Ahead of Sunday’s crucial World Cup battle between France and Italy, Sport360.com journalist Niall McCague looks at the key areas of the match that will ultimately define its outcome.
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The line-out
Devin Toner’s inclusion ahead of previous incumbent Iain Henderson shows Ireland will look to employ a kicking game and work an attacking threat from their line-out maul.
France are generally slow and not very detailed in their roles when the ball is contested from the throw. In order for either to gain advantage in this area, they will need to be technically sound with excellent ball protection at all times.
Luke Charteris with some incredibly good maul defence. Devin Toner will be looking to do something similar tomorrow. #RWC15
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) October 10, 2015
At the breakdown
France will be big and aggressive at the breakdown as shown against Italy and Romania. In order to minimise their effect, the Irish trio of Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip will need to be more intelligent on their positioning in contact.
They will also need to usurp the destructive Louis Picamoles, one of the gems in France’s World Cup campaign to date. His strength and power allows him to do a lot of the dirty work at the breakdown, and he’s one of the key men that could make a difference for Les Bleus.
Battle of the boots
With 16 pages dedicated to the game in Midi Olympique on Friday, this is being touted as the Freddie Michalak v Jonny Sexton match.
It will be a tight contestand a lot will depend on the kicking performances of both 10s, where Michalak and Sexton will look to pin back the defence with each attempt. Michalak has looked more composed with 7/7 successful kicks against Canada, in comparison to Sexton’s 4/6 against Italy.
Back row bruisers
Ireland’s back row will need to improve vastly if they are to have any chance of overcoming France. With each game, Thierry Dusautoir and No8 Picamoles are growing in confidence and their leadership will be crucial to Les Bleus’ ambitions.
In Heaslip, Ireland have one of the hardest working forwards, while we’re yet to see a fully destructive O’Brien with the ball in hand. If they can attain a level of dominance here, they will shade the contest.
The referee is king
The best referee in the game, Nigel Owens, has an incredible way of maintaining control while letting the game flow.
Refs put a huge reliance on the TMO, and Owens uses this superbly. He’ll whistle both teams for not releasing at the set piece and he’ll be clinical at the breakdown.
