Team of the week from the French rugby bible Midi-Olympique:

Of course it's foolish to predict an out come on the back of prior results, but I would say France are more likely to be the destroyed rather than the destroyer against Wales. Sure there is every chance Wales will start out slow once again and France will find the form to truly blow them out, but I would be surprised by such an outcome even with the game in Paris.

The second weekend will be quite a decisive one with the loser of France/Wales essentially being eliminated from contention and the winner of Ireland/England being the only realistic Grand Slam hope. Apologies to Italy if they manage a win at Murrayfield.

Speaking of destroying, I am quite apprehensive about England's visit to Lansdowne Rd. The second half against Wales and the possibility of Ross not being 100% make me feel as though last year's embarrassment will pale in comparison of what is in store for Sunday.

Maybe. I'm worried though that this will sting the french into getting there act together and destroying there opposition next week. We will have to see.

Italy's superb win over France today has really capped a good start to the championship. A win against England next Sunday could put Ireland in pole position.

I'm hoping France will still be persisting with the mindless tactic of playing Michalak at 10 by the time they visit Dublin.

Earls is an international standard wing but not centre. Hes not doing his career any good persisting with this dream of his to play centre for ireland.

Agreed. He's like Fitzgerald at 15. He says it's his favourite position but it doesn't suit him. Sometimes managers have to be firm and just tell a player no.

didnt know marshall was injured. it will most likely be mcfadden at 12 so if darcy doesnt make it altho i read somewhere tonight that he is in dubai atm. hes got the most experience although not at 12 for ireland. we are going for a possible grandslam now so i dont think any risks will be taken.
Earls is an international standard wing but not centre. Hes not doing his career any good persisting with this dream of his to play centre for ireland. he does okay for munster at 13 but finds the step up too much. i prefer him on wing for munster even. i dont think size is his problem. hes same size as gilroy afaik and darcy. its defennsive positioning and passing ability which leaves him down at highest level.

Earls for me is to slight and against bigger opposition like North and Cuthbert or Rogurie and Bastareaud he doesn't have the strength to hold them up in the tackle. I'm not faulting his effort its genetics that lets him down. For me if Darcy is unfit next week it has to be McFadden or Luke Fitzgerald. They can cover a rake of positions and have the strength to hold up the bigger guys. Downey is good but the way Munster play him isn't doing him any favours and if you consider he didn't make the Wolfhounds I can't see him ahead of the others. Marshall is injured at the moment.

p.s thought Darcy should have being taken off at half-time it was obvious he was struggling.

Rte panel say that Ross and O Mahoney are ok but Darcy requires scan.

well he is playing regular ball at 12 for his province and playing well. downey is also playing at 12 for his province though not as well which isnt all his fault to be fair. it begs the uestion as why luke marshall and mcfadden( both good players at 12 but not playing regularly in big games there) will be favourites to replace darcy if hes injured. at least we have options there. id say if ross is out for next week so are we. At least loughney is getting 30 min each week and can hold up a scrum. fitspatrick has played 1.5 games this season aparantly and bent is a flop. even archer for all his problems in the scrum has shown more potential than bent and played significantly more thsn fitspatrick.
hopefully it wont come to it but i wudnt like to be relying on fitspatrick with his injury record or bent based on sportsground and recent leinster performances.

i thought o brien and o mahony were excellent. best took a team card and murray a card for the team. ironically that pen and card may have won the game as it was nearly 6 min latee when they finally scored the try which was too late. if they recycled ball that time it was try time.

Fine display from McCarthy again. I think he's looking at home at international level. Think all the forwards played well, Healy, Best and O'Brien in particular got through a lot of work.

Still a lot to work on defence looked a bit ragged when Wales got some quick ball. Some very loose kicking also which should have been punished more ruthlessly by the Welsh. Looks like there will be a spot available in the centre. Earls isn't the answer for me not just based on today but any time I've seen him at 13 against good opposition. Strong displays from Zebo and Gilroy who took things in their stride. The soccer skills from Zebo and the hit on Halfpenny by Gilroy shows they are well able to stand up for themselves at this level.

I saw in the Sunday Times the last day they were saying BOD didn't threaten defences anymore well he once again today showed his undoubted class in all facets of the game.

The main concern for the next week is the health and wellbeing of Mike Ross. Without him against England we have no hope.

Well done Mike McCarthy.

If I didn't know better I'd say Kidney might consider McSharry as a specialist 12 to replace D'Arcy and leave Earls on the bench as jack of all trades cover.

This is what I love about the 6 nations. If either side lose here their 6 nations is over at the first hurdle and they'll spend the rest of the championship battling for the also ran places whereas a win could send one of these two stuttering sides into contention.

I think Kidney has picked close enough to the best XV he could. Wales at full strength are formidable but if we lose to this Welsh side we really are going nowhere.

rossie wrote: just seen this on one of the welsh forums. apparently warburton will play 6 and tipuric 7 on saturday. should make the breakdown very interesting!

so much for this anyway. shingler at 6, warbuton at 7 with tipuric on bench.
new guy coombs(age 28) of dragons at 2nd row. converted backrower aparantly.

biggar at 10 and rest along normal lines.

just seen this on one of the welsh forums. apparently warburton will play 6 and tipuric 7 on saturday. should make the breakdown very interesting!

I agree also about Rog. Imo Rog should be adapting his irish rolw with Munster at this stage not to mind Ireland. That said Jackson isnt exactly pulling up trees to take his place. He was poor for wolfhounds last week imo and lost his place to a scrumhalf(albeit class scrumhalf) at ulster for HEC. He still can feel hard done by as Rogs general play has been poor.

I think its a good team though. My one worry is at 12. i can see the welsh running down darcys channel all day and imo he has a max of 50 minutes in him. What happens then. We know that defencively Rog to 10 and jonnie to 12 wont work as welsh will run down 10 channel from then on. Can Bod play 80 with 30 of them at 12? asking a lot of even him.

that wasnt my point salmson but i think u know that.. my point was and is that in a position where there is competition( backrow) a player coming off the injury list only a few weeks ago could consider himself lucky to displace a player from a backrow that performed imo very well in the AIs.

i agree with you on thought process for selection. afaik o brien has made the vast majority of his international appearances at 7 which probably had something to do with final decision. o brien is a very good player in all 3 backrow positions but you shouldnt just walk back in where possible.
in BODs case its slightly different in that hes so far ahead of the alternatives that he has to be picked when fit but thats not the case in backrow, 2nd row or wing for example.