France v Wales (pre/during/post thread)

robo

They really shouldn't be missing such penalties!
The French are looking for opportunities and taking them with both hands...the Welsh are watching from the sideline for France to hand them a try...that is not how it works if you want to be a world class team!

hussey

any streams?? mine just went down??

juvenal

Trinh-Duc with a dropgoal attempt after a Jauzion break to bring them into the Welsh 22. Missed to the right.

More French attacks and Wales concede another penalty. Hook is now on at outhalf for Jones.

juvenal

Parra gets the French penalty to put a gap of 8 points between them with ten minutes to go.

70mins: France 21 Wales 13.

Eoin

What an amazing game - must be the match of the tournament so far. Harinordoquy and Shanklin both playing very well. Never realised just how lazy Chabal is.

juvenal

Hook with a penalty for Wales, to bring them back to five points. Would have been 7 points except for an outstanding try-saving tackle on Byrne by Dusautoir.

72mins: France 21 Wales 16.

hussey

found a stream http://www.ustream.tv/channel/503010

Stev_o

Buestraud really loves lining up those tackles from long winded passes.

robo

Bloody wires over the pitch are interferring with the kicks :rolleyes:

NickNolte

This is exciting stuff.

juvenal

At this stage Wales don't deserve to win, if they steal it at the death here the French will rue the missed penalties and conversion.

France WIN!!!!!!!!!

Fulltime: France 21 Wales 16 - outstading by France, especially when they went ten down. I didn't want a Welsh loss for Irish reasons, I want the best team to win, and the French fully deserved to beat Wales tonight.

Stev_o

Brilliant, lovely stuff. That gives us some leverage in some way with tomorrow. Let's hope this is the downfall of Wales in this years tournament.

robo

Good match!
Now I hope that the Irish team watched this as we have a great opportunity now!

cruiserweight

Happy with that France could have thrown it away there at the end

df1985

wow that was tense, i really thought wales were in near the end.the atmosphere in paris sounded amazing.

Stev_o

Finally got one right for a change

Stev_o wrote: »

It is a slightly bad team that is short of confidence and ideas but bearing in mind that the shackles seemed to come off against Wales and they started to believe in themselves they looked dangerous. Mean look at Wales, they riding in a bubble of confidence if someone gets at them again as hard as England i think it could easily burst.

:pac:

Eoin

Fantastic game. I was nearly as nervous in the last couple of minutes as during an Irish match. Roll on tomorrow evening.

barnesd

eoin wrote: »

What an amazing game - must be the match of the tournament so far. Harinordoquy and Shanklin both playing very well. Never realised just how lazy Chabal is.

Was quality but Ireland v France was better imo.

Chucky the tree

The last 10 minutes made for what was an awful 2nd half Welsh performance.

corny

Good game. The French should have won by more. Delighted Henson threw it away at the end. No better man!

Hard up in their faces really limits the Welsh gameplan. If you stop them getting over the gainline they're not that special, Ireland should take them.

juvenal

Man of the match: Imanol Harinordoquy.

Sherifu

Alles les bleus!

Bounty Hunter

extra interviews and discussion with the bbc lads on http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/emp/pop.stm atm

now interviewing martin williams

chupacabra

Fantastic game, worth the friday kick-off, unless you are a welsh supporter. Lost my bet tho

Also those camera wires will be cited, just you wait and see, 3 week ban for sure.

France dominated and should have won by more.The Welsh needed a kick up the arse anyway,they were getting a bit big for their boots.

stevire

Just aswell we came up against France before they found themselves in this performance!!

Serenity Now!

Joziah Plain Housetop wrote: »

France dominated and should have won by more.The Welsh needed a kick up the arse anyway,they were getting a bit big for their boots.

France played clever against Wales. Made the Welsh do the last thing they wanted to do ie. commit to the French ruckball.
Thought they were excellent and deserved the win.

Davei141

Any extended highlights floating around lads? Couldn't watch the game

Jello

What a match and a great start to what should be a great weekend. Well done France!

newmills

Joziah Plain Housetop wrote: »

The Welsh needed a kick up the arse anyway,they were getting a bit big for their boots.

