France vs Wales match thread, Sat 20th March 8pm

tanko

Hammer Archer wrote: »

That missed conversion could be crucial, if I'm not mistaken. France have to beat Scotland by more than 20 points (with a bonus point) to win the championship. Had that gone over, a win by more than 16 would have sufficed.

If France win with a bonus point i don't think points difference comes into it, does the head to head result tonight decide it in France's favour then??

thomond2006

The result cannot colour over the mind-numbing stupidity of Ollivon taking a scrum in front of the posts. 3 minutes were wasted. It was insane.

irishbucsfan

Clegg wrote: »

Thought Pearce and Barnes were mostly excellent with their officiating. Not a problem with the sending off as it was a neck roll and eye gouge. Maybe could have binned another Welsh player near the end but apart from that they got the big calls correct.

Only issues I’d really have was the on field decision for Wales’ try which looked held up, and the decision not to check the try France scored that was never checked. Thought the rest was dealt with extremely well. Communication was absolutely excellent.

Beechwoodspark

Wales were awarded a try that wasn’t (wasn’t grounded) so......


Allez les bleus

C__MC

Raving_Magic wrote: »

What an amazing ending!

Now next question can France get a BP and beat Scotland by 21 points next week?

Still seems a hard task no?

Scotland are flaky

eigrod

Clegg wrote: »

Thought Pearce and Barnes were mostly excellent with their officiating. Not a problem with the sending off as it was a neck roll and eye gouge. Maybe could have binned another Welsh player near the end but apart from that they got the big calls correct.

The last Welsh try was clearly held up. No way Pearce should have called it a try on-field - there was far too much doubt as the replays confirmed.

France got no warning for their first yellow - the Welsh got away with several yellows.

Clegg

Clegg wrote: »

Thought Pearce and Barnes were mostly excellent with their officiating. Not a problem with the sending off as it was a neck roll and eye gouge. Maybe could have binned another Welsh player near the end but apart from that they got the big calls correct.

Gave a Wales try that doesn't appear to have been grounded and wouldn't look at a French try that might have been? Maybe, maybe could have binned another Wales player? These are decisions that change the results of games.

touts

This is Gas. On Virgin they are debating the reffing decisions and questioning the quality of the TMO calls. Over on the BBC it was the greatest example of reffing and TMO working together in the history of sport..

eclipsechaser

clsmooth wrote: »

On one hand you have to feel for Wales

Incorrect.

razorblunt

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Man, that must be gutting for the Welsh fans. I mean, we've had disappointments, that France score against Scotland in 2007, NZ 2013, but I think losing the game like that with a slam on the line would be orders of magnitude worse. Genuine sympathy there.

Fair play to France though, to stick in it like that after the red card and the frustration in having a score knocked off when potentially Wales could have seen yellow, great work from them.

Once they settle down it will probably balance out vs the ridiculous good luck they’ve had since week 1. Ignoring the red cards as that’s on other teams, they had a sliced kick, a ref allowing a quick kick, a knock on try, try held up given, try scored against them missed. Never seen anything like it.

Wearing of The Green

eclipsechaser wrote: »

Incorrect.

When it comes to an individual's feelings there's no correct or incorrect.

Teferi

Delighted with that result. Wales deserved it for being so cynical in the last 20 minutes. Hopefully France go on and finish the job.

clsmooth

Shame for the Welsh to get so close and lose it with the last play. Shades of Jack McGrath getting pinged by Nigel Owens in 2013. Also a shame they didn’t back our bid for the 2023 World Cup.

LessOutragePlz

https://twitter.com/BradClough10/status/1373392359719903233?s=20

ednwireland

touts wrote: »

This is Gas. On Virgin they are debating the reffing decisions and questioning the quality of the TMO calls. Over on the BBC it was the greatest example of reffing and TMO working together in the history of sport..

interesting what sam warburton was saying about reffing the breakdowns watching a minimum of 6 players 200 times a game.

razorblunt

touts wrote: »

This is Gas. On Virgin they are debating the reffing decisions and questioning the quality of the TMO calls. Over on the BBC it was the greatest example of reffing and TMO working together in the history of sport..

