Big Ewis
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- Oct 10, 2011
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South Africa lookin guuuuud in deed friend. Definitely fine pack btw, it's clear they wanted show France "hey back off, we can scrummage too".
For me right now in no order, the best scrums in the world: France, South Africa, Argentina, Italy.
France had the upperhand in Rome, pushing forward in fact esp. in the waning moments. Italy itself has had some big pushes in South Africa. South Africa have applied pressure on France for a good half of the match, and Mas had difficulty against Beast. While Argentina have stuffed its fair share of teams when it "got its scrum back", New Zealand the most would testify.
JDV has been striking and hard-hitting the whole year, breaking tackles or resisting with consistency. Teams should know they ought to bring him down in a rush by now, glad he couldn't penetrate the French defense (if not for that broken play Fourie "try" moment, but it wasn't penetration either).
The Jones Boy:
agree with everything you've said, except "When they do they'll no doubt roll the All Blacks again". It's admirable to read a kiwi post this, but I'm not too sure about this yet. This French team lacks the sparkle we'd had forever up until the Saint-André era, post 2011RWC.
We seem to be playing at a high level every single game with only test 2 NZ being very bad, losing by narrow margins and being competitive the whole 80 each time. Our unpredictability is gone and this group seems much more consistent, rigid and without fantasy. I actually like that we still have Michalak, and our backs are improving and the young ones are so very promising...but it seems if France is to beat a team these days it's because they just have the overall level to, as opposed to before when huge performances arose from nowhere.
Then again, the "French inconsistency" notion was allowed further existence because of Lièvremont coaching, no doubt. Now we have a stable coach, and guys who really commit.
All we need is seriously this, been saying it a lot but here goes again: more time together. The FFR is fighting for more training together, but Top 14 teams couldn't care less. We had 3 days, and another 3 days this time. More time, and things will start flowing, tries will be scored...etc..
For me right now in no order, the best scrums in the world: France, South Africa, Argentina, Italy.
France had the upperhand in Rome, pushing forward in fact esp. in the waning moments. Italy itself has had some big pushes in South Africa. South Africa have applied pressure on France for a good half of the match, and Mas had difficulty against Beast. While Argentina have stuffed its fair share of teams when it "got its scrum back", New Zealand the most would testify.
JDV has been striking and hard-hitting the whole year, breaking tackles or resisting with consistency. Teams should know they ought to bring him down in a rush by now, glad he couldn't penetrate the French defense (if not for that broken play Fourie "try" moment, but it wasn't penetration either).
The Jones Boy:
agree with everything you've said, except "When they do they'll no doubt roll the All Blacks again". It's admirable to read a kiwi post this, but I'm not too sure about this yet. This French team lacks the sparkle we'd had forever up until the Saint-André era, post 2011RWC.
We seem to be playing at a high level every single game with only test 2 NZ being very bad, losing by narrow margins and being competitive the whole 80 each time. Our unpredictability is gone and this group seems much more consistent, rigid and without fantasy. I actually like that we still have Michalak, and our backs are improving and the young ones are so very promising...but it seems if France is to beat a team these days it's because they just have the overall level to, as opposed to before when huge performances arose from nowhere.
Then again, the "French inconsistency" notion was allowed further existence because of Lièvremont coaching, no doubt. Now we have a stable coach, and guys who really commit.
All we need is seriously this, been saying it a lot but here goes again: more time together. The FFR is fighting for more training together, but Top 14 teams couldn't care less. We had 3 days, and another 3 days this time. More time, and things will start flowing, tries will be scored...etc..