Couldn't agree more. Do not, i repeat DO NOT go to paris thinking you are beating any french team. I have told a few of the lads all along that i thought wales will be found out by a team who gets up in their face for the entire match!! Good to see them going home with their tail between their legs!!:D:D

nacho libre

I was confident after seeing the Welsh backrow stifled by England that France would thoroughly dominate them. It would have been one of the greatest robberies in history if Wales had won that game. Gatland will be seething at Henson:D

All that said the Irish won't be able to dominate the Welsh pack as the French fries did.

curts82

Shouldn't of gone wide and Hook should of hit Shanklin instead of Henson. Wales hadn't nothing between 50 and 65.

nacho libre

Also, France deserve huge credit because many of their players had to play last weekend. At times it looked like it was them, not Wales, that had the two week rest. So much for the vaunted Welsh strength training regime, they were clearly out muscled by French upfront.

Stick_man

It was a strange performance from Wales, Byrne's try was majestic yet that was the only time I can remember them with ball in hand in the french half. Shanklin was outstanding while M.Williams was class as always. Question marks remain about R.Jones, I haven't seen a top class performance from him this year. Harinordoquy was incredible, he has always been a wonderful player, probably the deftest hands of any forward in Europe but has been lacking with his workrate. When he works like that only Parrisse is better.

Crash

Anyone found any stats for the match? I'd be interested to see the Welsh time spent in the oppositions 22 - I figure it would be pretty poor in comparison. French defense was by far more solid than its been for the last while - very impressive performance by the French back row.

edit: Baby didn't do too bad as an OH actually - Trinh Duc made a difference thouh on his appearance/

andyman

Crash wrote: »

Anyone found any stats for the match? I'd be interested to see the Welsh time spent in the oppositions 22 - I figure it would be pretty poor in comparison. French defense was by far more solid than its been for the last while - very impressive performance by the French back row.

edit: Baby didn't do too bad as an OH actually - Trinh Duc made a difference thouh on his appearance/

I thought Baby had a very good game. Initially when I heard he was starting I thought "Oh no, Bergamasco all over again" but fair play to him, he looked like he knew what he was doing. You could definitely see the difference when Trinh-Duc came on having said all of that.

I thought Harinordoquy was absolutely fantastic tonight. I haven't seen him play a whole lot of rugby but tonight was the best I've ever seen him play. Outstanding. Was very unlucky not to cap his performence off with a try earlier imo. As for Gavin Henson, HA! The orange fool wanted to go for glory and be the Welsh Hero, despite having two players on the overlap. Was in fits when that happened. Typical of him tbh. Never liked him or Mike Phillips as people.

Anyway, Lions chat - anyone else worried about Lee Byrnes defence? I've had this belief for a while that he can't tackle but is absolutely brilliant going forward and with the boot. His tackling is something that worries me though. Same with Shane Williams. Although he's come on leaps and bounds on the attacking front, he still has that weakness in the tackle.

Maybe it's just me, but I'd much rather have Kearney at full-back than Byrne.

corny

nacho libre wrote: »

I was confident after seeing the Welsh backrow stifled by England that France would thoroughly dominate them. It would have been one of the greatest robberies in history if Wales had won that game. Gatland will be seething at Henson:D

All that said the Irish won't be able to dominate the Welsh pack as the French fries did.

Don't know how you came up with that. Bar Marconnet that was the same French pack that played us. We dominated them then and we dominated them last year too. Theres no evidence to suggest the French have a better pack than ours so why could we not do to Wales what the French did to them?

Fishtits

The Welsh are in trouble with their double championship quest and they know it... Cardiff will be anything but easy for us.

Don't forget that at this stage, France, Wales, Ireland & England are contenders for the Championship. We may be the only one with a Grand Slam possibility, but its far from over...

ie If the welsh beat us in Cardiff it could come down to how many points the French put on the Italians...

All wide open at the moment.

nacho libre

nacho libre wrote: »

All that said the Irish won't be able to dominate the Welsh pack as the French fries did.

That said we have a better pack imo and in reality a Munster pack with a few added extras would make ****e of them in club colours.

I think they have been found out,they have talent no doubt,but their passion and heart has won them alot of games.

ScholesyIsGod

Even though they could have snatched it in the end that scoreline flattered the Welsh it could have easily been another 10 to 15 points with the amount of possesion France had in the 2nd half.

Yet another great performance from Harinordoquy, they were brilliant up front Dusautoir as well had a fine game great tackle in the last few minutes on Byrne to stop a certain try.

