Parsons and Co are quality but beating France a huge ask
Griggs has quality to call on but beating semi-pro opponents would be huge shock
CHOICE is what every coach desires. A competitive squad guarantees choice. It offers potential solutions during a game, but it also allows management to balance their resources, and rotate players according to the team’s schedule.
Should France win in Dublin this afternoon, as they are expected to do, they are likely to play England in what is effectively a Six Nations final this day week.
And their selection for this trip to Donnybrook seems conditioned by that. Some big names start on the bench, the result of eight changes from the French team that beat Wales 53-0 in their opening game of this shortened championship, two weeks ago.
This type of rotation is routinely used by opponents to take inspiration, seen as proof of complacency and even arrogance.
However, the truth is that even a much-changed France will still expect to beat Ireland and progress to meet England.
The reasons for their favouritism are well-rehearsed by now, from the traditional bigger reach enjoyed by a large country, to the French side’s semi-professional status.
The difference that makes could be telling, with an unchanged Irish starting team playing their second match in seven days, while the French have had 14 days to recover and prepare since their first fixture.
If the French do have difficulties, a strong replacements’ bench will be trusted to come to the rescue. It includes the halfback partnership of Pauline Bourdon and Morgane Peyronnet, who are replaced from the start by Laure Sansus and Caroline Drouin.
The extensive French pick has been expanded further since the game against Wales by the addition of four players taken from the sevens’ squad.
The sevens game, which involves extensive travel around the world, has been in suspension as a result of the pandemic, and Ireland have benefited from that, too. Eve Higgins starts her second Test in a week since turning to the 15-woman game, while the vaunted AmeeLeigh Murphy Crowe should make her first Ireland appearance as a replacement today. The decision of Adam Griggs, the Ireland coach, to select the same starting team as the one that beat the hapless Welsh 45-0 in Cardiff a week ago can be read as rewarding a group that did their work highly efficiently. But it could also be read as Griggs relying on a core group because he does not have the choice available to him that France do. Ireland were 31-0 in front at half-time against Wales, but a third-quarter slump was eventually corrected with three more tries. Forty-four minutes passed, though, between Ireland’s fifth try, scored by Sene Naoupu in the 27th minute, and the sixth, by Dorothy Wall, in the 71st with Tyrell rounding it off on the final whistle. Griggs introduced all eight of his replacements in that intervening period, but he was adamant ahead of this game that Ireland’s slump against Wales was not down to individual impacts. ‘Talking about the balance of our bench, as a coaching group we looked at it and we looked at the players on the field and we gave them time to rectify some of the
7
The number of tries scored by Ireland in their 45-0 thrashing of Wales last week
things that weren’t quite going right,’ he said, suggesting that Ireland’s game started to become flabby before most of the subs came on.
‘And then when that kind of got away on us, we decided to make some changes and see if they added that impact.
‘So as we got into the last 10, 15 minutes and we had a full bench on, I thought they added to that and we were really pleased.’
If Ireland are to upset expectations and win today, a bigger impact will be needed from the bench again, but as important is the discipline and defensive rigour shown by the starters.
France will be expected to try and blaze through Ireland early on. Five of their eight changes are in the back line, but among those retained is Caroline Boujard on the right wing.
She scored a hat-trick inside the first 14 minutes against the Welsh, and her confrontation with Beibhinn Parsons should be a highlight. The Irish coach emphasised that different aspects of Parsons’ game are certain to be tested by the French, and Boujard was undoubtedly in his thinking when he said that.
And when Parsons gets the ball, the French will be alert to her threats.
‘With that attention and how well she’s done, she’s going to come across a lot stronger defence this weekend,’ said Griggs, who has worked with Parsons since she was an Under 18 player in the sevens programme. If I was coaching on the opposite side, I’d be putting two defenders on her to make sure that she’s marked up well.
‘We’ve got to make sure that we can bring her into the game in other ways and not just some of the highlight-reel stuff we saw last week. It’s going to take more of an effort to grind them down.’
The attacking flourishes provided by Parsons, Eimear Considine and Tyrrell in particular last week, are unlikely to be indulged by a better and more organised French defence.
If Ireland are to cause a surprise, it will be the result of patience and discipline, as well as getting away with as much at the breakdown as possible.
The impressive Irish back row of Dorothy Wall, Claire Molloy and Ciara Griffin will be expected to lead the way here.
Wall has not received the plaudits that have inevitably come the way of Parsons, but the 20 year old flanker is considered a similarly rare talent. As well as her work in defence, she is rated an extremely powerful ball carrier and will be crucial in eking out yards against big, physical opponents.
The last time these countries played was in 2019, when the French won 47-17 in Donnybrook. A year earlier, they won 24-0 in Toulouse. But it was only in 2017 that Ireland last won against
‘It’s going to take more of an effort to grind them down’
them, edging a tight game 13-10 at home.
By the end of 2018, though, the French had turned semi-professional and they have enjoyed the advantages since.
It is one of the reasons why an Irish victory today would constitute a significant shock.