“The two victories were very close so I hope that tomorrow we have the weapons to win the game”, he said.
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Peter O’Mahony is blindside, Sean O’Brien openside, and Jamie Heaslip is number 8.
“Again we’re trying to make sure that we’ve got a few things covered for next week as well so it’s a bit of a balancing act at the moment”.
“We understand that there’s pressure”, Schmidt said, insisting that that was what the squad thrived on.
However they didn’t get to play together at all in these finals.
“We follow our path in that World Cup, what happened in previous matches is irrelevant”. “Application, determination and concentration will determine the outcome of this match”.
In the pack Louis Picamoles – rested against Canada – returns at No. 8 alongside Thierry Dusautoir and Damien Chouly in the back row, Pascal Pape and Yoann Maestri are the locks and up front Eddy Ben Arous, Guilhem Guirado and Rabah Slimani are the first-choice trio.
When a wing comments on another team’s forwards tactics, it is clear that they are widely respected, while one of the men certain to be involved in the line-out is well aware of the quality that Ireland coach Schmidt brings to his teams.
Replacements: Benjamin Kayser (Clermont Auvergne), Vincent Debaty (Clermont Auvergne), Nicolas Mas (Montpellier), Alexandre Flanquart (Stade Francais), Bernard le Roux (Racing 92), Morgan Parra (Clermont Auvergne), Remi Tales (Racing 92), Alexandre Dumoulin (Racing 92).
Pre-Match Quotes: Paul O’Connell (Ireland) – “We’ve always bounced back from poor performances under Joe’s tenure”. “It would be pretentious to say that we are better than them”.
“Bringing all those Irish icons over to us in Wales just brought that all back to us and it was a great touch”.
“He’s a big loss”, Ireland captain O’Connell said.
The prize for overcoming Ireland is a last-eight meeting with Argentina, who shocked the French crowd by claiming 18-13 triumph at the Stade de France last November.
“We believe midfield’s going to be quite attritional”, Schmidt said in way of justifying the fleet-footed Zebo’s absence from the match-day 23.
“He is a big, strong lad and that gives us confidence that if they do go down that channel, Johnny will be ready for them”.
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Schmidt may well look to unleash Henderson for the closing stages, when France will undoubtedly release a bench full of beasts in an attempt to raise the brutality one more level.
