[RWC2023] France vs New Zealand (08/09/2023)

[Stade Rochelais]

 

[Bluemoon]

France probably weren't at their best today but they still won, that's the sign of potential champions to me. I'm delighted for them and hope they find their groove before the knockouts. I wondered if the heat played a part first half for both teams.

On the flip side, certainly in my lifetime I've not seen a NZ side that look so very fragile in lots of areas. That second half was poor by their standards.

 

[IT157]

Tough watch for the ABs I'm sure, can see they have great players but the game plan didn't seem very clear - the tries were 2 flashes of skill rather than all round great play.

Sums it up well.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I know people say oh what happens in warm ups doesnt matter, but those two teams looked exactly like who we thought they were from the warm up performances.

First XV warm ups matter. We got dicked by 50 pre 2019 and the 40 a month later.

 

[Stade Rochelais]

Le 1er essai des noirs était sur un en-avant

 

[Stade Rochelais]

 

[nickp]

France is in very good form

 

[Booboobang]

First XV warm ups matter. We got dicked by 50 pre 2019 and the 40 a month later.

Fair point, most warm ups are pretty first 23 heavy now though. When teams show you who they are believe them. Outside something drastic happening they arent ssuddenly going to turn good for a tournament.

 

[Booboobang]

Johny with the trust me bro they are going to come good, lmao.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Went as expected. Hard to see this all blacks team doing well. Mentally broken.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Sime good lessons will be taken from this game though

 

[Mr.cyclopede]

France in a diesel mode, a bit disorganised in defense with the loss of Ntamak Danty.
Nz in a bad move, not as England but on its way. Peyper and assistants have to go back to lessons and do their homeworks
AFS IRE will be a butcher's game, just to have the privilege to meet NZ in QF

 

[TopTen2003]

Yeah, after the SA game I thought maybe they were keeping their tactics under raps

But it was the same tonight, kick kick kick. And some of them were terrible from Barrett.

Whilst the cross field didn't necessarily work after the early try, you can see why they were looking to stretch Edward defence system right out wide and it paid two tries for them.

I think what we then began to see was more kicking in second/third phase from Barrett etc because frankly NZ didn't have the power game to win gain line yards in midfield and keep the phases moving. Tonight made me think a lot about how good Ma'a Nonu was and his role in the AB machine.

I actually thought Barrett did find a couple of excellent kicks from awfully difficult positions and angles- I just think he realised they were outmuscled.

Interesting now to see how NZ respond in the weeks ahead.

 

[IT157]

Whilst the cross field didn't necessarily work after the early try, you can see why they were looking to stretch Edward defence system right out wide and it paid two tries for them.

I think what we then began to see was more kicking in second/third phase from Barrett etc because frankly NZ didn't have the power game to win gain line yards in midfield and keep the phases moving. Tonight made me think a lot about how good Ma'a Nonu was and his role in the AB machine.

I actually thought Barrett did find a couple of excellent kicks from awfully difficult positions and angles- I just think he realised they were outmuscled.

Interesting now to see how NZ respond in the weeks ahead.

I thought most of Barretts kicks and plays were really good.

 

[corny]

Too many average players playing in black these days. They could still make a final as Ireland might be flaky in a QF. If they meet SA in the QF though....

France will be tough to crack. Nerves won't be a factor. Danty gives them another 10% when he's fit.

 

[IT157]

Andrew Mehrtens talks a load of ********.

 

[Johnny Storm]

NZ really pale and unconvincing tonight. Really trying to understand the implosion. Perhaps it is the loss of SA teams from Super Rugby, but those ABs tonight we're not intimidating at all.

 

[IT157]

NZ really pale and unconvincing tonight. Really trying to understand the implosion. Perhaps it is the loss of SA teams from Super Rugby, but those ABs tonight we're not intimidating at all.

Long may South African teams stay in Europe!

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Papering over a terrible head coach with elite assistants can only take you so far.

Care to provide some detail in what about the head coaching you think is wrong? I'm not saying there is nothing to what you are saying but the trend is that people who go on about how crap foster is simply can't back it up with any reasonable arguments, it's mostly just pack mentality and people not realising that we actually don't have the best players in the world anymore. Where people do provide reasons, it's typically confirmation bias.

To me the mental fragility has come mainly from the media pressure the players have had over the last few years.

Players were poor. Some of this is due to feeling pressure at all blacks level (eg Taylor, mounga), some of it is just things (especially discipline) that are acceptable at super rugby level aren't at test level (eg papalii, jordan, newell, beauden).

Selection disruptions and players coming back from injury didn't help either.

Strike plays were a positive for this game. That's fosters role.

For the record I'm not saying foster is a great coach, just that I rarely hear good rationale as to why he's not.

 

[OldSchoolRugga]

I will watch the game on replay, but I don't think Foster can really inspire players. He might be a good technical coach, but a coach needs to inspire as well. And he might lack that.