RWC Semi Final: France - Wales (15-08-2011, 21:00)

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Nah... That wasn't a try in 1995... Everybody in Durban could see that at that moment!

 

[Antoine]

Nah... That wasn't a try in 1995... Everybody in Durban could see that at that moment!

 

[igorBastia]

My corsican neiborough call : Mc Graw !! since 4 generations in corsica. Is he Corsican or scottish ? What a silly argument!!

 

[igorBastia]

"Avec des Si Paris ne serait pas Paris : With "If" all are possible but the History is done. France is in finale and Wales in the little final: it doesn't mean that France was better than Wales I reconize that ten tausend times if you want. In another hand France was not the badest team like all the anglosaxon seem to say: his defense was almost perfect and we ware lucky when the kick of the welch player failed; but the Wales ware no so good as everybody seem to declare they make a lot of mistake despite the envy and the courage of the young welch player. They have the future ahead and I respect them a lot. The next 6 nation will be a revenge ...maybe.
Defeat is sometime more important than victory: and the welch players have'nt to be hurting by one sad play: they can learn, and have a reflexion on their self and become stronger. When I was a teenager Wale' the red devil was my favourit team (after France) Garett Edward , JJS William ware my heroes like JP Rive and other french player. It was funny' we played rugby with friends imaging that we ware this heroes : the dream are still continuing in the head of young generation and that are the most importante thing for Rugby; please a little of lightness and humour and as french I' ve already forgotten the tackle I just remenber of a magnific welsh team!
In the past France have to face with a lot of defeat and not just in sport. An what to do? Rebuilding and hoping for better days.
Promess: if I will meet a sad welchman in France ( corsica) I will offer to him a bottle of Bordeaux. and I let him complaining about the famous red card during hours andhours without a word!!!

Now let the show go on!!

 

[Darwin]

Quite a interesting game to watch from a neutrals perspective (well relatively neutral - I would have preferred Wales to win). Certainly not the best game of running rugby, but the fact it was so close made it very interesting. I felt the Red Card for Warburton was entirely justified. While I think it did detract from the match, I think it is very naive to blame the ref for this. Rolland didn't pick up Clerc, lift his legs above his head, and drop him on his neck. His call to send off Warburton was correct under the laws of the game, and the fact the Warburton has now been suspended for 3 weeks proves this.

I was incredibly impressed with the way Wales continued to play so well despite only having 14-men - indeed they had a number of chances to win the match, but (just) missed a couple of crucial kicks. The loss of Warburton certainly did effect the way Wales played, but not as many would have predicted. I expected they to struggle a bit in defense with just 14-men (especially as Warburton is exceptional at slowing/stealing opposition ball at the breakdown), but France didn't really look like scoring a try. I do believe Wales attack was affected by Warburtons absence though. Wales seemed more reluctant to spread the ball wide with only 14-men, which is not surprising as it would have (a) worn their 7 forward out quicker, and (b) meant France had more chance to steal the ball without Warburton there to clean out.

There were a number of strong performers for Wales. As has been mentioned many times Jenkins is like an extra loose forward - he was really vital to Wales. Adam Jones was a big loss for Wales, and their scrum did struggle without him (especially as they only had 7 players in the scrum at times). I was impressed again with Charteris around the field, but Wales did struggle at lineout (which was a slight surprise to me). Lydiate did a great job at 6, while I was incredibly impressed again with Faletau. Initially (after watching him in the under 20's) I thought he was simply a ball carrier and not much else, but I've been proved wrong. He really is a complete player - he make plenty of (telling) tackles, and his work at the breakdown is also very impressive.

Phillips played well. His distribution is still poor at times, but he is always threat at the base of the ruck. Wales certainly missed Priestland at 10 - Hook was ok, but didn't control the game as well as Priestland has been doing. Roberts was probably the biggest threat in the backline, though North did look dangerous at times. North did make a couple of errors, but he looks a player of incredible potential. I though Halfpenny was impressive again at fullback - I've never been that impressed by him, but he's been a standout this RWC.

France (just) did enough to win, so do deserve credit. There front-row was dominant, and I think Servat is the key. Szarzewski certainly adds some energy when he comes on, but France loses a lot in the scrum, and Szarzewski defense was a bit suspect at times (as it was against the AB's). The locks were solid, but I felt the loosies were probably the standouts for France. All made a pile of tackles (and missed very few), while Bonnaire and Harinordoquy were both very effective at lineouts. I've never rated Bonnaire, but he really impressed me for the second week straight. The French backs weren't overly effective, but did (generally) defend very well. Parra looked pretty comfortable at 10, and his goal-kicking won the match for France. Clerc was probably the most dangerous of the backs, but didn't get many chances at all to show his wares.

