Green with envy Edwards and his French marauders show size of rebuild Ireland now require

It's never a good sign when the place is crawling with French supporters. They gather in knots along pavements around the stadium, yakking away, disrupting pedestrian traffic, lost in the enjoyment of a sunny Six Nations day in Dublin. Worse still is when you climb to the dizzy height of the press box in the Aviva Stadium and survey a scene where there is lots of blue. Then they start to sing. Not good.

- Brendan Fanning

Some of the darkest days in Ireland's rugby history came with the away leg in this fixture. When on one occasion the front page of L'Équipe read "Le Massacre du Printemps" we learned to associate sunshine in Paris with pain and recrimination. That was the preview, not the match report.

You could say the most recent battering started on Friday night, in the incessant rain at Cork's Musgrave Park. That's where France's Under-20s gave a preview of Saturday afternoon. At one stage they were reduced to 12 men – their discipline was rank – and still it barely slowed them down.

Their seniors play the same way: power first, but with a bit of dexterity when required, followed by the kind of gas that wins medals in sprint events. Oh, and a goalkicker for good measure.

Add it all up and the chances were good of France being virtually impossible to live with, at which point they released the mad dogs in defence. Shaun Edwards has had his fingerprints on a host of great rearguard actions across the continent of Europe. From Wasps at club level, ushering him into defence coaching roles with Wales and France in the international game, his version of space invaders has been winning games for 25 years.