Keith Wood believes that Ireland vs France will be a very close game on Saturday and that the Irish will need to play at the highest standard as that’s what’s expected of them.
Speaking to Slingo, the former Ireland hooker also believes that France’s confidence and pride has taken a knock since losing to England as Ireland continue their quest for a grand slam and a third-consecutive Six Nations title in Dublin.
- Ireland will need to perform at the highest standard against France
- Simon Easterby is coming out of the shadows
- France losing to England has affected their pride
Ireland v France is the big game of the Championship. What are your thoughts on Ireland going for three in a row?
KW: “The three in a row is interesting because the players have been talking about it and saying that this is something that they want to get, but that they want to get a Grand Slam as well.
“This is the game that they would have targeted as being the most difficult game for them to play. They have also been very comfortable about playing one game at a time.
“There is the reality of the idea of trying to win each game as it comes, of trying to get your emotional mindset correct for each game as it comes.
“That’s difficult when you've had the level of Six Nations success that Ireland have had over the last number of years.
“Ireland have never been comfortable with the idea of being favourites. It's not something that sits very well. However, this particular group, and I'm saying this group going back 15 years, has become more comfortable with that at the Six Nations level.
“It's the matches where they're expected to win where it can be very awkward. My expectation for this weekend is of a performance of the highest standard because that's what's going to be required.”
And how big an achievement would it be to win three in a row? That takes a remarkable level of consistency and performance, doesn't it?
KW: “It hasn't been done in the Six Nations. It shows a huge amount when in this instance we have a different coach as well.
“It is great to see Simon Easterby coming out from the shadows. He has worked incredibly hard. He has delivered for a long time for Ireland, both as a player and as a coach.
“He is now beginning to get more of the credit for what he brings to the table. It would be a huge achievement to win a Grand Slam. But it's a huge achievement to talk about after the fact, not before the fact.
“I'm always wary about having that conversation before the fact. Not because I think people read too much into it or not, but you never want to even have that hint of complacency to be celebrating before the final whistle.
“I haven't been inside the tent for a long time. But what you want inside the tent is your confidence in your own ability to have a high level of performance and enough of a game plan to make that to win.
“It’s all about performance and that may not be enough sometimes and it also depends on exactly how France perform and we've seen so many different versions of France already in the Six Nations.”
France quite literally will be a huge challenge, won’t they?
KW: “It's massive. If only they were just 20 stone. That's the truth. It's 20 stone plus VAT. So about 24 stones!
“It is a huge challenge. It also is part of this big drive that's been going on in France with the riches that they have in terms of money and in terms of quality coming through.
“They're having to deal with different issues than most teams are. It's how do you keep as many players happy that are that good?
“If you looked at the game in Italy two weeks ago, it reminded me of playing 25 years ago or more.
“When France play with confidence with a chip on their shoulder, somehow a positive chip on their shoulder, at the pace that they play at, they're almost unplayable.
“And I thought Italy played really well for 20 minutes. Actually, I thought they played well for 80 minutes. Yet they got hockeyed, so how disheartening that has to be.
“I've played in matches like that where you're on the field, but you're not really involved. It's quite frightening and a horrible place to be. There's been enough of that in time. We haven't seen much of that.
“We've seen France be brilliant but not as outstandingly brilliant as they were against Italy. It's been glossed over a little because it was Italy, five or six years ago that would be fair about Italy, but not now.”
What are your particular memories of playing France and the unique challenge that they pose?
KW: “I kind of cut my teeth sitting on the bench in Parc des Princes. The last time Ireland played there I was on the bench. Terry Kingston was playing, he went down injured. I ran up and down the sideline.
“It was quite terrifying because I was young, 20 or 21. But I'd also eaten a load of jellies. Gary Halpin had given me loads of jelly sweets, so, I nearly projectile vomited on the side of the field.
“They were a much better team than we were. There was no expectation that we'd beat them. The last time we’d beaten them was three days before I was born in 1972. I had grown up only with loss.
“When we played them, you'd go in with a very good mindset of control and trying to get things right and suddenly they would start playing where every pass was in front of them so that they could accelerate onto it at full tilt.
“Defensive lineups were different then, so you had more space to run into. It suited them and suited the backs that they had at their disposal.
