Preview: Slick French come to Ireland's farewell party

France are in town, and the world No 5-ranked outfit are feeling confident.

Corinne Diacre was sacked in March after a drawn-out and messy revolt, the captain Wendie Renard and other key players walking away due to their deep unhappiness with the regime.

Enter Herve Renard, the suave 54-year-old who guided Saudi Arabia to victory over Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar last December. Renard previously led Zambia's men's team to the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations title and repeated the trick with Ivory Coast three years later.

Renard, who oozes charisma and boasts a fine pedigree, got all the big names back on board and many will fancy France to go all the way at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

They also provide a useful gauge for Pauw. In April they beat Colombia 5-2 and Canada 2-1; Ireland face the former in a warm-up game in Brisbane tomorrow week and the latter in the group stages. On the same day Ireland take on the Colombians behind closed doors, France have a friendly with Australia.

"It's a really important game, especially for the weather - it will be the same weather we'll see in Australia!" the 54-year-old wisecracked yesterday as the rain pelted the windows of the media room at Tallaght Stadium.

"It's always difficult to play against this kind of team, with a fighting spirit. It's very good for us to have this kind of game... we know it will be difficult, but this is not the most important; the most important for us is to be ready for the 23rd of July [when they face the Jamaicans in their opening game]."

The relaxed mood in the French camp was in stark contrast to Vera Pauw's earlier press conference, during which she fielded several questions over an article published in The Athletic on Monday that put the