Marcus Horan knows Ireland will be up against it in Paris next weekend, but the Munster prop feels that the squad should travel with confidence after their winning start against Italy.
MARCUS HORAN…
ON THE 16-11 WIN OVER ITALY AT CROKE PARK:
“Delighted to get it off to a winning start. A lot of people still, for some reason, underestimate Italy. The first game is always tough, getting guys back playing together.
“Historically Italy always play well in their first game and throw everything at teams so we’re delighted to get over that hurdle.”
ON THE FORWARDS’ DISPLAY AGAINST ITALY:
“In the forwards, I thought we performed pretty well. I thought the scrum went very well. There’s a few things we need to work on at the lineout and at the breakdown.
“These are just small problems you get at the beginning of any season and hopefully we can rectify them for next week.”
ON PLAYING FRANCE IN PARIS AND FRANCE’S CURRENT FORM:
“History will show Paris is a difficult place to go to try and get a result. After watching their performance against Scotland at the weekend, they’re playing a different style, less structure and more just really ‘having a go’, the old French style.
“They probably don’t have as much structure as at the World Cup. They threw caution to the wind (against Scotland) and threw the ball around and they got confidence from that.
“At the World Cup, they were trying to play with structure but maybe that doesn’t suit some of their players – maybe they’re more suited to just having a go.”
ON THE TASK OF BEATING FRANCE:
“They’re definitely favourites going into the game. They’re at home and they’re playing that brand of rugby. It’s a massive challenge for us but we have to go over there with confidence, we got off to a winning start and we’re in contention now. I think everyone’s just looking forward to it now.”
To listen to Marcus Horan’s interview in full, please click here.
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