O'Driscoll relishing Bastareaud duel

(GETTY IMAGES)

Brian O'Driscoll enters tomorrow's RBS 6 Nations title showdown with France recalling how a turning point in Irish rugby also had a profound effect on his life.

It is a decade since Ireland last prevailed in Paris, a victory their captain credits for transforming the mindset of the national side.

O'Driscoll, then a little-known 21-year-old, was catapulted to stardom with a scintillating hat-trick that underpinned the 27-25 triumph.

Visits to the French capital had previously been greeted with apprehension by the Irish, who had to cast their minds back to 1972 for their last taste of success there.

And while the Stade de France has remained an unhappy hunting ground since, O'Driscoll insists that day in March 2000 was a key moment that laid the ground for a decade of relative success.

"My life changed a good bit. I didn't realise how big a deal it was until I got home. It was a big change for Irish rugby," he said.

"A lot of new guys had come in during that Six Nations and after winning the mentality and focus of the team changed, hopefully for ever.

"If it did anything positive it changed the mentality of us as a rugby team and rugby nation.

"Winning in 2000 was part of the catalyst to how the game for us has changed. It would be silly to say it wasn't.

"We hadn't won in Paris for so long and it gave us the belief we could win if we played well.

"There are only three of us remaining from 10 years ago, so there are a lot of guys who haven't won an international on French soil.

"These are little things that we want to pick off. It would mean a lot to the guys to win tomorrow."

History may be stacked against them but Ireland are Grand Slam champions, a position that entitles them to a slight swagger - even in Paris.

France have been installed as tournament favourites but the Irish remain the key scalp in a contest that should ultimately decide the destination of the 2010 Six Nations crown.

On their previous two visits, Ireland were guilty of making suicidal starts that enabled France to establish half-time leads of 29-3 and 19-6.

Both matches saw Les Bleus pegged back to 43-31 in 2006 and 26-21 in 2008 thanks to a pair of courageous fightbacks, but those defeats have highlighted the need to avoid conceding early tries.

"It's disappointing that we haven't won in Paris since 2000. We hoped we'd have stemmed the tide of losses by now," he said.

"There has been a mixture of games since then. Some of them have slipped away from us and we haven't been able to get back in while in others we have given them seemingly unassailable leads and nearly chased them down.

"A focus of ours will be making sure we start the game well and don't give them a score to defend.

"We don't have to accept that France are going to come out of the blocks, it's about trying to get out of the blocks ourselves and take the game to them."

One of the most exciting duels on the pitch should be O'Driscoll's battle with 21-year-old juggernaut Mathieu Bastareaud, who plundered two tries against Scotland last Sunday.

The sheer size of the blockbusting 17-stone centre, who sparked a diplomatic incident when he falsely claimed to have been attacked in New Zealand last summer, has attracted attention but in O'Driscoll he is meeting a master of his craft.

"The days of being frightened are well and truly behind me," said O'Driscoll.

"Bastareaud is a powerful guy and is one of their in-form players.

"At that weight he might move well in a straight line but it doesn't always shift as well when you run to the side of it.

"I'll treat him like any other opponent - it just so happens that he's four stone heavier."

It is the first visit of an Ireland team to the Stade de France since last November's football World Cup qualifier, when the Republic were the victims of Thierry Henry's infamous handball.

France booked their place in South Africa at the expense of their play-off rivals, provoking a global outcry, but O'Driscoll insists those events are irrelevant to tomorrow.

"For the Irish public in general maybe what happened in the football would make any victory all the sweeter but we ourselves see it as just another Six Nations game," he said.

"We're not getting caught up in revenge or retribution for what happened.

"When it happened I was disappointed like everyone else in the country and felt there was a bit of injustice. But it's time to move on."