Warburton is calling it very fair, Inverdale is trying to set up a “we wuz robbed” story but they’re all shooting it down.

Clegg

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Only issues I’d really have was the on field decision for Wales’ try which looked held up, and the decision not to check the try France scored that was never checked. Thought the rest was dealt with extremely well. Communication was absolutely excellent.

Yeah I agree. It's a very hard game to officiate and they won't catch everything. But they were clear in expressing their reasoning for their decisions and explaining that to the players.

Can't ask for much more.

almostover

Clegg wrote: »

Thought Pearce and Barnes were mostly excellent with their officiating. Not a problem with the sending off as it was a neck roll and eye gouge. Maybe could have binned another Welsh player near the end but apart from that they got the big calls correct.

Funnily enough now that I've calmed down a bit I have to agree! They got the decisions mostly right. The Adams try looked to be held up. On field decisions was incorrect and it would have taken big stones by Barnsey to overrule it (correctly). Willemse deserved the red. And Wales should have been shown 1 more YC near the end.

Strumms

bilston wrote: »

Happy Wales didn't win a GS...BUT...I do feel bad for Alun Wyn Jones.

Great ending. A crazy last 15 minutes or so

Nahhh fück him... the fact he gives so much shît to referees about every second decision that goes against his team which is clearly an attempt at intimidation and to influence their performance ... nahhh

It’s kinda funny watching O’Gara squeezed into the corner of his box room in his best suit and a pound of foundation.

Hammer Archer

tanko wrote: »

If France win with a bonus point i don't think points difference comes into it, does the head to head result tonight decide it in France's favour then??

Head to head doesn't come into it as far as I know. It's points difference first, then tries scored. I think if France score 5 tries on Friday and beat Scotland by exactly 20 points, the championship is shared.

typhoony

eigrod wrote: »

The last Welsh try was clearly held up. No way Pearce should have called it a try on-field - there was far too much doubt as the replays confirmed.

France got no warning for their first yellow - the Welsh got away with several yellows.

there was hand underneath the ball but it looked like at least some part of the ball was touching grass

Miguel Fat Gynecologist

Miguel Fat Gynecologist wrote: »

Gave a Wales try that doesn't appear to have been grounded and wouldn't look at a French try that might have been? Maybe, maybe could have binned another Wales player? These are decisions that change the results of games.

I thought they did very well bar the Welsh try which looked held up, I don’t think Barnes really wanted to award that one but he couldn’t find the perfect angle to conclusively show it wasn’t grounded.

The french try that could have been looked a double movement and as for the yellows, yeah there could have been another but it if some of the posters here had their way there would have been about 5 Welsh players left on the field.

greendom

John Inverdale " Grand Larceny". What nonsense!

Buer

typhoony wrote: »

there was hand underneath the ball but it looked like at least some part of the ball was touching grass

It did but the question from Pearce was wrong. He felt he saw it in real time but you could sense his discomfort on replay and Barnes clearly had to clarify the question asked i.e. is there a reason the try cannot be awarded because Pearce has seen a grounding.

If Pearce had asked "Try, yes or no?", then I've little doubt Barnes would have said no. It wasn't possible to definitively say if the ball touched grass.

martingriff

With what O'gara is saying the French need to have a look at clashes to the head and eye contact in there league

Cheesey Cheese Hood Cheese

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Delighted with that. Wales are a cynical dirty team and France deserved it anyway.

A cynical dirty team? I was happy to see France win, but you really are a poor, poor poster no matter which forum you post in.

Paul Smeenus

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I thought they did very well bar the Welsh try which looked held up, I don’t think Barnes really wanted to award that one but he couldn’t find the perfect angle to conclusively show it wasn’t grounded.

The french try that could have been looked a double movement and as for the yellows, yeah there could have been another but it if some of the posters here had their way there would have been about 5 Welsh players left on the field.

I thought reffing was grand generally - even very good at times - but that was ludicrous.

Held up all day long.

almostover

Cheesey Cheese Hood Cheese wrote: »

A cynical dirty team? You rally are a poor, poor poster no matter which forum you post in.

Dirty no, cynical yes

razorblunt

Just sitting here, basking in the glory that is realising that Liam Williams had a massive hand in throwing away a potential Grand Slam.

“Are we not playing rugby?” Or whatever he said after his red for the high tackle earlier this season. Not when you’re sitting on the side of the pitch in Paris for the last 10 mins of the biggest game of the season.
Play shît games, win shít prizes.

Cheesey Cheese Hood Cheese

Strumms wrote: »

Nahhh fück him... the fact he gives so much shît to referees about every second decision that goes against his team which is clearly an attempt at intimidation

Christ some of you people wouldn't know a rugby ball if it bounced off your head.

Conversing to the referee and trying to state your case is "intimidation now? lol

It's called being a captain?

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

The result cannot colour over the mind-numbing stupidity of Ollivon taking a scrum in front of the posts. 3 minutes were wasted. It was insane.

Decision making even at the top level of Rugby is incredibly poor a lot of the time. Kinda classic example is being 8 points behind with maybe 6 minutes left. Teams will use up loads of time with scrums trying to get the try and leave themselves needing a kick. Far better off taking 3 at the first opportunity then having basically infinite time to score a try.

eigrod wrote: »

The last Welsh try was clearly held up. No way Pearce should have called it a try on-field - there was far too much doubt as the replays confirmed.

It makes no sense to me how a referee can say Try but also ask about 2 knock-ons and the grounding. If he doesn't think he's seen anything to say No Try then it has to be Try/No Try.

thecomedian

Buer wrote: »

It did but the question from Pearce was wrong. He felt he saw it in real time but you could sense his discomfort on replay and Barnes clearly had to clarify the question asked i.e. is there a reason the try cannot be awarded because Pearce has seen a grounding.

If Pearce had asked "Try, yes or no?", then I've little doubt Barnes would have said no. It wasn't possible to definitively say if the ball touched grass.

More than likely it was a try though.

He should have taken a look when the French players asked about the one near the end. He just dismissed them.
Apart from that he was very good and dealt with a huge amount of major decisions correctly.

Teferi

Some absolute headcase just asked Alun Wyn Jones

"When you're playing for all those people at home, how bad do you feel now?"

Fucking hell like.

Augme

Looking back at the French yellow it really should have been a penalty try as well. Wales were 2 metres out and going like a steam train to the line before the French player just jumped in and tackled him.

I do think I'd like to see Wales win the Championship, but not a Grand Slam. They have had their luck, but that's isn't their fault either. They have been the most consistent team in the Championship and have played to a good standard throughout. I think AWJ deserves it too. Can't fault France's flair but their naivety at times is fairly ridiculous.

Wearing of The Green

Strumms wrote: »

Nahhh fück him... the fact he gives so much shît to referees about every second decision that goes against his team which is clearly an attempt at intimidation and to influence their performance ... nahhh

It’s kinda funny watching O’Gara squeezed into the corner of his box room in his best suit and a pound of foundation.

That's what a good captain does on the field. McCaw, Johnson etc.

Alun Wyn has a great rep off it.

I wanted the Welsh to win as it put us in with a great chance of coming second. Would have been a boost to our camp. I've no interest in a young France becoming a superpower and thrashing us in Paris every second year. I do love their style and grew up watching, Blanco, Sella et al. But defeats like 1986 were soul destroying for us.

Hurrache

Teferi wrote: »

Some absolute headcase just asked Alun Wyn Jones

"When you're playing for all those people at home, how bad do you feel now?"

Fucking hell like.

It was a stupid question alright, and he repeated it when Jones didn't hear first time.

Bluwave

It’s still a Mystery to me how that Welsh team were contenders for a grand slam tonight and could still win a championship.

greendom

I love soccer but no game on earth comes close to the intensity of rugby matches like that one.

