Joe Schmidt wary of Guy Novés’s remodelled French side

During the World Cup, Joe Schmidt was altogether more concerned about the threat posed by Argentina than had been the case against France a week previously. It wasn’t just the injury toll which the French game had wreaked. You could sense it in his remarks, and with good reason.

That Argentina team had more game-breakers and were more inventively coached. By extension, despite a less than perfect opening day against the Italians, Schmidt is clearly more wary of a remodelled French side under Guy Novés and the greater emphasis on individual match-winners and off-the-cuff rugby.

“Yeah I think like anything, going into the unknown is a little bit daunting and seeing some of the athletes they have in the new guys in there,” said Schmidt in the aftermath of Sunday’s draw. “I’ve had a look at [Jonathan] Danty a fair bit and I think he’s very complete,” he added in reference to Saturday’s 23-year-old debutant centre from Stade Francais.

“His passing game is very good, his ability to get on to the ball on the ground defensively is incredibly good but he also gives you that sheer ability to win gain line and step and accelerate that they will be looking for.”

Scorching tries

“They might have Wes Fofana back in there as well out wide. [Hugo] Bonneval, I don’t know whether you’ve watched too much of the Top 14, but he’s scored some scorching tries. I think his chip and chase against Toulouse was as good as anything I’ve seen this year, and Maxime Medard back, his running threat from the back is such that we have to be well connected when we get forward to try to put pressure on him.”

“Young [Yacouba] Camara when he came on, is a heck of an athlete as well, carrying the ball, as well as [Damien] Chouly who scored the try in the corner. Chouly, it’s similar to something he’s done before against us but thankfully off a forward pass. That was one of the skinny margins that fell our way [two years ago].

“It didn’t look great for [Louis] Picamoles to be honest but Wenceslas Lauret looked hugely combative, a little bit like CJ [Stander], so that could be a good match-up next week.”

“Their tight five, that’s probably the biggest consistency they have with Ben Arous and Guirado and Slimani all being there from the World Cup and then Maestri in there and the young fella from Clermont [Paul Jedrasiak],” said Schmidt.

“I haven’t got too much inside intelligence on him unfortunately, I’ve tried to . . . get a little bit of feedback on him but most of it is disconcertingly positive, though I thought he acquitted himself really well.”

“And one of the things for next week is going to be discipline. If you saw Jules Plisson with that kick at the end, it was a phenomenal 54-metre kick to effectively win the game. So we can’t afford to invite them into the game by giving out anything that they haven’t really had to work hard for.”

While good reads by the Irish wingers Andrew Trimble and Keith Earls prevented Ireland being exposed out wide had been the case against Argentina, Schmidt also fears a bigger threat on the edges from France than Wales.

“I think we can’t afford to be quite so narrow defensively against France. You can get away with that against Wales, but it’s a real risk against the French. The width they played with was impressive at times.

“You’re just going to have to be careful whatever you do, because they’re audacious in what they’re looking to deliver at the moment and if they make it work, gee, they could run up a big score in a hurry. We have to make sure we are very clinical with the ball and not to allow them too many opportunities.”

Huge loss

Picamoles will indeed be a huge loss after apparently suffering a torn right thigh, with Novés set to move Chouly to number eight and bring in Camara or throw the 26-year-old Kevin Gourdon from La Rochelle in at the deep end.

“We felt the players were very stressed,” Novés said after the game. “There was a lack of enthusiasm and speed in the first half, but with this base we now know what can be improved, and we started from far away. We must find the right balance. Sometimes the desire to play was excessive. We must have a more intelligent notion of risk-taking.”