France v Ireland, 11 October

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FRANCE v IRELAND
11 October 2015
KO: 16:45
The Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Live on [tbc]

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges:Wayne Barnes (England) & Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)

A. Head to Head

93 Played 93
55 Won 31
7 Drawn 7
31 Lost 55
1508 Points 1084

B. Recent Form

14 February 2015
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
18 – 11 to Ireland

15 March 2014
Stade de France, Saint Denis
20 – 22 to Ireland

9 March 2013
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
13 – 13 Draw

4 March 2012
Stade de France, Saint Denis
17 – 17 Draw

20 August 2011
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
22 – 26 to France

13 August 2011
Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
19 – 12 to France

C. Teams

FRANCE

15 Scott Spedding, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Brice Dulin, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde; 1 Eddy Ben Arous, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 3 Rabah Slimani, 4 Pascal Pape, 5 Yoann Maestri, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 7 Damien Chouly, 8 Louis Picamoles.

Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Alexandre Flanquart, 20 Bernard Le Roux, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Remi Tales, 23 Alexandre Dumoulin.

IRELAND

15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Robbie Henshaw , 11 Dave Kearney,  10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray; 1 Cian Healy, 2 Rory Best, 3 Mike Ross, 4 Devin Toner, 5 Paul O'Connell (c), 6 Peter O'Mahony, 7 Sean O'Brien, 8 Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Nathan White, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Chris Henry, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Luke Fitzgerald.

Gwlad wrote:Rare you see two such perfectly matched sides….i think this will go all the way to the wire

Agreed. Possibly the best game of the tournament so far.

Ireland getting away with a few at the breakdown.

No way Best turned that ball over legally when France was close to the line.

He literally jumped over the ruck, feet in the air, lying on bodies when he won that penalty

Notch wrote:

eirebilly wrote:It was a perfect pass as well. Really mentally poor from Earls.

This is the worry with Earls. It's not his fault, it just worries me when you see him put in that situation. For Munster he'd get a chance for redeem himself nearly right away. That may be his last and only chance in this game. Hope it's not.

How is it not his fault? It was a perfect pass.

According to Murray Kinsella on twitter, POC tried to walk off the pitch himself only to collapse to the ground again.

We have also got to stop kicking the ball away in and around the French 22. Some poor decision making

Love ya Earls

Gwlad wrote:Rare you see two such perfectly matched sides….i think this will go all the way to the wire

Ahh-hrrmmm. Those 2 teams last night were pretty even? In fact, many similarities.
This game seems a lot faster with more broken play.

So Henderson on for POC in the second half. As good as Henderson is, we really need the leadership of POC out there, although POM is an able captain.

POC and SEX in 40 mins. Dreadful

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Notch wrote:

eirebilly wrote:It was a perfect pass as well. Really mentally poor from Earls.

This is the worry with Earls. It's not his fault, it just worries me when you see him put in that situation. For Munster he'd get a chance for redeem himself nearly right away. That may be his last and only chance in this game. Hope it's not.

How is it not his fault? It was a perfect pass.

Some players have it in the top two inches and some do not, I'm not going to castigate Earls for his mistake. We knew he carries that risk before the whole tournament even started.

Absolutely gutted for POC. What a complete warrior.

Exiled Gael wrote:We have also got to stop kicking the ball away in and around the French 22. Some poor decision making

Yep, that was poor from Henshaw.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Notch wrote:

eirebilly wrote:It was a perfect pass as well. Really mentally poor from Earls.

This is the worry with Earls. It's not his fault, it just worries me when you see him put in that situation. For Munster he'd get a chance for redeem himself nearly right away. That may be his last and only chance in this game. Hope it's not.

How is it not his fault? It was a perfect pass.

Yeah it's not really his fault for not being talented at rugby.

Tremendously absorbing game. I think France will get the better of the arm wrestle in the end; their work at the breakdown, and skill in defence, has been superb.

Madigan needs to settle down a bit, this could come down to an interception try. Irish set piece is solid, pin France back and take the pens

That footage of POC didn't look good at all. A trip to Lourdes will be needed if he is to have a chance of playing again in the WC. What a shame.A fantastic player and captain

The frustration is you spend weeks building up to this game, you've working on a move to break open the French defence they aren't going to expect... and you execute it, and it works perfectly. But you fumble the final pass with a clear run to the line. Schmidt must be furious.

We need to forget about inspirational figures and let Best and Heaslip step up to the plate. With Sexton out, the absence of Payne is even more keenly felt. Kearney needs to be the man in the outside backs.

Cool heads required now. What does Schmidt do at half time. Earls has not had a bad game but that bombed try was shocking. Will he drag him off and put Fitz on? I hope not.

Henderson will come on but a leader is needed now, time for POM to show his leadership worthiness.

Notch wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Notch wrote:

eirebilly wrote:It was a perfect pass as well. Really mentally poor from Earls.

This is the worry with Earls. It's not his fault, it just worries me when you see him put in that situation. For Munster he'd get a chance for redeem himself nearly right away. That may be his last and only chance in this game. Hope it's not.

How is it not his fault? It was a perfect pass.

