France v Scotland - Match thread

[George Carlin]

First topic message reminder :

16th March 2013
Kick off: 21:00 (Local) / 20:00 (UK/Ireland)
Stade de France, Paris

Match officials:

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Clownshoes Clancy (Ireland) and Lourens Van Der Merwe (South Africa).
TMO: Carlo Damasco (Italy)

TEAMS:

France:

15 Yoann Huget
14 Vincent Clerc
13 Mathieu Bastareaud
12 Wesley Fofana
11 Maxime Médard
10 Frederic Michalak
9 Morgan Parra

8 Louis Picamoles
7 Thierry Dusautoir
6 Antonie Claassen
5 Yoann Maestri
4 Sebastien Vahaamahina
3 Nicolas Mas
2 Benjamin Kayser
1 Thomas Domingo

Replacements:
16 Guilhem Guirado,
17 Vincent Debaty,
18 Luc Ducalcon,
19 Christophe Samson,
20 Yannick Nyanga,
21 Maxime Machenaud,
22 Francois Trinh-Duc,
23 Florian Fritz or Gael Fickou.

Scotland:

15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors)

14 Sean Maitland (Glasgow Warriors)
13 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors)
12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby)
11 Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby)

10 Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors)
9 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby) vice-captain


1 Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors) vice-captain,
2 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby)
3 Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors)
4 Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) uncapped
5 Jim Hamilton (Gloucester)
6 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan)
7 Kelly Brown (Saracens) captain
8 Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier)

Substitutes
16 Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors)
17 Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors)
18 Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby)
19 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors)
20 Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors)
21 Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors)
22 Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors)
23 Max Evans (Castres)

Not considered due to injury: Alasdair Dickinson and Richie Gray (Sale Sharks), Chris Cusiter and Chris Fusaro (both Glasgow Warriors), David Denton and Ross Rennie (both Edinburgh Rugby) and Tom Heathcote (Bath Rugby).

Form Guide:

France:

9/3/13 Ire 13 - 13 Fra

23/2/13 Eng 23 - 13 Fra

9/2/13 Fra 6 - 16 Wal

Scotland:

9/3/13 Sco 18 - 28 Wal

24/2/13 Sco 12 - 8 Ire

9/2/13 Sco 34 - 10 Ita

Official Match Preview (courtesy of Sportsbeat):

Philippe Saint-Andre has reiterated the point that his long-term objective for France remains the 2015 World Cup - but in the short-term he knows only too well the value of an RBS 6 Nations victory over Scotland on Saturday.

Saint-Andre's side and Scotland will bring the curtain down on this year's competition with France seeking to avoid finishing bottom of the pile for the first time in RBS 6 Nations history.

They remain without a win in seven Championship matches but Louis Picamoles' opportunist try and Frederic Michalak's nerveless conversion sealed a 13-13 draw with Ireland last time out and a first point of the competition.

Scotland were the last team to succumb to France in the RBS 6 Nations, last February, and Saint-Andre can point to the fact that after poor showings against Italy and Wales, les Bleus have demonstrated improvements against England and Italy.

But should they fail to beat Scotland at home this weekend and Italy get something at home to Ireland, they will collect the wooden spoon, something Saint-Andre is desperate to avoid.

"At least we will not be playing to avoid a whitewash," he said.

"It's important to see that the players showed a reaction. On Saturday we want to play the whole match with that intensity for the full 80 minutes.

"I will of course, as is my nature, assume total responsibility and take the blame for the campaign.

"The federation and the committee director gave us a target to prepare for 2015. We will continue to work towards that objective.

"I take the responsibility because I have always done that, I have never tried to shift it on to others in my career."

If Scotland are to ensure France finish bottom, they will have to defeat les Bleus for the first time in seven RBS 6 Nations clashes and will have the carrot of the possibility of finishing the Championship in second, should they win - and England defeat Wales - with a healthy points swing.

To do so however, they will have to improve on their performance against Wales last time out when too many penalties conceded saw Leigh Halfpenny kick the Red Dragons to a 28-18 victory at Murrayfield.

Regardless, there have been plenty of beacons of light for the Scots and interim boss Scott Johnson, with impressive wins over Italy and Ireland already secured.

But Johnson is under no illusions as to how his side must react to their defeat to Wales.

"We showed great heart and great resolve but we have to look at ourselves rather than at anyone else," said Johnson.

"I don't want to coach a side that apportions blame to someone else, we will go back and have a look and if we have to make changes we will do so, but we will go to Paris to compete.

"The frustrating thing for us is that we think we have a world class scrum and we think we have a world class line-out but we can't get to show it.

"When we get it right, we've got a quality team.

"I keep saying it; we have the ability to put teams to bed but we have to get the first bit right and we're not.
"We don't want our mirror to lie. Our mirror is going to be clean."

