Which France will turn up?

First topic message reminder :

What is it with France?

They got beat by Italy, who then lost heavily to Scotland. They then lost, in Paris, to a pretty ordinary Welsh side. Not only that, they played crap in both matches.

So, we're all absolutely sure that England will smash France, aren't we?

Like hell we are. We just don't know which France is going to turn up. No other country can play so bad, and so well, so often in consecutive matches. Only France could lose to Tonga in the pool stages of the RWC, and then nearly beat NZ in the final. Only France could smash Australia, and then a few months later lose to Italy and Wales.

All teams have blips - Clive Woodward's world cup winning team lost one six nations match per year for about 4 years - but this happens to France so regularly, with every generation of players. So:

1. Why does France do this? Is it in the French character? Or the French league structure (no rest time, no Rabo style friendlies). Can any French readers comment?
2. Which France will turn up this Saturday?

you --!!

your nz - your scared of france- they do seem to turn it on against you!

without realising it stroker you are onto something...France raise their game against big sides on a big occassion....for them there is no greater occassion than Twickenham and off the back of 2 embarassments they are bound to step up

horse!!

mystiroakey wrote:you --!!

your nz - your scared of france- they do seem to turn it on against you!

France have won 1 from the last 11 so scared hardly applies. What they have managed to do, is win the odd match when not a lot says they would. Not even SA or Oz do that often. England did it once- recently.

You and France generally share your matches historically so all I'm saying is 'Dont write them off'. They have won much bigger upsets than this in ways that no one else has...

no we dont share our games.. england is quite a bit up on france tbh

however france have normally beaten you in important games-and you feel there raise they game to you. however england invarible beats france in important games.

they dont upset england

Well no France both win and lose to us in important games- theyve lost two Wcup finals after all. They have won 2 important games, neither where they generally expected to. Theres no usually about it for us- its two- those two.

I believe they might win for that reason, and their AI form, and the fact that they are against the wall.

But youre right in one respect...no kiwi will ever again utter the words "they dont upset NZ"

I'd tread very carefully there...

taylor i remeber chating to you the night before the england game.. you were so confident!!

Yep...about as confident as you are about this one...similar scenario- like France, England were losing to sides we werent...

maestegmafia wrote:

stub wrote:A win against England will be the ideal way for the French to get things back on track and this really worries me. I expect another tight match but of course won't be suprised if France are either brilliant or awful! So sorry, can't really answer the OP...

It would also seriously liven up this comp mid way through... Everyone with at least one loss and one win, from the impartials' perspective, Allez Les Bleus...!!!!

Agree it would seriously liven up the competition and I get the feeling that most people will be cheering on Les Bleus somehow! However I'll be very happy for even the smallest margin of victory for SL's team.

slightly more changes(8!) than expected in the starting XV for saturday. PSA reverting to a more "traditionnal" side with Parra-TD returning as the half backs, fofana back to centre and the return of Domingo at LH.

15 Huget
14 Clerc 13 Bastareaud 12 Fofana 11 Fall
10 Trinh-Duc 9 Parra
7 Dusautoir (captain) 8 Picamoles 6 Nyanga
5 Maestri 4 Samson
3 Mas 2 Kayser 1 Domingo

subs : Szarzewski, Debaty, Ducalcon, Suta, Claassen, Michalak, Machenaud, Fritz

whocares wrote:slightly more changes(8!) than expected in the starting XV for saturday. PSA reverting to a more "traditionnal" side with Parra-TD returning as the half backs, fofana back to centre and the return of Domingo at LH.

15 Huget
14 Clerc 13 Bastareaud 12 Fofana 11 Fall
10 Trinh-Duc 9 Parra
7 Dusautoir (captain) 8 Picamoles 6 Nyanga
5 Maestri 4 Samson
3 Mas 2 Kayser 1 Domingo

subs : Szarzewski, Debaty, Ducalcon, Suta, Claassen, Michalak, Machenaud, Fritz

This has the potential to make things harder for England I fear. However hopefully the scale of the changes may actually undermine the cohesion of the French team - at least for a while - which should be a positive for England. It's going to be so tight I think...

mystiroakey wrote:no we dont share our games.. england is quite a bit up on france tbh

however france have normally beaten you in important games-and you feel there raise they game to you. however england invarible beats france in important games.

they dont upset england

Depends how far you want to go back but the last 10 games is 5 each. Sounds like sharing to me

yeah i suppose..

but i think the point is that we(england) arnt scared of france the way other teams can be(including NZ!!)

For us we probally look at going to dublin or even murryfield as a scarier prospect!!

I never seen a france against england recently that i felt were out of this world good..

The last teams to make me sit back and think in recent years have been ireland, NZ and wales actually last year!!- it wasnt that long ago yo!) and SA

Have to agree with Mister, England have a clear superiority complex over France, and I havn't seen France able to perform anywhere near where they can when playing England!!