at Lansdowne Road, Dublin
Introduced by Cliff Morgan

With French ambitions for this season's championship title thwarted at the very first hurdle by Scotland's unexpected victory in Paris a fortnight ago, the reigning-and doubtless still bemused-champions today offer the challenge of their irrepressible brand of rugby skills to the Irish, whose team-building plans may have been seriously affected by the misfortunes of their final trial, including the injury to key player Mike Gibson: this has meant the inclusion of two new caps in the Irish XV, Barry McGann at fly-half and Jim Davidson at wing-forward.
The twenty-year-old McGann, who plays rugby on Saturdays and amateur soccer on Sundays, is the youngest member of a side which also welcomes the return to international rugby of Noel Murphy, collecting his thirty-eighth cap.
Television presentation by the Irish Television Service