Declan Kidney’s side travel to the Stade de France hoping to claim only their third victory over France in Paris since 1952.

But O’Connell, who enjoyed his first taste over victory over France last year, says beating the Les Bleus on their own patch will be the next step for the Grand Slam champions to establish themselves as a world force.

“If we beat France away from home it will be an incredible feeling and a good box ticked,” said the Lions captain.

“It would be a highlight in my career. In my earlier years I looked at guys like Peter Clohessy having very tough times over there.

“Irish teams sometimes went to Paris with high hopes, sometimes not, but always came off second best.

“But it's got to the stage now where we believe we can go over there and win. Now we need to actually do it.

“We've always taken talented teams to Paris but now we're going there with a Grand Slam. You can't argue with that.

“We had an okay autumn, the results were good, so we're going over there in a better position than ever before.”