France vs Ireland match thread.

[Biltong]

First topic message reminder :

France: C Poitrenaud (Toulouse), V Clerc (Toulouse), A Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne), W Fofana (Clermont Auvergne), J Malzieu (Clermont Auvergne), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Clermont Auvergne), JB Poux (Toulouse), D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), N Mas (Perpignan), P Pape (Stade Francais), Y Maestri (Toulouse), T Dusautoir (Toulouse), J Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz)

Replacements: W Servat (Toulouse), V Debaty (Clermont Auvergne), L Nallet (Racing Metro), L Picamoles (Toulouse), J Dupuy (Stade Francais), L Beauxis (Toulouse), M Mermoz (Perpignan)

Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), K Earls (Munster), G D'Arcy (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster); J Sexton (Leinster), C Murray (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), M Ross (Leinster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), S O'Brien (Leinster), J Heaslip (Leinster)

Replacements: S Cronin (Leinster), T Court (Ulster), D Ryan (Munster), P O'Mahony (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster), R O'Gara (Munster), F McFadden (Leinster)


After a nice exhausting weekend by the dam, I am at least back early enough to watch this match.

Irealand is up against it, but the French have not yet played a team in great form so this one might go either way.

Good luck to me Irish mates.

Of course I will be supporting the boys in green.

[thebluesmancometh]

Thats a France performance that scares me very little as a Welshman, if that's the best they have at home, they will struggle at the MS!!!

[eirebilly]

Yep POC, great opportunity not taken.

[Gibson]

Best possible result for Wales here- surely that's the championship in the bag. I have no doubt they will beat France comfortably

I actually think thats bad for Wales. France will up it against them.

[thebluesmancometh]

France scored a try Cari!!!

[ChequeredJersey]

Bit of honesty from POC there

[Rory_Gallagher]

Hmm no penalty from Pearson in the last 10 minutes. How strange.

We get it Chunky, you dont like Ireland

WTF are you on about?

I commented there was no penalty. To Either team you muppet.

As Pearson doesn't want to decide the game either way

Paranoia is not good.

Chunky, you are a complete joke of a poster. Rude, condescending and generally you talk a load of nonsense.

[Cari]

WHO WAS MOTM FFS?!

Well France have got England first, so I'm hoping they'll be fecked by the time they meet us.

[eirebilly]

What a match though. I loved the first half.

[Thomond]

"France are like Obama" what are you talking about George.

Discipline cost us and errors, there was nothing wrong with the gameplan.

[Chunky Norwich]

I'm truly hurt Rory.

[Cari]

What a match though. I loved the first half.

Me too! Proud of Tommy

[maestegmafia]

Pearson was very indecisive... TE fofana try definitely didn't need to go to a TMO

[Cari]

France scored a try Cari!!!

Oh balls yeah...

[eirebilly]

He turned it on for you Cari.

[Hookisms and Hyperbole]

Shame we can't get rid of certain posters here. The mods are quick to warn people but reticent to make the big calls. There is a term for it, I think it is Dave Personitis

[Thomond]

Bowe didn't deserve MOTM. His defending could be better. Took his tries very well.

[eirebilly]

Pearson was very indecisive... TE fofana try definitely didn't need to go to a TMO

Yeah, i had absolutely no idea why he went to the TMO. It looked good for me in real time

[Gibson]

Hmm no penalty from Pearson in the last 10 minutes. How strange.

We get it Chunky, you dont like Ireland

WTF are you on about?

I commented there was no penalty. To Either team you muppet.

As Pearson doesn't want to decide the game either way

Paranoia is not good.

Chunky, you are a complete joke of a poster. Rude, condescending and generally you talk a load of nonsense.

Its a soccerball kid, trying to look cool on the rugby pages. Let him make a complete gobshoite of himself. Its good fun to read.

Da will be home soon from the pub and will give him a damn good thrashing for spilling lemonade on his keyboard.

[Cari]

Thomond - he wasn't was he? I wondered if French TV picked a French player?

[Rory_Gallagher]

Oh btw Hookisms, your earlier comment about myself being Seanie's mother made me laugh

In all seriousness though I think our flankers did a very good job today and gelled brilliantly. Maybe Foley had something to do with that?

[Thomond]

The only reason I would have went to the TMO was to decide whether it was a knock on in the build up to Fofana's try.

[Chunky Norwich]

Shame we can't get rid of certain posters here. The mods are quick to warn people but reticent to make the big calls. There is a term for it, I think it is Dave Personitis

I totally agree. Some posters need to get their head out of the sand and try and read the game more.

[eirebilly]

Shame we can't get rid of certain posters here. The mods are quick to warn people but reticent to make the big calls. There is a term for it, I think it is Dave Personitis

It is really because they wreck perfectly good threads

I feel rather odd about the result. I honestly am happy with the draw but really felt that France were there for the taking.

[Cymroglan]

Considering the weather it was a good game.

[Gibson]

Shame we can't get rid of certain posters here. The mods are quick to warn people but reticent to make the big calls. There is a term for it, I think it is Dave Personitis

Its true.

[PenfroPete]

I think Harinordoquy's dad has just gone in to the French dressing room to tw@t Beauxis

[Chunky Norwich]

Its a soccerball kid, trying to look cool on the rugby pages. Let him make a complete gobshoite of himself. Its good fun to read.

Da will be home soon from the pub and will give him a damn good thrashing for spilling lemonade on his keyboard.

