Renewed Ireland expect to perform

Cellotaped to the wall in the Irish squad's tv/video room are a sample of the nearly 1,500 faxed messages of goodwill which have been sent on to Paris. There were, of course, quite a few references to small amphibians with long, web-footed hind legs, but the bulk of them were more inclined to bring a lump to the throat than a frog.

Amid the cross-section of support, from Bertie Ahern and Ruairi Quinn to the Dooney brothers, Conor and Kevin (aged four and eight), the messages are straightforward enough and reflect the magnitude of the Irish task today (Stade de France, 2.0 Irish time).

"Remember what happened to Goliath," was one, while Andy Ward's sister Tracey invoked the Maori spirit with Kia Kaha ("Be strong, give it heaps"). Another one, "Keep the honour alive and play a storm and the result is immaterial", perhaps best summed up the mood.

At a stroke Warren Gatland has achieved one half of his primary objective. The players seem genuinely surprised and uplifted. It reminds you how simple the All Black approach can be. Gone, for the time being at any rate, is the grandiose talk of an utopian running game. Instead, it's back to basics with step one - just get the public behind the team and give the public an 80-minute performance with which they can identify. Basically, that's what we're back to: looking for a performance. During the week, Gatland sent around sheets asking the players to outline personal and team goals for the remainder of the championship. If the Irish team can achieve a performance and some goals (like winning the set-pieces, putting some patterns together, emulating the two-try tally of the last 25 years in Paris, or whatever) they will have something tangible with which to take into the Welsh game. That's crucial.

But, at 3.0 p.m. local time, comes the hard part. Even playing for 80 minutes against inferior French sides in Paris has generally been beyond Ireland in the last 25 years of fruitless journeys here.

More recently, especially, there has usually been a defining moment which players recall like a particularly sweaty nightmare. The French have just scored, the drums are beating in the stand to the backdrop of Allez France, the Irish out-half is about to restart and the French scent blood. The clock shows 10 or 20 or 30 minutes left. Ye Gods.

To avoid that moment, needless to say, it is imperative to get a confident start. To achieve that, they must apply the defensive strategy worked on during the week with iron-clad discipline. Taking a leaf out of the Connacht book which so upset French attacks this season, the Irish will attempt to push up into the opposition's faces. They must hold the line, unlike the Scots, who invited the French off-the-shoulder runners to pore through gaps at angles.

In this regard, the return of the vocal, physically strong Eric Elwood (who will be calling the shots and, one hopes, holding a rigid line) has to be welcomed.

For all of the professionalism of this nouveau French side, it will be hard for them not to take this third leg of another grand slam for granted. Thus, if Ireland can upset them early on, it just might get them arguing amongst themselves.

Then there's the small matter of retaining possession. It is clear Ireland are going to mix a kicking game with a running game, and use the short side, which was almost neglected against Scotland.

Thoughts of Ireland adopting something of a kicking game in Paris are understandably nervewracking. There'll have to be a high degree of accuracy to avoid the French throw-in or a counterattack from that smooth operator, Jean-Luc Sadourny, and his cohorts on the wings. No one does it better.

But there is still a time and a place for the kicking game (like off quick ruck ball which brings up the French backs), and the Connacht half-backs understand Gatland's modus operandi better than anyone.

But against all of this, you stop and think, and you remember that, excellent coach though he is, Gatland has had only a week. Three sessions to be precise, and yesterday's third in the hilly, treelined, suburban little ground in Orsay was non-vintage.

The squad looked edgy and nervy, and there were a mite too many spilled balls. But it improved and probably showed they needed the session (after which the kickers went to the Stade de France).

And then there's the reservations. To counter-act the French, Ireland has a big, quick, back-row, but there's no on-the-deck man (admittedly there may be no need for one), and the selection of Ward is a gamble.

Most of all, there's the pace factor. In European rugby only the French could tear up a grand slam side and build a potentially even better one, from scratch. The underlying theme is youth and pace.

Gone, probably for good, are old stalwarts like St Andre, Lacroix, Cabannes and Merle. Now, in addition to the most mobile of props in Christian Califano and Frank Tournaire, there's a converted back-rower at lock in Fabien Pelous, and the Lievremont bothers alongside Olivier Magne le magnifique in the back-row.

The true conductor though is Phillippe Carbonneau. His halfdummy and pass to put Phillippe Benetton into space for Phillippe Bernat-Salles' opening try against England was so simply wonderful that it should be shown on video to every budding scrum-half in Ireland. Outside of him there is pace, pace and yet more pace - way more than at Ireland's disposal, and Thomas Casteignede will hardly repeat the errors of a fortnight ago against Scotland.

Somehow Ireland have to keep cutting down the space to curb the pace. If that aforementioned defining moment comes at any time in the first hour, then it's au revoir et bonne nuit Irlande. Only Mick Galwey acts as cover for the back-five, but this allows Gatland to throw two front-rows at the French, perhaps thereby limiting the French front-row's mobility and the scrum platform they have enjoyed so far.

Though Gatland's game plan will be more pragmatic, it will also be more innovative in the use of substitutes and it might well include a couple of equally cheeky Connacht try-scoring ploys. As one Galwegian said when contemplating the probable long-term loss of Gatland to Connacht, "at least we should be good for 14 points in Paris".

That's a relatively encouraging thought. Paddy Power are offering 5 to 6 both sides with a 34 handicap for Ireland - and the record margin is the 35 points set in Parc des Princes two years ago. The latter is worth a bet.

Yes, it's come to that. In this modern game, where 21 points can be piled up suddenly in a few minutes, Ireland could play better than before while still losing by more. But to play better and also lose by less is achievable.