The men in green were the party-poopers against England in October, and today they may prove the trouble-fêtes as France prepare to celebrate. For the second time in six months Ireland have a chance to wreck grand slam hopes, but ironically, if they can win in Paris today and rob France of the first Six Nations slam, it is their last victims, England, who will benefit on points difference, assuming they beat Italy as expected tomorrow.
To end France's winning run and take a third successive victory over them, Ireland will have to produce a far more incisive game than in their three home victories in this championship. Their former coach Warren Gatland feels that up front they are not producing the goods. "Their forward play - the scrums, lineouts and retaining possession - seems to have gone backwards," the Kiwi said this week.
The return of the iconic Keith Wood should make the forwards raise their game. The Harlequins hooker, out for three months with calf and back injuries, believes the battle up front against three fine ball carriers in Pieter de Villiers, Raphael Ibanez and Jean-Jacques Crenca "will be terrifying and will decide the game". Wood's throwing should steady the lineout, but Peter Clohessy in his final international outing will have to raise his game to avoid a repetition of the going over he received from the Italian front row in the scrum.
Ireland need to find out if they can rise to the occasion away from home after a disastrous visit to Twickenham in February. "The aim for us is to find out if we are capable of winning high-pressure encounters like this," says Wood. "We'll see just what we have in our guts."
In the echoing Stade de France much will hang on the crowd, quick to get behind their team in the England match, ominously silent when the Italians unsettled the French in the first half of the championship opener in February. "If we get on top of them and start spoiling things and get in their faces then it's a place that turns fairly quickly against their own players," says the Ireland scrum-half Peter Stringer. "It happened two years ago when things didn't happen as quickly for them as it should have and the fans were getting on their back."
Brian O'Driscoll's hat-trick then marked the Leinster man's arrival on the world stage, and today he is reunited with another injury victim, his Lions partner Rob Henderson, whose bludgeoning runs have been the perfect foil for O'Driscoll's hip-swinging skills in midfield.
Their battle with France's pairing of Tony Marsh and Damien Traille could be epic, assuming the New Zealand-born Marsh starts after injuring his calf in training. France left the decision late and their coach Bernard Laporte has said that losing the Montferrand player would be a catastrophe. The 19-year-old Clément Poitrenaud has been called in as cover.
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