Ireland and France enter the field of play at Stade de France, Paris, for last week's Six Nations opener. Photograph: Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images
“Poussez, poussez, poussez!”
The enthusiastic hype man on the Stade de France PA system was asking the capacity crowd to practise shouting “push” ahead of any scrums or mauls in last Thursday’s Six Nations opener. To be fair to the Parisian faithful, the preparation paid off. Upon the game’s first scrum, deep inside the Irish 22, “poussez” was indeed belted out. Three times, no less.
Social media was not short of Irish journalists fortunate enough to be at the Stade de France posting clips expressing admiration for the atmosphere. “The French do it right”, or something along those lines, was the sentiment.
This is the time of year when we read familiar complaints about an apparent lack of crackle among the Aviva Stadium’s rugby-watching population. Paper space is consumed by the topic because it so vexes the masses. That and the reliably healthy page views...
We are, though, sick of the complaining.
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