IRELAND WING DAVE Kearney hopes to exploit what he pinpointed as a “soft” France defence in their Six Nations meeting on Saturday.
France laboured to a 23-21 victory over Italy in Paris last weekend, with a late penalty from Jules Plisson rescuing the victory in Guy Noves’s first match at the helm.
On Tuesday, Eddy Ben Arous admitted Les Bleus had been too forgiving in their opener and called for more aggression against Ireland.
However, Kearney believes Joe Schmidt’s team have the capacity to stretch the France defence, though he acknowledged they must be wary of their ability to mount swift attacks.
“The Italians did pretty well last weekend. The French were a bit softer than they usually are, especially outside the 22,” he said.
“They were probably letting the Italians attack too much and guys like [Michele] Campagnaro, they got on the outside and stretched them out wide.
“It’s definitely something we’ve looked at this week, and hopefully that space opens up for us this weekend.
While their attack was good and they threw the ball around, I think they’re going to work on their defensive part of things this week.
“Everybody knows that Guy Noves loves to play that French style of rugby and throw the ball around a lot and the squad that he’s picked shows that.
“The guys that they have throughout the back line, they love to run, especially off broken field-play. They love to run counter-attacks and to offload the ball.”
Kearney highlighted the threat of Fiji-born wing Virimi Vakatawa, who scored a try on his debut in the win over Italy after making the switch from sevens.
“You’ve just got to try and not give as much space as you can,” he said.
“He’s got good footwork, he’s a strong, big guy, so you’ve just go to give him as little space as possible.
“You’ve just got to get into him, get up and as quick as you can.”
Why would you give France an advantage by spurring on their wingers like this?? Kearney shouldn’t be anywhere near this current Irish squad himself.
There are any number of reasons he would say this, but you can be sure it was tactical, and a line given to him by Schmidt. Players don’t just go off into the media and start mouthing off. They could be trying to make the French paranoid, it could be a bluff, it could be a double bluff. What it isn’t is something that will give the French an advantage.
On the ‘shouldn’t be anywhere near the squad’ front. He is, he’s wearing green, he’s your player. Deal with it and show your support.
+1 Bill
The name Dave Kearney strikes as much fear into opposition as the name Paul mcshane. Both loyal servants who give it their all but lack the something to be a top class player
I’ll give you that, Pete. I really like Dave, I think he’s a solid player. But he’s certainly no BOD. It’s the vitriol I can’t stand, he’s solid, he gives it his all, puts his body on the line. He doesn’t deserve the flak he gets. But no, he’s not a rugby genius either.
Ur actually Alrite Bill once u take off the blue glasses
I’ll give you that one too. To be fair though, I don’t slate players from other teams. I was critical of Zeebs at 15 on the weekend. But qualified it by saying he’s an excellent winger. But yeah, I have a Leinster bias alright
Not the time Bill.
Zebo made Guscotts 6 nations team of the weekend!
Why can’t we give our own credit instead of knocking them?
Two points. 1) Is Dave Kearney really the best winger to exploit defensive weaknesses real or otherwise? 2) You couldn’t have found a better picture to illustrate point 1 than DK’s spectacular knock on against Wales.
I’d take him any day over Zebo. What about Earl’s spectacular knock on in the WC? These things happen. Get over it.
Dave’s spectacular knock on against Wales? As in, the one which wasn’t called as a knock on, which happened because a Welsh player was blatantly offside? Which offside resulted in a penalty to Ireland? Which penalty resulted in our drawing level? As knock ons go, not the worst really
This is the same guy whose last ditch tackle sealed the 6Ns for us 2 years ago. Thats gratitude. I suppose your one of these that thinks winning the 6n is meaningless
I don’t think that Dave Kearney is our best attacking option in this position. I thing he’s generally sound defensively if a bit slow to turn. I pointed out that the photo originally used for this article wasn’t very flattering as it showed DK knocking on. This has since been changed.
Lest we forget our ambitious “also ran” brothers swiping at thin air against Argentina….
The Pumas made hay down DK’s channel.
Soft upstairs…not just out wide
I’ll be confident if, SOB, CJ, Heaslip, Murray, Sexton, McGrath and Trimble start.
Yes if we are going to exploit them out wide where the hell is Gilroy ? He is the best attacking winger we have.
Ah just shut up about it at this stage.
There’s a long road ahead. Expect to see him.
Plus Zebos knee knock looks bad and anything could happen. Keep your powder dry.
Gilroy is not there because his defence is poor. He’s great in attack but he does not defend as well as the others
integrating Gilroy into the team for this 6 nations came too soon, with DK, Earls, Trimble and Zebo all familiar with the systems in place, so its understandable.
the summer tour should see Gilroy get some game time along with McC, Ringrose, O’Halloran{hopefully}, buckley and possibly Matt Healy
Chris, Rory cant throw and PJ cant kick we know.
Bill. No matter how many times you say it nobody believes you.
Believes me? All I’ve said here is in the imperative. You cannot believe that.
And you need to change your blue goggles for green ones.
Christiaan – out of interest, do you think Gilroy’s defence is good enough to play in Paris in the 6N?
Sorry that yiz don’t understand tenses, there
Brian. That is a very good question and the answer that I don’t know. I thought Dave Kearny defence was good until the Argentina game. I would say it is improved because Les does not take slipping off tackles. I think it is time to bring him and Matt Healy in from the cold. Gilroy for his footwork and Matt for his footballing skills. I understand Joes penchant for low risk rugby and goodness knows I have enjoyed that 2 championships but the RWC was a reality check of where alk tge teams are at and as Murray noted is 13 points going to be enough against the French. That the being case is McFadden or Kearney capable or is Gilroy ready. We will only know if we play him.
Can not wait for this game. Never been so confident about Ireland facing France!
Ditto. Its a mystery why you got so many red thumbs for that comment. I watched France v Italy on Saturday, France are no better than they were in the RWC. Italy should have beaten them . It’s France in Paris I know, but Ireland are a very well drilled and coached side. France aren’t
Dave Kearney’s a pup