France v Ireland: All You Need To Know

GUINNESS SIX NATIONS

France v Ireland, Stade de France, 4.45pm

TV

The match is live on Virgin Media TV

ONLINE

We'll have a live match tracker on rte.ie/sport, the RTÉ News app, as well as updates on RTÉ Rugby Twitter and RTÉ Sport Facebook.

RADIO

The game is live on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.

WEATHER

Conditions look perfect for a game of rugby, with clear skies forecast in Saint-Denis, and temperatures of around 7C for kickoff, although it's expected to get colder as the evening progresses.

Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

On paper, at least, this is the game of the tournament.

Both sides come into Round 2 off the back of bonus point wins to start, both sides impressed in November wins against New Zealand in November, and most importantly, both sides are playing a brand of rugby that's been thrilling to watch in recent months.

Someone's Grand Slam hopes will have to end tomorrow though, and the form line would suggest Ireland are now up against it.

Home advantage would have made France narrow favourites earlier this week, but yesterday's news that Ireland captain Johnny Sexton has made the French a more confident choice to secure two wins from two, and take a significant step towards a first title in 12 years.

Ireland's recent form in France is reasonable though, two wins (2014 and 2018), two defeats (2016 and 2020) and a draw (2012) in their last five visits.

It's hard to read too much into the past though, because Fabien Galthie's current French crop are worlds apart from the unpredictable teams of previous years.

Since hitting rock bottom in 2017 they have rebuilt themselves and developed youth, with the carrot of a home World Cup in 2023 seeing them steadily