June Internationals: New Zealand v France, First Test (08/06/13)

[ZeFrenchy]

Well, now the AB will be more wary of the French, I expect the second test to be less close.

One try game from a french block that caused Cane to knock nonu over as cane seemed to see what was happening and showed more urgency to get wide and Nonu got in his way.

Just for the record, there is the exact same situation in the second AB try (I don't want to start a debate, for me none of them is blocking).

 

[tenpm]

The defensive hole that led to the French try was 100% the All Blacks' fault. The French player was perfectly entitled to be there. I don't know which was to blame - Nonu, or the other All Black (who was it, anyway? I've heard Read, Cane, Retallick and Romano) - but that just shouldn't have happened.

The Ranger debate is almost pointless until it's confirmed whether or not he's staying in NZ.

His position with the All Blacks might affect whether he will stay, so I don't think it's entirely pointless.

 

[Big Ewis]

just finished the match (lol). Very proud of France ultimately. This isn't one of those "well let's take in the positives", no, France went down there and stood tall for 80min. Conceded just two tries (kept NZ try-less the whole last 40min, usually the time teams crumble and concede the most), scored one but really really should've scored at least two, to not say more, at least. We had our ups, clearly, like 52nd min just as 1 example, literally rucking ON THE LINE, just not finishing.
Or Huget missing Fofana's golden pass at the 55th and knocking on, there was a boulevard opening after that...
And of course....Picamoles at the 62nd :cryy2: whyyyyyyyyy............??!,!,....
bad pass though. Low as shyt.

And for the AB, the other way around. French defense too solid on that night, EXCELLENT STUFF, we didn't get enough credit for it, nearly, everybody discrediting the NZ attack; not a whole lot happening around our try line all match, but when they had opportunities, 5 points followed each time...big credit to NZ.

We had a BUNCH of youngsters, rookies in fact, and two main components missing in our reputed scrum.
And we're coming off our worst 6N, sorry to repeat this but it's very encouraging to see France perform like this goddamn it, this really, really should've been a big 30pt blowout in all likelihood, considering any logic.

Our mauls didn't work. We missed key penalty kicks as well. I'm glad we didn't just kick around for territory though, as any side will randomly do. Our "game plan" ? Not sure, but those certainly weren't decapitated Frenchmen, running aimlessly with no cohesion. We had many breaks (Fritz mostly), bent that defense consistently, even won a few scrums (we had a big one, but NZ had that BIG push too).

Note: Vincent Debatty could be a star if he could just OFF LOAD, at least at a standard level. The guy makes a big break virtually every game, and it at least compensates for his terrible scrummaging (thought he was ok before, but errr...). At the 68th minute, again: big break, looks behind, 2 guys there, throws the pass NOWHERE...he even had a good look this time !! I guess the fact that he's Belgian...

Some interesting stats:
- NZ made 143 tackles, to France's mere 93. We both missed around 15.
- NZ and France around 15 defenders beaten.
- France made 9 clear breaks, to NZ's 7.
- France had 53% possession (55% in second half).
- France had 56% territory.
- France made 105 runs, to NZ's 81.

All those stats show France's clear upperhand on attack. NZ made that many tackles, because France held the ball all this time.

Also:
* We were better at the mauls: 3/4 for us, NZ=1/2.
* NZ ran 375m with the ball, we ran 345m.
* France easily won the ruck battle, which I think kept us in the game: 79/82 France, 53/61 NZ.

Scrum:
* NZ 11/11 off own feed. France just 5/6.

 

[Gena_ZA]

Seemed to me like the AB's struggled a bit to get back into test rugby structures after the Super15 type of play
Expect a better showing from them next game

 

[admartian]

Some interesting stats:
- NZ made 143 tackles, to France's mere 93. We both missed around 15.
- NZ and France around 15 defenders beaten.
- France made 9 clear breaks, to NZ's 7.
- France had 53% possession (55% in second half).
- France had 56% territory.
- France made 105 runs, to NZ's 81.

All those stats show France's clear upperhand on attack. NZ made that many tackles, because France held the ball all this time.


* France easily won the ruck battle, which I think kept us in the game: 79/82 France, 53/61 NZ.

Scrum:
* NZ 11/11 off own feed. France just 5/6.

1) I figure Wyatt Crockett and Cruden to feature in a lot of those 15.
2) Did you notice where a lot of those breaks happened? (I'd watch it again but neglected to record the match nor do I know where to get a 'copy' - not that I'm soliciting it..)
3) Biggest stat of the game for me.
Both were threatening on attack. And I figure, if half (exaggeration) of the game wasn't wasted on scrum restarts etc we'd have prob seen a higher score from both clubs. Or at the very least, a more free flowing game of rugby.

 

[Big Ewis]

what, you serious ?! I ain't watchin the whole thing again man, sorry !! :lol:

I AM though, making a scrum compilation for this match. All scrums of the game, I'll post the youtube url here when it's done...
we got it worse in the second half after Ducalcon and the others left...Debatty is a problem for us it seems...that's when NZ made the huge push, not a common site for France to be pushed back like that, we need Ducalcon as a fresh substitute, not a starter.

EDIT: admartian, have you disabled PM's or am I slow as a sloth ?

 

[admartian]

what, you serious ?! I ain't watchin the whole thing again man, sorry !! :lol:

I AM though, making a scrum compilation for this match. All scrums of the game, I'll post the youtube url here when it's done...
we got it worse in the second half after Ducalcon and the others left...Debatty is a problem for us it seems...that's when NZ made the huge push, not a common site for France to be pushed back like that, we need Ducalcon as a fresh substitute, not a starter.

EDIT: admartian, have you disabled PM's or am I slow as a sloth ?

lol :lol: I didn't mean for you to watch it again. Just thought if you caught some of the things I mentioned haha. Unless you work free....


Nah - but I have had to try to clear 4 read msgs from my notifications forever. (Nothing unread).
EDIT:

It was off -not anymore.

 

[ZeFrenchy]

BTW

 

[Larksea]

thing is Ranger may only stay in NZ if he gets what he deserves which is to get All Blacks starts. I mean he is currently probably the form back in NZ right now behind Ben Smith. IF the All Black jersey is his goal in NZ and he doesn't get starts then there is no reason for him to stay.

 

[Dizzy]

The french also seemed to get through in Cruden/Nonu's area, I can't pick exactly who's problem it was without going over the game again. Seemed a bit wider than where you'd expect cane to be defending. I know if I was the french coach I would be directing my attack at Cruden and Nonu, seemed the french did the same and profited. AB's need to make sure they reinforce this area.

I didn't particularly think there was a problem in this channel. Cruden made his tackles and so did Nonu. To suggest it's too far out for our Openside Flanker seems to be a bit farfetched to me.

One try game from a french block that caused Cane to knock nonu over as cane seemed to see what was happening and showed more urgency to get wide and Nonu got in his way.
Cruden looked good with the ball in the first half but missed a couple goals you would expect him to get and was somewhat found out on defense.

IMHO Nonu had it covered and would've made the tackle had Cane not stumbled over him. I think it was more of Cane being clumsy than Nonu being less urgent. Like I said, he had the tackle covered.

I do remember Cane being in the defensive line and a line break was made where he should've made the tackle. And the French made a decent break through this as well.

Nonu was great with the ball and despite a couple of eye catching tackles he still was a bit of a letdown on defense.

Again, not sure where this stems from as Nonu was quite consistent with his defence on the night and definitely looked to me to be the first name down for a man of the match award.

But other than these points I agree with everything else.