France vs Wales; St. Bridget's Day, 2019

Burkie1203

France in nutshell

https://twitter.com/rpetty80/status/1091459296834043909?s=19

nice_guy80

Wales just cheat all over the park
Breakdown
Flying off their feet at rucks
Side of rucks
Offside line - offside half the game
When ball is in the air blocking runners
Illegal chop tackles leading with the shoulder

Jump_In_Jack

Wales are not as bad as made out.
George North Jonathan Davies and Liam Williams in the back line are all brilliant players.
Gareth Davies and Dan Biggar should be the starting half backs I think.
The back row were very busy, and the locks weren’t bullied by the bigger French locks.
The front row won a few penalties in the scrums and looked very solid.

Ireland are a good team but so are Wales.

I reckon it would be 50/50, they are very good at adapting their team to play a kicking game or a passing game or as they showed tonight they can play an offensive defense game, they let France have the ball and make mistakes from the Welsh pressure.

If Ireland had won that game against France away against the heaviest ever pack, in bitter cold conditions, by a single lucky play at the end of the match, it would be spoken about as heroic and proof how good they are.

Wales are better than most are admitting on this thread, Ireland will have a dogfight with them on the last day.

clsmooth

jr86 wrote: »

Have to say that logic absolutely baffles me too. As if Wales's performance tonight, away from home, in tough conditions is an automatic barometer as to how they'll fare in the rest of the tournament

It's a momentum tournament and playing in front of their own fans in a cauldron like atmosphere is worlds apart from tonight.

They've a similar run to Ireland last year. Get a rough first up game out of the way with a win of any sort, then a much handier one v Italy and a 2 week break to prepare for first home game.

They're real contenders

Isn't that what Swiwi was implying? They'll get better from tonight. Like we did last year. Win ugly away from home tonight. Beat Italy and suddenly they have England at home. That's the key one for them. A bit like us tomorrow.

jr86

clsmooth wrote: »

Isn't that what Swiwi was implying? They'll get better from tonight. Like we did last year. Win ugly away from home tonight. Beat Italy and suddenly they have England at home. That's the key one for them. A bit like us tomorrow.

I was agreeing with him and referencing the post he quoted

FrancieBrady

Jump_In_Jack wrote: »

Wales are not as bad as made out.
George North Jonathan Davies and Liam Williams in the back line are all brilliant players.
Gareth Davies and Dan Biggar should be the starting half backs I think.
The back row were very busy, and the locks weren’t bullied by the bigger French locks.
The front row won a few penalties in the scrums and looked very solid.

Ireland are a good team but so are Wales.

I reckon it would be 50/50, they are very good at adapting their team to play a kicking game or a passing game or as they showed tonight they can play an offensive defense game, they let France have the ball and make mistakes from the Welsh pressure.

If Ireland had won that game against France away against the heaviest ever pack, in bitter cold conditions, by a single lucky play at the end of the match, it would be spoken about as heroic and proof how good they are.

Wales are better than most are admitting on this thread, Ireland will have a dogfight with them on the last day.

You are stretching it a bit there. Both teams were fairly dire there tonight and at the end of the day, Wales only scored from a multitude of **** ups.

jr86

FrancieBrady wrote: »

You are stretching it a bit there. Both teams were fairly dire there tonight and at the end of the day, Wales only scored from a multitude of **** ups.

Don't think he's denying that

Just saying Wales are a lot better than they showed

They're notoriously slow starters too in general . Most of their best rugby generally comes from game 3 onwards. One of their rivals already out of the slam race tomorrow

Former Observer

Big win for Wales from which they will take a lot. France were dire in second half but these types of early games are as much about survival as anything else, as well we know from last year. Huget always good for a game defining mistake. Thought Liam Williams was very good. Tournament could resemble two horse race from tomorrow.

Quint2010

awec wrote: »

Doesn't matter a jot.

We should beat both those teams.

We'll beat France no bother. But if Wales are going for a GS in Cardiff against us I'd fear for us TBH. They are a different animal at home.

jr86

Quint2010 wrote: »

We'll beat France no bother.

You'd imagine so but then again if (big if I know) they can dust themselves off next week and pull off an upset in Twickenham, they should beat Scotland at home and then could well be right in the championship when they come to Dublin, knowing they've an essential gimme last up v Italy

If England got a hiding of sorts tomorrow I wouldn't write off France bouncing back against them and playing themselves back into the championship

leakyboots

Think that's George North up to 3rd in the all-time Six Nations try scorers list... at 26 years of age. I know it was two gifts but still... phenomenal scoring rate.

FrancieBrady

Even though France went 16 up in first half, there was something really rudderless about how they achieved it. Sure, when they were allowed play they looked to have flair and imagination, but no self respecting team would allow that. When Wales finally knuckled down they showed how bad France are, and Wales really never had to rise above mediocre.

Ardillaun

Can’t see the point of picking Atonio. Bamba deserves to start next match. He looked really lively in open play. Feel sorry for Huget - just one of those awful sporting moments he’ll have to live with.

Dave_The_Sheep

Stolen from the subreddit:

penybont exile

Some enjoyable comments ......

We were crap in the first half .... much better in the second.

A win is a win ... especially away in Paris.

Matt Williams .... how he gets a media gig in Ireland I do not know. Keep knocking us .... we'll see you all in March . Good luck tomorrow.

prawnsambo

penybont exile wrote: »

Some enjoyable comments ......

We were crap in the first half .... much better in the second.

A win is a win ... especially away in Paris.

Matt Williams .... how he gets a media gig in Ireland I do not know. Keep knocking us .... we'll see you all in March . Good luck tomorrow.

