France v Australia

Anyone else watching? France have looked a class above all match and as I type, a Fofana try makes it 23-6 to the French.

Worrying times for the Wallabies.

France are looking he best they've even in ages. And a win tonight will put them into 4th on the rankings.

I expected much less from France to be honest. They didn't need this hype with all the hype they get from being 'the favourites', the tag they get for the 6 Nations during Lions year. Fair play for exceeding my expectations.

they are mincing the Aussies

Very good by France.

Very poor by Oz

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:France are looking he best they've even in ages. And a win tonight will put them into 4th on the rankings.

The size of the win will see SA go 2nd, France go 3rd and aus drop to 4th - if my sums are correct.

And without Dusatoir and Bonnaire...Michelak was class tonight.. France just beat them up literally...

Nigel chickened out of a red card...dont know the name of the player but the Aus no.19 was very lucky..

France very well deserved winners. Congrats whocares and any other French fans!

That was a pitiful performance from the Wallabies. They were unable to do anything with the ball when they had it; except drop it or knock on. No penetration in attack whatsoever. The Wallaby defence caved in naturally as Les Blues dominated both halves; grinding them down in the forwards and showing far more enterprise with the ball out in the backline.

France on the other hand were up for the challenge and wanted it so much more. Full credit to them - they were a pleasure to watch.

The Wallabies will be embarrassed again next week at Twickers most likely. There is something fundamentally wrong with the attitude of that team - something which can't be fixed in a week. And that's separate from all the technical flaws which punctuate the execution of their 'game plan' with monotonous regularity.

Shows how effing s**t Wales are. 5 in a row vs Oz in 8 months and nothing and then France do that!

If England win next week things get very interesting for 4th place. Australia possibly drop out of the top 4 for the WC draw! Imagine them being drawn with New Zealand!

Aus were totally outplayed no scrum at all, they could lose all the games if they don't improve quickly (may be not Wales).

France up to 4th in the IRB ratings.

DOD wrote:And without Dusatoir and Bonnaire...Michelak was class tonight.. France just beat them up literally...

Nigel chickened out of a red card...dont know the name of the player but the Aus no.19 was very lucky..

Rob Simmons was the man (who I expect will be cited and won't be warming the bench next week. He might even have to go home).
To be fair Owens I don't think saw the incident. It was his TJs didn't get the number.

A plus for the new Jeff TV replays I think. Simmons would have been a gonner there and then.

France are the side that will put skidmarks in AB underpants if they play like that.

Linebreaker wrote:France very well deserved winners. Congrats whocares and any other French fans!

That was a pitiful performance from the Wallabies. They were unable to do anything with the ball when they had it; except drop it or knock on. No penetration in attack whatsoever. The Wallaby defence caved in naturally as Les Blues dominated both halves; grinding them down in the forwards and showing far more enterprise with the ball out in the backline.

France on the other hand were up for the challenge and wanted it so much more. Full credit to them - they were a pleasure to watch.

The Wallabies will be embarrassed again next week at Twickers most likely. There is something fundamentally wrong with the attitude of that team - something which can't be fixed in a week. And that's separate from all the technical flaws which punctuate the execution of their 'game plan' with monotonous regularity.

Cheers LB tis not often than France beat the wallabies so despite key Aussie personnel missing I am still very happy with the result.

As usual with France in the last few years, they win games thanks to their forwards, some heroic defense and the right attitude / controlled agression (and sometime one player inspiration). the backplay was still hesitant but considering this team is rebuilding it was too be expected.
Michalak composure , machenaud (depsite some minor mistakes), the backrow and specially Picamoles were all stand outs. there was also some serious amounts of turnovers won , perhaps too easily.

I expect a different type of game next week vs Argentina : they wont be laid back for sure and it will be a very tough battle. hope the french players will build on that result now.

Didn't see the game, but great to hear F. Michalak is back and in form after the Lievremont years of Beauxis, Parra etc. at 10.

He was always a game-breaker - as in the famous defeat of the All Blacks in 2007.

It is one of the great mysteries of French rugby why a player who most other international teams would give their eye-teeth for was cast out into the wilderness. We'd trade him for our current 10 in a shot!

Congrats to France.

Things that are consistent in most news reports:

1. The Aussie pack got their backsides handed to them in the scrum yet again and for the entire game. Amazing that France have found yet another great loosehead in Yannick Forestier, who again seems to prove the rule that props hits their straps late 20s/early 30's. Penalty try in the 64th minute was typical. On that showing, Marler, Youngs and Cole will take them to the cleaners.

2. Picamoles had a monstrous game and is coming into his own as one of the best breakaways in Europe.

3. Similarly, Fofana had a stormer, Michalak's whole game was a highlight reel and the French passing game was wonderful.

4. Australia suffers a big step down in quality between their first and second XVs. There can't be any talk of resting Pocock, Ioane and Timani - they've got to play every game. Barnes and Moore looked like good value too when they came on.

