Ireland and France head into yet another crunch game at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday in the Rugby World Cup, with the winner avoiding a meeting with the All Blacks in the quarter finals.

After New Zealand cruised to victory in a 47-9 win over Tonga last night, the All Blacks sealed top place in pool C meaning that which ever team finishes second after tomorrow's decider will face the World Cup holders in the next round.

Both teams are unbeaten in this year's tournament, but Joe Schmidt's Ireland squad sit at the top of pool D having a superior points difference than their opponents. Ireland were convincing winners over Canada and Romania in their first two games, but struggled against Italy last week despite winning 16-9 in London.

The French have also been in impressive form throughout the tournament with strong wins over Italy, Romania and a very strong performance last week as they cruised to a 41-18 win over Canada.

The last time the two met, Ireland were 18-11 winners in a close game in Dublin. The two met in the 2007 Rugby World Cup which saw the French win 25-3 in a one sided game, but anything other than a defeat for the Irish tomorrow will see them avoid New Zealand in the next round.

Henderson drops to the bench for the Irish

There are two surprise decisions from the Ireland team, with both Jared Payne and Iain Henderson missing out. Payne’s absence is believed to be due to a foot injury.

Henderson has been one of Ireland's stand out performers in this year's tournament and it is a surprise to see the Ulster man drop to the bench. Schmidt has opted with a usual back-row of O'Mahony, O'Brien and Heaslip to provide that well organised consistency against their toughest opponents so far. Cian Healy starts with Rory Best and Mike Ross in the front row with Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton pairing up once more. 

The French make small changes for the game

Number eight Louis Picamoles and wing Noa Nakaitaci, who both started the first two France matches, return to the squad in place of Bernard Le Roux and Remy Grosso. Damien Chouly switches from number eight against Canada to openside flanker.

Ten of the starting line-up for France tomorrow started against Ireland the last time the two met in a 18-11 win for Ireland during the Six Nations in February.

How the side's line-up

Ireland: R Kearney, T Bowe, K Earls, R Henshaw, D Kearney, J Sexton, C Murray, C Healy, R Best, M Ross, D Toner, P O'Connell (captain), P O'Mahony, S O'Brien, J Heaslip.

Replacements: R Strauss, J McGrath, N White, I Henderson, C Henry, E Reddan, I Madigan, L Fitzgerald.

France: Eddy Ben Arous, Guilhem Guirado, Rabah Slimani, Pascal Pape, Yoann Maestri, Thierry Dusautoir (captain), Damien Chouly, Louis Picamoles, Sebastien Tillous-Borde, Frederic Michalak, Brice Dulin, Wesley Fofana, Mathieu Bastareaud, Noa Nakaitaci

Replacements: Scott Spedding, Benjamin Kayser, Vincent Debaty, Nicolas Mas, Alexandre Flanquart, Bernard Le Roux, Morgan Parra, Remi Tales, Alexandre Dumoulin

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Liam Headd
Sports Journalism Graduate | Founder/Writer for NW Football | Contributor for VAVEL | Views are my own.