Almost two months after an epic Ireland-France in rugby and concluded with a success of the XV at clover, it is now the Blues of Didier Deschamps who are expected in Dublin. And this time, the meeting could be much less balanced. The famous fighting spirit of the Irish will in any case be put to the test. Because three months after their defeat on penalties in the World Cup final against Argentina, the France team showed a particularly sensitive face on Friday against the Netherlands, corrected 4-0.

Passing through a press conference, Stephen Kenny, the Irish coach, was also full of praise for the Blues. « Obviously we’ve seen a lot of France, the best team in the world for the last eight years for sure, did he throw. She was consistent playing in both World Cup finals, winning one World Cup and losing the second on penalties. It was an impressive performance, very rare. A No. 1 seed with world-class players like everyone else and, I guess, to lose like that… It was a definite loss, that’s very rare. So it was interesting to see. »

Ireland have not beaten the Blues since 1981?

However, the Irish coach does not leave beaten in advance and relies on the strength of character of his men to create the feat. And to motivate his troops, the technician did not hesitate to broadcast images of previous confrontations between the two nations, including the Irish victory in 1977 against the Platini gang. One of the latest successes of the Green Army against France since Ireland has not beaten the Blues since 1981. Irish players have also been able to see images of the narrow defeat of their predecessors in Lyon, during the round of 16 of the Euro (2-1 ) as well as those of the play-offs for the World Cup in the fall of 2009.

Beaten 1-0 in Dublin, Ireland failed to reverse the situation in Saint-Denis. But that was without counting on a goal from William Gallas during extra time. A but remained in history for the double main order of Thierry Henry on the action. “The players have seen the images and are now aware of the whole story because some are young. There is a great story in these encounters, some results have been exceptional and we must be inspired by them”, a throws an Irish coach eager for revenge.