Fabien Galthié has vowed that France will be "ambitious" in their approach against an Ireland side that he claims bears the stamp of Leinster and Johnny Sexton.
The French supremo has named an unchanged side for the big Six Nations clash at the Aviva Stadium, though Galthié was unhappy with the narrow victory over Italy in Rome last Sunday.
"Ireland are one of the best adversaries we have played but that will not prevent us being ambitious on Saturday," he said.
"Today Ireland is the best team in the world since last summer after their second win over the All Blacks.
"Andy Farrell replaced Joe Schmidt who had already transformed Ireland into one of the great powers in world rugby, and Farrell knew how to build on that and their strengths, that is an offensive game, which is the signature of Leinster, of their captain Johnny Sexton.
"When you watch Ireland play you are watching Leinster - there's this attacking style of rugby which is recognised as being remarkable in the rugby world.
"And they have other qualities - wonderful players, talented and above all a deep well of talent that they refresh regularly.
"It is a remarkable achievement by the Irish federation, of the four provinces, of their academies, one cannot but congratulate them."
The 53-year-old explained his reasoning for not making changes for the trip to Dublin.
"We have gone with the same personnel due to the performance firstly, the victory with a bonus, therefore they achieved their target," he said.
"Coherence too as it is three weeks that we have worked with this group, and finally confidence because we have confidence in our players who for three years have progressed together, that's why there are no surprises in the starting XV nor in the replacements (finishers)".
A major concern for Galthié is his side's discipline in the wake of the narrow escape against the Azzurri.
"Before this prestigious rendezvous in Dublin, our benchmark match of the year for the moment, we of course had a debrief post the Italy game," he said.
"We went to Rome knowing we had an excellent record in terms of discipline, second in the world behind Italy, which was 9.4 penalties conceded per match.
"Last Sunday we conceded double that amount we under-performed in that area.
"What is interesting is to understand what happened given before the match we had spent three days at Capbreton prioritising that.
"In past experience our first games of a tournament or series we usually give away 14/15 penalties then in the following games you can divide that figure by two, and we remain on nine.
"Thus we have worked on improving this point, it is not a weak point it is a strong point and a major positive factor for us."
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