CARDIFF: France captain Thierry Dusautoir shot to fame when he out-smothered the All Blacks in that infamous quarter-final victory in Cardiff in the 2007 World Cup.
The flanker put in a massive 38 tackles that day to knock out the stand-out favourites 20-18. As a comparison, New Zealand as a team only put in 36 tackles in a huge French defensive effort.
A return to the Millennium Stadium at the heart of the Welsh capital was always welcome, the French skipper said.
"It was a very special moment," Dusautoir said.
"But eight years have gone past, and I've been here in the European Cup and with the France team.
"Lots has happened since 2007," added the 33-year-old.
The magnitude of the match, which will decide who finishes winner of Pool D and so takes on Argentina instead of New Zealand in next week's quarter-finals, was not lost on the Ivory Coast-born forward.
"It's a massive game, Ireland have been forwarded as favourites for some time," he said.
"It remains important for us to finish first in pool.
"We hope to play some good rugby tomorrow."
But Dusautoir insisted he was not totally driven by the thought of avoiding the All Blacks.
"The last time we played against Argentina we lost!" he said.
"I don't think it would be easier to play against them.
"We just need to focus on this game and improve, our aim is to win against Ireland."
Ireland's last pool game saw them struggle past Italy 16-9, but Dusautoir played down the relevance of that result.
"Italy are very strong up front and posed some problems for the Irish," said the 2011 world player of the year.
"So it wasn't a question of the Irish not playing less well, they were just up against a strong Italian side.
"In our last match we played better than the first two and we hope this fourth game will also be better."
Dusautoir, who with his French teammates have spent much more time together compared to the limited squad times before Test matches outside of World Cup season, also played down the fact France had not beaten Ireland in the four matches (two wins, two draws) since Philippe Saint-Andre took over as coach in 2012.
"The two victories were very close so I hope that tomorrow we have the weapons to win the game," he said.
"Statistics talk of the past and past matches don't really interest us. There are some tactical things we can take from them but we don't dwell on the results.
"The pressure is increasing as the kick-off approaches, we're just thinking about being as efficient as possible as soon as it starts."
"It's just a question of going out there and enjoying taking on a massive challenge."
With Ireland prizing themselves on a powerful set-piece and rolling maul, Dusautoir will have his work cut out against a strong Irish back-row comprising No 8 Jamie Heaslip and flankers Sean O'Brien and Peter O'Mahoney.
"It promises to be a real fight," he said.
"O'Brien is the biggest defender, he carries the ball a lot and also contests the ball a lot.
"O'Mahoney is used a lot in touch and Heaslip a mix of the both."
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