5. Beale looks terrible without front foot ball. Freddie ghosted past him for the Fofana try.

I've got to agree with all of those points and more, George.

The Wallabies have problems on many fronts. If they play like that again next week, England will put 35+ points on them.

It's Category 1 Severe Crisis Mode from now on.
We could be heading for a "Reverse Antipodean Grand Slam" over both hemispheres.
Losses to Ireland, Scotland, France, England, Wales all in the space of about 15 months.

Thing is LB Oz tend need a kick up the *^**& and then they go ok. Walking around for a week with England ringing in their ears will be enough to turn them around so France have not done anyone else any favours.

I just thought the quality of some of the matches had high error rates and that this is a trend with defences being the easiest thing to be good at these days.

How many times do you have to kick a mule before it goes where you want it to go though Taylor?

It's evident to me - hope I'm wrong - but this team lacks leadership and spark. Boring and flat predictable play.
They've gone from a team which used to score about 3.5 tries/match to about 0.35 'tries'/match now.

I hope you're right. Otherwise we'll plummet down the rankings like a watermelon dropped from knee height onto a concrete path.

Yeah its not pretty and its been a long wait between two good innings. I suppose I'm just not used to seeing anything in Ozzie sport stay down for long. Chin up, its now about how deep they can dig again despite the off field shortcomings. The predictable play is a concern and thats what they need to change most of all for this tour. Teams are not beating defences without it.

Adds further woe to the series whitewash wales suffered!!!

Anywhere to watch that match again anyone?

STOP SAYING "rebuilding". Arghhhhhh!

The stupidest most ridiculous buzzword ever created.

maverickmak wrote:If England win next week things get very interesting for 4th place. Australia possibly drop out of the top 4 for the WC draw! Imagine them being drawn with New Zealand!

I made this point before on another board - that it's quite possible that Aus and SA will drop out of the top 4. Granted SA are probably looking a bit more comfortable now following their win against Ireland - but that was hardly a cosy one for them. Personally I don't think top 4 matters that much. Most teams in the top 8 are more or less on a par in my view, with the exception of New Zealand. And as New Zealand are the only really worrying team at this stage it makes me wonder if they are even worth avoiding. At least if you get them in the group stage you can't get them in the knockouts until the final.

Bring on a tough pool for NZ. I'd love to have someone like Australia or SA in our pool. All this talk of avoiding teams is rubbish. Keep your lower ranked friends close and your top ranked enemies closer. Preferably in the same pool.

I agree kia, what's the sense in winning matches 20 points plus unless it's against a good side?

didn't get to see the game yesterday, but it looks like Scotland match again for us, and a lot of the Welsh games too. Sounds like we were dropping balls, getting in each other's way and generally behaving like headless chickens. Ah well, a tonking never hurts anyone if we, to quote many post match interviews, learn something from it and improve next game. got to admit was very disappointed, after our last 2 games in the RC, when I thought we were getting team spirit back again and doing the basics well, to read we were completely outplayed and toothless in attack.

But no worries, next week is another game and I'm sure Deans will have kicked them up the backsides, and turn out a better side, a la Meyer's talk at half time to the boks, which saw them turn round and play the game.

Don't worry about the rankings, just play each game now without fear and get the basics right. Get some pride back in the side.

Looking forward the the English game now even more.

Well done France. Great performance.

Just watched that game again.

You can say Oz were poor but also have to say that France put in the performance of the first round.

Absolutely insane amount of commitment from them coupled with controlled aggression in defence and a sublime mix of flair in attack.

The tears from their 7 (Nayanga?) as their anthem blasted out said it all really

2 best players of the weekend - Dan Carter and Freddie Michelack

yappysnap wrote:Just watched that game again.

You can say Oz were poor but also have to say that France put in the performance of the first round.

Absolutely insane amount of commitment from them coupled with controlled aggression in defence and a sublime mix of flair in attack.

The tears from their 7 (Nayanga?) as their anthem blasted out said it all really

Agree mate. They were committed, well organised and passionate to a level they generally don't seem to be when playing us. Our performance was really only relevant as far as the margin went. When I saw the tears I thought "awww f...!"

Most of them were good, but I thought their backrow in particular tore us a new one.

France looked dangerous against Australia if they keep playing like they did they will be pushing all teams including NZ for the Rugby World Cup winning spot in 2015.

And this was France playing without the Hairy Knorr Donkey*.

* Copyright Jonathan 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' Davies.

RogerLewis wrote:Shows how effing s**t Wales are. 5 in a row vs Oz in 8 months and nothing and then France do that!

Are we forgetting that Australia drew with the All Blacks a few weeks ago to break their winning streak?

Hard to believe it was the same team.
They really took their foot off that pedal.

So quiet here... there's hardly a mention of it. Oh, the shame...

Then again I haven't been looking for it. I will watch Rugby Club on Thursday night to see what they say; otherwise, try not to dwell on it too much and just hope the players can make amends on the weekend.