Don't feel as if it's just you, he knocks everyone, mostly us. He's wearing George Hook's old corsets or something.

leakyboots

Ardillaun wrote: »

Can’t see the point of picking Atonio. Bamba deserves to start next match. He looked really lively in open play. Feel sorry for Huget - just one of those awful sporting moments he’ll have to live with.

Was only watching on a tablet while at work but was Bamba not getting screwed in the scrum by Evans?


Fantastic prospect though, still only 20!

Tigerandahalf

Great result for Wales. You need a bit of luck to win the GS and they will build on that.
Liam Williams a joy to watch at fb.
Wales aren't liked around these parts because they have a habit of turning us over in the big ones.

Halfpenny has looked finished for a while, has lost a bit of pace so they have stumbled onto a very potent back 3 and then 2 very good centres. With Biggar/Anscombe at 10 and Davies/Williams and even Webb they have some serious depth. Good pack too when you consider Faletau is out injured.

France still look a bit of a mess. Don't think Lopez is the answer at 10.

Ardillaun

In fairness to both teams, conditions were poor and their handling will probably improve considerably next time out.

Ardillaun

leakyboots wrote: »

Was only watching on a tablet while at work but was Bamba not getting screwed in the scrum by Evans?
Fantastic prospect though, still only 20!

Despite its enormity that French scrum was generally mediocre. Bamba was in it when the French won a penalty. I’ve just never been that impressed by Atonio although he may be saving his best performances for the 99% of games when I’m not watching him.

swiwi_

Even Venjur with his floaters would have trouble matching vahaamahina.

Tigerandahalf

The sub loosehead (Pristo I think he is) is quite a good scrummager. His physique would remind one of Cian Healy.

That sub lock for France looked really good too. Every time he took the ball he took a step rather than using blunt force to get over the gain line. If he can do well in the lineout he looks a future player for them, an area they have struggled in for a long time.

Was Dupont the scrumhalf injured? I would have thought he would have started. Serin's passing looked very laboured when he came on.

Burkie1203

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

The sub loosehead (Pristo I think he is) is quite a good scrummager. His physique would remind one of Cian Healy.

That sub lock for France looked really good too. Every time he took the ball he took a step rather than using blunt force to get over the gain line. If he can do well in the lineout he looks a future player for them, an area they have struggled in for a long time.

Was Dupont the scrumhalf injured? I would have thought he would have started. Serin's passing looked very laboured when he came on.

Marchand injured his knee at the end. Nothing confirmed yet but he looked in trouble. Massive blow for them. If its ACL means no RWC

mangobob

It has already been mentioned by a few posters above, but I have to say I am amazed at some of the comments here regarding Wales and how they are no longer a worry for Ireland. Yes they were terrible for 40mins and were bloody lucky to win. Yes France absolutely imploded and literally handed them 14 points. But how on earth can anyone with even a passing familiarity with this tournament extrapolate that performance out to the last game and believe that Wales will be that poor again when we face them in Cardiff? They will be orders of magnitude better, especially if they are still in the hunt for a GS at that point. Even if they have nothing to play for, our welsh cousins always raise their game against us and last year they were arguably an intercepted pass away from beating us at the Aviva. Imo it is now the tournaments biggest rivalry and they will be targetting that game big time.

Its a cliche at this point but Shane Williams was absolutely right in saying that this is a momentum tournament and you need a large slice of luck to win it. You take your wins any way you can get them at the start and then you build from there. Ireland are notoriously slow starters too. Last year we were seriously underwhelming in very similar conditions against the French and we needed a moment of brilliance from Sexton to win it. For 82 odd minutes you would never have guessed that we would be GS champions. By the time we rocked up against England we were a completely different beast. Wales will be also.

They are a fantastic team with some very good players and a top class coach. They are also on a very long winning streak and are not 3rd in the world for nothing. If there is to be a GS this year, they are still my favourites to do it. Congrats to all of our welsh board members on that result. You certainly rode your luck but you really stepped up in the second half and showed plenty of composure in defence to see it out at the end. You can take the general level of grumbling and begrudgery on this thread as a measure of how anxious most people are about that final game. Here's hoping that Ireland can get to that last game with all to play for which will make for a tremendous cliffhanger. However if we are even a few percent off our best, we could easily be turned over by England and again in Murrayfield and be out of the running entirely by March 16th, so I am not counting a single chicken. Right now we have our hands full with a very dangerous team and I would take a 1 point flukey win, such is the importance of the first game. Allez les verts.

Only catching up on this now.

Wales weren't clinical in the first half but they were the better team. France didn't really manufacture much and their early scores were a mixture of individual french skill and individual welsh errors but the two systems of rugby on display told a very different story.

France are terribly coached. They are terribly coached and after a few phases they look AIL standard. The type of fitness they emphasis is also robbing them of a final quarter. They've turned into a poor man's South Africa and I wouldn't be surprised if they lose at home to Scotland or away to Italy.

Wales on the other hand look quite settled. They didn't panic after the first half and the scores they gave away were not obvious system failures. Gatland couldn't wait to take Anscombe off. As soon as he finally slotted a kick he was gone and Biggar had an immediate impact and I'm certain will start next week. He has obviously heard the criticism and had a settled performance and dictated the game from his first touch of the ball.

Wales in the driving seat now, they've an away win on the board against one of the traditionally top teams. They are going to be seriously hard to beat in Cardiff and if Ireland win this afternoon I could see a serious show down coming down the tracks in 6 weeks time.

Ardillaun

I’d like to see a smaller French pack with better scrummaging technique. They used to grind other teams down there.

Wales are efficient at the moment, a bit like ourselves, and Williams was excellent at 15 in awful conditions.