1
Lowe verdict on 'back three that would put sh***ers up most teams'
Ireland wing James Lowe is braced for a different French beast when Fabien Galthie’s world-class side visit Dublin for a mouthwatering Guinness Six Nations showdown. While the Irish began the championship with a thumping 34-10 win in Wales, reigning Grand Slam champions France started in less convincing fashion with a stuttering 29-24 success away to Italy.
ADVERTISEMENT
Saturday’s crunch clash at the Aviva Stadium is already being billed as a title decider as the world’s top two sides collide. Lowe, who scored a superb breakaway try in Cardiff, hopes to help in-form Ireland register a record 13th successive home win and is adamant Les Bleus will be far better than their underwhelming display in Rome.
“I know they would be disappointed with their performance against Italy, and credit to Italy, they fronted up physically,” said the Leinster player. “That first half was very messy. Both sides would say that and then the second half was a proper Test match.
“But we know it’s a different French beast (this week). The France that we know is going to turn up and we are prepping for that and can’t wait for the opportunity to test ourselves against the team that won the Grand Slam last year.
“They are a world-class side, they have shown it for a good couple of years. Their nine-10 combo [Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack] is pretty scary, their back rowers are world-class, a midfield that is very dangerous and a back three that would put the sh***ers up most teams. Individually they have got some pretty good firepower, so hopefully they don’t string it all together. It’s a whole new beast around the corner.”
Ireland raced out of the blocks at the Principality Stadium to underline their status as the world’s top-ranked team. Caelan Doris, James Ryan and Lowe crossed inside the opening 20 minutes before Josh van der Flier’s second-half score fatally broke Welsh resistance. France, who are the only visiting side to win in Dublin during the tenure of head coach Andy Farrell, were far less convincing than expected the following day at Stadio Olimpico yet still found a way to scrape their 14th consecutive victory.
Lowe insists it is too early in the tournament to regard the titanic weekend tussle as a Grand Slam decider but believes Ireland have improved collectively since last year’s narrow 30-24 loss at Stade de France. “It’s the second game of a Six Nations, I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves,” said the 30-year-old.
ADVERTISEMENT
“And I’m sure they will be saying the same things. It’s the old cliche, one game at a time, and we will take it like that. I didn’t know that he [Farrell] hadn’t beaten France; I haven’t beaten France yet so I wouldn’t mind having a go at them as well.
“Last year away from home, we probably gave them a few too many easy points in the first half, fought back in the second but we weren’t quite there. We re a different team now compared to where we were 12 months ago and we’re going to go out there and give it a good crack. The French are physical. It would be silly to say they are not bigger than us. We think we’re fitter.”
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments