Ireland vs France - 09/03/2013

[gaston le gaff]

Le XV de départ tricolore face à l'Irlande: Huget ; Clerc, Fritz, Fofana, Médard ; Michalak, Parra ; Dusautoir (cap.), Picamoles, Nyanga ; Maestri, Samson; Mas, Kayser, Domingo.
Remplaçants : Guirado, Debaty, Ducalcon, Vahaamahina, Claassen, Machenaud, Trinh-Duc, Bastareaud.
another disaster from SA, loose against Ireland and he could be down the Job Centre......again no FTD. we have to put up with Michalek at 10 come back Lievremont or anybody bar SA.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ZeFrenchy]

To be fair, Parra-Michalak is the halfback pairing I had been wanting to see at the beginning of the 6N, but after Mich's poor for this can't really be defended... The rest of the team is just logical, so I see no reason for drama queen reactions.

 

[Tony Manx]

I can it is absolutely ridiculous that PSA is still in charge after picking, so many times, people out of position and he still is.......Huget is not a bona fides 15, although he is doing a sterling job, but to select Michalak at 10 when he is not playing there for club and after his disgraceful performances in a blue shirt this 6N is absurd.

Apart from the fact that Gaston is slightly biased (!!) there is no rationale for not picking FTD who has hardly ever let down France and would bring stability to an excellent back line and let them play without worrying whether Michalak will turn up at all or even pass the ball meaningfully for the odd moment of genius in the odd game.

I would be loathe for it to happen but almost hope that the French lose heavily to Ireland...cannot see it....so PSA can bite the bullet and take Lagisquet with him back to relying on their fantastic playing careers to be remembered and their failures as coaches to be forgotten!! I know, I know Lagisquet was in charge when they won the Top 14 but mainly because of some wonderful players and his true colours have been shown by the mess that he left behind him and his collusion in the Lievremont type disaster that has been the French team this year.............

 

[BRSTLDRGN]

What is it about coaching France that turns sane, perfectly competent coaches into total manics who give the aura of total incompetence. Think Laporte was the last one who seemed to have a plan

 

[gaston le gaff]

The tournament is lost so why not bring in some new blood for the forth coming World Cup it will be here in little over 2 years and i can see 4/5 players who will not be present at the WC, so start finding possibilities if they screw up we have nothing to loose but a little pride and SA is obviously trying hoping and praying for a good result to save his bacon, but all i can see is lots of dead pig hopefully sooner than later!!!!!!!!

 

[Big Ewis]

I was surprised to see Michalak named...but then again, this could be the moment where everybody goes crazy before the game at the coach picking him, and then he finally produces November-like Rugby and everybody goes "ahhh coach is good, he knows how to give his players a second chance yadi yada".
I'm not all against Michalak's call, again this may be the game his confidence returns to him.
Fritz though ?...Bastareaud played really well so far as a starter, there wasn't any chemistry with Fof but still, excellent ball-carrying and defense.

 

[KAPman]

Don't understand how Michalak is still in the match day 23 to be honest. Apart from his goal kicks (That might be why hes in), he has not made any impact for the good in this years 6 nations.
Francois Trinh-Duc did little wrong against England, and although they made mistakes (knock ons and a few tur novers), the French backline looked more controlled and comfortable with him as their 10. When Michalak came on their balance and control fell apart.
Defesively for France as well, i think whoever plays 10 for Ireland will go into the match with a little more confidence knowing that they'll have Michalak as there opposite number.

 

[munstermuffin]

Ah, OK. Fair enough.

In saying that I can see where you were coming from as from a playing-only prospect there is no real prize but IRFU are comercially vulnerable and well if they get hit badly then the ripple effect will come to provinces.

As for Michalak starting I'll ask again does both coaches see the wooden spoon as a good prize????

 

[Dougydeluxe]

Ireland must be feeling great now. They have a 50% chance of getting the game handed to them by Michalak.

Feel bad for the France fans having to always deal with these changes.

 

[munstermuffin]

Well Jackson starts with Madigan on bench, which I suppose is safe call and understandable but wanted Madigan at 10 regardless.

 

[wertas]

You have to admit, French rugby has something you have style. PSA proves it so Lievremaunt is not only one insane coach
Michalak for goal kicking? Even with Trinc-Duc starting, Parra would be main goal kicker. And in my opinion, it is coin toss who is main goal-kicker: Parra or Michalak. So wooden spoon quite possible for France (especially if Michalak starts agains Scotland).

 

[Big Ewis]

Defesively for France as well, i think whoever plays 10 for Ireland will go into the match with a little more confidence knowing that they'll have Michalak as there opposite number.

yes, he's a miserable defender...he's just one of those guys who can win a rugby match but just can't assert himself defensively, it's just naturally not in him...so if added to the no-defense it's a bad day for Michalak, we're looking at disrupted offense like we've had so far into the tournament (save the first half in Twick).

