Almost a year on from a famous night in Paris when Ireland secured a second Six Nations championship in five years, we welcome Les Bleus to the Aviva Stadium.
France started off with a win over Scotland in their tournament opener, but as Rugby World's Gavin Mortimer told Off The Ball this week, the "French are a little bit fed up" after an unconvincing performance.
But have Gallic sports pages much to say about Ireland in the lead up to this weekend's crunch match?
Obviously, as Jonny Sexton is based in France with Racing Metro, he garners plenty of interest and renowned sports daily L'Equipe do make a point of highlighting that some observers believe it is a risk to bring the out-half into the team so soon after a long concussion-related absence.
But in another article they believe that Ireland were eager to get the "star and playmaker" back on the field as a reaction to the laboured performance in Rome last weekend.
While noting Heaslip's return to frontline duty, L'Equipe also says they will be "observing Sean O'Brien's comeback with even greater curiosity" due to his long absence.
L'Equipe's front page on Thursday. Interestingly rugby is conspicuous by its absence
Meanwhile, French rugby website Le Rugbynistere reckons that Cian Healy could do damage as an impact player and state that Conor Murray has no equal at scrum-half on these shores.
They also highlight the gap at centre since Brian O'Driscoll's retirement and muse that Joe Schmidt's decision to leave out Gordon D'Arcy is related. But for the most part, Le Rugbynistere considers the team named by Joe Schmidt for this weekend as almost "copy and paste" of the team that triumphed in Paris in 2014.
The sports pages of Le Monde get political and includes a long feature about what the writer believes is the unifying effect of rugby, whether someone is "Republican or loyalist, nationalist or an Orangeman, Catholic or Protestant". It goes on to describe the fact that the national rugby team represents the whole island as an "enduring sporting miracle, almost a century since the Easter Rising in Dublin which eventually led to secession in 1922".
Le Figaro also acknowledged that Ireland overcame Italy without shining particularly, a point also made by Rennes-based Ouest-France, who remind their publique that Ireland have not lost to France since 2011 - although they also add that all those results have been mighty close.
Mighty close it is likely to be again this weekend, but hopefully the French rugby media will be writing about a defeat for Les Bleus.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