“We never stayed with them. For about the first six or eight times that I was involved with, we were never in the game after 20 minutes.
“I remember going in 1998 to Paris, to the Stade de France, and the media were talking about it was going to be the first ever 100 point loss.
“That was something that has definitely scarred me because I can remember it! We lost 18-16, a heroic loss, and we had a few of them back then.
“That result was a good thing because it suddenly showed us that we had capability. The following year we lost by a point in Dublin and the year after we played won when Brian O’Driscoll scored his hat-trick of tries.
“Brian was pretty extraordinary that day. If you took away the hat-trick, it was the best performance by an Irish rugby player that I had seen up to that point.
“He was almost unplayable. But the key to that game when I was captain, was the pace at which we played.
“After 20 minutes of that game I went over to pick up a ball to throw into the line-up and turned around and the only people that were there were Irish.
“All the French were lying down on the ground. It was the fastest 20 minutes of rugby I've ever played in my life. Your lungs were burning, but we had stayed with them. They'd thrown everything at us and they were shattered. And we went on to win.
“The joy for me was we backed it up the following year, we beat them in Dublin, to prove that it wasn't a one-off. And so that was a pretty cool thing.”
For this match, Ringrose is suspended, N’Tamack and Penaud are back for France. How does that tilt things?
KW: “I'm interested to see what Fabien Galthie does because the players that he parachuted in against Italy played extraordinarily well.
“That's one of the issues that they have, this absolute array of riches that they have at their disposal and they have to make these decisions.
“I look at the team as being truly amazing. The biggest blip this season was the game against England. They made many mistakes which were not the result of being under pressure.
“An awful lot of them were just lack of attention, lack of attention at the right time, to give the scoring pass, to take the scoring pass but it beggared belief and watching it didn't make any sense whatsoever.
“They had no business losing that game in France. They actually could have won by 35 points. That's the crazy thing. It was just a lack of attention.”
Ireland have kicked on this tournament when people were suggesting in the autumn that they might have peaked. What's the trigger for that? And where has it come from?
KW: “I think we have more players of a higher quality. We can talk about World Cups because we have to in terms of Ireland because the World Cup loss hurt.
“We're not entitled to win anything and we didn't win and we got knocked out as we have invariably got knocked out in the quarter final stage. Ireland were shocked by that and it knocked them back in their heels and they had to try and figure out why.
“The IRFU are incredibly pragmatic. They understand that the game in Ireland is driven by the Six Nations. So rebuilding is always an interesting concept for Ireland.
“The union want to rebuild while still doing well in the Six Nations because that pays the bills. They understand that the autumn is a time for change and a time for making the changes.
“The change always happens after the World Cup. Ireland hadn't made that step. I think it's just taken a bit longer to bed in. They’re still playing to a pretty good solid structure based around a comfort around the ball that stems from Leinster.
“Easterby is definitely putting a bit of his stamp on it by changing the number of players against Wales.
“I always think the middle match in the Six Nations tends to be the most nerve wracking. Now they’ve won that, the idea that you're playing for something really tangible is clear and Ireland are most definitely playing for something this weekend.”
Talking of Easterby, there is speculation about Wales might try and prise him away. Can Ireland hold on to him and how important is he to the environment and the regime?
KW: “I would hope Ireland would hold on to him. It's funny, I did a thing with Martin Johnson a few weeks ago and was chatting about various things.
“I often felt that was a bit of an anti-English bias towards the Easterby brothers, Simon and Guy, back in the late 90s, early 2000s. They weren't as loved as some of the more homegrown Irish players.
“They were Yorkshiremen with an Irish mother. I often felt that was the case. So, from the outside Simon may not have been as loved, but from the inside he was. The players were always crazy about him.
“For me he was a very quiet leader in the team; he was a guy you could rely on all the time but actually when he spoke, he spoke with great clarity, and he played with great clarity and there was a huge consistency to how he played.
“It seems to be in his coaching he has taken the same sort of view. There's no rubbish with him. He's not talking for the sake of talking, he has the sort of brusque Yorkshire element to him which is no harm.
“He is much loved within the squad, you want to be where people want you and they don't want him in Ireland if that makes sense! I also think he's in the midst of something.
