Ireland will need all 23 to take down France's mobile monsters

Taking a slight break from the outhalf debate and Frédéric Michalak’s carpet-bombing I found myself walking the beautiful gardens of Ashford Castle last Sunday. I wondered who should start at 10 for both teams before the four-second rule kicked into my mind, or more accurately one giant in the middle of the French backrow, Louis Picamoles.

The Picamoles four-second rule arises when he’s swamped violently within a triple-tackle; motoring towards the ground or touch he can suspend time for four seconds to survey his periphery and offload at ease.

Crucially, his team-mates are equally aware of this skill and run lines of support long considered dead by other players.

This is extremely dangerous as Picamoles is as likely to break the tackle and keep trucking on as he is to look dead and buried before a most majestic offload unlocks the green defence, with Maxime Medard appearing from nowhere.

It has been very difficult to judge France until they arrived in Twickenham. For those fooled by the Six Nations table a French team with Morgan Parra bought cohesion allied to ability in the physical English environment, which is a deeply distressing sight. They not only soaked up the hits but could review the situation mid-hit, getting their hands free, with Picamoles supreme. They hunted further, where Picamoles et al dump-tackled with ease. This is far removed from spear-tackling but to see English athletes being lifted and walked backwards in contact was frightening.

Ireland couldn’t cope with that English physicality so it’ll be crucial we dictate the game plan to avoid such encounters. Ireland should play no rugby in their own half and must be physical but extremely patient in finding field position.

Lineout maul

Our lineout maul must be utilised and so too our bench. Mike Ross will be exhausted, so too Mike McCarthy in supporting him. Ireland’s tactics for managing the French in the last 20 minutes must have all 15 Irish players furiously rowing at full stroke across the 80-minute line, having used the full bench.

I’m delighted to see with drip-feeding Stephen Archer’s name over the season the call-up has arrived; be warned, he’s getting there so be patient with him.

France have a beautiful blend of monsters and mobility, with James Bond villains throughout, most notably their second row where Yoann Maestri, standing at 6ft 7in and 17st 8lb, is a beast.

He’s hardly a springing salmon but packing down behind tighthead Nicolas Mas, he is going to channel serious grunt through to Cian Healy. Mas has been there for all the big French wins and is supreme in scrum and tackling. What a challenge awaits Healy. Never before does the Irish bench have more value than when facing a French front five (and their bench) tomorrow.