France vs Wales - 24/10/2020

[MattGaff]

Bit of a **** result from Wales but hey-ho, it's only a game - and a friendly to boot.
France are going to be dominant in the NH for a while, especially playing the way they did at parts. They gave away a few penalties at the breakdown but it comes with the territory of being aggressive in that area.
Wales, going backwards... definitely. Wonder how long my fellow country folk will be spouting off the usual "New coach, rebuilding" excuse.

 

[BPM]

I'm not sure France will be 'dominant'. England might have something to say about that, but it does feel like the pecking order in the NH has changed.

It's not an excuse to say Ireland and Wales are rebuilding. They are. Both are in a transitionary phase where they have new coaching teams and a lot of churn on the playing side. It's often the way when older stalwarts are being phased out and the younger players replacing them have promise, but aren't yet at the same level.

Given how successful Gatland and Schmidt were, Pivac and Farrell are on a bit of a hiding to nothing.

 

[FrenchFan]

16 French penalties and Wales couldn't take advantage?! Les Bleus are still a penalty giving machine under Galthie and have been since Japan. Any of the top 5 are bound to take advantage of les Bleus profligacy. Ireland could and should will they?

 

[BPM]

Not sure what to make of Ireland at the moment? They didn't look great in the first few rounds and it's hard to know how much credit to give them for their win on Saturday, given how poor Italy were.

I am expecting a fairly similar to what we saw from France against Wales, but I expect Ireland to front up better physically.

 

[GrandTimonier]

16 French penalties and Wales couldn't take advantage?! Les Bleus are still a penalty giving machine under Galthie and have been since Japan. Any of the top 5 are bound to take advantage of les Bleus profligacy. Ireland could and should will they?

16 penalties to 4 against Wales. I can't remember such a delta in tier 1 international rugby. it's unlikely to replicate to such an extent against Ireland, although France's discipline issues aren't gonna be solved overnight.