Match preview & thread: FRA vs IRE (Sat Feb 3, 1645)

The Talking Bread

Deleted User wrote: »

I have to say, thank you Munster rugby. You showed that this sort of thing is possible. You showed that an inevitable conclusion can be conquered if everyone does everything right and you make the most of the very little that you have.

Absolutely amazing performance. I'd have lived with a loss there, France were absolutely outrageous. They are weaker for having played a game because there is something to look at now but that was a 23 player effort to a very high standard. They were poor going forward bar some individual excellence but were unbelievably committed. The All Blacks would have struggled just as much.

That cross field kick. That drop goal. It all working and the win.

I will never forget this game. Absolutely exceptional. Absolutely exceptional. Beaten but won.

Hyperbole much!! Christ!

Unbelievable finish but jeez..........!

LuckyGent88

As disappointed as I was in a lot of our attacking play and the lack of progression today under Joe, calling for his head is ridiculous imo.

The weather was awful, the French weren’t as bad as we thought and we made some small silly errors in key areas.

Good to have the Italians up next. Hopefully build on our attacking play as I can’t see us conceding much with our defense

D.Q

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Hyperbole much!! Christ!

Unbelievable finish but jeez..........!

How do you down thank someone?

Squidgy Black

gooch2k9 wrote: »

Are France the only team pulling this HIA craic? Appalling that they get away with it.

The match doctor called it, not the French staff. Supposed to be an independent assessor to the team doctors.

super_furry

josip wrote: »

TV3 panel are incredibly bad

I’m almost grateful for all the ad breaks

ScrubsfanChris

https://twitter.com/Munsterrugby/status/959860442184200192

Franz Von Peppercorn

josip wrote: »

TV3 panel are incredibly bad

O’Gara still convinced France couldn’t have won. They got the 230 trackles he thought impossible

Delighted with the win but let’s not rewrite history

awec

Deleted User wrote: »

I have to say, thank you Munster rugby. You showed that this sort of thing is possible. You showed that an inevitable conclusion can be conquered if everyone does everything right and you make the most of the very little that you have.

Absolutely amazing performance. I'd have lived with a loss there, France were absolutely outrageous. They are weaker for having played a game because there is something to look at now but that was a 23 player effort to a very high standard. They were poor going forward bar some individual excellence but were unbelievably committed. The All Blacks would have struggled just as much.

That cross field kick. That drop goal. It all working and the win.

I will never forget this game. Absolutely exceptional. Absolutely exceptional. Beaten but won.

Very weird analysis of the match IMO.

It was an amazing last 120 seconds but the previous 78 minutes were pretty awful from Ireland. Certainly not an amazing performance. The standard was pretty low.

A loss would have been an incredibly poor result. In fact a loss today would have been among the low points of Schmidt's tenure. Not really sure why anyone would live with a grand slam being killed off right out the gate by a poor French team.

GDK_11

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Hyperbole much!! Christ!

Unbelievable finish but jeez..........!

Very good win but have to agree with you there, my favourite part was
“The All Blacks would have struggled just as much.”

No, they would not

Littlehorny

thelad95 wrote: »

Absolutely blessed to win that game.

I’m extremely disappointed with Nigel Owens, that is by far and away the worst I’ve ever seen from him, he had an absolute shocker.

He must be sick France didn't win, because he done his bloody best to give them the result. Does Owens have a history of bias against us? He certainly had blue shaded glasses on today.

baas baa

It should be noted that for the first HIA the match doctor called it, the french medic on the field disagreed at the time so I cant see any conspiracy there but the 2nd one should have serious reprecussions on the level of bloodgate.

MattD

Squidgy Black wrote: »

The match doctor called it, not the French staff. Supposed to be an independent assessor to the team doctors.

What can the match doctor go off other than the French player and medical team though? It seems like all the player has to say is 'oh yeah I got a knock on the head' and France can bring back on their specialist scrum half who's had a nice break on the sidelines.

Zzippy

https://twitter.com/RachelWhitten10/status/959863096864108546

Beechwoodspark

Littlehorny wrote: »

He must be sick France didn't win, because he done his bloody best to give them the result. Does Owens have a history of bias against us? He certainly had blue shaded glasses on today.

Nope he’s regarded as pretty fair overall which is why I’m bemused to say the least with some of his calls today

Guy:Incognito

Squidgy Black wrote: »

The match doctor called it, not the French staff. Supposed to be an independent assessor to the team doctors.

Player goes down injured, they need it to be a hia so he says to the doctor "I hit my head" , doctor says "ok, hia". The guy got no hit to the head.

It's the doctors call to tell Owens its a hia but at the end of the day, the French pulled a fast one. The doctor is always going to agree. Who is going to want to be the doctor to tell a player to stop play acting and then he collapses?

Akrasia

Littlehorny wrote: »

He must be sick France didn't win, because he done his bloody best to give them the result. Does Owens have a history of bias against us? He certainly had blue shaded glasses on today.