Ireland must be feeling great now. They have a 50% chance of getting the game handed to them by Michalak.

Feel bad for the France fans having to always deal with these changes.

I'm still hopeful. It was just this past November he was dominating the breakdown and making like 110% his kicks...

And I don't even think we need to play amazingly to win this, with no offense meant to Ireland at all. Our defense and scrum will be a handful per se, and then if we can get just a little bit of creativity in the open field game, some good lineout and breakdown work we can score some inspired try (tries) without being pure flair and scoring the try of the year or anything...I mean we do have Clerc and Fofana in there, and Médard will be doing his best to merit the role...then there's that all-Toulouse 3rd row....
Then we've got Bastareaud comin in late for some good punch off the bench...

I think Ireland will have to play a very inspired and low-mistake game, control themselves better than usual to win this one. Despite the hca.
But boy they looked great that first half in Cardiff !...

 

[lynam1104]

I love how neither teams fans have any confidence in the current coaching set ups and it seems most would rather see their team loase for the great good of a new coach.

 

[munstermuffin]

Heard from a nicely placed source that Kidney may avoid axe but be part of a restructuring of coaching team.

 

[lucky number 7]

Heard from a nicely placed source that Kidney may avoid axe but be part of a restructuring of coaching team.

Why

Why the **** would someone want to put us through this.

I will genuinely have no faith in the IRFU if Kidney remains coach or even involved.

 

[munstermuffin]

Well if it does occur I'm sure there will be usual politics

 

[Peat]

Heard from a nicely placed source that Kidney may avoid axe but be part of a restructuring of coaching team.

Don't the IRFU have an unfilled position for Director of the Professional Game or some such knocking around?

 

[coonor]

To be honest, the poor long term planning within the IRFU probably means there is very little alternative to Kidney..... Please God find someone!!!

 

[Aedaphon]

It's a good year to be an Englishman :bond:

Kidney has been clinging onto his position for years, but honestly, his time must surely be up by now? Even his long overdue removal of ROG has come only when ROG had a game so dire that Kidney practically had no option but to remove him. He has been stunting the growth of Irish rugby for years and someone (anyone) else will do a better job of developing Ireland with the future in mind.

PSA came in with what looked like a potentially championship-winning side and has absolutely blown the opportunity. Even though FTD has been my favourite to start all tournament I could actually give PSA the benefit of the doubt in starting Michalak out of position for the first 2 games. Even last week, his call to put Michalak on as a kicker for FTD was understandable if one I personally disagreed with. But how in all the seven hells can PSA justify starting Michalak after a distinctly mediocre performance last week? In a game where the Parra-FTD partnership was almost unanimously labelled as France's shining light (I suppose his one saving grace is keeping Fofana at 12, but even then, I've yet to hear a justification as to why he wasn't started there...)

Nevertheless... Given Michalak's stereotypically French characteristic of complete and utter inconsistency, he might just pull a masterful performance out of the bag. But even if he does, he's the wrong choice for French rugby as a whole <_< [/rant]

 

[Aedaphon]

Ulster fly-half Paddy Jackson has been passed fit for Ireland's Six Nations clash with France in Dublin on Saturday.Coach Declan Kidney announced his side for the Aviva Stadium clash on Tuesday but opted against naming a fly-half with Jackson struggling with a minor hamstring injury suffered during training. But the 21-year-old has passed a fitness test enabling him to continue in the No.10 jersey and earn his second Test cap with uncapped Leinster playmaker Ian Madigan offering cover from the bench.
Team manager Mick Kearney has also revealed that Munster prop Stephen Archer will fill the third vacancy left in the team after being selected on the bench. "Paddy kicked in the Aviva Stadium yesterday and kicked well and trained fully this morning," Kearney said.

http://www.espnscrum.com/six-nations-2013/rugby/story/178289.html

So Archer it is.

"We have to force our destiny, we have missed a lot of realism in the first three matches. We have to score when we're on top and let in as few as possible when we're under pressure. We have to be better defensively...We need to win the match in Ireland with lots of appetite, lots of ambition, and above all a performance of a very high level."On his decision to drop Trinh-Duc, he added: "I have spoken with Francois and he knows why (he has been left out). I prefer to explain these things in private. I think I've read that he wasn't happy with his defensive performance, and Frederic had been excellent in November. It's not a punishment.


"They (Michalak and Parra) have already played together against Samoa in November. For the Ireland match, we wanted to have two goal-kickers. Fred will be the number one kicker, Morgan will take the kicks from further away because he has five to 10 metres more in his legs. But we are still in a construction phase and it isn't extraordinary for us to look to test the half-back axis."

http://www.espnscrum.com/six-nations-2013/rugby/story/178277.html

So he has some explanation... But I still think he's making some godawful decisions <_<