Irish coach Declan Kidney has named an unchanged side for the re-arranged RBS 6 Nations trip to France.
Cian Healy, Gordon D’Arcy, Rob Kearney and Sean O’Brien have all recovered from the bumps and bruises picked up in the four try victory over Italy last weekend and Paul O’Connell will lead the side as he picks up his 91st Test cap.
The 2009 British & Irish Lions skipper has played 84 times for Ireland and won six caps with the Lions on two tours. It will be his 13th game against France and he is hoping it will be a lucky occasion for both him and his team.
Ireland have only won once on French soil in the RBS 6 Nations, 27-25 in 2000, and three times in 60 years (1952, 1972 and 2000). As for O’Connell, he has also only experienced success against France once in12 games.
Triple Lions tourist Ronan O’Gara became Ireland’s most capped player when he came on as a second half replacement against Italy. That made it 118 caps for his country to go with two for the Lions.
The French have made two changes to the side that made it two from two in the championship with a victory over the Scots at Murryafield. Clement Poitrenaud takes over from Maxime Medard at full back and a re-shuffle of the back row sees Julien Bonnaire promoted from the bench to openside flanker, Imanol Harinordoquy switch from No 7 to No 8 and Louis Picamoles drop down from No 8 to the bench.
France: C Poitrenaud (Toulouse), V Clerc (Toulouse), A Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne), W Fofana (Clermont Auvergne), J Malzieu (Clermont Auvergne), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Clermont Auvergne), JB Poux (Toulouse), D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), N Mas (Perpignan), P Pape (Stade Francais), Y Maestri (Toulouse), T Dusautoir (Toulouse), J Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz)
Replacements: W Servat (Toulouse), V Debaty (Clermont Auvergne), L Nallet (Racing Metro), L Picamoles (Toulouse), J Dupuy (Stade Francais), L Beauxis (Toulouse), M Mermoz (Perpignan)
Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), K Earls (Munster), G D'Arcy (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster); J Sexton (Leinster), C Murray (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), M Ross (Leinster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), S O'Brien (Leinster), J Heaslip (Leinster)
Replacements: S Cronin (Leinster), T Court (Ulster), D Ryan (Munster), P O'Mahony (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster), R O'Gara (Munster), F McFadden (Leinster)
