Ireland head coach Declan Kidney intends to tell his side to go out and attack France when the sides meet in Dublin on Sunday.
Ireland were far from their best in nicking a 13-11 win over Italy in their RBS Six Nations opener in Rome last week, while France ran in four tries in a glittering attacking display against Scotland.
But Kidney insists there is no point putting the emphasis on defence against the Grand Slam champions.
“With the way the laws of the game are now, if you stand off France and try to do damage limitation, you’ll be opened up,” he said.
“So we need to have the courage to go out and play. We’ll continue to do that.
“These fellas are hugely self-critical and sometimes they just need to relax, trust themselves and go out and play. That’s what I’m hoping they’ll do on Sunday.”
The return of Jamie Heaslip will be a boost for Ireland, even if their outstanding performer of last autumn’s Tests will be playing for the first time since December.
The Lions back rower comes in at number eight, with Sean O’Brien moving to blindside flanker and Denis Leamy dropping to the bench. Otherwise, Kidney felt no need to tinker with a line-up that misfired at the Stadio Flaminio.
Not satisfied
“I wasn’t satisfied with the way we played against Italy. We can play a lot better,” he added. “But the players performed in such a way that meant they deserved another go.
“Sometimes you need to back your players and after the way they went about their business, that’s what I’m doing.
“There were times last week when we offloaded to people who weren’t in better positions than the ball carrier.
“The co-ordination between combinations takes time to bed in and that’s why we’ve gone with the same team.
“Jamie’s a good player and brings his own skill set. That’ll give us variation in the team. Jamie trained fully yesterday and trained fully today, so there was no need not to select him.
“He’s looking forward to it but there’s always a bit of trepidation coming back in if you haven’t been out in the middle playing week in week out.”
