“If we go out and play the game we want to play, it will be a good day for us”

Ireland captain Nichola Fryday insists her side can take inspiration from a famous French resistance in 2017 as they prepare to enter a cauldron of Toulouse in tomorrow’s Six Nations clash.

ew give the amateur visitors a prayer against the fully professional French; The bookmakers marked it as a minimum 25 point win.

France have won 17 of their last 20 games against Ireland, including all nine games they have hosted and all but one of their last 21 games at home.

Despite the fact that Ireland have lost five of their last seven away games and suffered a miserable World Cup elimination in Parma last autumn, the new Ireland captain believes her side can cause a big upset.

“Every team believes in itself,” she emphasizes.

“You don’t go out thinking you’re going to lose a match; That’s what drives you as an athlete. They want to win games; They want to assert themselves as the supposed underdog against the larger teams in Europe.

“If we get what we can properly put on the table tomorrow; and we’re really pushing them physically, it’s going to be a close game.

“I said from the start that these Six Nations will be one of the next compared to previous years because the quality of all six teams is really high. So you want to believe that those shock gains will come to fruition. If we go out and play the game we want to play, it’s going to be a good day for us.

“Look, they are athletes and we are athletes. That’s how you have to see it. They are people at the end of the day; They are not superior people. Yes, they are extremely good rugby players and an extremely good team, but at the end of the day they are people.

“They’re not bigger and better. In that sense you have to see it. Yes, you may not be the greatest and you may not be the fastest, but you still think you can play the game you play on the pitch.”

Ireland stunned France in 2017 but that was in Dublin, although even then the odds were slim after a number of back-line players were withdrawn during preparation for the Sevens’ duty.

“It was a huge day,” recalled Fryday, who was an unused sub.

“Those are the moments that stick in your mind; It was a real fight on the pitch that day so I hope tomorrow we can have that fight again and give them a hard time so I’m looking forward to that.