12 - Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 - Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
10 - Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
9 - Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
3 - Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
4 - Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 - Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
6 - Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
7 - Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

Replacements:

16 - Sean Cronin (Leinster)
17 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 - Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
19 - Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
20 - Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 - Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
22 - Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)

Team as follows:

Rob Kearney, Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Keith Earls, Jonathan Sexton, Eoin Reddan; Cian Healy, Rory Best, Mike Ross, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Stephen Ferris, Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Tom Court, Donnacha Ryan, Denis Leamy, Conor Murray, Ronan O’Gara, Andrew Trimble.

Ireland: G Murphy; T Bowe, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, K Earls, J Sexton, C Murray, T Court, R Best, M Ross, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, S Ferris, S Jennings, J Heaslip.

Replacements: J Flannery, T Buckley, D Ryan, D Leamy, E Reddan, R O’Gara, A Trimble.

Pool 1: Munster, Northampton, Scarlets, Castres

Pool 2: Cardiff, London Irish, Edinburgh, Racing

Pool 3: Leinster, Bath, Glasgow, Montpellier

Pool 4: Leicester, Clermont, Ulster, Aironi

Pool 5: Biaritz, Ospreys, Saarcens, Treviso

Pool 6: Toulouse, Quins, Gloucester, Connaught

15 – Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster)
14 - Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
13 - Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
12 - Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 - Keith Earls (Thomond/Munster)
10 - Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
9 - Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
3 - Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
4 - Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 - Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
6 - Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
7 - David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

Replacements:

16 – Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
17 – Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 - Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)
19 - Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
20 - Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 - Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 - Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)

5 Reasons Ireland can beat France on Sunday

1. Ireland won the last time they played in Dublin.
2. France have never won at the Aviva Stadium.
3. Ireland haven’t lost a second round home tie since 2007.
4. Sean O’Brien has never lost to France.
5. Jamie Heaslip is back in the side, he scored in the same fixture two years ago.

It just goes to show, statistics can be everyone’s friend