Some players have it in the top two inches and some do not, I'm not going to castigate Earls for his mistake. We knew he carries that risk before the whole tournament even started.

This isn't about hanging Earls out to dry, but it was a frustrating mistake and he must take the blame. Bizarre reaction. I realise that you are trying to come across as impartial but it isn't wrong to be agitated by the mistake.

I sincerely hope he doesn't let it go to his head and that he can recover from this with a big second half.

Didn't see the sob hit, silly thing to do

SOB will be out for at least 1 game as well.

Stupid from SOB there

At least both teams are taking kicks at goal unlike other captains, France are kicking beyond half way. Good game shame about the butcher try Ireland may pay and SOB may have played his last game in the RWC.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Notch wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Notch wrote:

eirebilly wrote:It was a perfect pass as well. Really mentally poor from Earls.

This is the worry with Earls. It's not his fault, it just worries me when you see him put in that situation. For Munster he'd get a chance for redeem himself nearly right away. That may be his last and only chance in this game. Hope it's not.

How is it not his fault? It was a perfect pass.

Some players have it in the top two inches and some do not, I'm not going to castigate Earls for his mistake. We knew he carries that risk before the whole tournament even started.

This isn't about hanging Earls out to dry, but it was a frustrating mistake and he must take the blame. Bizarre reaction. I realise that you are trying to come across as impartial but it isn't wrong to be agitated by the mistake.

I sincerely hope he doesn't let it go to his head and that he can recover from this with a big second half.

I don't feel agitated. I feel the disappointment of seeing what we knew about him in the past still applies. A tremendous talent who you can never 100% trust to do the basics. It is understandable to be frustrated by that but no-one should be surprised.

Blimey heck. That was some punch from SOB. He might be off to see the headmaster next week and miss the QF.
It never rains but it pours for Ireland

Just seen the O'Brien replay. That's his last game this World Cup.

Very lucky boy it wasn't spotted at the time or that would have been red.

Fair enough, Notch. Anyway, I really hope it doesn't become the talking point of this game.

SOB

Son Of a Bitch!

Sean O'brien you dirty boy. Ban for the rest of the world cup please.

Gwlad wrote:SOB

Son Of a Bitch!

I have to say, that made me laugh. My word Ireland are very fortunate that wasn't caught in game.

id say that will be more than a week

InjuredYetAgain wrote:Blimey heck. That was some punch from SOB. He might be off to see the headmaster next week and miss the QF.
It never rains but it pours for Ireland

Don't think it's might - seems a sure thing unfortunately. This plus the injuries is really bad news for Ireland

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Sean O'brien you dirty boy. Ban for the rest of the world cup please.

It wasn't dirty. It was very honest, and very stupid.

Yeah really cheap cowardly shot.

Thats the end of SOB world cup. silly

I can't believe that dropped pass. It's worse every time you see it. Earls will be absolutely crucified for it and it's not like he had contributed to the match in any other way. If we lose by less than ten points he will have the defeat place firmly on his shoulders.

SOB has been monstrous so far. POM and Best both tremendous as well. Time for Heaslip and Healy to up their games. Henderson has massive shoes to fill. He needs to play out of his skin.

I feel absolutely gutted for POC. That was his last game in green. Absolutely gutted.

So in the next game, win or lose, there will be no POC, SOB and possibly Sexton. I can't us winning this match.

Strange the tmo did not see SOB punch as it brought up in commentry, if it had it prob be a red card.

Watching on Dutch tv and they are pretty clueless so they have not shown what SOB did and I missed it during the match as well. Doesn't sound too clever though.

glamorganalun wrote:Strange the tmo did not see SOB punch as it brought up in commentry, if it had it prob be a red card.

i think Pape spent a long time down to try and prompt a review

Why did Pape not ask Owens to go to the TMO for a punch?

This will give a certain someone ammunition if we win this game. I expect an entirely new thread about it not soon after.

I think we have been the better team- and we can still win it if the senio players happy to follow these 'talismans' step up themselves. Looking at you Best, POM, Heaslip, Murray and Kearney.

Gwlad wrote:

glamorganalun wrote:Strange the tmo did not see SOB punch as it brought up in commentry, if it had it prob be a red card.

i think Pape spent a long time down to try and prompt a review

I agree, I would stay down with an unexpected smack in the ribs.

SOB with the drop this time, overlap was on as well.

That was where you want to see Earls use his pace to go through the half-gap, but he passes instead.

SOB is a shadow of the player he once was

eirebilly wrote:Watching on Dutch tv and they are pretty clueless so they have not shown what SOB did and I missed it during the match as well. Doesn't sound too clever though.

Sucker punch to the solar plexus - incredibly stupid - not clear what prompted it, if anything.

Notch wrote:That was where you want to see Earls use his pace to go through the half-gap, but he passes instead.

Ok, I will bite. Earls was covered hence is quick offload to SOB. Cant blame him for that drop.

VinceWLB wrote:SOB is a shadow of the player he once was

decent right to the body though

Handling errors killing Irelands attack here...

Whoever called the hospital pass from Madigan leading to an intercept try nearly called it well.