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[2020 Six Nations] Wales vs France (22/02/20)

mmmh Maybe I'm a bit subjective being french but I think that Wales looked like more France in the past 3-4 years, pounding desperately at the french defense without too much imagination. And the french were the ones being more creative and dangerous

I feel overall that we were the dominant one and I do not think it was a 50/50. Everybody is stuck on the now famous knock on of Willemse but I think the referee has been very nice with Wales for the whole first half for example. The first penalty against Baille for not getting out quickly enough of the ruck is quite shameful, he was getting out. there has also been a fully imaginay offside just in front of the french post at the end of a welsh counter attack. The first yellow card against Aldritt (was it the first ?) was absolutely strange and quickly given, same for the second yellow card, it did not seem to me that the french prop is infriging more than his oponent. The so called forward pass to Vakatawa is never a forward pass in my opinion, Biggar (?) not really controlling the ball for the last welsh try is also debatable. So all in all, I do believe the refering has been much more lenient to the welsh and the french played 20 minutes 1 man down.
 
I think the better team still won. Some decisions could have gone either way but that went both France's and Wales' at different points in the game. Wales lost due to a combination of poor conversion of chances when in France's 22 plus a few poor decisions to pass/carry when they did finally get some space out wide. Compared to France where Dupont and Ntamack ooze composure and assurance. They controlled the game well and made the right decisions at the right times. I still don't think it's time to panic for Wales, the team is still adjusting to this new game plan and your are going to have inaccuracies. I don;t understand Wales' tightening of attack when in France's 22, Wales seemed to be not willing to try something a bit different.
 
This was a really enjoyable game from a neutral standpoint. Not saying either team were great, but they played an intriguing contest.

Some noteworthy things:

the disallowed try was awesome and man, the all blacks score half their tries with at least equally "forward" passes.

Adams ruck cleanout around minute 38 was epic for a little man.

speaking of, I was loving the defence from du pont.

dan biggar played rugby really well, almost as well as he whinged.

Loved the composed confidence of those French kids.

Actually thought that was a slap down his arm shot straight at the ball. Eyes were in the tackle though. Not easy.
Yeah he might have deliberately slapped it down but ref made right decision because they'd be speculating to say it was deliberate.
I probably went too far, but I'm certainly not seeing it as all doom and gloom. Some fine margins in that game, including one ridiculous referee decision to award France their final 3 points, not that I'm blaming the ref for the loss, thought he was OK on the whole given his inexperience.

It'a just that I saw a bunch of 50/50's that today went Frances way. Not referee ones, but things like the intercept, the knock on in the tackle, even that last turnover which could have been viewed as in from the side. The intercept was a 14 point swing alone, so I can easily see an alternative outcome where Wales win that game comfortably.
i was impressed that on several occasions the welsh managed to achieve massive overlaps, and usable ones ( not 10 metres behind the advantage line with a French defender blocking the pass.). Looks like they used their inside knowledge of the Shaun Edwards defence. Pity they didnt capitalise. I'm sure other teams will be studying this game closely though.
I officially have no idea what's going on.
basically, bushy has a second account in which he claims to be French though has been accused of being welsh, and in that second account he has accused bushy, ie himself, of being a Pom.

it all makes perfect sense

the story then gets richer. All in the time between a few posts on this thread, Bushy wrote an autobiography stating how It was the greatest honour in his life to have been called a Pom (by himself it turns out, but I don't think he revealed that in the book), the book was published, and read by Toby ( all 3056 pages, I presume).
 
Wales made far more errors /wrong decisions than the Ref if he made any , plenty of chances to take points from penalties turned down so we could use our superior scrum , that went well .
 
i was impressed that on several occasions the welsh managed to achieve massive overlaps, and usable ones ( not 10 metres behind the advantage line with a French defender blocking the pass.). Looks like they used their inside knowledge of the Shaun Edwards defence. Pity they didnt capitalise. I'm sure other teams will be studying this game closely though.

This should be a bit of a positive for Wales, even though they didn't take the chances. They created a number of overlaps wide but either carried when they shouldn't or passed when they didn't need to but the space where there.

As for the slap down. Willemse 100% knows what he is doing but I don't think that it was a penalty, just a scrum. He kept his arm enough tight to his body and in the same motion tackled the player that it doesn't look obvious enough for the ref to give a penalty. I just think it was great defence.
 
Wales were poor. We lost. I was gutted, but quickly got over it because its sport. Biggar can be a tool but not sure why he riles most of you up so much.
Well done France. Try not to peak before the next World Cup!

