Easterby relishing France showdown

ASSISTANT coach Simon Easterby insists Ireland will not be thinking about the Rugby World Cup final that never was when they launch their Six Nations title defence.

The reigning Grand Slam champions were heavily tipped to meet hosts France in the showpiece match of Test rugby’s leading tournament last autumn.

But Andy Farrell’s men, who then topped the world rankings, suffered an agonising 28-24 quarter-final loss to New Zealand on October 14, 24 hours before Les Bleus were beaten 29-28 by eventual winners South Africa.

The two sides will return to action for the first time since then in next Friday’s championship curtainraiser in Marseille.

While defence coach Easterby (right) can envisage the narrative around the match, he dismissed its significance.

‘It’s probably a game that people thought would have been fitting for a World Cup final – but it wasn’t,’ he said.

‘We get the second prize of going after each other in the first game.

‘I think there will be that storyline around what happened in the World Cup, the fact that neither of us got past the quarter-finals.

‘Our concern is trying to figure out a way to beat a very, very good team and that’s all we’ve prepared for across the last five or six days.

‘It’s a great start for us to see where we’re at at the moment.’

Head coach Farrell started the week by saying he was ‘over’ the World Cup.

‘We probably didn’t fire enough shots and make the most of the opportunities in that game,’ Easterby said of the painful loss in Paris.

‘The maul was really effective, we destroyed them at times in that area. We got on the wrong side of some refereeing decisions.

‘But at the end of the day... very little in it.’

Ireland are fine tuning preparations for the Six Nations at a pre-tournament camp in southern Portugal.

Easterby revealed the full 34-man squad trained yesterday.

‘It was a really sharp session and one that will give them a lot of confidence.’