Memory lane Ireland 15,France 15 Lansdowne Road, March 20, 1985
The closest any Irish team has come to the Grand Slam since the side led by Karl Mullen Jack Kyle in 1948.
The French were a fairly decent outfit in 1985 and, like Ireland, they went through the season unbeaten, although another draw with England ensured Mick Doyle's side won the championship.
Some parallels to the present day are apparent. For starters, the centre area was also causing problems back then as Ireland's most potent strike runner Brendan Mullin cried off, forcing a recall for Rory Moroney.
In the first game against Scotland at Murrayfield, Trevor Ringland had single-handedly doubled the previous season's try count. The French were not prepared to allow the new Irish running style any scope. Philip Matthews and Brian Spillane were forced off injured in the trench warfare that followed. In total the guests conceded 18 penalties with Michael Kiernan kicking five.
At the time, Ciarán Fitzgerald's team didn't realise they would go on to claim a second Triple Crown in four years with this game being the one that denied them the Holy Grail.
IRELAND: H MacNeill; T Ringland, R Moroney, M Kiernan, K Crossan; P Dean, M Bradley; P Orr, C Fitzgerald (capt), J McCoy; D Lenihan, W Anderson; P Mathews, N Carr, B Spillane.
Head to head
Johnny O'Connor v Serge Betsen
The boy wonder against Le Beast. O'Connor has won the respect of the English Premiership, where Betsen may be working next season, and is gradually developing into a world class player. But no flanker's international education would be complete without a tussle with the Biarritz Bruiser.
Betsen is the ultimate Northern Hemisphere wing forward. If allowed, his sheer presence can dictate a contest as he is near impossible to shift at the breakdown. If O'Connor fails to at least match him, Peter Stringer will struggle to supply his fellow Corkman with clean ball.
One of two things will occur when the Cameroon-born flanker comes up against the Galway digger: Betsen will teach him a valuable lesson or, as Eddie O'Sullivan often says, O'Connor will punch above his weight.
Yannick Nyanga will be sniffing around as well so the young Wasp is in for an interesting afternoon.
GAA stars in on the act
On May 6th a charity dinner for the Playing for Life charity takes place in Jurys Hotel in Ballsbridge with a host of GAA stars present.
It may not initially seem like a Six Nations topic but the driving force behind the venture is RTÉ's Treacy Piggott who has been quizzing Eddie O'Sullivan and the Irish players, post match, for a while now.
Jack O'Shea, DJ Carey, Eoin Liston, Brian Whelahan, Robbie O'Malley and Joe Cooney all travel to Malawai in November 2005 as Treacy explains: "One in three people in Malawi have Aids and 240 people die a day. A lot of children will never see adulthood, but leading an active healthy lifestyle has proved to help extend that. It is a different kind of fundraiser, but one that I am sure will create plenty of interest. I am also delighted that RTÉ will be making a documentary of the trip."
Plans are afoot for the rugby lads to travel in the future. Tickets for the dinner are 150 and are now available from POD (Perrin O'Dwyer), Farlow, Calverstown, Co Kildare. Phone 045 485852 or e-mail Audrey@podpublicrelations.com.
Trio to take their place
The Ireland women's team have made three changes to their starting line-up for the daunting visit of the Grand Slam chasing French side in Dublin on Sunday. Grace Davitt, Nuala Ní Chaidhain and Rachel Tucker all come in for the Templeville Road game (kick-off 2.30).
IRELAND: N Ní Chaidhain (Galwegians), L Cantwell (UL Bohemians), J O'Sullivan (Lichfield), P Kelly (UL Bohemians), G Davitt (Boyne), S Belton (capt, UL Bohemians), T Rosser (Blackrock) F Coughlan (UL Bohemians), J Lonergan (Shannon), E Coen (UL Bohemians), R Foley (Shannon), G Healy (Blackrock), O Brennan (Navan), R Tucker (UL Bohemians), J Neville (Shannon). Replacements: M Barrett (Highfield), E Stanley (UL Bohemians), J Leacy (Blackrock), R Boyd (Cooke), L Beamish (UL Bohemians), L Nicholl (Cooke), A Greensmith (Shannon).
Bookies' corner
Johnny O'Connor's problems may be allayed if Serge Betsen is sent to the sin bin for, let's say, hitting Ronan O'Gara late.
Paddy Power are offering 25 to 1 odds on such an occurrence.
Also, odds of 2 to 1 are available on Damien Duff (a product of the De La Salle rugby nursery) following Roy Keane's lead and taking in the game.