“I don't know what Simon thinks, but I do know he's involved in a winning side. He's involved in a side that hasn't finished its journey yet.
“Whether that's something he'd like to stay the course with or not, I don't know. Some people think because he's head coach at the moment that it's a step back to not be that when Andy Farrell comes back.
“I don't know if that's in his mindset yet. I think he’d like to be a head coach at some stage, but there is plenty of time to do that. New Zealand tend to look at guys nearly sixty years of age before they become head coach.
“They’ve built that experience; they understand the different things that they have to do and they surround themselves with different skillsets.
“We seem to be in a rush to give jobs to guys in their mid-forties. That can work sometimes, but for the most part, not.”
One of the positives has been the emergence of Sam Prendergast. He really has taken to it to the man of born. What’s your opinion?
KW: “A couple of things about him. He really came to the fore in the under 20s. He's very tall, he's 6'4". He's slight definitely, he's an awkward running style.
“He's quick once he runs, if that makes sense. He's not particularly quick over the first five, but he's very quick afterwards once he stretches his legs.
“I watched him play one of the matches, I think it was against France, in the under 20s. And he was so poor in the first half, it was frightening how poor he was.
“Then, he was so monumentally excellent in the second half, it just didn't look like the same person. I loved that he had that fortitude, that ability to be able to kind of turn it around.
“I thought it took huge courage. In Ireland there’s a Munster-Leinster constant conversation over Jack Crowley and Prendergast that kind of glosses over different things. He's a young guy.
“The easy thing to do for Easterby was to take him off after 60 minutes (in Cardiff). But he's a young guy trying to get into an Ireland jersey and Easterby stayed the course with him - I thought that was significant.
“Every young player can only hope to have a coach that would do that for you. If he'd been taken off, does that mean that you'd always take Sam off if things were hitting the fan?
“It’s tough on Crowley. I just think it's great to see those two guys, they play to an incredibly high standard, both of them. Not everything went right for Sam, he made plenty of mistakes.
“We always have to be wary in the media of extolling the virtues of young players and then dashing them on the rocks as soon as they have a bad game.
“So, I liked the fact that the coaches have looked at us maturely and said, well, there's a human being that we have to deal with here first and foremost, and we'd like him to play for 10 years if at all possible.
“So, this may be the best thing to do. Prendergast led their way to the win.”
Saturday's game is also a swan song in Dublin for three stalwarts of the Ireland game, Peter O’Mahony, Cian Healy and Connor Murray. A tribute to them..
KW: “Let’s start with Cian. One of my favourite things I could say about him is that as they get older, some people aren't able to take the fact that they're not top dog anymore.
“But Cian seems to have grown into it a sort of elder statesman saying, ‘I'll do whatever job is required of me.’
“It's astounding to have that longevity, but also to the level of quality under which he's been able to deliver all the time, while still being an old dog learning new tricks. It’s been pretty cool to watch actually. As a front rower myself, I found that pretty extraordinary.”
“Conor is quite interesting. He was in my school. I remember watching him as a very young guy, playing for Munster A, and being excited by the fact that he was better than any of the other guys that were in Munster and he was number five or number six in the pecking order.
“He’s delivered for the whole part of his career. He had a little dip a couple of years ago when the game moved away from him. The game has now moved back towards him and kicking from nine is king again. He's been an extraordinary servant.”
“Peter O'Mahony is a throwback to olden days. He’s just he's a different type of guy. He's a snarling kind of grizzled rough tree of a player.
“He's always angry, it often doesn't hit the top of the stats and yet has a bigger influence on the games than any of his stats do, he belies all stats.
“Last week against Wales he played 80 minutes, and he was astounding for the 80 minutes. And it's been brilliant. I think he'd like to one more season with Munster.
“I think he has carried the weight of Munster almost on his shoulders for a long period of time. For that, I think every Munster fan should be incredibly appreciative - he’s pretty astounding.”
“I really liked the manner in which the three of them decided together and said, ‘Yeah, we're going to stop at the end of this season with Ireland. We're not making too much fuss, there's nothing really going. Let's not build this into a year of talking about it.’
“I thought there was a really cool way of doing it.”
