War weary from the blows of last week's encounter but with at least one recovered veteran returning to the front, Ireland will take the field tomorrow with just 95 minutes of training plus whatever they do in their captains' run under their belt.
The even years, as everyone knows are traditionally more difficult for Ireland, and this year they have one of the most punishing schedules of all.
Joe Schmidt sounded disenchanted - albeit in a quiet understated way - with the whole schedule. In his pre-match comments to the short window in which Ireland had to prepare for this game.
We had a very, very short window this weekend. We trained for 32 minutes on Tuesday and we trained for 63 minutes and we'll be limited in what we do in our captains' run. As a result, that's the sum of our preparation for a huge test match we can't afford to slip up.
Ireland have gone five successive games without losing to France but they have won twice in a row in Paris since 1928.
But then France have rarely looked as weak and uncertain of themselves as they have now...
