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

awec

This welsh side will not win a grand slam.

beertons

Jaysus. The French really blew that.

Losty Dublin

Wheres Me Jumper? wrote: »

very entertaining game it must be said.
unlike what we are likely to see tomorrow?

Oh well you may scoff, WMJ. Scotland and Italy tomorrow will make this quagmire feel like the Barbarians vs New Zealand.

FrancieBrady

vienne86 wrote: »

Actually there were three woeful passes.

They were all well above head height if I remember. Awful stuff tbh.

OldRio

Wheres Me Jumper? wrote: »

very entertaining game it must be said.
unlike what we are likely to see tomorrow?

So transparent. Deary me.

Utopia Parkway

awec wrote: »

This welsh side will not win a grand slam.

Probably not but France imploding tonight probably means Wales will still be in with a shout of the championship on the final day against Ireland.

Wheres Me Jumper?

awec wrote: »

This welsh side will not win a grand slam.

you're probably right.
but at halftime i would have said (i did in fact) they would not come close to France.

that's why we love it!:D

clsmooth

sydthebeat wrote: »

Why do they keep blaming ntamack for that pass?? It was vaahahmihina

He was also our best player last year giving us a load of penalties. Surely France have someone better?

scudzilla

Played crap and came out with a win, delighted with that, that Grand Slam is in our sights

Beechwoodspark

France will be disgusted

Wheres Me Jumper?

OldRio wrote: »

So transparent. Deary Dreary me.

there you go!;)

sydthebeat

Wheres Me Jumper? wrote: »

very entertaining game it must be said.
unlike what we are likely to see tomorrow?

Entertaining if you are the type who slows down for car crashes.

There was very little rugby out there and more of a game of musical chairs

awec

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Probably not but France imploding tonight probably means Wales will still be in with a shout of the championship on the final day against Ireland.

I fancy England will beat them.

Bazzo

dregin wrote: »

Two rudderless teams doing their best to make eachother look good. I don't see much in either team to worry about from an Irish perspective

Liked Lambey when he came on and thought Serin was an upgrade on Parra, but they really threw that away.

I thought Serin was a prodigy when he first came through but his passing tonight looked like he was passing through jelly it was so slow.

no.8

Raving_Magic wrote:

That Welsh side won't beat England so I can't see it coming down to a Grand Slam decider against Ireland

Rather short-sided view imo. Opening night, a Friday in early Feb. Reckon they'll be a completely different animal come Match.

Another note. Wondering why its always seems to be France vs. Wales on a Friday.

Paul Smeenus

Italy night get two wins this Six Nations...

sydthebeat

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

Italy night get two wins this Six Nations...

Nah....

swiwi_

Bazzo wrote: »

I thought Serin was a prodegy when he first came through but his passing tonight looked like he was passing through jelly it was so slow.

Initially he was a fine starter but then he stank the pitch up



(Need to be a child of the 90s I fear)

baas baa

I could easily envisage Wales building momentum and winning the slam. I can equally see them losing away to Italy next week.

France conceded 24 points in the second half, in atrocious conditions and when they had a 16 point cushion to kill the game with. They must be running out of ways to lose by now.

sydthebeat

swiwi_ wrote: »

Initially he was a fine starter but then he stank the pitch up



(Need to be a child of the 90s I fear)

Played electric picnic last year

awec

Forwards should be banned from passes longer than a metre.

Beechwoodspark

Seriously France are pioneering new ways to mess up at this stage

Wheres Me Jumper?

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

France will be disgusted

i imagine l'escargots are tasting rather off ce soir

Del.Monte

France - what can you say...gifted two converted tries to Wales. Dire once again, even at Home, is it any wonder the stadium wasn't full.

thomond2006

That Vaahamahina pass had got to be up there with one of the worst decisions ever made on a Six Nations pitch. Just incredibly awful.

Wheres Me Jumper?

Pints of Welsh bitter all round it is then ...

baas baa

thomond2006 wrote: »

That Vaahamahina pass had got to be up there with one of the worst decisions ever made on a Six Nations pitch. Just incredibly awful.

I doubt he's ever completed a 30 metre pass in his career, bizarre decision.

jr86

swiwi_ wrote: »

If you think Wales first up in the rain at Paris = Wales in last match at home to Ireland...

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

jr86

awec wrote: »

I fancy England will beat them.

Still won't rule them out of the tournament going into last match (provided they beat Italy and Scotland), unless another team wins all their matches but goes BP crazy - which looks very unlikely this season

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.