France vs Wales

First topic message reminder :

15. Halfpenny, 14. Williams, 13. Davies, 12. Roberts, 11. North, 10. Biggar, 9. Webb, 8. Faletau, 7. Warburton(c), 6. Lydiate, 5. Charteris, 4. AWJ, 3. Lee, 2. Baldwin, 1. Jenkins.
Replacements: Richard Hibbard (Gloucester), Paul James (Bath), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Scott Williams (Scarlets).

Some changes to in the pack to counter the France scrum and lineout drive threat - Baldwin to start is a bold call though. Our bench is better this week, apart from the replacement halfbacks.



France team announced:
Dulin - Huget, Lamerat, Fofana, Guitoune - (o) Lopez, (m) Parra - Le Roux, Chouly, Dusautoir (cap) - Maestri, Taofifenua - Slimani, Guirado, Ben Arous.

Subs: Kayser, Debaty, Atonio, Suta, Goujon, Tillous-Borde, Tales, Bastareaud.

Rhys 'The Finisher' Priestland on.

Dam the expert at stealing defeat from the jaws of victory

The Saint wrote:If Biggar goes off we'll lose.

If we lose now we'll Av to blame you for been a jinx.

yellow card upcoming

Gwlad wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:The French have gone. Ours for the taking.

Only 7 points mun!

TheRugbyMaster wrote:Bigger very lucky not to have seen yellow though. Clear hit on the man in the air. Referee should've acted, otherwise we will see more play acting to milk penalties,

That's the issue yes, if refs let things go that should be penalised then the players will start to act up to get it noticed. It wasn't a bad challenge, but still a penalty that the ref just ignored for some strange reason.

Jiffy thinks Jamie Roberts is the MOTm, there's a shock.

4 wins on the bounce against France. Commiserations quinsforever

Well done Wales, that's a big win away in France.

That's a very decent performance. Lee, Baldwin, Charteris and AWJ very good.

The Saint wrote:If Biggar goes off we'll lose.

wrong again

Well played Wales. Actualy thought France would step up a gear in the second half. But Wales kept them at bay.

Great win for Wales. France are just awful. Mindless stuff from the French, must be so frustrating for their fans.

Well done Rhys Priestlands, came on to steady the ship and see us home!!!

Well played welshies..

So where was this monster French scrum we had been hearing so much about...?

The Saint wrote:4 wins on the bounce against France. Commiserations quinsforever

Be the bigger man and ignore him

Job done.

2ndtimeround wrote:Well done Rhys Priestlands, came on to steady the ship and see us home!!!

He put in one great hit on Bastereaud, fair play to him!

good win for wales there. always impressive to win at stade de france. think wales slightly got the rub of the green in terms of ref decisions, but france only played well for about 15 minutes, and they kept inexplicably kicking the ball away which didnt work at all.

so on balance wales deserved the win imo.

nathan wrote:

The Saint wrote:4 wins on the bounce against France. Commiserations quinsforever

Be the bigger man and ignore him

Fair one.

Commiserations whocares, France were pretty close but again I'm not entirely sure what they're trying to do on the pitch.

Well, after todays games tomorrows looks more important than ever. If England win, they will have two home games against teams with little to play for. They won't be stopped unless Ireland stop them. After tomorrows game is over, Englands hardest matches are behind them so we have to win to win this championship.

Ireland will have the confidence and momentum for a potential Slam if they can beat England, but much harder to beat Wales in Cardiff than anyone England have to face- if Ireland beat England and Wales beat Ireland then Wales have Italy on the last day when points difference will win it.

It's finely poised.

BBC talking about St. Andre- please keep him for the World Cup, please please please!

Well done Wales. I though France were ramping it up after half time but the Welsh defence stood firm and waited for the mistakes. Reasonably comfortable in the end.

nathan wrote:

The Saint wrote:4 wins on the bounce against France. Commiserations quinsforever

Be the bigger man and ignore him

thats fairly patronizing.

