France v Ireland 8pm Freeday Feb 2 24 rte two.

One think they need to sort out is managibg whoever is in charge of getting the replays to the TMO, it's not the first time where the replay has either been slow or even worse has shown the wrong angle footage to the TMO.

You could see that ben Whitehouse was visibly frustrated when trying to do his job.

Dupont tearing it up at ten for Toulouse this weekend.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=93vMWquDi4o&pp=ygUOVG91bG91c2UgcnVnYnk%3D

Was hoping to watch it back again but didn't get a chance yet, some thoughts... it was hard to fault any of the players to be honest when you take their performances on the whole. Was very disappointed in the French, as time has passed I've wondered is a certain amount of the scoreline down to them being particularly poor on the night. Time will tell I guess when we see their performances over the rest of the tournament, but still, not many go to France and put up the score we did. Kudos to POC and co. for sorting the lineout. Scrum is still a bit of a worry.

France, England and Wales are in a state of transition either with players or coaches, much more than us... the Slam should very much be on to be honest after that result.

15 - his usual composed self, super performance

14 - very encouraging debut, took his try well on the opposite wing, was looking for work and made the most metres of any player on the pitch. Offers something different to Lowe

13 - thought Henshaw went well bar getting all at sea in one French attack in the second half. A bugbear of mine with Ringrose is he doesn't bring his wingers in to play as much as he should... Henshaw seems more open to the pass than cutting back in against the grain. Four offloads throughout the game

12 - made some hard yards and carries, our best option at 12 still

11 - that big boot of his with the wind in the first half relieved us of a lot of pressure at times. Superb read in the second half, important moment

10 - some dodgy kicks in the first half had knives being sharpened by some but he was brilliant with ball in hand I thought outside of that and grew into the game. Encouraging debut performance away in France

9 - thought he was great, nice to see him on the scoreboard as he doesn't get many for us. Great tempo, his fitness levels must be off the charts.

8 - started slow but was everywhere by the second half. Made as many metres as Lowe with ball in hand.

7 - industrious defensively with 10 tackles (4 missed). Had 9 carries but didn't make much ground.

6 - imperious in the lineout and had an important steal on the ground under the cosh. Matched JvdF's industriousness with 10 tackles and 1 missed. Handled the ref well. Quiet with ball in hand (hardly touched it!) but I don't think that's his role

5 - I know McCarthy got the plaudits and the MOTM... but I thought Beirne was on a whole other level to every other player on the pitch. Lineout takes and steals, metres made with ball in hand, steals on the deck, the try, tackles, he was leading the stats on a whole range of metrics. Sensational performance, as good if not better than the one in NZ. Himself and POM bossed the lineout

4 - McCarthy was a great foil to Beirne's style of play. Got through mountains of dirty work, punched holes in their gainline every time he got the ball. Our top tackler with 14, driving them backwards at times. Won't be happy with the penalty and 5 missed tackles but for a debut performance away in France was excellent. Took some lineout ball also if I remember rightly. Lovely moment with his brother afterwards. A performance to give Ryan and Henderson some food for thought

3 - Not the force he was, evident in his workrate round the pitch.

2 - Lineout went very well and he was great in attack and defence.

1 - Conceded 5 penalties (rest of the team... 8)... I'll bow to BJ Botha's superior knowledge on the scrum ones he mentioned in his tweets but to my eye he was boring in on some of the overhead shots I saw of other scrums. Tackles and carried well and was a menace at the breakdown.

Scheduling and workload. He needs to train with France sevens and play a minimum number of tournaments on the sevens circuit to qualify for the Olympic squad. I've watched Toulouse play a few times recently and it looks like that he's dropped 5Kg+ of muscle due to all the extra cardio work for the sevens.

He does seem superhuman on the pitch at times but there's a limit to how many training camps you can commit to and how much workload his body can take.

Dupont played at 10 for Toulouse. He looked very good.

There is a bit of clarity here, but it begs the question why they didnt include him for the Irish game and then replace him for the rest of the 6N.

Following Toulouse’s Top 14 victory over Bayonne, where Dupont was once again an influential figure, the 27-year-old will now join up with the France sevens side.

He will take part in the next two legs of the World Rugby SVNS series, which are being hosted in Vancouver (February 23-25) and Los Angeles (March 2-3) as he looks to get accustomed to the sport ahead of the Olympics.

The number I'd heard was three but I see you liked an article above where they only mentioned two.

Dupont is good enough to turn up and play out of position at 10 for Toulouse with just some very light training and off pitch prep. He's played there often enough for them. A France 6N camp and test matches is a completely different level of intensity.

You’d have to wonder if France had won the RWC would Dupont be bothered about the 7s?

Get an impression that this is a bit of a consolation prize so he can try again to win a global tournament, for France, with a final in Paris

Are second rows any more likely to commit high tackles? I sometimes wonder if they struggle to get down to tackle a much shorter player.

The TMO has operators that sit beside him in the same room, they queue up the replays for him to view. Must have gotten a poor video operator beside him.

That is for the TV replays. For the TMO they have direct access to the feed and can see all angles replays etc. There is 3 or 4 people in a room with dedicated workstations. 2 or 3 operators who pick out the clips at angles/speeds and line them up for the TMO to review.

I imagine that the TMO is dependent on what is made available to him frommthe commercial TV provider otherwise it would mean that the TMO's video crew would have to be analysing all camera feeds throughout the match.

If the TV company picks and chooses the what it replays and from what angle it influences what the TMO can see.

Mind you I think the referee and his linesmen were poor as well and they seem to want to avoid certain decisions.

I the free against Crowley contesting the Garryowen survey the referee or TMO should have looked for the lower camera angle to see the impact the French player on the ground had on Crowley.