RBS 6 Nations - France vs Ireland - 04/02/2012, 15:00

[big ginger 8]

Good first half performance by Ireland but made to look better by a French attack that was little more than atrocious. But the second half miss one thing for Ireland and that was composure, they didn't finish off chances, didn't really know whether to kick or territory or keep possession, gave away too many penalties.

Positives:
-Kearney and Bowe had great games and look to be coming back to their best
-Defence was very good
-We dominated the contact area and breakdown
-Scrum was fairly good considering France usually are so good at that aspect
-I thought our kicking game and chase was actually quite well executed but whether that was the right tactic is debatable
-I was quite happy with our backrow and centres

Neagtives:
-Too many penalties
-Lineout shaky in pivotal times
-didn't take our chances
-lacked composure
-didn't play our big runners off ten enough

France's attack was poor because of our defense. Defensively Sexton and Ferris were key. Sexton was brilliant at the choke tackle and Ferris was superb in every way defensively his line speed was second to none, he made a few covering chop tackles, made a few big tackles and counter rucked well.

EDIT: Realised I have 40 posts now on this thread

 

[Feicarsinn]

France's attack was poor because of our defense. Defensively Sexton and Ferris were key. Sexton was brilliant at the choke tackle and Ferris was superb in every way defensively his line speed was second to none, he made a few covering chop tackles, made a few big tackles and counter rucked well.

EDIT: Realised I have 40 posts now on this thread

Rougerie at 13 didn't help them at all. His distribution wasn't good enough to get his outside backs into the game before the Irish line got up. This was most prominent for the Bowe intercept, but it was happening all day. Add that to the fact that the French midfield wasn't able to break tackles as one might expect against D'arcy and Earls and you can see that their jilted attacking performance was down to their own failings as much as our strengths.

Still, credit where credit is due, we were solid today, no doubt.

 

[Luimneach18]

Good first half performance by Ireland but made to look better by a French attack that was little more than atrocious. But the second half miss one thing for Ireland and that was composure, they didn't finish off chances, didn't really know whether to kick or territory or keep possession, gave away too many penalties.

Positives:
-Kearney and Bowe had great games and look to be coming back to their best
-Defence was very good
-We dominated the contact area and breakdown
-Scrum was fairly good considering France usually are so good at that aspect
-I thought our kicking game and chase was actually quite well executed but whether that was the right tactic is debatable
-I was quite happy with our backrow and centres

Neagtives:
-Too many penalties
-Lineout shaky in pivotal times
-didn't take our chances
-lacked composure
-didn't play our big runners off ten enough

Keith Earls no. 13 i think so.

 

[groga]

15. Buttin
14. Clerc (but now coming under pressure from Palisson)
13. Poitrenaud
12. Fofana
11. Malzieu
10. Trinh-Duc
9. Parra (coming under pressure from Dupuy and Yachvili)
1. Poux/Debaty
2. Servat (Szarzewski not taken his chance of starting)
3. Mas
4. Papé
5. Maestri
6. Dusautoir
7. Bonnaire
8. Harinordoquy (I really don't see him as an effective 7)

Like it cause it has buttin! Seriously that kid is a jet!

 

[King_D'Arcy]

Who is this "Buttin" and who does he play for??

 

[Mr.cyclopede]

Who is this "Buttin" and who does he play for??

Jean Marcelin Butin is the left winger for ASM, taking international dimension after an excellent starting season (replacing Malzieu when this one is asked in XV de FRANCE)

 

[Big Ewis]

Ok. Draw. Disapointed and relieved at the same time.

Disapointed by this ugly first half from the french. The irish are not the scottish , support is crucial around rucks and open scrums against the irish, France has failed a big time on this matter in the first half (for me the support was the real problem of the frenchies thuis afternoon..and against the irish , you have to commit a lot more than France has done..tooo much turn over in the first half). Credit to the irish as well who have done an impressive start, playing smartly and being clinical. Disapointed to not be in competition for the grand slam anymore. Disapointed that the french are unable to adapt quickly to the irish game in the first half. Disapointed by Trinh-duc who has not been very smart in this first half. France missed patience at the end, they should have waited for an irish mistake instead of trying these awfull drop goals.

Relieved/happy that we came back in the game after being quite crushed in the first half. Happy to see that there is a new mentality in this french team that make them able to handle such a pressure and come back into the game from the start of the second half. Happy to not loose this one, I think we have been lucky with the try of Fofana a bit, the ball was messy.

The referee has been harsch on the Irish sometimes I feel personaly, even if they are still on the edge on rucks, slowing down a lot of balls not in a very regular way. One of the positive point from the French was the fact that they have behaved well on rucks to avoid silly penalties.

I guess the irish can be a bit gutted and the french relieved overall.

You said it. My sentiment exactly. I'm glad it didn't go their way. I mean, a team that leads 17-6 (was it ?) at half time you would never ever believe could drop 11 points in the starting 15min of the 2nd half !...This new sense of urgency is remarkable for les bleus...

But damn it, we were world cup finalists, and yeah we lost to Tonga in the first rounds, but godam we should still be on our way to landing the freaking Grand....
Very disappointed, almost like this tournament has no meaning for me personally anymore, like it's devoid of its stuff...
So...highly annoyed by the result. Then again, Ireland hadn't won on french soil in Paris since 2000; and a loss would've been a disaster.

So I think any French rugby fan must be horribly torn about the outcome here...disappointed/happy/depressed/frustrated/relieved...

