France v Ireland:Given recent history, the c-word was always going to crop up when Ireland met France in a sporting fixture of any code. For France, read cheats. We may have finally gotten over the injustice of last November, but that's not to say we won't relish the chance to exact a measure of revenge.
Keith Earls touched upon the subject earlier in the week, light-heartedly suggesting that if Ireland won by cheating, it would be a form of “payback” for Thierry Henry’s crime against the nation.
And the cheating theme is one Morgan Parra certainly warmed to. Rather than reflect on Henry’s transgression, however, the French scrumhalf preferred to go on the offensive, claiming Declan Kidney’s side systematically cheat their way through matches.
Having studied Ireland’s 12-match unbeaten run, Parra is in little doubt that Ireland have benefited from generous refereeing and been guilty of underhand tactics at the breakdown.
After declaring himself singularly unimpressed by the Grand Slam champions (“respect without admiration”) Parra delivered a withering appraisal of how Ireland are masters of killing and slowing down ball.
“You can be impressed by certain Irish players who are capable of doing something spectacular at any moment, but not by the team itself,” he said “Their strength is their capacity to go 12 or 13 matches unbeaten.
"Another strength is that they don't get penalised very much. They have a big defence. [A] Cheating [defence]. But intelligent cheating. They're not penalised, so they're clever. It's very well done. You can see that everything is worked on. If we tried to play like that, we'd be penalised all the time because we don't know how to do it as well as them.
“They tackle in pairs, one guy falls onto our side and he takes two or three seconds to get out. He tries, and the referee sees that, so he can't punish him. But the action is inevitably slowed down. In the game, they always take these little steps, pushing forward, a little bit offside. And yet they're never penalised."
With Ireland seemingly getting away with blue murder, Parra is desperate not to allow the visitors dictate the pace of play: “They set a false rhythm by cheating, by playing certain balls. It'll be for us to impose our rhythm.”
The risk of yellow card should be enough for Parra to keep his frustrations to himself, but he explained it won’t be easy with Ireland effectively allowed a cheats charter.
“If I put a foot a little bit too far forward, I know I'll get a card,” he added. “But it's true that it pisses you off in trying to get any rhythm, to play without cheating and to see that in front of you it's not the same. So we know we can't count on the Irish or the referee, but only on ourselves to win."