Andy Farrell will send his Ireland rookies into Stade de France on Thursday night telling them to be fearless as they face down the defending Six Nations champions in Paris.
It is a daunting task in an arena where the head coach saw a much more experienced Ireland team freeze under the lights in front of a full house of raucous France supporters in 2022 on their way to 30-24 defeat.
Yet it was a night when wing Mack Hansen announced himself on the world stage with a wonderful finish after catching a restart kick and sprinting away for a try on his Six Nations debut. Farrell wants his 2026 newcomers to show the same bravery battling even longer odds this time around.
Right wing Tommy O’Brien, flanker Cian Prendergast, and replacement forwards Mikey Milne and Nick Timoney will make their Six Nations debuts following Tuesday’s team announcement at Ireland’s team hotel in Paris. There is also a first championship start for loosehead prop Jeremy Loughman, four of eight players selected from an injury-hit squad with 15 Test caps or fewer who are tasked with subduing and beating a France side led by a fit-again Antoine Dupont.
“It’s being fearless, isn’t he?” Farrell said on Tuesday when asked if he wanted his rookies to emulate Hansen’s performance of two years ago.
“He’s making sure that we’re not playing any occasion here. He’s making sure that we’re present in everything we do and executing the plan that we’re all buying into doing.
“I’m sure if we do that, there’ll be ups and downs, I’m sure of that against a world-class side at home, but it’s an exciting game for us going forward, because we’ll certainly learn a lot about ourselves, testing ourselves in big occasions like this, so that’ll stand to us anyway.”
