Wales were convincing winners over France at the Principality (Millennium) Stadium on Friday night, securing a 19-10 victory and keeping them in the race for the Six Nations title. George North scored for the home side, as France suffered their first defeat under coach Guy Noves.
France will play Scotland next at Murrayfield, while Wales take on England in a crucial game at Twickenham. England top the table with 6 points, one ahead of Wales on 5.
Scotland might not have been favourites in your eyes... but they did the job
:/
I am a France fan but France will struggle to beat a motivated Scottish side. France's overall physicality has dropped behind the Celtic nations. In 2004-2007 they were able to suck numbers in defense and score out wide in almost every game. Now they longer dominate the breakdown, this puts pressure and indecision on the half backs who are interchanging from game to game way too much. (Plisson had a shocker). The team has lacked structure and consistency since 2010. The Welsh players know each other inside out and it shows. That is where the Welsh deservedly beat them.
Brian Moore's commentary is an acquired taste - especially for us non-English.
But he's a good writer (has a column in the Telegraph, and his books are excellent), and he does a lot of work to make sure he understands the rules. So while he still isn't my favorite commentator, I do respect his opinions, and he's much less likely than some of his colleagues to say something that is obviously wrong.
Brian Moore lost it...that guy is a bore: long silence then some French dull bashing then silence again...I love sports on the BBC and he's not up for the job. He makes me sad.
He shrank a lot as well, no?
Except as referees, we are taught that a series of infringements in "the red zone" can be grounds for carding, regardless of repetition of a given offence or the same player infringing multiple times. If you feel there is a pattern of cynically breaking the laws in order to stop a team from scoring, you can certainly card someone...typically it's the next bloke that infringes after you have a stern chat with the captain.
Funny you should say that.
Didn't I say in my very first post Wales deserved to win?
Maybe you should read it again.
guys, we can argue this to death and mince words, but facts remain:
- France are favourites at Murrayfield. even the bookies say so, im said it himself. and bookies hate to lose money.
-Italy will get the wooden spoon, after 3 defeats in the first 3 games.
also I'm not the one who started this "favourites" discussion....honestly I don't see what there is to argue about here.
Eddie & Colombes, Thanks for that. Interesting insight.
I like him as a player, attacks the line well and creates dynamic attacking players. Thought he had a very demonstrable impact on Friday's game. Will be interesting to see what plays out, Plisson is none to shabby a player either but I think Trinh-Duc just gets the back line firing more.
Interesting stuff about Trinh-Duc. I thought his main problem was that he'd had a lot of bad luck with injuries.
As of this season, he also has Jake White coaching him at Montpellier - and Jake's not someone who puts up with nonsense. So I wonder if he's had a bit of a change of attitude of late; Jake is a great man-manager, wouldn't come as a huge surprise to me if he'd made a difference.
Interesting, I hadn't heard that one before actually. Like you said though, he must have a massive alter ego. So many players are dicks on the pitch but saints off it, if T-D is an arse then it would be very strange...
Agree on Trinh-Duc's quality. I heard a while ago that the rest of the team can't stand him and by all accounts he is so disruptive a prick that Saint-Andre wouldn't pick him for fear of upsetting the entire squad. If that is true, he must be a monumental arse behind closed doors, because he's always appeared to be a decent bloke on the pitch.
Does anyone have any credible insight on that?
And while you're there, that nickname - Trou-Duc - is that just a play on the word for arsehole? Or is there more to it?
Trinh-Duc is such a brilliant player, I really hope he gets some silverware at some point because he really has been done a disservice by the French management over the years, how he hasn't been their starting 10 since forever is unbelievable..
Oliver, France have shown some promise, but their overall results have been poor. I was disappointed that Ireland lost, however they didn't deserve the win when it came down to the French pack dominance... I don't understand how France didn't put the points on.
Also regarding this game, I firstly put up there that Barnes was pants in not carding a Welsh player*, however how many times did France get so close to the Welsh line and still not get through, they lack the finishing edge. I don't think France will lose to Scotland, however I don't see them as clear favourites and judging by the way Scotland are playing currently, I can see how belief in them being close favourites is possible.
*@IM, I don't think it's the repetition of a particular infringement that matters, I think it's just the repetition of infringements full stop (or foul play). Barnes could (and should) have turned around to the Welsh and said, "that's 2 consecutive penalties in the red zone, you know what happens with a 3rd!" That way the entire Welsh team has been warned that their continued infringements will lead to either a card, or a penalty try and a card.
I really felt frustrations as a player of the game, and as a pack member. Scrummaging is a killer when it's repeated over and over and over, to be knocking on the Welsh try line and have a dominant scrum fked up by opposition infringements and ending up back on the halfway line at the end of it is so demoralising.
wrong......again.
Italy have lost their first 3 games and will in all likelihood get the wooden spoon.
OK bye!
Scotland favourites? yeah right. Even at their worst during the PSA years, les Bleus did not lose to Scotland once. The last defeat was in 2006. And 1999 before that.
Of course, they could lose, everything is possible but to say Scotland are favourites just shows you don't know much.
Wales clearly deserved this victory thanks to their attacking defence but to say it was comfortable is a bit amusing.
I wont comment much on the atrocious Wayne Barnes performance. Both teams didnt play well, but his way to manage scrum times and to not penalise Wales fouls in the 2nd half was intriguing and waste the show.
Now, it will be a match vs Sean Edwards defence and Eddie Jones mind games.
Despite the defeat, I've got the feeling les bleus are in better hands with Noves. Still some dumb moves (Jedrasiak should have received a yellow), the attacks are too shy but they try... Guirado as a formidable example. The absence of line breakers like Picamoles, Fofana and Huget (all injured) is a problem, but Trinh-Duc come back will be interesting to follow.
I think we can safely assume Monsieur Osprey was being sarcastic. (I hope so anyway!). But before England fans get cocky, they played very similar tactics, just with a bloke in an 8 shirt instead of 12 smashing his way through the middle of the park. A sight to behold as far as I'm concerned, not that subtle though. Will be fascinating to see if he can still do this against his cousin in a couple of weeks...
Oliver, 100% agree on Guirardo, the bloke was everywhere and absolutely immense. Talk about leading from the front.
Reluctant as I am to criticise the refs, this was not Barnesy's finest performance. I got the impression he was concentrating so much on delivering his instructions in French that it may have distracted him from more important tasks. Rumours that his French vocabulary book was taking up so much space in his pocket that he had no space left for his yellow card are as yet unconfirmed.
Also annoyed me how much he wanted to teach seasoned front rowers how to scrummage. Thought he was going to pull on a team shirt and pack down at one point.
yup. 5 penalties in a row on the 5 m line.........
after the 3rd one, it should be a yellow or penalty try.
also: attacking masterclass, ARE YOU KIDDING ME??! the only Welsh try was one of the luckiest ever. The Guardian said it had "more than an element of farce"!
Anyways I still think Wales deserved to win it, so kudos to them. One thing I am very happy about is that France has found a fantastic new captain. Guirado absolutely deserves to walk in Dusautoir's footsteps. And as I said elsewhere, I'm quite hopeful for the future. Looking forward to Le Crunch in Paris now!
I guess when you have a referee who is going to keep to keep blowing up for scrum collapses, maul collapses, offsides etc etc, in the red zone, but refuse to card anyone then I guess you can only become an unstoppable team.....
Will anyone be able to stop our attacking MASTERCLASS?