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

France are showing some really good form in this Six Nations and i am over the moon with the 3 wins. I will only say they are back after they won the whole thing, but Galthié is doing something very special with this young squad.

Discipline remains a huge problem for the French. They played 20 minutes with 14 men.
 
You shouldn't exagerate... I would say that now, only French can stop the Irish to win it, even if irish were to loose to England... France is NOT and by far favourite over Ireland... A good victory over England at home, an average team winning over Italy at home, a good match but abit lucky win in Wales, France is not yet the true favourite... I still place England, Wales and Ireland above France on the paper, but the gap is small right now... And France is surely the team with the greatest margin of improvements for the next years...

You can't really place 3 teams "above" France when they've just beaten 2 of them
 
Discipline remains a huge problem for the French. They played 20 minutes with 14 men.
True but young players tend to be raw and tend to push more, next year they will be a more settled team and cut down the errors, but for a young team like this to be spending a quarter of the match a man down and still defending and winning well its very encouraging...unless your English and know if you beat ireland we could be in same position as last year, win if a grandslam doesnt.
 
Discipline remains a huge problem for the French. They played 20 minutes with 14 men.


And even 13 since we played with Teddy Thomas. What a shameful display that was, really. I hope the rest of the team makes him feel miserable for being so unreliable and unworthy of trust.

Of course, we're the favourites, it's ours to lose, there is no reason to shy away from that.
That doesn't mean we're the best team out there. We're not. Yet. But the structure and resilience the team is showing is very real, we're only going to get better from now on.
Let's ride the momentum for Ireland and have the belief, let's see what happens and judge ourselves fairly in the end.
 
You can't really place 3 teams "above" France when they've just beaten 2 of them

Non only I can, but I do... if we analyse the 6N... England can still win it, so can Ireland, and they can finish above France then... France was playing England at home and England didn't play during a half... that means they were not far from the french side with about 40 minutes of absence. Technically, if they had played all the match, England would have won... despite a strong improvement from the French if we compared to the last years...
 
What am I whinging about?

Wales were "on top" for the first 7 minutes until France scored their first try, after that Wales were chasing the game.

They got away with an awful lot from the ref with lying across the ball and handling on the floor. The French counter rucking was a masterclass which Wales never came near

I still believe the disallowed try for France was wrong, the pass was flat in my opinion

So your diatribe about Wales leading the entire game is not only flawed but downright ridiculous
 
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Non only I can, but I do... if we analyse the 6N... England can still win it, so can Ireland, and they can finish above France then... France was playing England at home and England didn't play during a half... that means they were not far from the french side with about 40 minutes of absence. Technically, if they had played all the match, England would have won... despite a strong improvement from the French if we compared to the last years...

Coulda, Woulda, Shouda. You Lost
 
So it's quite difficult to adjudicate that apart from the fact that France did deserve to win... they did sadly.

Apart from that Wales (who are continuing to look a little unsure of what they should be doing... pretty much anywhere) somehow managed to make a game of it.
It's really difficult for a (holistic) Welsh fan to properly equate this 6 nation's performances in any real objectivity. My personal worry is the only thing that is keeping us in games right now is the residual Gatland/Edwardness that has been drilled in over 12 years.

On the other hand, it's a tough transition for the players yadda yadda yadda... it's very hard to equate this **** right now (& yes England fans... if I weren't Welsh, it would probably be a bit simpler to adjudicate on the negative... but we are who we are etc...).

On a basic level I ain't happy... on a more complicated level, I just don't know...

Personally... I think we (as a nation, let alone a squad) need to be all in and go with what is being laid down. It 'could' be painful in the short (maybe even mid) term but the decision has been made and I'm yet to be convinced that it was an outrageously incorrect one that we should rail against it. Should we all start clapping our claws?... I'd personally say no... but that's not to say my claws don't want to just start clapping though!
 
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Wales played well in patches, new coach will take sometime time find a new identity and IMO Wales are punching well above their weight (and have for sometime) given how the Welsh regions are doing.

French team be given some free reign to express themselves along with a top defensive coach who has added some grit and dog to their game. Very dangerous.
 
As a neutral, that was a fantastic game. I thought France played well, but weren't superlative. They conceded 13 penalties, for example; that's a pretty insane amount to concede and still win. Wales seemed to attack well but get very little by way of rewards; apparently they made 11 clean breaks to France's 3, for example. France were very composed in defence, but they've been allowed to keep a lot of their attacking flair.