 

[Saintjay]

"Avec des Si Paris ne serait pas Paris : With "If" all are possible but the History is done. France is in finale and Wales in the little final: it doesn't mean that France was better than Wales I reconize that ten tausend times if you want. In another hand France was not the badest team like all the anglosaxon seem to say: his defense was almost perfect and we ware lucky when the kick of the welch player failed; but the Wales ware no so good as everybody seem to declare they make a lot of mistake despite the envy and the courage of the young welch player. They have the future ahead and I respect them a lot. The next 6 nation will be a revenge ...maybe.
Defeat is sometime more important than victory: and the welch players have'nt to be hurting by one sad play: they can learn, and have a reflexion on their self and become stronger. When I was a teenager Wale' the red devil was my favourit team (after France) Garett Edward , JJS William ware my heroes like JP Rive and other french player. It was funny' we played rugby with friends imaging that we ware this heroes : the dream are still continuing in the head of young generation and that are the most importante thing for Rugby; please a little of lightness and humour and as french I' ve already forgotten the tackle I just remenber of a magnific welsh team!
In the past France have to face with a lot of defeat and not just in sport. An what to do? Rebuilding and hoping for better days.
Promess: if I will meet a sad welchman in France ( corsica) I will offer to him a bottle of Bordeaux. and I let him complaining about the famous red card during hours andhours without a word!!!

Now let the show go on!!

Gracious and well said.

 

[dullonien]

Glad I've been away this weekend and avoided the shitstorm!!!

First up, the Welsh players have to take a lot of credit for the heart they've shown in this RWC, and in particular the semi. Dominating a semi with 14 men was a tremendous effort.

Conversely, what they have to be aware of, for the second time in this world cup, is that a team can be as fit, strong defensively, strong in the set piece, and as adventurous as they like, but to be a great team you have to kick your goals. And against South Africa and France, Wales missed out on points with the boot that cost them dear.

Warburton. As a fan, I think that kind of tackle should not warrant a red card. In this sense it was unfair. However, the iRB's rules are more stringent, and the game of rugby is played in accordance to the laws. And the laws advise that a tackle like that merits a red card. I'm sure Florian Fritz's red from Rolland has already been mentioned - see that tackle and it is far less dangerous than Warburton's. Rolland sent Fritz from the field for that, and therefore I respect him for consistency - the most important attribute for a ref. Even if I disagree with the law that he was applying rigourously.

That summs up my feelings quite well, especially regarding the red card, and it appears to be the same for many people, players and pundits alike who all concede that Rolland made the correct call according to the letter of the law, but somehow feel a red-card was over the top despite this.

I don't really know though, I keep going round in circles as to whether I think the red-card should have been shown. On the one hand, I don't think there was any malicious intent, and these things sometimes happen in a sport full of collisions. This is not the same as someone pile driving someones head into the ground, stamping or intentionally gouging someones eyes which are delibriate acts of malice intended to cause injury, yet the punishment for both would be the same in the context of the match at hand. I know the bans handed out afterwards would be different. On the other hand, I accept that this kind of tackle is potentially very dangerous, regardless of it was an accident or not. But why then is this single thing highlighted above other other actis of foul play which can potentially lead to players falling onto their upper back / neck? There are four others I can think of, two of them take place in the lineout, one in the scrum and one in the air. In the lineout, there is often acts of foul play where supporting players are taken out, or the jumper is pulled down, and both are potentially very dangerous, yet I don't think I've ever seen a red-card handed out there, despite it often being delibriate acts of foul play. How about props delibriately taking down scrums, again potentially very dangerous where players have seriously injured their shoulders or necks. And finally, what about taking out a player in the air. Happens quite often, and only rarely is a red shown. I just feel that the tip tackle has been put on some kind of podium, and this is very clear by Rollands sending off of Fritz which was absolutely crazy imo. Fine with me if every tip tackle results in a red, but then maybe some of the other dangerous acts in rugby also need to be looked at in order that things are a little more balanced.

At the end of the day, I have accepted Rollands decision, and I also realise that what Warburton did was rather silly, but it is still very, very tough to take, and it's tough to see how completely devastated the players are, especially Warburton himself, who looks like his complete world has been ripped to pieces in the clips I've seen of him since the incident.

 

[Isurus]

Just watched the ITV highlights of the NZvAus semi and at the end they did a piece on the 1st semi. The 'journalist' is named Gabriel Clarke and he started his report with this line:

"Well from the Welsh 1st Minister to the French Sunday papers the verdict has been unanimous - Wales were on the receiving end of the roughest piece of justice in Rugby World Cup history"

What an absolute joke. Wales could have ten red cards like this and it wouldn't come close to the injustice of NZ's defeat in '07 at the hands of Wayne Barnes. ITV can suck my hairy balls.

 

[donmcdazzle]

^^ Funny how we NZers got so much abuse from all quarters last time round when we were robbed blind and complained about the ref. Now some other teams cop a bit of rough reffing and they're so fast to bag the ref.. Not so fun when it happens to your team is it fellas.