As for Wales some great performances in the first half, Byrne ran a great line to score his try and Tom Shanklin did really well to make it i think Shanklin has to be pushing for a Lions test place. I thought Powell was excellent as well he carried some great ball and his defence was rock solid great double hit on Chabal, plus his step to beat Medard when he was under pressure on his own line was top class.


That result certainly makes things interesting.

Podge_irl

andyman wrote: »

Anyway, Lions chat - anyone else worried about Lee Byrnes defence? I've had this belief for a while that he can't tackle but is absolutely brilliant going forward and with the boot. His tackling is something that worries me though. Same with Shane Williams. Although he's come on leaps and bounds on the attacking front, he still has that weakness in the tackle.

Maybe it's just me, but I'd much rather have Kearney at full-back than Byrne.

Kearney's defence is not exactly his strongest point either...

I didn't see the game, but was delighted with the result. I couldn't believe that France weren't favourites at home, no matter who they were playing (and thankfully I put whatever meagre money I have where my mouth is ). It certainly makes the championship more interesting. For once Ireland's points difference may actually benefit us.

Podge_irl

Podge_irl wrote: »

Kearney's defence is not exactly his strongest point either...

Hes like Arsenal,he will outscore you.

He isnt even human,he is an alien sent down by the gods to teach the mortals including lee Byrne how to play rugby.

Kearney is stage 1,stage 2 will be Fitzgerald exploding onto the international scene like Kearney.

youcrazyjesus!

Wales making all sorts of cocky comments, believing their own press but couldnt walk the walk. Delighted
to see them beaten. That lack of momentum for them is worth points to us in Cardiff.

Bastareaud was immense, his last ditch tackle on Byrnes break was the moment of the
game for me.

twinytwo

andyman wrote: »

I thought Baby had a very good game. Initially when I heard he was starting I thought "Oh no, Bergamasco all over again" but fair play to him, he looked like he knew what he was doing. You could definitely see the difference when Trinh-Duc came on having said all of that.

I thought Harinordoquy was absolutely fantastic tonight. I haven't seen him play a whole lot of rugby but tonight was the best I've ever seen him play. Outstanding. Was very unlucky not to cap his performence off with a try earlier imo. As for Gavin Henson, HA! The orange fool wanted to go for glory and be the Welsh Hero, despite having two players on the overlap. Was in fits when that happened. Typical of him tbh. Never liked him or Mike Phillips as people.

Anyway, Lions chat - anyone else worried about Lee Byrnes defence? I've had this belief for a while that he can't tackle but is absolutely brilliant going forward and with the boot. His tackling is something that worries me though. Same with Shane Williams. Although he's come on leaps and bounds on the attacking front, he still has that weakness in the tackle.

Maybe it's just me, but I'd much rather have Kearney at full-back than Byrne.

Iv been saying this for ages.. Byrne cant tackle to save his life also when the pressure is on he loses alot of the high balls. Henson is ****e always has been. Wales were lucky that the score wasnt a whole lot more in Frances favor. This game showed that Wales are not the team that some people think they are

Serenity Now!

twinytwo wrote: »

Iv been saying this for ages.. Byrne cant tackle to save his life also when the pressure is on he loses alot of the high balls. Henson is ****e always has been. Wales were lucky that the score wasnt a whole lot more in Frances favor. This game showed that Wales are not the team that some people think they are

You are David Campese and I claim my free Campolatte

Noffles

Change the title to this thread, it should be the " Wales are ****e" thread as thats all you people seem to say and us losing to a very good / clever French team for some reason seems to warrant this... utter bollox!

The French team that beat Wales would of taken the irish to the cleaners and sadly now that you've beaten England you'll be harping on about the Slam until you've either won it or not.

Wales have lost one game in the 6 nations in the last 9, which in reality still makes us the form team.... and you still have to come to Cardiff.

Sherifu

Lemons anyone?

Stev_o

Sherifu wrote: »

Lemons anyone?

It's a troll and been reported. Please everyone ignore it !

Noffles

Sherifu wrote: »

Lemons anyone?

I agree there is a degree of sourness to my post but the negativity is borderline ridiculous, taking such delight in Wales loss is surely just as "Lemons" don't you think?

Noffles

Stev_o wrote: »

It's a troll and been reported. Please everyone ignore it !

Ignore what?