Ireland bank on referee Nigel Owens to clamp down any foul play in clash against France

Ireland are pinning their hopes on referee Nigel Owens to clamp down any dangerous play initiated against their players when they head to Paris on Saturday to take on France in the Six Nations opener.

Playmaker Johnny Sexton was among the Ireland players to be targetted by late tackles when these two teams met at Stade de France two years back which saw the visitors lose 10-9.

Asked if Ireland had any fears of a repeat of the overtly-physical treatment from two years ago, Easterby said: “No, we have to trust the guys in the middle and the fourth official, making sure we get the right adjudication.

“The game every year is becoming critical of those players who go outside the law; it’s not now possible to do certain things that you used to get away with when I was playing and that is for the betterment of the game.

“I am sure Nigel Owens and his team will have full control of that.

“We don’t have any concerns about what is going to happen out there and we trust the guys in the middle will be able to control things and see everything.

“We just want consistency. We have been aware through meetings and communication with the referees about certain things that they are going to be focusing on a little bit more.

“As long as we have consistency and it is the same for both sides that’s all we can ask. That allows us to prepare the players and guide them in the working week so that on the weekend they see those things pan out.”

Ireland are tipped to be contenders to win the title along with defending champions England while France head coach Jacques Brunel has named a relatively new-look squad that includes 19-year-old uncapped fly-half Matthieu Jalibert. Despite holding an edge heading into the contest, Schmidt said Ireland will be wary of their opponents in the Saturday's clash.

“There are a couple of players who have come in with one or two caps or some who haven’t been capped before; I think there are six new caps in there,” said Easterby.

“It does give them an advantage in that we haven’t seen them play together before for France but we have done a lot of homework and we know individually what they can do.

“Bordeaux Begles were playing a certain way under Jacques Brunel so we try and take bits from various things. Other than that we are going to focus on what we can really well, what we can control.

“If we do that then we are getting the balance right, knowing that we haven’t seen them play together as a team under the new management.”