Hmmm

Must be so frustrating for Ireland to only be able to beat Italy. But flexing your internet muscles on a chat forum isn't really doing much for your cause.

[Cari]

It was great game, and I'm glad the stadium wasn't half empty. I was worried it might be after the postponement.

It is a shame that Ireland didn't win that though. The players must be so frustrated with that. *sigh*

[Thomond]

Shame we can't get rid of certain posters here. The mods are quick to warn people but reticent to make the big calls. There is a term for it, I think it is Dave Personitis

I totally agree. Some posters need to get their head out of the sand and try and read the game more.

Says the guy who says Mike Phillips' plan to give Wales slow ball is intentional.....

[Rava]

I think it was the was the ball came loose after the grounding and Kearneys tackle.
He was right to make sure.

[Chunky Norwich]

Says the guy who says Mike Phillips' plan to give Wales slow ball is intentional.....

I didn't actually.

Read the thread. Then read it again. And again, and again until it sinks in.

[eirebilly]

Some posters really do need to get some anger managment

[Gibson]

Or grow some hair on their balls 1st, before they try to talk to men. And wimmin.

[Cari]

TOMMY TWO TRIES ON TELLY!!!!!

[Notch]

Well, there you are. If we had the tactics and structures to match our effort and endeavour we'd be a good team. We all know what's holding this team back, we all know what needs to be done. Sorry Deccie. IRFU, make it happen.

[Cari]

Dear BBC, get me to interview players instead of Gill....I'll get an interesting interview out of them!

[PenfroPete]

"A draw is always a little like kissing your mother-in-law."

[rodders]

That was complete rubbish. Apart from defence there is not a single positive to take from that game. Shocking.

This is the worst prepared Ireland side I've seen in the professional era.

Kidney has us playing a pre 2010 game, everything is just about defence and we haven't a clue when we have the ball. No attacking patterns, no game plan.

Kearney was exceptional again. Bowe is the best finisher around. Ferris was brilliant again but as a team that was not good enough.

[PenfroPete]

TOMMY TWO TRIES ON TELLY!!!!!

Calm down dear

[Gibson]

Well, there you are. If we had the tactics and structures to match our effort and endeavour we'd be a good team. We all know what's holding this team back, we all know what needs to be done. Sorry Deccie. IRFU, make it happen.

+1

The team are good enough, but they are directionless. 2nd half proved it.

[Cari]

We all know what's holding this team back, we all know what needs to be done. Sorry Deccie. IRFU, make it happen.

I agree Notch. They must get more players in from Connacht.

[Hookisms and Hyperbole]

Oh btw Hookisms, your earlier comment about myself being Seanie's mother made me laugh

In all seriousness though I think our flankers did a very good job today and gelled brilliantly. Maybe Foley had something to do with that?

You're welcome. I thought the backrow put in a good shift as a unit, worked very hard and tackled like madmen. I thought Ferris was the pick of the lot and I won't get into the O'Brien at 7 debate. I thought he had a much better game than last week, but he still remains ill disciplined at the breakdown. That's where I really notice he isn't a true world class 7 because he isn't clever enough to 'cheat' and get away with it. O'Mahony again did really well when he came on, as did Ryan in the second row. The pack in general did really well and look absolutely knackered at the end.

Murray put in a really good shift and actually mixed his passing up abit more and did get the ball away faster at times but Reddan made a huge difference when he came on again. Sexton was excellent in defence but kicked pretty poorly out of hand. The centres were pretty decent in defence and Earls deserves alot of credit. He isn't a centre though, he just doesn't have the positional awareness nor lines of running to be a quality 13. D'Arcy will get mullered for a couple of mistakes but I thought had a pretty good match. Kearney was phenominal and is a class above anyone in the northern hemisphere at 15. Trimble was very disappointing given his good form for Ulster. I'll let Cari fill us in about Tommy, and then let him fill her in.

[Cymroglan]

"A draw is always a little like kissing your mother-in-law."

With tongues

[eirebilly]

What went wrong in the second half? Discipline and handling went out the window.

Standard Deccie speak here.

[Gibson]

Oi Penfron, Deccie just repeated your post.

Deccie, "I told them to do nothing magical. Just keep it tight."

Sweeet Mother Of Divine Jeebus. That's why we didnt score inthe 2nd half.

I give up.

[Shifty]

Well no grand slam for France now, so Ireland have done what the Welsh wanted them to do for us.

Ireland have put plenty of dents in that French armour for us.

[rodders]

Well, there you are. If we had the tactics and structures to match our effort and endeavour we'd be a good team. We all know what's holding this team back, we all know what needs to be done. Sorry Deccie. IRFU, make it happen.

+1

The team are good enough, but they are directionless. 2nd half proved it.

+ 2 the writing was on the wall in the first half. It was obvious we couldn't defend for 80 min, it was suicidal to sit back and try and defend the lead. We didn't even deserve the draw.

Kidney needs to go now.

Wales and England will destroy this French side.

[Gibson]

Aul Jiffy is full of it. Bless im.

[Cari]

I'll let Cari fill us in about Tommy, and then let him fill her in.

Yes please!

France/England could be interesting next week.

[Notch]

That interview with Kidney was just... ugh, God. That was as gutting as the game. We could all see we needed to step up a gear and change things at HT. We got a bit of luck with an intercept and a piece of individual brilliance that accounted for 14 of our 17 points in the first half. Our gameplan, whilst it was well executed, got us nowhere. And it will get us nowhere. And we don't want to see a team with so many good players going nowhere any more!

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