'CAN WE BELIEVE IN THE MIRACLE?'
The French media are not used to Ireland being favourites on a rugby visit to Paris but that is the current lie of the land.
Le Parisien have run with that tremulous headline [above] and fear Joe Schmidt's side could do some serious damage to Les Bleus.
Two of the Ireland players getting a lot of attention in the French media, today, are Bundee Aki and Tadhg Furlong. There is a big focus, in one paper, on Aki's blistering, bruising start to international rugby.
50 seconds into his Ireland debut and Bundee Aki had already forced off South African prop Coenie Oosthuizen.
It was exactly the sort of arrival - without ever wishing lasting damage to an opponent - that Aki would have visualised and dreamed of before his first Ireland outing. And so it transpired as both he and Johnny Sexton drove the 20-stone prop backwards and into the turf.
In doing so, Oosthuizen's knee was twisted and he hobbled off. Aki settled down into the game and his performance won glowing reviews.
Ireland had a new backline enforcer.
https://youtu.be/NGxqNPsPyzE
Ahead of Ireland's Six Nations opener with France, Aki has been highlighted as 'a new Irish eapon' by L'Equipe.
The French sports outlet has highlighted the Connacht centre's defensive power in a series of screengrabs from that Ireland victory over the Springboks. While Connacht fans will tell you the man is an attacking gem, there is no denying that Aki is a top defensive player for province and now country.
Anyone who was present at The Sportsground, in late April 2016, will remember Aki was off the leash, bursting from the Connacht defensive lines and smoking Glasgow Warriors ball-carriers in his side's PRO12 semi-final victory. It was more of the same in the final against Leinster, a day that saw him and Robbie Henshaw at their very best.
The pair will play their second Test as a midfield pairing at Stade de France and
keep an eye out for them going after debutant French No.10 Matthieu Jalibert. As we noted on
The Hard Yards podcast:
"When Ireland played Argentina they went after Nicolas Sanchez, their number 10 and Bundee Aki was used to drive him at angles out of the way and make gaps through the middle, so keep an eye out for that one at the weekend."
Indeed, Oyonnax backs coach [and former Munster scrum-half] Mike Prendergast believes France 12 Remi Lamerat will be tasked with standing closer to Jalibert and providing added protection.
It may well leave a gap up the middle for Ireland to exploit and we may yet get to see Aki the attacker, in stages, rather than Aki the enforcer.
