France’s Brice Dulin speaks ahead of the match at home to Ireland.
You are one of the few who did not get criticised in Scotland. Is it something that helps you build confidence?
Not really. You can only be confident and enjoy yourself as a team, if everyone performs at a good level. Everyone was frustrated at the end of the game last week, because we felt like we were close to something better, but didn’t manage to loosen up enough on the field. Maybe we are afraid of something, we’re not confident enough and therefore we are not playing like we do in club rugby. It’s a lot of things, but I think we are capable of much more. All we need is that one game.
What will be the key to victory against Ireland?
We will have to be at our best, in every aspect of the game. We need to hold the ball to control the tempo of the game, if we let them do it, they will hurt us. They have amazing players, like Rob Kearney against whom I played with Castres. We will have to watch out for the whole backline.
Do you think the Irish are a different team compared to last year?
I don’t think so. It all depends on how you start in the tournament. They were able to build some great confidence from the beginning, they had actually started doing that in November against the All Blacks. We need to find that same momentum, and things will start going our way.
Would say Ireland is the best team in the competition at the moment?
Maybe. They certainly are the most consistent, with the most attacking assets.
Is there a fear in the group, to end up on a bad note and leave things in a bad state before going back to your clubs?
We are focusing on trying to win the championship, which would be a bit of a fluke. With this in mind, we don’t have much to lose on this game. But if we do lose the last game, it’s what will be said after that will weigh us down. We are the first ones to be frustrated and very aware of our poor performances. Again, we need that one game to build a good dynamics.
Why wasn’t the win against England good enough?
Because we didn’t dominate every aspect of the game. Sometimes winning is enough, but people expect more from the national team, they expect close-to-perfect performances from the beginning. We’re under pressure in terms of content and in terms of results, but it takes time to have both. We are still in a learning process, and when we all know each other perfectly, things will happen for us.
