Gallic flair scares Irish
While France didn't exhibit their usual Gallic flair in victory over Scotland, Conor Murray insists Ireland will still be wary of Les Bleus' game-changing backs in Dublin this weekend.
Five Camille Lopez penalties ensured France kicked off their Six Nations campaign with a 15-8 win in Paris, but they failed to consistently breach a dogged Scottish defence.
However, Murray knows it won't be easy to keep the talented French backline quiet for a second week running.
And in fact, the scrumhalf believes that by showing their ability to grind out a result, Philippe Saint-Andre's men are now a more dangerous proposition than ever.
"The French were in a tough game with the Scots and the Scots put them under pressure throughout the game," said Murray.
"But they stuck to their guns - they kept playing they wanted to play and got the result. I suppose we learned they can win ugly as well.
"They've got a lot of quality and can be really dangerous if you let them attack and leave them space. But looking at the weekend against Scotland, they won ugly and that's a sign of a good team."
Murray ran in the first try as Ireland also earned a hard-fought win on the opening weekend of Six Nations action - seeing off Italy 26-3 in a match that was a lot closer than the scoreline indicates.
But the 25-year-old is adamant the men in green will need to produce a much-improved display to make it two from two at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
"France this weekend is a huge, huge challenge and we've got a few areas to improve so that's our set-up for the week," added Murray.
"We need a big week at training and to get little things right, which we didn't - then we can kick on.
"You saw the standard set between Wales and England. That's the really high standard set for the Championship. The Italy game will not be good enough to beat France this weekend."
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