Caelan Doris wants his team to deliver a performance to make Ireland proud against France at Stade de France on Thursday night after suggesting the national side’s recent performances had failed to inspire their supporters.
The 2026 Guinness Six Nations gets underway on French soil with Ireland unfancied underdogs to defeat the defending champions who ended their reign as back-to-back titleholders.
Defeats to both New Zealand in Chicago and at home to world champions South Africa bookended last November’s Autumn Nations Series and overshadowed big victories and better performances over both Japan and Australia.
The Springboks’ win at Aviva Stadium left a sense of foreboding in many for the future of Irish rugby after Rassie Erasmus’s side dominated at scrum-time and Ireland wilted under the pressure, conceding a 20-minute red card, four yellow cards and 18 penalties on a night to forget in Dublin.
That performance has certainly clouded the view of Ireland’s prospects of repeating their round-one victory over France in Marseille two years ago but the Irish captain refused to describe the prevailing mood in his squad as one of fear.
“It’s more framed in the opportunity, what we can go and do,” Doris said on Wednesday following the captain’s run training at Stade de France. “Excitement about the group that we have, excitement about how we’ve trained and excitement about kind of inspiring our nation and getting them fully back through a good performance, so it’s more framed in a positive opportunity definitely.”
The No.8 wants his fellow forwards to get on the front foot against an athletic, mobile opposition, “like properly getting after their pack, which starts at set-piece”.
“Set-piece and breakdown are probably the two key points, defence as well, obviously. But yeah, scrum time, lineout time, maul time, trying to get a stake in the game through that and be dominant there.”
Doris also stressed the importance of a fast start at Stade de France, which would make life difficult for the home side and take away the momentum they crave in front of their passionate supporters.
“It’s always more of an emphasis away from home, definitely, especially in France, to get a stake in the game early, get a bit of scoreboard pressure if you can.
“So that comes off the back of a fast start, but equally if you place too much emphasis on it and things happen that you can’t control, sometimes you can lose a little bit.
“So regardless of what happens in the first 10 or 20 minutes, the belief to stay in the game, keep doing things our way, and belief that we can get back on track. But, of course, we’ll be targeting a fast start.”
Doris said he was excited to see fly-half Sam Prendergast make the most of his first appearance at Stade de France.
The 22-year-old was selected ahead of Jack Crowley, who starts on the bench and Leinster rival Harry Byrne and Doris said: “There’s great competition amongst the 10s, which is what we need.
“They’re all relatively young and have good heads on them and are driving each other in the right direction, which is great for the group.
“Sam’s doing great. Obviously, his defence has caught quite a bit of flak, but it’s an area that, like I’m in the same club as him in Leinster and I see day-to-day the work he puts in. Same here in camp. So that side of his game is improving.
“In terms of his attack, the ceiling is so high for him. He can do things that not many people can do at all. And he’s getting more and more confident at leading the week and being another voice, especially guiding our attack. So, yeah, I’ve got a lot of faith in him and I’m looking forward to seeing him lead us around tomorrow.”
Captaining a side missing frontline stars in key positions, with Bundee Aki, Ryan Baird, Mack Hansen, Hugo Keenan, Andrew Porter and Tadhg Furlong among the senior players unavailable, Doris will lead a side with four players making their Six Nations debuts on Thursday night, while there are nine of the matchday 23 who, like Sam Prendergast, about to get their first taste of Stade de France.
The skipper said it was the job of senior players to set the scene of what will be a noisy night in Saint-Denis.
“We’ll touch on some of the more obvious things. Like, I remember coming out here back in 22 and just being struck by how loud the crowd was even before the warm-up and the bands going and stuff like that. So, yeah, we’ve mentioned those sort of bits just so they don’t catch you off guard.
“But I really do think there’s an appetite to embrace the hostility or whatever comes our way. And like I was saying there, when there’s clarity, that stuff doesn’t get in your way.”
