France have turned to national folk-hero Sebastien Chabal to pack a winning punch in Friday’s crucial Rugby World Cup clash with Ireland.

The intimidating Sale Sharks giant, dubbed The Caveman by his countrymen, will play in the second-row for the Pool D showdown in Paris - a position he was only seen as back-up for when the tournament opened.

But France’s miserable defeat by Argentina has left them struggling to qualify for the quarter-finals - and if they don’t beat the Irish they will almost certainly be out of the competition. Their only possible escape would be if minnows Namibia beat the Pumas in their final game - and there’s even less chance of that happening than England retaining the William Webb Ellis trophy.

'We'll have to stop Chabal getting up a head of steam and stop the crowd getting behind him because he's a big, firm favourite' - Ireland's defence coach


The Irish have pinpointed Chabal as the most important component in the French team - although they are also well aware of his weaknesses. "I think Chabal's biggest threat is when he comes off the bench as an impact player, fresh into the last quarter of the match," said defence coach Graham Steadman.

"Now the fact that he's starting, we'll have to make first impressions count against him. We'll have to stop him getting up a head of steam and stop the crowd getting behind him because he's a big, firm favourite with the crowd for obvious reasons.

''If we can silence the crowd, that means we're doing a good job so I'd like to think the emerald green of Ireland will be cheering us loud because that means we'll be putting good defensive shots on him."

Assistant coach Niall O'Donavan said Chabal was a bit of a surprise choice in the French squad in the first place but that people are coming round to his talents. "At the start of the tournament I'd have said you're taking a chance there,’’ he admitted.

Argentina and Ireland currently top Pool D - dubbed the Group of Death - on nine points, with France third on six. But losing to the hosts would be nearly as disastrous for Ireland as it would for the French after they missed out on an expected bonus point against Georgia and have to face Argentina in their final match.

France captain Raphael Ibanez has recovered from a throat injury, while Serge Betsen replaces Yannick Nyanga on the flank. Prop Olivier Milloud and lock Jerome Thion are also recalled while Frederic Michalak continues at fly-half.

Meanwhile, assistant coach O'Donovan insists that Ireland have learnt from their recent Six Nations losses to France and can reverse those results on Friday. France have won the last two clashes, 43-31 in Paris in 2006 and 20-17 earlier this year in Dublin, thanks to a last-minute try. Ireland were 13-0 down after 14 minutes in that game and trailed 43-3 at one stage in 2006. Said O'Donovan: "We need to be a bit smarter in the way we actually start games. We don't take a whole lot of negatives out of those two games. There were a lot of positives.

"We just have to eliminate the mistakes that we're making and when we eliminate the mistakes we'll win games.’’

Many will believe Japan coach John Kirwan is living in cloud cuckoo land - but he hasn’t ruled out an upset result against Wales in Cardiff on Thursday.

The Japanese lost their first two World Cup outings - including a 91-3 rout by Australia in their opening game - and the bookies rate them 25/1 shots to win at the Millennium Stadium. But Kirwan, whose men were beaten only 35-31 by the Fijians, said: ’’Against Fiji, you saw a team that believed in what it was doing. We could have won that match.’’

Kirwan saw enough in Wales’s 32-20 defeat by the Wallabies to sense a glimmer of hope against Gareth Jenkins’s men. "If we let them play their quick game, we will be in trouble," he said. "So we need to put them under pressure right from the start."

Versatile loose forward Chris Masoe will play his first Test as blindside flanker as the All Blacks look to protect their limited locking resources against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Masoe, who will play in in tandem with captain Richie McCaw, has played all his previous 17 Tests either as McCaw's understudy or at No 8. But with fit-again Reuben Thorne picked in the second row to ease the workload for senior lock Chris Jack, Masoe has been given a change of job description.

Italy were made to work desperately hard for a 31-5 victory over Portugal in Wednesday night’s Pool C match as the amateur World Cup debutants produced another performance to be proud of.

The Italians were quickly 10-0 up through a try by centre Andrea Masi and a penalty - but Portugal hit back with lock David Penalva touching down and trailed only 16-5 at halftime. The Italians, who thumped Portugal 83-0 a year ago, added two more tries in the second half - a pushover effort by Mauro Bergamasco and a second for Masi.

The victory set the Azzurri up for an expected qualification showdown with Scotland on September. 29, when victory would put them into the quarter-finals for the first time.

Will Chabal make a difference to the French team - and can Ireland beat them? Post your comments below.