The IRB’s number-one ranked nation Ireland will host the favourites for the 2023 Rugby World Cup (RWC), current Grand Slam defending champions, and number-two ranked France at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Both teams began their campaigns as expected, with Ireland dispatching Wales 34-10 to top the SNC table on points difference ahead of the round, while France saw off a late scare in beating Italy 29-24 to get their title defence off to a winning start.
Andy Farrell’s Irish machine looks somewhat unstoppable at the moment, having mustered an impressive seven-game winning streak which features victories over southern hemisphere heavy-hitters New Zealand (twice), reigning RWC winners South Africa, and Australia.
Their performances seem to go to the next level when branded as the bookies’ choice ahead of a test match, winning all but one of their last 15 games as favourites since the start of 2021.
They will deservedly start as favourites in this crunch clash with France, which is being labelled as a potential 2023 SNC title decider; and it’s no wonder either, seeing as Ireland have won each of their last 12 fixtures on home soil.
Their last home defeat was to the French in a 15-13 2021 SNC loss, and coach Andy Farrell has named a side hell-bent on avenging that defeat here by making only one change to his starting XV from last weekend, that being at hooker where Rob Herring comes into the side at the expense of Dan Sheehan.
Influential captain Johnny Sexton has overcome his injury scare to don the number ten jersey, making his 111th cap for his country in the process.
Elsewhere, starting prop Andrew Porter and lock James Ryan are set to make their 50th caps for Ireland when the whistle blows at kick-off, while replacement prop Dave Kilcoyne could also make his 50th international appearance should he come off the bench in the number 17 jersey.
For France, they’ll know any hope of defending their SNC crown and achieving the almost impossible feat of back-to-back Grand Slams pivots heavily on this game, but Les Bleus will have their own superstitions to draw confidence from, as this clash takes place a day shy of the anniversary of last year’s SNC Round Two 30-24 win over Ireland that was also dubbed a title decider.
That was the fifth victory of what now has grown to a historic 14-game winning steak on the international circuit for France - their best-ever run in Test rugby - but given their lacklustre performance against Italy last week, one might think they’d be willing to trade some of those historic results in exchange for a fourth consecutive win over Ireland here.
Coach Fabien Galthié chose to keep his side in Rome for the week before making their way directly to Dublin, giving his side some much needed bonding time as his mission of building a RWC-winning squad continues.
Galthié has stuck to his guns with that very task, proving his intent by sticking with the same starting XV that took the field against Italy, once again captained by star scrumhalf Antoine Dupont.
Two changes to the matchday 23 are seen on the bench, however, with François Cros and Baptiste Couilloud replacing Thomas Lavault and Nolann Le Garrec respectively.
Players to watch: 2022 World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year Josh van der Flier has been integral in Ireland’s success lately, scoring three tries in his last four tests. Meanwhile, French captain Antoine Dupont will be hoping to lead from the front once again, after scoring the game’s opening try in two of the last three H2H encounters.
Hot stat: Eight of the last nine H2H encounters have seen the half-time result replicated come full-time.