First of all, hats of to Wales. They deserve this grand slam every bit. Their main strenght has been consistency of all their players throughout the tournament. Most of the players in the team have held their heads down and done their job. This once again proves rugby is a TEAM sport. The reason Wales won was because the team did their job well. Add to that the individual brilliance of some players in key roles (mainly R.Jones, M.Williams), and you have a tournament-winning team on your hands. We all knew Wales had a proper backline, it's the pack that made the tournament possible.
Now, onto France. To be honest, I watched in agony. I love les Bleus, the style, the arrogance, the world-class rugby they are capable off, on their day...
This was the worst preformance I've ever seen from a French side. Forget the opening match of the world cup, they did nothing right. Wales played their most sober match of the tournament, they defended 90% of the time, and didn't create a real opportunity the entire match. The French had nearly all of the ball, no posession, no go-forward.
The pack was awful. They had no brains or brawn around the field, didn't boss the welsh around, and to add to the shame lost a scrum against the bloody head!!! (another first timer for me as well). I felt sorry for Ibanez as he had to sit through the post-match, he must have been boiling on the inside. Yet the worst preformance was from the midfield, Skrela, Jauzion and Traille. Never, ever, have I seen such an ineffective midfield. What's the bloody point in having Malzieu and Clerc if you are never going to ship the ball past your OC? The complete lack of form and vision from those three was truly appalling.
Michalak, please come back??