I still love the 6 Nations though - are Wales really that unlikable?
 
This was a really enjoyable game from a neutral standpoint. Not saying either team were great, but they played an intriguing contest.

Some noteworthy things:

the disallowed try was awesome and man, the all blacks score half their tries with at least equally "forward" passes.

Adams ruck cleanout around minute 38 was epic for a little man.

speaking of, I was loving the defence from du pont.

dan biggar played rugby really well, almost as well as he whinged.

Loved the composed confidence of those French kids.


Yeah he might have deliberately slapped it down but ref made right decision because they'd be speculating to say it was deliberate.

i was impressed that on several occasions the welsh managed to achieve massive overlaps, and usable ones ( not 10 metres behind the advantage line with a French defender blocking the pass.). Looks like they used their inside knowledge of the Shaun Edwards defence. Pity they didnt capitalise. I'm sure other teams will be studying this game closely though.

basically, bushy has a second account in which he claims to be French though has been accused of being welsh, and in that second account he has accused bushy, ie himself, of being a Pom.

it all makes perfect sense


the story then gets richer. All in the time between a few posts on this thread, Bushy wrote an autobiography stating how It was the greatest honour in his life to have been called a Pom (by himself it turns out, but I don't think he revealed that in the book), the book was published, and read by Toby ( all 3056 pages, I presume).

Je tiens à éclaircir les choses au sujet de plusieurs commentateurs m'accusant. Je me suis inscrit il y a peu sur ce site. Je suis Français, et fier de l'être, même si j'apprécie les autres nations et les autres cultures. Mon anglais est approximatif et si vous regardez bien, mes fautes de grammaire ou de conjugaison en anglais sont typiquement celles que feraient un Français. Mon français est parfait, je suis Gendarme, et à ce ***re, je ne commets que très rarement des fautes. ça encore, c'est typiquement français. Les Français mettent un point d'orgueil à ne pas commettre de fautes, et beaucoup d'étrangers essayant de parler français nous reprochent souvent d'être particulièrement rude à leur endroit quand ils font l'effort de parler notre langue. Je ne suis pas Bushy, et ne le connais pas, ni lui, ni ses motivations.

I wanted to clarify things about many posts accusing me. Lately, I joined this site. I am French, and proud to be, even if I appreciate other nations and other cultures. my english is a bit approximative, and if you were looking well at it, my fouls of gramary or conjugation in english are typically the ones that would make a French. My french is perfect, I am Gendarme (french military man with civilian and military police missions and duties), and because of this job, I do only very very few mistakes (when I write in french). this again is typically french. The French put a point of pride to not do fouls of languages, and many foreigners trying to speak french often reproach us to be particularly rude against themself when they are doing the effort to speak our language. I am NOT Bushy, I don't know him, neither him, neither his motivations.

To finish on the subject, my english is a bit rusty, I think it is still understandable, I want that my mistakes in english to be reported to me by you all anglo-speaking, I want to improve my english ability. I decided to join this site for 2 reasons : I love this game and I want to imporve my english. Is that harsh to understand. I support France. But I like few other teams, for different reasons. Scotland (auld alliance surely). Wales (I considere they have been the fathers of the modern rugby in the seventies and beginning of the eighties). Pumas and Italy cause they are Latins, and everyone knows it's harsh to evolve in a game dominated by anglo-speaking countries. I also support almost all teams which are playing over England too ;) (no need to explain there, I think) that doesn't mean I don't respect England, old Nation like mine, often opposed but finally allies since more than a century now.

I wish all a good forum time, I hope I haven't been too rude or agressive, French use to be frank and direct and sometimes, it can hurt feelings of foreigners. Then my Frankness (being straight forward) is not by will, it's cultural, and I often associate Frankness and being direct to Honesty. I apologise then if I have hurted someone by my words, it wasn't wanted. frnech language is a feeling language, strong and direct, and english is very technical but easier... you have far more words in english and sometimes, there can be a certain misunderstanding between us, if Iw asn't that clear, don't hesitate and tell me. Merci.
 
Wales made far more errors /wrong decisions than the Ref if he made any , plenty of chances to take points from penalties turned down so we could use our superior scrum , that went well .

At the time I was happy to see Wales go for the try before half time. It would have put us back within 1 point, and would have been a massive psychological advantage going into half time. Against 14 most sides should back themselves, in fact it's those key moments before and just after half time that the good sides capitalise on (thinking of Leinster and NZ specifically here who really turn the screw during this period and reap the psychological rewards in can bring).