The France team overall seemed to be working with a composed core structure sprinkled with French flair. I think the key was that the flair never ran rampant, and I never thought they'd lost heir heads.

When Wales got near the French line I was 100% convinced they were going to score each time. They just kept surging forwards until something gave, resulting in two French cards (which could have been three on another day). That freak scrum annihilation and a brilliant maul defence from France upset the apple cart there on two occasions. I can really see where people are coming from when they say Wales could have won on another day, but France deserve full credit.

Wasn't much impressed by the Welsh in the middle areas of the pitch; they seemed to struggle to generate much territory, with a lot of their gains coming from French mistakes. Thought France just about held up under heavy pressure in their own 22, but it looks to be their main weakness.
 
So it's quite difficult to adjudicate that apart from the fact that France did deserve to win... they did sadly.

Apart from that Wales (who are continuing to look a little unsure of what they should be doing... pretty much anywhere) somehow managed to make a game of it.
It's really difficult for a (holistic) Welsh fan fan to properly equate this 6 nation's performances in any real objectivity. My personal worry is the only thing that is keeping us in games right now is the residual Gatland/Edwardness that has been drilled in over 12 years.

On the other hand, it's a tough transition for the players yadda yadda yadda... it's very hard to equate this **** right now (& yes England fans... if I weren't Welsh, it would probably be a bit simpler to adjudicate on the negative... but we are who we are etc...).

On a basic level I ain't happy... on a more complicated level, I just don't know...

Personally... I think we (as a nation, let alone a squad) need to be all in and go with what is being laid down. It 'could' be painful in the short (maybe even mid term) but the decision has been made and I'm yet to be convinced that it was an outrageously incorrect one that we. Should all start clapping our claws... that's not to say my claws don't want to just start clapping though!

Honestly, I found that this Welsh side did a far better job on this match than the one over Ireland... I think that beginning the tournament by Italy and winning it that easy way was truly a prejudiciable thing (not sure that prejudiciable is an existing word in english lol )
 
Stop making excuses. Wales were outplayed by a young French team with 600 fewer caps collectively than them.

Wales aren't the first and won't be thr last side to be beaten by this exciting French squad of young players. There's some serious talent in there who are capable of playing far better than they did today. Wales got on top in the second half, but it says a lot about this French side that they found a way to win. French sides of the last decade have been finding ways to lose, so hopefully this really is the beginning of a new era for French rugby because the 6 nations and world rugby is far better with a strong France.
 
French team be given some free reign to express themselves along with a top defensive coach who has added some grit and dog to their game. Very dangerous.

Zero credit to Galthié, really ?
We're still very raw offensively and that's encouraging because it's for sure not going to last. Conversely, the scrum was seen as the weak point but they're showing real learning abilities, it's surprising.
Our efficient and resilient defensive structure sure has something to do with Mr Edwards. The players look like they know what they have to do.
( aside from Willemse who unexplicably escaped a yellow card )
 
Honestly, I found that this Welsh side did a far better job on this match than the one over Ireland... I think that beginning the tournament by Italy and winning it that easy way was truly a prejudiciable thing (not sure that prejudiciable is an existing word in english lol )
Look dude, the last thing I want to do is play down yous guys victory... it was fully deserved no doubt. But as a red-blooded, daffodil-tint glass wearing Welsh man of no repute, I will fight a cornerless battle wherever I find one... so let's ****ing go! The beauty is, I don't have to pardon my French this once a year :p!
 
Wales aren't the first and won't be thr last side to be beaten by this exciting French squad of young players. There's some serious talent in there who are capable of playing far better than they did today. Wales got on top in the second half, but it says a lot about this French side that they found a way to win. French sides of the last decade have been finding ways to lose, so hopefully this really is the beginning of a new era for French rugby because the 6 nations and world rugby is far better with a strong France.

I agree with most of that. However, as even Gatland himself insinuated when leaving, this could be the beginning of the end for Wales. He was an exceptional coach who got the players to play above themselves, and I doubt Pivac has quite that same ability. The Ospreys are nowadays basically Zebre level, while whatever improvements the other three Welsh pro teams have made are ultimately pretty tentative and from a fairly low base too. Furthermore, apart from one Grand Slam in 2016, the results in recent times of the Wales U20's teams have not been that great either.
 

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