After struggling in recent months, the French men's rugby team opens its defense of the Six Nations Championship on Thursday against Ireland. The match offers a major test for Fabien Galthié to fine-tune his squad ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

If a talented Les Bleus click, the results could be spectacular against a much-changed Ireland with umpteen tricky questions to answer

Plus: who will referee the Test, the squads named by Fabien Galthié and Andy Farrell and what happened last year