FIFTY years ago, one hundred white men chasing one black man across a field was called the Ku Klux Klan. Today it's called the USPGA. How much things in sport change - or not, as is the case today. France play in Dublin, but despite our period of ascendancy, they, like the last 10, 20, 30 years, still have no respect for us whatsoever.

Ireland have been competitive for the last five years against almost everyone and have finished the championship bull terrier-like, gnashing at the heels of the team in first place. You might say that this could be down exclusively to Andy Robinson - ineptitude has a new champion. England's awfulness has allowed Ireland to leap-frog everyone except the frogs.

The assertion is harsh - Ireland have been good. It's just the French don't really acknowledge it - why should they? They have won the last four tests conclusively. I still have the 2003 Rugby World Cup quarter-final on tape, played it for 15 minutes - they crushed us.

Before last year's match in Paris I met Abdel Benazzi. I told him I thought Ireland would be competitive and could sneak it. At half-time I was bursting for a leak. On the field, France were bursting and Ireland were leaking.

Benazzi went in ahead to the 'jacques'. I couldn't show my face. I had to hold it in for 40.

France stopped playing at 43 and Ireland got to within 12. It was an amazing game. Ireland had made so many mistakes and turned over ball so cheaply - it was free. The French didn't even have to play - the game was given to them. I argue the fight back had merit - but that is not what was important.

It was the first time Ireland froze under Eddie O'Sullivan - it was, given the out-flux of dirty laundry, the first time the squad had played their own game - what happened in the second half was as far removed from an O'Sullivan blue-print I had seen. The rumours he had "lost the dressing room" (I hate that term, it's up there with "he has lost a yard of pace") were patently untrue. When Shane Horgan went over in the corner in Twickenham it was forgotten about. Second in the championship, Triple Crown, England beaten three times in a row. Eddie was sex on a stick again.

The point to be made is that the French are still more than a match for us - despite some daft selections, incoherent strategy and patent over-training. I have said it before - putting Laporte in charge of the French team is like making Rolf Harris the Curator of the Louvre.

Berbezier was right when he started criticising Laporte before the French played in Rome.

His players couldn't back it up on the field though and the result laid it down as a whinge.

Laporte only gets about 70% out of his team - Fast Eddie consistently gets over 85% - a good coach gets his team to out-perform, carry out the game plan and play a disciplined game. France rarely get to this level but they win because they have a greater group of quality players. Has their coach picked the right team to succeed today? Just about.

Laporte's aim of rotating his players is the wrong approach. He can't try to ape what the All Blacks do - because French teams that are chopped and changed traditionally perform poorly. They are the one side who perform when they have a settled side. I think it's madness to fool around with his squad. I also think it is a sleight on the Six Nations. It's like Manchester United opting out of the FA Cup to concentrate on the Club World Championship in South America. You can't disrespect the competition like that.

He is still a million miles away from getting a team together to be competitive for the World Cup - nowhere more so than at halfback. Mignoni looked a million dollars against Italy and David Skrela smiled his way through the game. Mignoni danced and skipped around the tackle scene - easy to look busy and constructive when there is no-one coming forward to pressure him. He is still a clever little player but I have a feeling that on one of his little fandangos a fleur de lis might get planted in the stony grey soil of Croker.

Skrela too was someone I watched in the Heineken Cup. He did not give the impression or the performance of someone who would be the starting French out-half in this year's Six Nations. When Toulouse met Stade in Paris in their 80,000 sell-out he out-played Frederic Dubois, but then who is Frederic Dubois? If that match was seen as a final trial then Skrela got in on the back of it.

I still think Castaignede. Benjamin Boyet of Bourgoin and Skrela's club-mate Bauxis are more capable performers. France's halves are still untested and questions are still unanswered as to their ability to control a game when the heat goes up to regulo 9. That said, I look across the white-wash to Ronan O'Gara. Astonishing performances against Australia and South Africa. The best outhalf in the northern hemisphere - assured, instinctive and intuitive. Always a step ahead and, with all quality players, a seemingly endless supply of time on the ball. He is a very human sort of a guy because his face tells you what his mind or body thinks. If he is having a bad day - he is flushed and flustered. The first 55-60 in Cardiff was back to the days that we had exorcised years ago. Credit to him - he got out of the rut and steadied the ship in the last 20. You could see it in his face, it was alabaster and cold. The gremlins were gone.

We all know what O'Gara can do - if Ireland are to have a chance - he must give an optimal performance, close to the best he has given.

Literally no unforced errors and then from the very beginning of hostilities an exhibition of calm and assurance under pressure. There are two elements to consider when you play France - defensively they are the most aggressive and mean line in the championship, particularly their midfield. The best time to attack them through running the ball is from inside your own 22. They get caught flat quite often. Conversely, when you are near the French 22, I think it is important to pressure through the kick and turn them - the French get bored very early when they spend large amounts of time in defensive mode - they get careless and concede - I think this is the way forward, unorthodox as it may seem.

The loss of O'Driscoll is immense - no point in trying to elaborate, D'Arcy might not get the freedom he has enjoyed recently due to his absence - but it is Stringer's absence which I think will be felt more keenly. I am still a long way away from being convinced about Isaac Boss. He could have a blinder - running down blind alleys or blind to his support runners when he makes a break.

If I was Boss I would keep the French fringe honest no more than two or three times and then always be certain of the ball being recycled securely. I would concentrate on getting the ball to O'Gara without taking even one step, it's called a pass. The rest will come without trying to force it. Space is at a premium in test matches against the French, leave it to 11, 12, 13 or 14 to find it.

Ireland will sorely miss Stringer's defensive capacity. I am always convinced he saves a try a game within the two or three vital tackles he makes in a match. The synchronicity that Stringer has with his pack and with O'Gara is irreplaceable. I think his absence will have a profound influence on the game.

I am not paid to sit on the fence so I won't.

The team itself is confident of victory. They actually expect to win. This game is always going to be very tight. The team that leaks the most tackles will lose. I think the loss of O'Driscoll and Stringer, more for their defensive capabilities, will swing it towards the French. The diminution in quality brought about by the absence of these two will leave an unsustainable gap in Ireland's mesh. Ireland will have to work unbelievably hard to win.

France to make it five in a row.