[RDW]

Massive get out of jail free card there! Great defense!

[Cari]

Well France have been let down by their own crappy pitch there. Scrums don't stand a chance with it cutting up so bad.

[tigertattie]

Laidlaw is doing some defensive work tonight.

[Cari]

Michalak in decent kick shock! Excellent phase of play from France ruined by a knock on.

[ALPanorak]

Bar Picamoles and Fofana, France have no creativity or attacking nous. (As I type this however, there was a bit or genius play by Clerc)

[EWT Spoons]

noooo not evans!!

[cakeordeath]

oh we are f***ked now

[tigertattie]

Oh crap. The goblin.

[kiakahaaotearoa]

Scotland somehow holding out. Keep the French scoreless going into the second half and they'll grow in stature in the all important last quarter.

[Shifty]

No where near as good a match as the last one to be honest.

Still a decent battle of attrition, there just doesn't seem to be any magic left in French rugby at all is there. No skill, no pace, no vision. Just a lot of robots going through the motions.

[tigertattie]

Hogg ran. We kept the ball.

Stop bloody kicking it

[RDW]

Laidlaw having a fantastic game

[ALPanorak]

Excuse the pun but this is a right damp squib of an affair...

[Cari]

Shame Evans couldn't catch up with that. Still, Scotland seem to be looking dangerous at the moment...and as I say that, Fat Basterau carries the ball and three Scottish players....

[IanBru]

Evans did something.

So this is what LSD feels like.

[Cari]

Oh good grief, why didn't that ball go out Evans?!

[RDW]

Bloody max Evans - should have booted it into the stands!

Great half from Scotland - 0 to France!

[Cari]

The locals happy at HT then...

0-6.

[kiakahaaotearoa]

The sound of the French crowd booing their own team will be music to the Scottish players' ears. Lots of defending from Scotland. They must come out with an attacking mentality and look to get on top of the French as no doubt the French team will get lambasted at half time.

[TJ1]

good half from scotland. Deserved to be infront and tried to play some rugby

[George Carlin]

Can I stress again that I think the worst we can now finish is 3rd....

[EST]

We need to keep hold of the ball in their half.

[cakeordeath]

I can understand why we are kicking a lot, but we need to run at them.

[Cari]

Dear me...the middle tier looks empty on the screen!

[tigertattie]

No parra. We are in with a shout

[Cari]

Michalak v Hoggy!

Michalak losing it...

[tigertattie]

Only one way to sort this.

Fight.........

[Cari]

I reckon Hoggy would've won that....

[Cari]

Michalak calms down to take the penalty kick. 3-6 at 45 minutes.

[RDW]

We could do with getting the ball...

[kiakahaaotearoa]

Get up Fofana!

[Glas a du]

Now, you've gone and upset Freddy...

[Cari]

Michalak equalizes at 49 minutes 6-6.

France can't seem to finish their dinner today...

[nathan]

Michalak starting to play well. now thats something i didnt think i'd be saying

[kiakahaaotearoa]

It's all France now. Scotland can't live with their pick and drive. They desperately need the ball. Looks like PSA ripped a new hole at half time and is having an effect.

[tigertattie]

This is why we need to keep the ball. You cannot win games with such little possession.

[Cari]

Oh no, Big Jim is in bother. Ah he's OK...carrying on.

[RDW]

Evans has been terrible

[Glas a du]

No game runs the same way. The tide will come back to Scotland now.

[Glas a du]

See?

[nathan]

This is why we need to keep the ball. You cannot win games with such little possession.

ireland/scotland last week?

[Cari]

9-9 at 59 minutes.

France need to beat Scotland by at least 16 points to avoid wooden spoonage...

[nathan]

9-9 at 59 minutes.

France need to beat Scotland by at least 16 points to avoid wooden spoonage...

it depends, different people have different ideas what the wooden spoon is. Some say it's losing all your games, some say finishing bottom.

[Cari]

9-9 at 59 minutes.

France need to beat Scotland by at least 16 points to avoid wooden spoonage...

it depends, different people have different ideas what the wooden spoon is. Some say it's losing all your games, some say finishing bottom.

I thought losing all your games was a whitewash? Anyway, they just said there that the French won't accept it as a wooden spoon if they finish bottom anyway. I don't think they seem to give a schitt either way...

[Glas a du]

Excited prop on the wing! I would never have done that

[nathan]

why didnt clerc shout for the ball??!?!?

oh he was! lol

[Cari]

why didnt clerc shout for the ball??!?!?

He did, the dude wouldn't pass to him or didn't hear him.

[nathan]

keep giving it to the fat prop!

i want to see some more of that running!

[Cari]

A deserved try from Fofana...took them long enough mind.

14-9 at 66 minutes before conversion.

[tigertattie]

Sorry. I'm going to have to be mod'ed

STOP KICKING AWAY THE Frak BALL

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