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2018 NatWest Six Nations: Round 1 - France v Ireland

Anyway, the round up youve all been waiting for!

First of all in a game of such fine margins where we looked dead and buried when France could have gone four up it was a perfectly executed possession to get the win, the perfect kick off from the 22, risky play with the crossfield and a fantastic DG to win. It felt like overdue revenge for the bleakest moment in Irish rugby back in 07. A lot of people commenting here and elsewhere that we shouldn't have needed it and they're damn right, Johnny makes that penalty from his black spot or we cover that counter attack properly and the game is won easily.

I think the lack of try scoring ability is being overstated, with the exception of an absolute gift (both the defensive **** up and Owens not giving that obvious penalty) neither side looked like creating anything in greasy and slow conditions, both sides were making ground off 1st phase and then generally went backwards. That said there were a few nice aspects to the attacking game, Stockdale was used more than a few times on an inside ball that made good metres, Earls was given the ball in space and made ground but with Henshaw having a stinker with ball in hand, Bundee not having the skill level to create without him and Murray providing Sexton with very slow ball due to the weather and Owens' interpretation of the breakdown lying somewhere in between loose and inconsistent with the laws of the game, momentum couldn't be gained. These are things out of the players control or individual errors more than a system failure. I don't think I'd agree there's huge need for change, Porter for Ryan because Ryan doesn't look as fit as he can be and Conway for Ferg would be all I'd consider right now. I agree we need a creative presence but think it's needed in the centre and Ringrose is the only man, Scannell is yet to strike me as international class, Larmour couldn't have done much from 15 yesterday and while Carbery may have I think it would have been costly. Kearney's presence in that side is huge, he was out of position and not in the backfield once because he chased his kick rather than sending Stockdale and we were in disarray, Donncha O'Callaghan spoke of how he directs the defence from behind and anyone can see he's always in the right position to cover a kick or a line break and I think it's a huge huge asset to Ireland's defence and territorial game, a 6n with a grand slam still alive is not the time to toy with this if Italy show any promise later. Trying to get Carbery a bit of time at 12 next year when RK, Larmour and Lowe can all play 15 might be worth a punt. The Oz tour might provide a chance through injury or a 2-0 series lead to rest RK too.

Yesterday wasn't a perfect performance by Schmidt, he should have started Leavy and you'd presume he felt he was match fit to pick him ahead of Conan and Murphy and I'm starting to think POM should be in the home team and not the away team but I need to see more. Yesterday's game needed better and quicker ball retention but going against an unknown quantity and Nigel Owens' rules of rugby it'd have been impossible to see that Jordi Murphy and Ferg would have been better selections for their prowess in hitting rucks and securing ball. Huge credit must be given for the players knowing exactly what they had to do in the late game scenario where they were like clockwork for 40 phases, that requires special coaching with some players of extremely high rugby IQ. I also thought there was a noticeable drop from Ryan to Toner which justified his ballsy call. (Not that Toner was poor)

There's not a whole lot of contentious issues even after a bad win, I don't think Stockdale should be dropped, he made one costly errors but was good attacking in field in a way Earls, Ferg and Conway can't and his kick chase and tackle was superb, he'll learn from this; Best is the captain and again I didn't see much wrong with him, try to win something this season before replacing him because on my count 7 of yesterday's starting 15 haven't won silverware in green and only two players off the bench have, a strong leader is needed for at least the next few weeks; McGrath and Healy are horses for courses; Leavy comes in, Murphy to the bench to cover all bases; Ferg just about loses out to Conway. It feels good right now, winning away in the 6n isnt easy north of Rome these days.
 
That's bizzare. Was going to question if it was the Altrad influence but I think I got pretty smashed at the Altrad last year! Anti-terror or a new policy for the capital maybe? You wouldn't want to wander too far from the stadium drunk anyway, seriously rough area as far as I know.
Nope that law has always been there. Was first brought to my attention when we played Clermont in Montpellier in ROGs last game. I didn't believe it though but yeah all non alcoholic or watered down beers.
 
Nope that law has always been there. Was first brought to my attention when we played Clermont in Montpellier in ROGs last game. I didn't believe it though but yeah all non alcoholic or watered down beers.
Yeah that's not right, I was in Lyon for the semi final last year and there was definitely alcohol in that beer!
 
Yeah that's not right, I was in Lyon for the semi final last year and there was definitely alcohol in that beer!
I don't know as I never get chance to drink before games but well maybe our French fans would have more input.

On the analysis I think I'd disagree with bits.
On the not creating attacking opportunities. We broke a record for most possession and least visits to a 22 yesterday. Factor in we had 0 line breaks. Yes weathe was poor but we never looked dangerous and France with very little ball n same conditions did look good.