 

[Big Ewis]

PLUS: I lost like 300 cash on this !! (virtual forum cash of course...)

 

[Big Ewis]

What's the French reaction to this match out of interest? I thought that with the talent at their disposal, France really should have been able to take control of this game in the second half. It seemed like the midfield, Rougerie in particular, wasn't able to get the other backs involved. They also seemed to struggle to get over the gain line for long periods, which must be disappointing with the back row you guys have.

Rougerie with 2 monstrously horrible passes. Esp. that first one with Bowe's easy interception...godamn it Aurélien !!! Was he wired and nervous from the cold ? Rusty ?!! Wtf ?!!
Yeah that backrow is so so apparently...I'm happy with the scrum though.
I actually live in Qatar man, so no clue how whiney it is in France right now !!...we loooooove to complain !...

 

[Big Ewis]

perfect result for Wales there.

Ey !!!! That kind of comment shouldn't be allowed on this thread ! MODERATOOOR !!!!

 

[jaunard06]

Ok. Draw. Disapointed and relieved at the same time.

1) they should have waited for an irish mistake instead of trying these awfull drop goals.
[...]
2) The referee has been harsch on the Irish sometimes I feel personaly, even if they are still on the edge on rucks, slowing down a lot of balls not in a very regular way.
[...]
3) I guess the irish can be a bit gutted and the french relieved overall.

1)- the irish mistake came: after Francois trinh duc gave a quite superb offload to Imanol we were on attack. Jon Sexton and Gordon D'Arcy then cynically killed the ball, off their feet in the an offside position, 4m from the line. That should have been a yellow. Or Cian Healy on a french overlap that deliberately bumped Vincent Clerc from an offside position, preventing him from getting the ball.
2)- agree, so this explains why the irish mistake never came,
3)- the irishs were the lucky guys yesterday and can feel relieved while we should feel utterly frustrated !


The only positives from the week end on french side:
a) Fofana,
b) ASM B-team destroyed Toulouse B team

 

[lucky number 7]

1)- the irish mistake came: after Francois trinh duc gave a quite superb offload to Imanol we were on attack. Jon Sexton and Gordon D'Arcy then cynically killed the ball, off their feet in the an offside position, 4m from the line. That should have been a yellow. Or Cian Healy on a french overlap that deliberately bumped Vincent Clerc from an offside position, preventing him from getting the ball.
2)- agree, so this explains why the irish mistake never came,
3)- the irishs were the lucky guys yesterday and can feel relieved while we should feel utterly frustrated !


The only positives from the week end on french side:
a) Fofana,
b) ASM B-team destroyed Toulouse B team

Good one.

 

[Mogs999]

perfect result for Wales there.

You're probably right, but for me, it just takes the shine off our encounter with France. No disrespect to italy, I expect a bruising confrontation with them,but the two better teams competing for the GS was a mouth-watering prospect!

 

[jaunard06]

You're probably right, but for me, it just takes the shine off our encounter with France. No disrespect to italy, I expect a bruising confrontation with them,but the two better teams competing for the GS was a mouth-watering prospect!

There will be no match; we should have won that game yesterday but not because of our wonderful game and tactics, only because we were above Ireland for almost all aspects of the game except turnovers.
While the only one team showing some consistency, not since the beginning of that tournament but for many months now is Wales.

It is quite funny to see that France for once competed exactly as expected for their 3 first exhibitions: fairly decently against Italy, realistic against Scotland and barely average against Ireland, and also for once we meet our competitors starting with the suposedly weaker and finishing with the stronger, each match being increasingly harder.

I predicted a loss against Ireland if we would not improve our work at breakdown and I have been very close to win, I keep on predicting losses against Wales for the same reason. Against England if we miss our first minutes we will never recover.
And please PSA select Servat and Picamoles as starters !

 

[groga]

Jean Marcelin Butin is the left winger for ASM, taking international dimension after an excellent starting season (replacing Malzieu when this one is asked in XV de FRANCE)

Actually plays fullback...But looked good on the wing. Think he can play any where really.

 

[Luimneach18]

1)- the irish mistake came: after Francois trinh duc gave a quite superb offload to Imanol we were on attack. Jon Sexton and Gordon D'Arcy then cynically killed the ball, off their feet in the an offside position, 4m from the line. That should have been a yellow. Or Cian Healy on a french overlap that deliberately bumped Vincent Clerc from an offside position, preventing him from getting the ball.
2)- agree, so this explains why the irish mistake never came,
3)- the irishs were the lucky guys yesterday and can feel relieved while we should feel utterly frustrated !


The only positives from the week end on french side:
a) Fofana,
b) ASM B-team destroyed Toulouse B team

We should of beat you end of. I Actually cant wait till this irish team finally clicks and starts getting consistency, we will be to good.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

We should of beat you end of. I Actually cant wait till this irish team finally clicks and starts getting consistency, we will be to good.

Based on this alone, you deserve the wooden spoon.

 

[Luimneach18]

Based on this alone, you deserve the wooden spoon.

Everyone bites on my posts i love it, im serious about the irish team though.

 

[lynam1104]

Yes we would be good but when will it ever happen we have been? We are, after France perhaps, the most inconstant team in the 6N and possible the world. I Also think that that won't happen till the dead weight (DOC, Kidney ect)are dropped.

 

[Jockstap]

O'Connell and Murray out for the rest of the Six Nations.