In hindsight it's easy to criticise the decision, especially given the winning margin, but I think the right decision was made on both occasions, the second one being the series of scrums in the second half. I certainly didn't see that powerful scrum against the head coming. Rob Evans is usually a good strong scrummaging prop, and from what I've seen thus far this championship Bamba struggled with his scrummaging in previous games v England and Italy. He'a obviously a powerul bloke though, even if technicaly he may be lacking, and he seemed to catch Evans/Owens off guard there, splitting them easily. Not often you see a front row splintered like that since the removal of the hit, so something went badly wrong there! Still think taking the scrum was the correct call. Again France down to 14 through repeat infringements, and the perfect time for Wales to wind the screw. I think AWJ and Pivac would do the same again.
 
Just did a bit of number crunching and I think the myth that the Shaun Edwards defence is winning it for France needs to be put to bed once and for all. Looking at results from the last decade after 3 rounds, this year the French defense has had the 2nd worst performance in terms of tries conceded and 3rd worst in terms of points conceded. In contrast this year has also had the most for tries scored and points scored.

It's actually insulting really that Shaun Edwards is getting all the praise for the French results even though their defence is leaking as bad as ever but the French attacking coach is barely getting any plaudits despite absolutely blasting previous French attacking stats out of the water.
 
Je tiens à éclaircir les choses au sujet de plusieurs commentateurs m'accusant. Je me suis inscrit il y a peu sur ce site. Je suis Français, et fier de l'être, même si j'apprécie les autres nations et les autres cultures. Mon anglais est approximatif et si vous regardez bien, mes fautes de grammaire ou de conjugaison en anglais sont typiquement celles que feraient un Français. Mon français est parfait, je suis Gendarme, et à ce ***re, je ne commets que très rarement des fautes. ça encore, c'est typiquement français. Les Français mettent un point d'orgueil à ne pas commettre de fautes, et beaucoup d'étrangers essayant de parler français nous reprochent souvent d'être particulièrement rude à leur endroit quand ils font l'effort de parler notre langue. Je ne suis pas Bushy, et ne le connais pas, ni lui, ni ses motivations.

I wanted to clarify things about many posts accusing me. Lately, I joined this site. I am French, and proud to be, even if I appreciate other nations and other cultures. my english is a bit approximative, and if you were looking well at it, my fouls of gramary or conjugation in english are typically the ones that would make a French. My french is perfect, I am Gendarme (french military man with civilian and military police missions and duties), and because of this job, I do only very very few mistakes (when I write in french). this again is typically french. The French put a point of pride to not do fouls of languages, and many foreigners trying to speak french often reproach us to be particularly rude against themself when they are doing the effort to speak our language. I am NOT Bushy, I don't know him, neither him, neither his motivations.

To finish on the subject, my english is a bit rusty, I think it is still understandable, I want that my mistakes in english to be reported to me by you all anglo-speaking, I want to improve my english ability. I decided to join this site for 2 reasons : I love this game and I want to imporve my english. Is that harsh to understand. I support France. But I like few other teams, for different reasons. Scotland (auld alliance surely). Wales (I considere they have been the fathers of the modern rugby in the seventies and beginning of the eighties). Pumas and Italy cause they are Latins, and everyone knows it's harsh to evolve in a game dominated by anglo-speaking countries. I also support almost all teams which are playing over England too ;) (no need to explain there, I think) that doesn't mean I don't respect England, old Nation like mine, often opposed but finally allies since more than a century now.

I wish all a good forum time, I hope I haven't been too rude or agressive, French use to be frank and direct and sometimes, it can hurt feelings of foreigners. Then my Frankness (being straight forward) is not by will, it's cultural, and I often associate Frankness and being direct to Honesty. I apologise then if I have hurted someone by my words, it wasn't wanted. frnech language is a feeling language, strong and direct, and english is very technical but easier... you have far more words in english and sometimes, there can be a certain misunderstanding between us, if Iw asn't that clear, don't hesitate and tell me. Merci.

Strange how your English has got much "worse" since you were called out
 
No, I'm bushy!