The Lions and Australia is a prize to look forward to this summer, the Irish contingent must be thinking they have a chance with Farrell as head coach?
KW: “Nobody is entitled to anything. I'd say that again and again and again. If you're a good player, you make a presumption you're going on the Lions tour and then you make certain that you play well enough for that presumption to be correct.
“You don't want people doubting whether they're going to go or not. That was my view on it, and it's confidence which could be called arrogance, but I wouldn't have called it that.
“You have to be confident in your own ability and the way to get on the Lions to perform well for your team. If you're good enough, you'll be selected and that's it.
“I used to say the Lions are coming at the end of the year but it didn't change how I played. It couldn't be about you. It had to be about the team, that was always the case.”
Do you have a prediction on Saturday? Will home advantages tell?
KW: “I think it's going to be very close. My way of looking at this is I can't wait to watch the game because I'm looking to see how Ireland moves on.
“I'm looking to see how they deal with a team, France, that was truly spectacular last time out, who have some of the best players who've ever played the game.
“Dupont is a joy to watch, a pure joy. But not just him. All the new guys that come in and just seem as if they were there for forty caps and are able to play very well.
“This has been one of the really big matches over the last five or six years. Ireland at home? You don’t ever want to lose at home.
“It's a joy watching rugby being played at that standard and, on both sides. They play differently. France will not be given the space they were given against Italy. They will not be given the time.
“If you have a third of a second longer to make a decision that's an eternity in international rugby. They had that against Italy, they will not get that against Ireland.”
“Both play a very attractive style of rugby and kick quite a lot. Attractive isn't not kicking, attractive is the competition that's in there.
“Ireland has had levels of success in the last couple of years. I don't believe France have had the success that their squad deserves.
“So, there’s a lot of pressure on France, and losing in the fashion which they did against England, I think has affected some of their own pride.
“Their reaction to that was a hammering of Italy, but this is the game now that they need not to slip up on, that's a pressure in itself.”
Just elaborate a little on Dupont. Have you seen anyone really better in that position?
KW: “Nines have no time on the ball. How often do you hear the nines getting snagged with the ball? Now the French nines play differently.
“He's quite happy to take two or three steps back and run with the ball a little before he passes because France traditionally keep far more depth in their backline and, because of that, he can do that and he's the general who runs the game.
“If it was just his scrum half play you would say he's pretty fantastic, but he's incredibly robust, he's a cracking defender.
“He’s willing to try everything and anything and he has the team around him that understands that he's going to try anything and everything.
“As a result, his teammates follow him. There is a joy to his play, to his teammates’ reaction around him and the fact that his coaches have said, we are going to play this most attacking style of rugby.”
If Ireland do win and go on to take the slam, where does that place this current team?
KW: “This would be huge success if Ireland win this championship. And I wouldn't automatically just go and say they will automatically go and beat Italy next week. I don't like that.
“Ireland have done incredible things in the last 10 or 12 years, like really incredible things. Beating South Africa away, beating the All Blacks, having never done it prior to that period of time.
“So, there's been a lot of milestones. This would be another one. It would show a level of consistency and a level of transferability through players over three seasons. That would be something magnificent.
“But Ireland will always have to get to a level of credit by getting past a World Cup quarter final. That will be the mark for them.
“By most metrics Ireland do incredibly well with the exception of the World Cup.”
A word about Ronan O’Gara. Where do you see his future potentially?
KW: “He would say he plots things out and he definitely does, but like all sports, it isn't a linear path. So there's ups and downs in every single thing that you do.
“I know that he's driven by a will to succeed and I think that changes with him over time, not the will, but where that would be.
“I love the fact that he went to France. It wasn't the traditional path. Then he went to New Zealand. They don't take in overseas coaches in New Zealand and by all accounts they loved him in New Zealand.
“They thought he was very different. And he's quite mad and it's great. He's a different sort of guy, a different character, a fiery character. Then he goes and gets the head job at La Rochelle. And the players follow him, and will do anything for him.
“I go back to the earlier comment, there's no rush to shoot straight into the Irish job, there's no rush for anything like that at all. His thing is he wants to succeed wherever he goes, and I think he's got a long career still ahead of him.”
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