Neither team was that dreadful, people are sensationalising it. I have to agree that both sides were under par in terms of attacking and creativity, but I’d argue that both teams improved themselves from last week. Particularly France, as they level was quite shocking last week and at least Wales righted quite a few wrongs in the second half against Ireland (after an even more shocking first half). I agree that the intensity was a definite improvement for both sides, but that there was a lack of control. However I'd put that mainly down to the pretty extreme pressure which both sides are/were under, considering Wales's terrible form and France's shock defeat to Italy, and the terrible condition of the pitch which made proper, controlled scrummaging and fluid attacks extremely difficult and would be for most sides. I think on that performance Wales will be happy going into next week and beyond. Sure we need to improve, but let's be honest; in the tournament so far Wales had one very bad half against Ireland, came out in the second half and did the best that any reasonable person could ask for, played in Paris and won a high-pressure game which was always going to be dictated by the forwards/defence against a tough French team. So it was always going to be a dirt win, for either team. Put today's defensive/kicking/lineout game together with the attacking/rucking game of the second half last week and you have a pretty formidable Welsh performance just waiting to be unleashed.
I must say though that I’m glad that France didn't start Parra, when he's firing he's world class, Bastareaud worried me at times too.
Also Halfpenny is Wales's best player hands down at the moment, the epitome of commitment, there were some very good individual performances in the forwards from 4-8 today, but plenty to work on for next week for sure.
yep, agree with all that. But besides a guy or two (literally) on each team, great intensity (seeing the high stakes, a normal feat) and very strong, conservative defense; there was nothing for either side. It's not sensationalizing or anything, it's just the truth. With an attack like that, Wales will find trouble in Italy next match; they won't score a try, or maybe just one and will be in danger of losing that game.
Bastareaud was really committed on defense, big big hits, really present; and carried well on attack, but like every attack we led, disjointed from the rest of the team, isolated plays, no continuity...
Note: This is the first time we lose our first 2 of the tournament since 1982.
This IS a bigger deal than ppl would think...
Once you get rid of that first feeling of disappointment, you have to recognize that if France slightly improved since last week we still play as headless chickens. I expected that loss but in my mind I of course always wish that our famous inconsistentcy will for once turn in our favour, but there's something new with the PSA era, we get consistent in being mediocre, now we are at 4 losses in 6 Six Nations matches.
Winning scrums and line outs is useless if you don't exploit the ball correctly. I see many journalists saying that we didn't take advantage of the turn overs but when you play at home you have to create your own opportunities, stick to your plan - which means you first need to prepare one - and be good on the basics at least. This mean not missing so much tackles, play in opponent's half which can be useful to score some tries, keep the ball and try to gain some ground by playing simple, have the back line entering faster in the rucks where we were consistently dominated.
But can you expect more when you have centers or FH playing on the wing, an inexperienced SH, a slow FH, awful kicking that puts no pressure on the opponent, obvious lack of a tactical leader ?
Winning the remaining matches currently looks beyond our capabilities, especially when you look at the very good match of Scotland yesterday, but anyways that 6N is already over for us. Now we need to pepare the next events, and there's a lot of work to be done...biggest charter is the back row. We need fast players being excellent at cleaning up the rucks, even if we partially lose in physical density.
Let's find other players that will have the capability to adapt to modern rugby, with more pace and endurance. Even if the lack of physical fitness here is the tree that hides the forest (of problems).
look man, we were a FOKKING MESS. We were far from being a mess in November, and we're lacking some KEY players atm. It's a crisis. How long will it take, what match is our breakthrough ? Don't know. I don't see us winning in Twickenham after this, nobody does, nobody sees France winning there...and if we do lose, depending on how bad, then we can just simply start praying for the rest of the way.
But this is France, and how many times have we dragged ourselves out of deep, deep holes and pulled out the most insane, improbable wins playing incredible rugby out of nowhere ?
Michalak was EXCELLENT just 3 months ago and he looked like he got hit in the head before this match. Machenaud looked very promising, and was mediocre here. As a team, at the breakdown we were down-right SCARY, on attack we had so much fugue and inventivity, scary stuff if you were an Aussie/Arg supporter. And defensively, besides the Italy match we've been EXCELLENT since the Aussie game til yesterday.
We're not a Tier 2 nation yet (or ever for that matter...). We're not getting crushed anywhere any time soon, but we may struggle. Struggle BAAAAD. But all we need is to find our feeling for the match again, run a few nice plays that get our rhythm back...the defense will be there, the kicking's there, the forwards, the ball carriers (Picamoles, Bast, Debatty...)...and once our ATTACK starts flowing just once, I think we get our confidence back and we can surprise the rugby world one more time.
