Virgin Media analyst and Ireland legend Shane Horgan believes Ireland must focus on rediscovering their confidence instead of worrying about tactical or technical issues when they face France on Sunday.
Speaking in the Virgin Media studio ahead of Saturday’s coverage, the 67-times capped wing told host Joe Molloy that Ireland’s world class players needed to ‘reset’ against a resurgent France side.
Horgan said: “The pressure and the issues that came off the back of the England performance followed through into Scotland continued on into the Italian game.
“They have had a period after the inaccuracies of Italy and get a little bit of lightness in the camp and allow guys to remember how good they are.”
Ireland Head Coach Joe Schmidt has made seven changes to his team with Garry Ringrose, Iain Henderson, CJ Stander and James Ryan among those back in the starting XV.
But alongside those changes, Horgan believes a focus on Ireland’s mentality is key too.
“That would have been the main job for Joe Schmidt over the last two weeks – more than tactical or technical because these are all really good players. They work really hard, they are very well conditioned and they are, many of them, world class, many of them, and they’ve proven that over the last 18 months.
“The job is to reset, remember how good they are and get a performance of the quality that they can deliver.”
