Kick-off: 1500, 14/02/2021
Stadium: Aviva Stadium
TV: ITV
Ireland showed plenty of spirit in defeat against Wales after going down to 14 men early on and deserve another chance when entertaining France.
Les Bleus are now favourites to claim a first Six Nations title since 2010 after thrashing Italy in Rome but this will be a totally different test.
We feel the hosts are overpriced at 13/10 to secure a fourth straight success in Aviva Stadium renewals of this fixture, so that is our initial Ireland vs France prediction.
A Look At Ireland’s Betting Odds
Ireland flanker Peter O’Mahony has been banned for three matches after being sent off for a reckless shoulder-led hit to the head of Wales prop Tomas Francis on 13 minutes.
However, Andy Farrell’s side remained competitive throughout that contest and even led 13-6 at the interval.
Second-half tries from George North and Louis Rees-Zammit did the damage, but Ireland still had a chance to get something out of that 21-16 loss until Billy Burns failed to put a late penalty into touch.
Defence coach Simon Easterby is aware there can be no more slip-ups, stating: “For us to stay alive in the competition, it’s a must-win.
“We obviously didn’t get the start we would have hoped for and it puts us in a more difficult position than we think we should have been.
“But there is still a massive opportunity at the weekend, with the French coming to town.
“An opportunity to hopefully get parity in terms of numbers on the pitch and have the opportunity to showcase what we feel like we’re building.”
With a weather forecast of wind and rain for Dublin this weekend, playing conditions should suit the home team’s tactics of keeping things tight.
Looking at the 15/8 for the hosts to oblige by 1-12 points.
A Look At France’s Betting Odds
There were several noteworthy elements to France’s 50-10 rout of Italy, with some spectacular scores featuring in their seven tries.
Shaun Edwards’ umbrella defence stifled the Azzurri throughout and Les Bleus’ discipline generally stood up to the test.
“We needed to prepare well for this match, we have not been negligent at all,” declared captain Charles Ollivon.
“We were very serious, we have followed the instructions. We worked in depth during the 10 days in Nice and it paid off.”
Scrum-half Antoine Dupont, the 2020 player of the tournament, was again outstanding and joined Dylan Cretin, Gael Fickou, Arthur Vincent, Brice Dulin and Teddy Thomas, who crossed twice, on the try sheet.
Les Bleus do have some relative youngsters in several key positions, though, and they will be put under more scrutiny here.
Let’s add 4/5 for the home team with 3.5 points start on the handicap list to our Ireland vs France betting tips.
Additional stats
Last result:
Wales 21-16 IRELAND
Italy 10-50 FRANCE
Head-to-head: France 35-27 Ireland, Ireland 26-14 France, France 13-15 Ireland, Ireland 19-9 France, France 10-9 Ireland
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