France vs Wales

[Teh Mite]

Venue: Stade de France
Date: Saturday 19th March 2011
Kick Off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Craig Joubert
​

 

[TVH11]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/9423668.stm
France have made 6 changes to the team that lost to Italy. I'm not massively knowledgable on the french national side (for the above reason - always changing their teams) but the 6 that have been axed certainly are "big names" even if they've been off form. I would say its gonna be a huge blow for them, but i presume that the guys coming in are "in form"???

Also sad to hear that this game is possibly going to be Shane's last 6 nations game. He may not be as quick as he used to be, but he still gets the crowd and the team going (even if he tries to hard at times). Gonna be a huge blow for Wales if he takes his final bow at the world cup. An end of an era, doubt there will be another like him for a while or ever. Can't remember where i read it but someone said that there's a Bread filled corner in heaven reserved for Gareth Edwards and Shane.... Couldn't agree more
can't wait for the week to end and Super saturday to commence

 

[fusuke78]

Yep, everyone is France is laughing about that. Or crying.

- Come on, Poitrenaud and Rougerie leave the team, and Estebanez (ONE good match with Brive in 2011), Palisson (a good Top14 player, but international ? What about Porical or Floch ??), Marty (deserved for him, but there's lot of players better than him : Fritz, Bastareaud)...

- Chabal deserved to be kicked off, but we call Lapandry insted of a real number 8 (Lakafia, Picamoles, even Baget or Claassen). What's the point to take Lapandry when we have a stunning Ouedraogo ? Or Vosloo, he can play for France and he is by far one of the top player of our championship...

- Huget stays. What about Malzieu, or Andreu ???

- I'm okay for Papé and Schuster, well deserved for these two players though.

But players are not the main problem. We could swap everyone, it wouldn't change anything. You can have the best players, if management is a failure, you won't win anything. Bad squad selection, and bad management, that's Lièvremont.
Anyway, we could beat Wales of course, but only if Wales plays badly. Otherwise, it will be another defeat for us. I'm quite excited about Ireland-England, Scotland-Italy, and to see Wales play. But I'm not concerned about how we play, this squad selection is based on Lièvremont's anger, not a team based on performance issues...

 

[dullonien]

I feel the first 15min of this match will be cruicial. If Wales can get an early score, the French crowd could turn on their team big time (in a way only the French can). If that happens I can see Wales winning. But if France come out with something to proove, and start strongly, I wouldn't be atall surprised to see them run away with it.

I honesltly think that it's actually a good thing for Wales that this game is being played in France. All the pressure is gonna be on them in front of an angry crowd.

But as the saying goes, it depends which French team turns up. Never has this been more true.

 

[Teh Mite]

Wouldn't want to be a bookie before this game, that's for sure.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Although Lievremont is a douche bag and those comments harsh, I think the French players will be as embarassed or annoyed with themselves as they wil be with Lievremont, and I can imagine this game for them being about showing what they can do, getting some self-esteem back. So I think France will come out and play very differently than against Italy. They probably won't get drawn into an arm wrestle, and at scrum time they can expect to have the edge I suspect. Meanwhile I don't think Wales have been threatening enough to score many tries away from home. The incision is not there yet and I think it's wrong in the centres.

My personal prediction, which could be very wrong, is France by 10.

 

[TVH11]

Wouldn't want to be a bookie before this game, that's for sure.

Well using some of my friends as examples, if the England game goes our way (which i hope, but doubt hugely) there will be a lot of ****** up welsh men at 7.40 putting bets on wales to win by the margin needed to win the championship. I'm not a betting man, but common sense would say that odd's are hugely against us.... So cheeky 5'er won't go harm will it?? Dare I dream..... agree with Dullonien first 15 crucial. Get an early try (which past matches say we wont) and the french crowd will go apeshit Would be a nice climax to the tournament if Ireland were to spoil England's grand-slam, but to be fair they've played nice rugby so..... i guess they deserve one???

 

[dullonien]

Even if Ireland magically beat England by a 30 point margin, there'd be littlechance that Wales would beat France by 16 points. Basically the 45 points difference is an almost impossible task to overcome. I can't see many Welsh fans putting any kind of bet's on Wales winning the championship, no matter how ****** they are.....

 

[TRF_Olyy]

So cheeky 5'er won't go harm will it??

Depends how much you value a fiver, because you won't be seeing it again!

 

[no-1-rugby-fan]

France should win with home advantage but they've been massively inconsistent in this year's Six Nations and it wouldn't suprise if Wales did one, they're more than capable. The french coach seems to be dropping players left, right and centre!

 

[TVH11]

Depends how much you value a fiver, because you won't be seeing it again!

Well i guess its a pint and a bit less in the pub... A health benefit should be a fun one anyways

 

[Draggs]

France are too unpredictable- they will either fall apart, or tear us to shreds, nothing in between.
I'd keep the same 22 except for Adam Jones in for Craig Mitchell.

 

[WetAndCold]

I have a feeling the bad France will turn up for this one. If they were merely underdogs, us poor Welsh would get hammered since it's at Stade Francais. However, since they're not just underdogs, but have no faith in the manager - the one who called them cowards - as soon as we get a single point ahead, the crowd will turn, their heads will drop and Wales will have a riot. I just cant see them having any incentive to play well for the man who disrespects them. Where is the kindle to light the fire in their bellies?

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Wales get a score early could see the French crowd turn against their side. However I do see the French have a resurgence after whats gone on. When will Wales click? Will Gatland ever solve our problems with our backs? Will James Hook get the centre's more involved? Will John Davies take the ball up straight rather than lateral? Will Lee Byrne wear longer studs? Tune in next Saturday to find out .... :lol:

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Reckon Adidas need to have a look at those new boots, considering they're marketed as Rugby versions of the footy boots, their grip is shoddy (both Byrne and Earls wore them last weekend and looked like they were wearing ice skates)

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Novès slams 'incoherent' Lièvremont

:lol:

 

[Charles]

Novès slams 'incoherent' Lièvremont

:lol:

All too true, and I think Noves knows a thing or two about rugby coaching.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Im with Noves on this one. Reckon he might have a shot at coaching France after the WC Charles?

 

[TRF_Cymro]

France: 15 Maxime Médard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 David Marty, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (capt), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Luc Ducalcon, 18 Pascal Papé, 19 Alexandre Lapandry, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Fabien Estebanez, 22 Yoann Huget.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Not a bad looking team at all,
Is the Welsh announcement tomorrow? I imagine they'll have an unchanged 22, with the exception of AJ (as Draggs said above)