After a quiet enough game on Saturday, Tommy Bowe is hoping for a bit more action this weekend
Where did you watch Ireland's Six Nations clinching clash agains France last year and how hard was it to watch? No, imagine you are a player who, if injuries had gone a different way, would be out on the pitch helping the team to hang on in those frantic last few minutes?
That's what Tommy Bowe had to endure last year and the Ulster wing clearly can't wait for the chance to swap the couch for the pitch come Saturday.
"I was watching it on the sofa in my mate's house," Bowe tells us in Carton House today. "With all the screaming at the TV from the Irish public they had to give it a forward pass," he recalls.
And that close game is one that Bowe expects to be replicated at Aviva on Saturday. "That's what it's going to come down to. In the last five games we played, I think, it has been a one-score game. The French are always a difficult match for us. I think they'll be excited about coming over to Dublin. We're going to have to be up for it."
That last point is certainly true. Ireland got off the mark on Saturday against Italy with a win, without ever really getting into top gear and that is something that Joe Schmidt has clearly been mentioning to his players this week. When it is suggested that the backline hasn't quite clicked yet, Bowe lets us know that the coach doesn't make excuses for opening game rust.
"That's something that Joe doesn't let go. He feels we should be at the pinnacle of our powers in the first game, never mind the last one. It's something that we've had to look at and try to improve on. You always want work-ons going into it and what a massive match we have against the French, against the talent and the players that they have, we'll have to be at the top of our game."
France, like ourselves, didn't burst out of the traps but they got the win against Scotland and they too will surely improve come Saturday evening. And they have some big name players who Bowe expects to step up too.
"[Teddy Thomas] looks a pretty classy player alright. Johnny's played with him and talked about him. We'll look at him, we'll look at the threat they have: Wesley Fofana, Bastareaud playing fantastically well and a whole rake of other players. They do really have some outstanding individuals."
Bowe is particularly aware of their 'tricky wingers'.
"The one thing about them is at times you think you have them contained, you think you have them on the back foot and a little bit of brilliance or a bouncing ball, they just seem to pick up on small mistakes. You really can't switch off and that's going to be a massive threat for us this weekend."
Of course the Ireland squad is remarkably healthy at the minute but it is the return of a man very familiar to the French players, Johnny Sexton, that is most eagerly anticipated. Bowe tells us he saw the same old Johnny at Carton House this week.
"The way he's trained, he's been fully involved in training this week. He looks very sharp. It's been kind of a mini pre-season for him, he's been able to get some fitness work done. I think he'll be looking fresh. He's hugely excited about it, I'm sure. I suppose time will tell how long his lungs go, but the sort of athlete Johnny is, it hasn't seemed to bother him in the past."
Whatever happens, it should be a more action packed afternoon for the Monaghan man than last year's France game and we're sure he wouldn't have it any other way.
