Six Nations 2026: Beating France could be ‘too far’ for Ireland

Irish coach Andy Farrell must select from a depleted squad after a series of injuries deprived him of veteran Test players such as Andrew Porter, Hugo Keenan, Mac Hansen and Robbie Henshaw.

But Ireland defied the odds when they recorded an impressive win over France in Marseille in the 2024 Six Nations with a performance that dramatically eased fears of a post-World Cup aftermath.

“The Farrell factor is the thing that balances it out,” said Andrew Trimble, who won 70 caps for Ireland between 2005 and 2017.

“On paper, it feels like the ceremony is more important than ever. [There are] Another injury or two, a handful of players want to be in better shape, and then there’s no stability or consistency at ten.

“There are a lot of players who are playing well at best. If there were a lot of young players knocking on the door, you would say ‘Okay, a spark of youth and enthusiasm to ignite this team’ but there are only a few of those players.”

“It’s all on paper that we can’t go to Paris and be excited, but Farrell always finds a way to get something out of these guys. He’s done that recently but he’s got enough credit in the bank.”

Murray, who played in the 38-17 win in Marseille two years ago, echoed Trimble’s comments and insisted Farrell will use his motivational skills to ensure Ireland improve on the standards that saw them fall to New Zealand and South Africa in November.

“Talking about the Marseille match on the 24th, we were questioned about form and not clicking.

“The last game we played was the quarter-final against New Zealand and we had the most detailed match review I’ve ever had in my career.

“We looked at that game and Andy pointed out in black and white a lot of situations where we could have been better, in the last 20 minutes against New Zealand when we struggled and tried to find the try.

“Andy showed clips of us being braver or believing in ourselves and sticking to the plan that Andy would try to instill in them. That’s where my confidence in this group comes from.