Am not sure as well Saint... Why Parra was subbed is also strange as he was maybe one of our good players tonight

Notch wrote:Well, after todays games tomorrows looks more important than ever. If England win, they will have two home games against teams with little to play for. They won't be stopped unless Ireland stop them. After tomorrows game is over, Englands hardest matches are behind them so we have to win to win this championship.

Ireland will have the confidence and momentum for a potential Slam if they can beat England, but much harder to beat Wales in Cardiff than anyone England have to face- if Ireland beat England and Wales beat Ireland then Wales have Italy on the last day when points difference will win it.

It's finely poised.

BBC talking about St. Andre- please keep him for the World Cup, please please please!

I think you're underestimating our ability to completely man sausage up completely

Leigh Halfpenny's missus.

Matheiu Basteraud just reminds me of a prop stuck out in the midfield. He may have some skills (like a few other props) but the momentum just stops with him as he tries to crash over the line. He just sucks the speed out of the French attack.

Well it wasn't a classic, but as Wales have been playing poorly so far this year (calendar year) then a win away to France is a good achievement. 4 in a row against the French is no mean feat. 

Lots to work on but we'll done boys.

Also, a mention to our scrum. Was expected to get mullered. Did creak a bit, but also dominated in places. Kudos.

Well done Wales. You played badly and still won. Lets hope us Irish do the job on the English tomorrow

HammerofThunor wrote:

Notch wrote:Well, after todays games tomorrows looks more important than ever. If England win, they will have two home games against teams with little to play for. They won't be stopped unless Ireland stop them. After tomorrows game is over, Englands hardest matches are behind them so we have to win to win this championship.

Ireland will have the confidence and momentum for a potential Slam if they can beat England, but much harder to beat Wales in Cardiff than anyone England have to face- if Ireland beat England and Wales beat Ireland then Wales have Italy on the last day when points difference will win it.

It's finely poised.

BBC talking about St. Andre- please keep him for the World Cup, please please please!

I think you're underestimating our ability to completely man sausage up completely

You'll be in a game tomorrow but really don't rate France or Scotland this year!

JDizzle wrote:

2ndtimeround wrote:Well done Rhys Priestlands, came on to steady the ship and see us home!!!

He put in one great hit on Bastereaud, fair play to him!

Wales rely on Priestland too much I think lol.

Even if results do go our way can we really put a 50 pointer on Italy out there in the last game? Not an easy thing to do.

Am i the only one that thinks the onl;y thing France are missing is a decent goal kicker?

Why was Para not taking the kicks? What has happend to Yashville? all credit to Wales they went in front early and stayed in front for the win.

They also happen to be missing an ingredient called French flair madge. That and also a brain between them it would seem - they didn't play smart against us last year either.

France are clueless behind the pack, simple as that.

majesticimperialman wrote:Am i the only one that thinks the onl;y thing France are missing is a decent goal kicker?

Why was Para not taking the kicks? What has happend to Yashville? all credit to Wales they went in front early and stayed in front for the win.

Aw Yachvilli is long since retired no? He's not done a Phil Vickery has he?

whocares wrote:Am not sure as well Saint... Why Parra was subbed is also strange as he was maybe one of our good players tonight

I thought on the BBC they said he'd taken a knock. Always good to win in France, but I don't know what to make of this French team at all

I think France might inadvertently have found the style they need to play to win. Unfortunately they only played it sporadically.

But the big story is Wales push for yet another title rolls on and gatlland picks up a first well deserved victory in Paris, worthy for persistence if nothing else,

Notch wrote:Well, after todays games tomorrows looks more important than ever. If England win, they will have two home games against teams with little to play for. They won't be stopped unless Ireland stop them. After tomorrows game is over, Englands hardest matches are behind them so we have to win to win this championship.

Ireland will have the confidence and momentum for a potential Slam if they can beat England, but much harder to beat Wales in Cardiff than anyone England have to face- if Ireland beat England and Wales beat Ireland then Wales have Italy on the last day when points difference will win it.