Je tiens à éclaircir les choses au sujet de plusieurs commentateurs m'accusant. Je me suis inscrit il y a peu sur ce site. Je suis Français, et fier de l'être, même si j'apprécie les autres nations et les autres cultures. Mon anglais est approximatif et si vous regardez bien, mes fautes de grammaire ou de conjugaison en anglais sont typiquement celles que feraient un Français. Mon français est parfait, je suis Gendarme, et à ce ***re, je ne commets que très rarement des fautes. ça encore, c'est typiquement français. Les Français mettent un point d'orgueil à ne pas commettre de fautes, et beaucoup d'étrangers essayant de parler français nous reprochent souvent d'être particulièrement rude à leur endroit quand ils font l'effort de parler notre langue. Je ne suis pas Bushy, et ne le connais pas, ni lui, ni ses motivations.

I wanted to clarify things about many posts accusing me. Lately, I joined this site. I am French, and proud to be, even if I appreciate other nations and other cultures. my english is a bit approximative, and if you were looking well at it, my fouls of gramary or conjugation in english are typically the ones that would make a French. My french is perfect, I am Gendarme (french military man with civilian and military police missions and duties), and because of this job, I do only very very few mistakes (when I write in french). this again is typically french. The French put a point of pride to not do fouls of languages, and many foreigners trying to speak french often reproach us to be particularly rude against themself when they are doing the effort to speak our language. I am NOT Bushy, I don't know him, neither him, neither his motivations.

To finish on the subject, my english is a bit rusty, I think it is still understandable, I want that my mistakes in english to be reported to me by you all anglo-speaking, I want to improve my english ability. I decided to join this site for 2 reasons : I love this game and I want to imporve my english. Is that harsh to understand. I support France. But I like few other teams, for different reasons. Scotland (auld alliance surely). Wales (I considere they have been the fathers of the modern rugby in the seventies and beginning of the eighties). Pumas and Italy cause they are Latins, and everyone knows it's harsh to evolve in a game dominated by anglo-speaking countries. I also support almost all teams which are playing over England too ;) (no need to explain there, I think) that doesn't mean I don't respect England, old Nation like mine, often opposed but finally allies since more than a century now.

I wish all a good forum time, I hope I haven't been too rude or agressive, French use to be frank and direct and sometimes, it can hurt feelings of foreigners. Then my Frankness (being straight forward) is not by will, it's cultural, and I often associate Frankness and being direct to Honesty. I apologise then if I have hurted someone by my words, it wasn't wanted. frnech language is a feeling language, strong and direct, and english is very technical but easier... you have far more words in english and sometimes, there can be a certain misunderstanding between us, if Iw asn't that clear, don't hesitate and tell me. Merci.
@bushytop That is your interpretation of French people? It's a bit stereotypical.

but look cab, we're all just joking around, I don't think anyone has been offended by you.
 
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At the time I was happy to see Wales go for the try before half time. It would have put us back within 1 point, and would have been a massive psychological advantage going into half time. Against 14 most sides should back themselves, in fact it's those key moments before and just after half time that the good sides capitalise on (thinking of Leinster and NZ specifically here who really turn the screw during this period and reap the psychological rewards in can bring).

In hindsight it's easy to criticise the decision, especially given the winning margin, but I think the right decision was made on both occasions, the second one being the series of scrums in the second half. I certainly didn't see that powerful scrum against the head coming. Rob Evans is usually a good strong scrummaging prop, and from what I've seen thus far this championship Bamba struggled with his scrummaging in previous games v England and Italy. He'a obviously a powerul bloke though, even if technicaly he may be lacking, and he seemed to catch Evans/Owens off guard there, splitting them easily. Not often you see a front row splintered like that since the removal of the hit, so something went badly wrong there! Still think taking the scrum was the correct call. Again France down to 14 through repeat infringements, and the perfect time for Wales to wind the screw. I think AWJ and Pivac would do the same again.
how many time and fails before you would give it up and take the points. the scrum was getting no change out of the French pack ,
 
how many time and fails before you would give it up and take the points. the scrum was getting no change out of the French pack ,

Not sure how you can say they scrum was getting no change. Wales got 3 penalties in a row and a French player sin binned. A scrum is always a risk, if it's not going forward there's always chance the ref rules against you even if the other guy pulled it down.
 
Not sure how you can say they scrum was getting no change. Wales got 3 penalties in a row and a French player sin binned. A scrum is always a risk, if it's not going forward there's always chance the ref rules against you even if the other guy pulled it down.

Yet when the french players were carded the Welsh still didn't score, and in the second card incident with the replacement prop in the French scrum obliterated the Welsh scrum
 
Yet when the french players were carded the Welsh still didn't score, and in the second card incident with the replacement prop in the French scrum obliterated the Welsh scrum

Although according to scrum v, having the prop charge right through the middle of your scrum, separating the loosehead from the hooker is proof of French cheating
 

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