Wearing of The Green

Bluwave wrote: »

It’s still a Mystery to me how that Welsh team were contenders for a grand slam tonight and could still win a championship.

There's no great mystery. They rode their luck. They also have a habit of hanging in there in games, lots of experienced heads.

Then talent, Zammit Jones, Liam Williams, Tupric, Falteau and such an experienced captain.

People forget we beat Wales with an intercept in 2018, and a drop goal that was miraculous against France.

Also England have been well below par. Scotland are what they've been since 1999, we started low on confidence.

Strumms

Cheesey Cheese Hood Cheese wrote: »

Christ some of you people wouldn't know a rugby ball if it bounced off your head.

Conversing to the referee and trying to state your case is "intimidation now? lol

It's called being a captain?

No it’s called trying to influence and sway his decision making. It’s clear what he is attempting to do..

And it’s conversing ‘with a referee’. So I’d worry about your own head before considering anybody else’s.

kilns

Wales are either heros or zeros. If POM didn't have his moment of madness we would have beaten them quite easy actually and most likely Scotland would have beaten them too and they would be heading to Italy in crisis but instead they got a bit of luck and took full advantage.

Still an average team though where they have no certs to make a lions 15

awec

I feel sorry for the Welsh, to see it slip away so late in the game. Wait.... nah!

Allez les bleus!

Strumms

Wearing of The Green wrote: »

That's what a good captain does on the field. McCaw, Johnson etc.

Alun Wyn has a great rep off it.

I wanted the Welsh to win as it put us in with a great chance of coming second. Would have been a boost to our camp. I've no interest in a young France becoming a superpower and thrashing us in Paris every second year. I do love their style and grew up watching, Blanco, Sella et al. But defeats like 1986 were soul destroying for us.

I see where you are coming from but it’s gets to a point where regardless of who we are up for it’s just a ball ache, he is at the same craic against every team...

France will become a superpower regardless of what we think.. onus is on us to be as good as we can be..

fryup

delighted france won makes friday night extra spicy

but Wales should have took the last kick off long and pinned france in their own 22

razorblunt

fryup wrote: »

delighted france won makes friday night extra spicy

but Wales should have took the last kick off long and pinned france in their own 22

That’s what they did? France ran it back from pretty much their own 5m line. Then knocked it on at halfway.

Wales then sealed off, when every French player was shouting for it and stated hanging out of rucks.

Wearing of The Green

Strumms wrote: »

I see where you are coming from but it’s gets to a point where regardless of who we are up for it’s just a ball ache, he is at the same craic against every team...

France will become a superpower regardless of what we think.. onus is on us to be as good as we can be..

It's well analysed behind the scenes. If it was no benefit to the team he'd soon stop. He's a controlled, intelligent bloke. Like McCaw.

Our captain would be more emotional I think.

castor 1

kilns wrote: »

Wales are either heros or zeros. If POM didn't have his moment of madness we would have beaten them quite easy actually and most likely Scotland would have beaten them too and they would be heading to Italy in crisis but instead they got a bit of luck and took full advantage.

Still an average team though where they have no certs to make a lions 15

With Gatland in charge of the Lions, he will be bringing most of the Welsh team !

martingriff

Strumms wrote: »

No it’s called trying to influence and sway his decision making. It’s clear what he is attempting to do..

And it’s conversing ‘with a referee’. So I’d worry about your own head before considering anybody else’s.

Is that not what a captain meant to do

martingriff

castor 1 wrote: »

With Gatland in charge of the Lions, he will be bringing most of the Welsh team !

What teams should he pick the most from

Strumms

martingriff wrote: »

Is that not what a captain meant to do

It’s not what they should be allowed to do... second or third time if I’m a referee... “ it’s my belief you are coming over to me again with the intention of attempting to influence and impact the manner of which I’m refereeing this game. if I need to talk to YOU, I’ll call you, otherwise, stay out of it.”

Captain can ask for clarification on decisions, can’t try to influence their performance.