It's finely poised.

BBC talking about St. Andre- please keep him for the World Cup, please please please!

All very true, England win against Ireland I don't think they will butcher this GS.

The Saint wrote:They also happen to be missing an ingredient called French flair madge. That and also a brain between them it would seem - they didn't play smart against us last year either.

That is true Saint. But despite what happens tomorrow between England and Ireland. France normally have one good game in them, i guess they might be saving it for when they Play England. like they did when Ficue scored that last minute try against us.

Very good "professional" win from Wales. The pack were very good - can't recall seeing such success from a Welsh rolling maul - ball retention, line out and scrum were all very good.

Also - nice to see a game where both the scrum and line out were basically an even battle to restart the game. No frickin nonsense. No cards. Ref was consistent and fair from what I could tell.

Wales still need some spark in the back play - but a 4th win against France in a row is a pretty good stat to take home, and the pack deserve a lot of credit for neutralising the massive French forwards away from home.

I'm sure there'll be whining posts, but Wales will take a lot from this - and if Ireland win tommorow, I wouldn't discount Wales snatching the title.

Basteraud is an embarrassment. I bet sella etc are cringing.

Drop him out of the squad and get some flair in there.

Typically, I had to go do some work and Wales scored just as I was getting into my vehicle

Marcus, I still don't see us beating Ireland even though we are at home. But to be honest, after we were written off by some people like SCW (who predicted we would struggle in the tournament, if we lost to England), I would be relatively happy if we ended up finishing third.

From a neutral view - well done Wales on the win. Excellent forward effort, and certainly held their own in the scrum, while Luke 'Mr Tickle' Charteris did a great job disrupting the French mauls. Behind the scrum , some decent moments off early phase possession, but just seemed to run out of ideas after 3 or 4 phases a lot of the time.

As for France though...
Brilliant for about 5 minutes at the start of the 2nd half - high tempo, interplay between forwards and backs and fantastic handling all round. Then Parra went off and the 10 had a shocker.

And Basteraud? Well, as an England fan I hope he starts against us. Yes, he's a big unit with good hands, but I would fancy Joseph to make him look a bit foolish with his footwork, and his lack of outright pace does reduce the fluency of the back line.

Jeez, Risca - have some faith, mun! Of course we can beat Ireland - they looked good for the first half last week, but never looked much like scoring a try. We'll do em in Cardiff - Mark my overly confident several beers down words! Obviously we would like them to play a blinder tomor... Hang on... Obviously we would like them to play a shocker tomorrow - but still win!

MarcusHalberstram wrote:Jeez, Risca - have some faith, mun! Of course we can beat Ireland - they looked good for the first half last week, but never looked much like scoring a try. We'll do em in Cardiff - Mark my overly confident several beers down words! Obviously we would like them to play a blinder tomor... Hang on... Obviously we would like them to play a shocker tomorrow - but still win!

Irleand gave looked good for the first half, but never looked like scoring a try.

A bit like Wales have been, apart from today.

Seemed like a step up from both teams. France could/should have won if their fly half wasnt taking kicking lessons from the Italians (why isnt Parrra kicking??). But Wales still good enough to go away and win despite France playing the best Ive seen of them for a while for much of the game.

Well done Wales. Well done 6 nations, two cracking ding dong games so far this weekend and still the big one to come.

majesticimperialman wrote:

MarcusHalberstram wrote:Jeez, Risca - have some faith, mun! Of course we can beat Ireland - they looked good for the first half last week, but never looked much like scoring a try. We'll do em in Cardiff - Mark my overly confident several beers down words! Obviously we would like them to play a blinder tomor... Hang on... Obviously we would like them to play a shocker tomorrow - but still win!

Irleand gave looked good for the first half, but never looked like scoring a try.

A bit like Wales have been, apart from today.

Eh..? You mean against England..? Wales scored twice against Scotland, I believe.