 

[Isurus]

Let me be clear. You can take every single so-called 'injustice' in this RWC and serve them up on a plate with some fava beens and a fine chiati and it wouldn't come close to what we had to swallow in 2007.

 

[Aout]

Having watched the match again in the cold light of another day , I stick by my original point that In No way should Alain Rolland have Ref'd this match , A. He represents Ireland ! B. He has a FRENCH Father, C. He is a fluent french speaker !!! wether or not he claims to be unbiased he should not have been on the park with such a background !!
To quote Lawrence Dallaglio ' If a top flight player makes a serious error he left on the bench for a good few matches , so therefore the same should apply to match officials to allow them to reflect on their decisions !!!'.
France are in the Final not on merit but by good fortune !!!
Wales need to now re-group ,and, continue to grow and enforce the 'Steely' resolve and fortitude they have shown throughout this campaign and most off close out a game at the earliest possibility as the 'All Blacks' do !!!

What's wrong with point C ?
Do you know how many games France lost in the past because they struggled to understand what the referee said ? France is the only top team whose language isn't English. I don't know if you've ever lived in a place where pple didn't speak english at all; if it was the case, did you really how hard it was for you to do your daily tasks ? It's pretty much the same thing on a pitch when you get penalized and you don't understand why.

What's wrong with point B ?
I'm quite sure that in the past France had a referee whose father/mother/grandparents were English when they played England and the referee was SA/Aus/NZ.

I've just heard the Welsh prime minister (or smthg like that). It's getting ridiculous. It doesn't help Wales at all.

Edit : btw, the ref for the final is C. JOUBERT. He got a French name. His grandparents/ancesters are probably French, kiwis will have a good reason to complain after the game.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Let me be clear. You can take every single so-called 'injustice' in this RWC and serve them up on a plate with some fava beens and a fine chiati and it wouldn't come close to what we had to swallow in 2007.

Was it so hard to swallow that you choked on it?

Sorry, I couldn't help myself :lol:

 

[hitman51]

Now the welsh have sent death threats to rolland hahahaha, cry me a river ohhh, cry me a river ohhh lol. Well done France see you in the final, to the aussies thanks for a great game boys you've done your country proud i'll be backing you against the welsh.

 

[TRF_RC]

Now the welsh have sent death threats to rolland hahahaha, cry me a river ohhh, cry me a river ohhh lol. Well done France see you in the final, to the aussies thanks for a great game boys you've done your country proud i'll be backing you against the welsh.

Really?
What's your source?

 

[hitman51]

Really?
What's your source?

Planet rugby forum just had a browze some numbties have set up facebook pages on it.

 

[kovana]

Lol. Wow.. Death threats? My gosh.. Refs are really under the cosh nowadays.

Lets be honest.. The referring quality for this RWC has been absolutely horrible. The IRB needs to take a good hard look at itself and appointing refs who are so full of themselves... They never ever say they were wrong. Thats what ****** most people off.

They have a complete lack of humility.

 

[TRF_RC]

Planet rugby forum just had a browze some numbties have set up facebook pages on it.

If that's true then some rugby fans are just pathetic these days.
Reaching all time new lows.

 

[Bazzy]

I was gutted for Wales and at the time I thought the red card was very, very harsh. Since then I have found out that the IRB specifically told referees to show zero tolerance on spear tackles and however unfair it may seem it looks like Rolland made the correct decision.

Other than that one decision it didn't seems like Rolland was wrongly pinging Wales. Infact Wales were rather lucky to get that last penalty and if that had went over I'm betting it would be the French fans who would be here right now winging about the ref.

So I don't get why there is such a massive fuss over the decision when it seems like it was the correct decision. Honestly I thought we were bad in 07 but seems like Samoa, South Africa and Wales are just as bad. Good to know we aren't alone in the world .

 

[jaunard06]

Francois Pienaar said that France is "the worst rugby team of that World Cup".
What about England then ?
What about Wales, who failed to kick correctly penalties that would have gave them the victory ? Or that lost important line outs in french territory ? Is being one man down prevent you to do those things correctly ?
Mr Francois Pienaar...please, please shut up and go to sleep.
Oh, by the way, you won your trophy thanks to a referee who refused a valid try for France in the semi final, so you should really be ashamed of yourself.

 

[donmcdazzle]

Francois Pienaar said that France is "the worst rugby team of that World Cup".
What about England then ?
What about Wales, who failed to kick correctly penalties that would have gave them the victory ? Or that lost important line outs in french territory ? Is being one man down prevent you to do those things correctly ?
Mr Francois Pienaar...please, please shut up and go to sleep.

Couldn't agree more! How can Wales blame the ref when they missed 4 shots at goal?! Warburton should be public enemy number one in Wales, not the ref. Wales blew it, to use a familiar phrase to us NZers, they choked.