On changes Porter over Ryan I'm not sure but basically as I haven't seen enough to really say Porter there. On RK I'm not slamming him but I think you seen it different to majority yesterday. As general consensus was he got exposed and I think Jeremy Guscott summed it up well. "He has lost that yard of pace needed to be international level 15. Yes he will catch his balls and be solid but that is the basics of a 15, he needs to offer other options too from a pivotal position".
I'm not saying he should be dropped but to say his place s that cemented based on what he offers is pure bias and stats would back that up.

On Best again he was very poor and to gain minus yards from carries and not have the best day regards tackling shows he is on decline. Also there is big campaign calling for him to be stripped of captain which may effect him. (I don't agree with the campaign by the way).

And if we don't make sensible changes there will be no slam as if we played like yesterday vs Wales or England we would be beat.

What Schmidt has now is a chance to smartly fix the issues and still be in contention for Slam. On Stockdale. I don't think he should be dropped but his defensive game since Christmas has been that of an AIL player. I don't know why but any Ulster fan would say that and yes he is better than that and it is form but Schmidt is known for taking issues with that as others in the past have experienced.

FWIW.
RK was our worst tackler yesterday. Making 1 missing 4. Sexton missed 3 and Earls Murray and CJ 2.
Henshaw was our worst for turnovers. He conceded 3. Stockdale 2 and scarily 8 other players once.
Discipline was ok RK, KE, BA, John Ryan and DL conceded 1 pen each.

Attacking stats wise Earls was best in backs. With Aki doing well. Ryan Henderson and Stander in the pack.
 
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I don't know as I never get chance to drink before games but well maybe our French fans would have more input.

On the analysis I think I'd disagree with bits.
On the not creating attacking opportunities. We broke a record for most possession and least visits to a 22 yesterday. Factor in we had 0 line breaks. Yes weathe was poor but we never looked dangerous and France with very little ball n same conditions did look good.

On changes Porter over Ryan I'm not sure but basically as I haven't seen enough to really say Porter there. On RK I'm not slamming him but I think you seen it different to majority yesterday. As general consensus was he got exposed and I think Jeremy Guscott summed it up well. "He has lost that yard of pace needed to be international level 15. Yes he will catch his balls and be solid but that is the basics of a 15, he needs to offer other options too from a pivotal position".
I'm not saying he should be dropped but to say his place s that cemented based on what he offers is pure bias and stats would back that up.

On Best again he was very poor and to gain minus yards from carries and not have the best day regards tackling shows he is on decline. Also there is big campaign calling for him to be stripped of captain which may effect him. (I don't agree with the campaign by the way).

And if we don't make sensible changes there will be no slam as if we played like yesterday vs Wales or England we would be beat.

What Schmidt has now is a chance to smartly fix the issues and still be in contention for Slam. On Stockdale. I don't think he should be dropped but his defensive game since Christmas has been that of an AIL player. I don't know why but any Ulster fan would say that and yes he is better than that and it is form but Schmidt is known for taking issues with that as others in the past have experienced.

FWIW.
RK was our worst tackler yesterday. Making 1 missing 4. Sexton missed 3 and Earls Murray and CJ 2.
Henshaw was our worst for turnovers. He conceded 3. Stockdale 2 and scarily 8 other players once.
Discipline was ok RK, KE, BA, John Ryan and DL conceded 1 pen each.

Attacking stats wise Earls was best in backs. With Aki doing well. Ryan Henderson and Stander in the pack.

It's literally one match though. We scored plenty in the Autumn, it's trying to find a problem even when it's not endemic, it's also not giving credit to exceptional French defence, it could easily have been a French system failure (which I think is the cause of the try, Stockdale should have been where Kearney was but he didn't chase the kick that was going dead, Murray didn't slow anyone down shooting, and Kearney made a bad defensive call out of position after rushing into the line) and Earls scoring in the corner.

On Guscott's comment, I think that's lazy punditry from a widely derided pundit. There's areas of Kearney's game where he's the best in the world not just solid.

Changes don't require personnel changes either,bad games do happen.
 
It's literally one match though. We scored plenty in the Autumn, it's trying to find a problem even when it's not endemic, it's also not giving credit to exceptional French defence, it could easily have been a French system failure (which I think is the cause of the try, Stockdale should have been where Kearney was but he didn't chase the kick that was going dead, Murray didn't slow anyone down shooting, and Kearney made a bad defensive call out of position after rushing into the line) and Earls scoring in the corner.

On Guscott's comment, I think that's lazy punditry from a widely derided pundit. There's areas of Kearney's game where he's the best in the world not just solid.

Changes don't require personnel changes either,bad games do happen.
But against big teams we tend to not score many tries. Our stats and style shows that. Excluding NZ game. Nothing wrong with it as I said its delivering the results but no need saying something is there when it's not. Schmidt has always preferred defensive safety over creativeness in the centres for Ireland.

