L'Equipe carried the banner headline that translated roughly as "Into the record books", following France's 87-10 victory over Namibia in Toulouse. It went on to say they had restored a smile to French rugby five days before the Ireland game, writes John O'Sullivanin Paris.
Unknown to the newspaper's rugby writers, who were singularly and correctly lauding a 13-try romp, three French players were on their way to hospital suffering from injuries that threaten to keep them out of Pool D's pivotal clash at the Stade de France on Friday.
Secondrow totem Fabien Pelous is definitely out having injured a knee after coming on as a replacement for Sebastien Chabal on 58 minutes. He was forced the leave the pitch 14 minutes later having received a blow to his left knee, and given France had used all their forward replacements it meant they finished the game with 14 players; much like their opponents, albeit for different reasons.
A scan has revealed the injury is bad enough to rule him out of contention for a French team that will be announced tomorrow morning, 24 hours after scheduled.
Raphael Ibanez, another sub in Toulouse, received a blow to the throat and underwent tests in hospital. A definitive medical opinion will be offered today on whether he can lead the side.
French coach Bernard Laporte's third concern surrounds Imanol Harinordoquy - all three injured players were replacements on Sunday night - who dislocated his left thumb when coming on for Yannick Nyanga. He will not take part in contact training today. The prognosis is that Harinordoquy should be available while Ibanez is rated more doubtful.
Laporte yesterday was trying to corral the new, unbridled expectation that has accompanied the French renaissance. He admitted: "With all respect to Namibia, you mustn't make a comparison - they weren't the Argentina team. But we have seen guys in form and playing with enthusiasm. That is important. Each match is a battle for selection when you have a squad of 30.
"We must put things into perspective - it is Namibia. But the dynamism and enthusiasm before and during the match made me happy. That will have to make us think before we decide on the team that will play Ireland."
Left wing Vincent Clerc grabbed a hat-trick on Sunday night but he too counselled caution ahead of the Irish game.
"The World Cup has started for us now. It was easy against 14 men, but perhaps we would have done the same against 15.
"We must put it into context and not be too satisfied with the win. Ireland will be a step up. It is going to come quickly. We want to play in the same way against Ireland; dominate the match and be intelligent."
Those looking for a more neutral perspective may be interested in the thoughts of Namibian captain Kees Lensing. "Definitely the French play a different game. They put up phases, they spread the ball wide and they did that excellently. The Irish made some mistakes. The French are a little bit higher at this stage.
"I think France is a much better outfit. They stick to their game plan. They are more skilled, better trained. I think this team can go all the way."
It'll be instructive to see how good a judge of horseflesh the Namibian is.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)