France's "unstructured game" will be the biggest threat to Ireland when the sides meet in a Guinness Six Nations showdown on Saturday week, according to Paul O'Connell.
Simon Easterby's side top the standings with 14 points from three wins, while France sit in second on 11 points following victories over Wales and Italy and a loss to England.
While the championship will more than likely go down to the final weekend, the clash at Aviva Stadium looks like a title shootout.
Should France, who have scored 21 tries and hold a 63-point difference advantage over Ireland, prevail, then they would go into the round-five meeting at home to Scotland as massive favourites to claim a first title since 2022.
However, an Irish win would set up a Grand Slam clincher in Italy on the final day. Indeed, in the event that Ireland won against France, and England lost to Italy, the champions would retain their crown with a round to spare.
"I think they've been excellent," assistant coach O'Connell said of Fabien Galthie's side.
"There is a lot more unstructured play happening in the Top 14 when you look at Toulouse and Bordeaux playing.
"It's been really effective for those teams, and they’re very good at it.
"France have a little bit of structure in terms of how they come out of their own half, but they can play that unstructured game really well.
"They do a lot of it off mauls. They are very good at reading the speed of the ball, picking it up and starting playing. It can be hard to defend.
"I thought they were very good against England as well. That’s a very good English team that have their backs to the wall, that are fighting for their lives.
"France were excellent against them and but for a few handling errors in really tough conditions, the scoreline could have been very, very different.
The 2023 and 2024 winners impressed in victories over England and Scotland, while they got out of a "bit of trouble" against Wales.
"It’s a very different challenge to what we’re used to," added O'Connell, who retired in 2015 after winning 115 international caps.
"A lot of teams play very structured rugby; they’re a little bit different.
"Big challenge at the ruck then as well. They tend to put a lot of pressure on your ruck ball. I think they’ve gathered a lot of experience over the last few years.
"They’ve had the same coaching staff over the last few years, they’ve that continuity of players and coaching staff similar to what we do.
"They understand what they do inside out. They’ve had some bad days like we’ve had, you get to reflect on it and put a few things in place that stops it from happening again.
"I think they’re in a great place and it promises to be a really tough clash for us."
Les Bleus boast the world's best player in scrum-half Antoine Dupont but O'Connell says they can't just focus on the scrum-half, citing Toulouse lock Thibaud Flament as a serious threat.
"He’s obviously a very good second row forward and he does all the second row stuff very well, he’s very adept at that Toulouse way of playing," O'Connell said.
"He offloads high, he’s very happy running high, offloading high, and passing high, and very good at helping his team get in behind the opposition.
"A very good reader of quick ball as well, of when it’s on to go and do something. He’s a good athlete as well, a lot of these guys that create bits of space through an offload or a carry, they generally accelerate quite well.
"He’s a big part of the challenge for us."
The game will be the last home internationals for Cian Healy, Peter O'Mahony and Conor Murray, who yesterday announced their Test retirements at the end of the Six Nations, marking the end of an era for a trio who have 371 Irish caps between them.
O'Connell believes the team don't need extra motivation when they are playing such a high-stakes game.
"The boys don’t rely on emotion, massively," he said.
"It’s the icing on the cake rather than the whole cake these days.
"I don’t think we’ll be using it for emotion or to help us win the game, it’s more about marking their contribution.
"It hasn’t always been easy for them. They’ve had to keep coming back and keep fighting for their place.
"Pete has been in and out in the last few years, same with Conor Murray. Cian has had to reinvent himself and figure out a way to stay part of the group.
"How much they enjoy it adds to the whole enjoyment for all the players and all the coaches as well.
"They’ve had to work really hard and it’s more about marking their contribution rather than using it as any motivation for us.
"I just don’t think we need it. We’re good when we know how important it is and how serious the occasion is for us, but we’re good when we’re nice and clear as well, and calm under pressure."
