France vs. Ireland: Preview, Live Stream, TV Info for Rugby World Cup 2015 Game
The pool stage of the 2015 Rugby World Cup reaches its climax on Sunday, and a Pool D decider between European heavyweights France and Ireland should provide a sufficient finish to the first round.
Both teams have come through their opening three matches of the World Cup with flying colours, although the Boys in Green did display some stuttering en route to a 16-9 win over Italy last time out.
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Currently sat on 14 points apiece, Sunday's meeting at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium will serve as a straight shootout, with the victor claiming top spot and thus avoiding Pool C winners New Zealand in the quarter-finals.
In the unlikely event we witness a draw in the Welsh capital, Joe Schmidt's Ireland will top the pool by virtue of points difference, with a tight and tense encounter looking most likely.
We provide a breakdown of all the essential viewing information for Sunday's tie, along with a match preview, form guides and all the latest betting odds.
Date: Sunday, October 11
Time: 4:45 p.m. BST/11:45 a.m. ET/(Monday, Oct. 12)1:45 a.m. AEST/4:45 a.m. NZDT
Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Live Stream: ITV Player (UK), Universal Sports (U.S.), Fox Sports (AUS), Sky Go (NZ), SuperSport (SA)
TV Info: ITV (UK), Fox Sports 2 (AUS), Sky Sport 1 (NZ), SuperSport 1 (SA)
Team Lineups
France: 15. Scott Spedding, 14. Noa Nakaitaci, 13. Mathieu Bastareaud, 12. Wesley Fofana, 11. Brice Dulin, 10. Frederic Michalak, 9. Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8. Louis Picamoles, 7. Damien Chouly, 6. Thierry Dusautoir (C), 5. Yoann Maestri, 4. Pascal Pape, 3. Rabah Slimani, 2. Guilhem Guirado, 1. Eddy Ben Arous
Ireland: 15. Rob Kearney, 14. Tommy Bowe, 13. Keith Earls, 12. Robbie Henshaw, 11. Dave Kearney, 10. Jonathan Sexton, 9. Conor Murray, 8. Jamie Heaslip, 7. Sean O'Brien, 6. Peter O'Mahony, 5. Paul O'Connell (C), 4. Devin Toner, 3. Mike Ross, 2. Rory Best, 1. Cian Healy
| October 1, 2015 | Canada 18-41 France |
| September 23, 2015 | France 38-11 Romania |
| September 19, 2015 | France 32-10 Italy |
| September 5, 2015 | France 19-16 Scotland |
| August 22, 2015 | France 25-20 England |
| October 4, 2015 | Ireland 16-9 Italy |
| September 27, 2015 | Ireland 44-10 Romania |
| September 19, 2015 | Canada 7-50 Ireland |
| September 5, 2015 | England 21-13 Ireland |
| August 29, 2015 | Ireland 10-16 Wales |
Players to Watch
Scott Spedding
It's somewhat difficult to believe only 11 months have passed since South Africa-born Scott Spedding made his debut for Philippe Saint-Andre's side, earning Test honours in the same year he applied for French citizenship.
The Top 14 already knew the full-back's talent, but now the Clermont-bound back has established his presence on the international circuit, and Rugby World's Gavin Mortimer sees him as Saint-Andre's clear first-choice No. 15:
"@RugbyLW Spedding every time for me. He fits in to PSA's game plan much better. Not sure he'll be Noves' first choice
— gavin mortimer (@gavinmortimer7) September 23, 2015"
Burly and brutish in the way he tends to go about his work, Spedding is a far different creature to the more streamlined Rob Kearney, the man who will be lined up as his counterpart in Cardiff this Sunday. It is set to be a mouthwatering clash between two of Europe's finest full-backs.
Despite still being a fairly fresh face among the French squad, Spedding is full of national pride for his adopted nation, and feels confident his side can overcome their "underdogs" tag come Sunday, per the Irish Daily Mail's Liam Heagney (via Daily Mail):
"France know when to pull out the big games so we are going to keep working and hopefully we can pull out something special at this World Cup. We don't fear Ireland. We know what we are up against. Ireland is a massive side, they won the Six Nations. Not so long ago they were second in the world.
We're the underdogs going into this game. We know what we are up against but we are not going to fear them. We are going to go in to try and win it.
"
Spedding outlined the importance of rest times leading up to Sunday; Ireland had exactly a week between games, while it's been a more substantial 10 days since France beat Canada 41-18.
That respite could be important, too, if Ireland choose to revive their kick-heavy approach for Sunday, a tactic that brought about big benefits at the Six Nations and will put Spedding's aerial prowess under the microscope.
| France Win | 4-6 |
| Draw | 20-1 |
| Ireland Win | 13-10 |
| Ireland Winning at HT and FT | 7-5 |
Conor Murray
One thing that seemed painfully obvious in the seven-point win over Italy was Ireland's lack of cohesiveness throughout the backs. Whether it was simply because the Azzurri were superior to previous sides faced or because personnel/tactics were altered too drastically that too much went awry.
After sitting out the 44-10 triumph against Romania, scrum-half Conor Murray came back to face the Italians with mixed results, although a transformed back line also may not have helped his cause.
By and large, the Irish mentality up until this point has been to keep their heads low, ignore the showdown against France and simply win their games. Now, Murray is focusing on nothing else, he told ESPN.co.uk's Tristan Barclay:
"It's massive. It was hard not to talk about it for the last few weeks, because a lot of the fans were asking questions about it. It was in the back of everyone's minds a little bit, and now it's come around. We've got three wins, albeit we would have liked to play better today. We've got a week to get things right and build ourselves up for a massive game.
[...]
The main aim was to qualify and we've qualified. We know we're a lot better than that. We're happy we're through after a scrappy win and we know that in a week of training we can fix a lot of the things that didn't go to plan.
"
That disappointment comes, however, after a long period of prosperity for the No. 9, especially when lined up alongside fly-half Johnny Sexton, the man with whom he so often plays his best rugby.
Disjointed though things were last Sunday, the burden now falls back on Murray to streamline Ireland once again and turn them back into the smooth, expressive side that put seven tries past Canada in Week 1.
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