Leave it out. Owens reffed it as he saw it.

its_phil

stephen_n wrote: »

I’m sure that will disappoint a lot of posters here. That’s phenomenal from Ireland not giving up.

It might disappoint some posters that we didn't win, but that was a disappointing performance regardless of the result.

Let's enjoy it but let's not paper over cracks.

irishbucsfan

MattD wrote: »

What can the match doctor go off other than the French player and medical team though? It seems like all the player has to say is 'oh yeah I got a knock on the head' and France can bring back on their specialist scrum half who's had a nice break on the sidelines.

No, that's not how it works at all. The doctor sits independently with a replay device that is totally seperate to the TV coverage and calls it based on what he sees live or on replay. It's a very difficult and intense job and its certainly not an exact science.

Teferi

Teferi wrote: »

Jaysus lads, we were rubbish but great finish.

I totally disagree. France were incredible today. 23 exceptional athletes going far above and beyond anything they've collectively achieved in years. That was amazing from France and I really thought we'd break them down but they didn't let us.

We weren't bad at all. We were not at our best but we were well up there. That was just incredible, it's almost sad it wasn't on the last day as it would live for ever if it was the moment that won the grand slam.

Burkie1203

Littlehorny wrote: »

He must be sick France didn't win, because he done his bloody best to give them the result. Does Owens have a history of bias against us? He certainly had blue shaded glasses on today.

Owens has come up with some weird stuff lately. He had a word with Lowe v munster when Conway tackled him in the air and there was one in a champions cup match a few weeks ago which was a bit strange.

sydthebeat

A bit of hubris to say we're not as good as I thought. We played like a team shackled in that aki henshaw midfield didn't create anything.

Still, third away win in France in my living memory and I'll never forget that drop goal.

awec

Deleted User wrote: »

I totally disagree. France were incredible today. 23 exceptional athletes going far above and beyond anything they've collectively achieved in years. That was amazing from France and I really thought we'd break them down but they didn't let us.

We weren't bad at all. We were not at our best but we were well up there. That was just incredible, it's almost sad it wasn't on the last day as it would live for ever if it was the moment that won the grand slam.

Venjur, can I ask you with all seriousness, were you watching the right match today?

irishbucsfan

Deleted User wrote: »

France were incredible today.

Nah

BBDBB

Great to dig out the result at the end, but we should have put them out of sight way before the end.

Its one of those matches where all interested parties (Ireland, France and the Officials) need to go away and take a good look at their performances

Sephiral

That is a game we should have been out of sight in. Owens absolutely rode us all afternoon. Our tactics played into France's hands, but perhaps conditions forced our hands a bit. Stockdale got slightly sucked in for the try and was hauled off instantly. We really posed little threat off a LOT of ball because we struggled to carry the ball past the gainline consistently. That's all the negative stuff.

We were better in scrum and lineout and should have had penalties in the scrum on practically all their put ins. We controlled our ball well, in spite of it being too slow. Our kick chase was only okay by our standards, but still way better than France. Our set piece moves were the only time we looked dangerous with the ball.

That last play was brilliant. Forty phases and a 45 yard drop goal is the stuff of champions. After failing to put away a game that we should have, the whole team stepped up, demanded responsibility and two pieces of magic from Sexton were enough to grab victory. Nerves are shot.

Guy:Incognito

irishbucsfan wrote: »

No, that's not how it works at all. The doctor sits independently with a replay device that is totally seperate to the TV coverage and calls it based on what he sees live or on replay. It's a very difficult and intense job and its certainly not an exact science.

Did he have a special camera that showed head contact so? Cos none of the angles I watched on BBC had any. If he's saying there Was then there is in every tackle.

Augme

After todays matches I really do fear the trip to Wales far more now.

Former Former

Re the HIA.

If the players says, "I hit my head", what else is the team doc supposed to do except give him a HIA? At what point was the team doc able to see a replay?

The player is the cheat

baas baa

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I totally disagree. France were incredible today. 23 exceptional athletes going far above and beyond anything they've collectively achieved in years. That was amazing from France and I really though we'd break them down but they didn't let us.

We weren't bad at all. We were not at our best but we were well up there. That was just incredible, it's almost sad it wasn't on the last day as it would live for ever if it was the moment that won the grand slam.

We certainly made them look good by being very predictable in attack and failing to take our chances. Had we scored a try when we were deep in their 22 at 6-0 we'd have cruised to an easy win. Echoes of the Fiji game in November.

MattD

irishbucsfan wrote: »

No, that's not how it works at all. The doctor sits independently with a replay device that is totally seperate to the TV coverage and calls it based on what he sees live or on replay. It's a very difficult and intense job and its certainly not an exact science.

That's fair, I didn't know the details. But it still begs the question 'what did the doctor *see* that required a HIA'. Because it's the difference between a team being able to bring back Maxime Machenaud, rather than not having a SH for the last five minutes. Even if the player had passed a HIA and miraculously shook off his knee injury, he wouldn't have done it in time to come back on the pitch, so why do France get that advantage?

Edit: I'm not attacking or interrogating the quoted poster, just genuinely seeking reasons!