On Guscott comment. He's not only 1 to make similar comments and I get you don't agree but well fact is every 15 is expected to be top class in air. Especially at this level. Like Kearney dropped 1 or 2 yesterday too. And I'm sure any other 15 would have too. But using something that is an expected anyway doesn't really cut it and well as I said majority seem to think along same lines yesterday and just think it a bit bias but it your opinion and won't make this all about RK as everyone can make up their own minds.

On the try yes there was system errors but it doesn't hide Kearney got caught rotten in decision making and Stockdale even more so in defensive positioning and tackle attempt.
No one is denying Murray gave poor slow ball or centres had off days. Yes I agree also it was a bad game but it does seem to be same talking points after each game and for once I think there is definitely 1 or 2 personnel changes. Where I don't know but well definitely somewhere.

Italy is a game where there no win scenario. We run in 100 tries and it will be sure it's Italy. We play badly and pressure builds. So be smart use it to adapt and adjust and well the big test is the final 3 games where each week the test will get harder
 
He also thought Sexton should have been more aggressive with Owens over the HIA/ fight someone from France.
It was pretty blatant. Same thing happened in the u20 game when Daniel Brennan went off for a dubious HIA. Are France playing the system?

Sexton perhaps should have been stronger in arguing the case. The problem with that is that Nigel Owens could have awarded a penalty to France for backchat and given the scorelone and situation at the time, he had to tread carefully.
 
It was pretty blatant. Same thing happened in the u20 game when Daniel Brennan went off for a dubious HIA. Are France playing the system?

Sexton perhaps should have been stronger in arguing the case. The problem with that is that Nigel Owens could have awarded a penalty to France for backchat and given the scorelone and situation at the time, he had to tread carefully.
Again neutral Dr. Of course, we can question the neutrality of the neutral Dr - is s/he neutral like the ref? Or neutral as in local, but not affiliated with either team (in which case s/he will be naturally biased).

Actually, for the second one (I think it was the second), it was Nige himself that called for the HIA. Once that call has been made, then an HIA happens, even if Nige changes his mind. Nige conveniently managed to forget that, whilst the entirety of the media seem not to have noticed Nige blowing his whilst, repeatedly tapping his head, and saying "HIA" into his microphone.

As for alcohol at French grounds, that's been the case for ages, there's also no alcohol advertising at French grounds. I think French law doesn't specify between football, and other sports, and that alcohol (and it's advertising) is simply banned at major sporting events. Presumably this will be the case when Paris hosts the Olympics, their next world cup, as it was for football's European cup.
 
hosts the Olympics
I'm trying to remember is the Olympics has a major alcohol sponsor (I don't think so) if they do the IOC will likely require them to create an exemption in the law. They did similar things with us.
 
Can a player dupe a doctor into having a HIA? For example, if a player has a leg injury, can he claim that his head hurts leading an independent doctor to call for a HIA? Not saying it happens but is it possible to do this to game the system?
 
I think it was more the French took advantage of the mix up between Nige and independent doctor.

Very interesting too was for the last pen Machenaud could not kick it as Barnes noted. If a player returns covering HIA he can't kick but if the neutral doctor rules the player fails a HIA then he can kick
 
Can a player dupe a doctor into having a HIA? For example, if a player has a leg injury, can he claim that his head hurts leading an independent doctor to call for a HIA? Not saying it happens but is it possible to do this to game the system?
I think (as happened in 1st half) the doctor on side ordered it even though French doctor was saying it was his knee. So the final call rests with the doctor viewing from side
 
Can a player dupe a doctor into having a HIA? For example, if a player has a leg injury, can he claim that his head hurts leading an independent doctor to call for a HIA? Not saying it happens but is it possible to do this to game the system?
Yes very, very easily.

All he has to do is to shake his head, or pretend to stumble, or tell the doc his head hurts, or that his vision is slightly blurry. Doesn't even need to be the player, a team-mate or official can just say "I think he took a bang there" or "I'm sure I saw him stumble" or "he just called me Mike (assuming his name isn't Mike"
 
I'm trying to remember is the Olympics has a major alcohol sponsor (I don't think so) if they do the IOC will likely require them to create an exemption in the law. They did similar things with us.
No. They have Coca Cola but no alcoholic sponsor due to their own advertising regulations
 
I know man! Proper madness! We'll have to get tanked somewhere before the game, within moderation of course :)

I'm going to head towards montemarte. Supposedly a nice area in the north of the city where I can enjoy a few beverages.

St Denis isn't a nice area so I won't be sticking around before or after the game.
 
I'm going to head towards montemarte. Supposedly a nice area in the north of the city where I can enjoy a few beverages.

St Denis isn't a nice area so I won't be sticking around before or after the game.
From my times in Paris the Metro is best one in world in my view. So can get tanked in better spot and get Metro to stadium. When we were there in January though few of us went to a cafe on the Saturday evening and a Pint Of Beer was €7.50 & a Pint Of Coke €9.00. Ha ha that is f'd up
 
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