Guillaume, I disagreed with your criticism of the English referee because I saw his rulings in line with the laws of the game and the spirit of the game which appeared to be quite normal to me.Although I respect your personal opinion, I have to disagree with you.
Happy to discuss why I thought the referee in this match had a good day. There have been many rule changes recently that have had IMO, an adverse affect on play but rules are rules and everyone is well aware of them. As for the penalty try, the yellow card for collapsing the maul was absolutely spot on and the French player knew it. So far in the 3 matches, there has been far too much sloppy attention, poor handling of the ball, poor passing and there should be no excuse for coming in from the wrong side, no excuse for not releasing and definitely no excuse for crossing over in the line out, those are schoolboy rugby mistakes. France were tested today and benefitted from a poor Italian penalty kick at goal. On this evidence, England are definitely at risk as France are in Ireland. Tomorrow is another day and who knows, games don’t always go the way of the form book. Andy
Well, I agree with all the above. But you need to understand that for a year or so, now, as a part of Galthié’s strategy, the French team has been training (hard) with retired pro rugby refs in order to better understand and adapt to: 1/ Rules changing constantly - same for all teams, fair enough. 2/ Being reffed in English 95% of the time - less fair, but that’s history. 3/ Cultural differences in game play - more difficult to grasp how differently rugby is played in the south west of France as opposed to the anglo-saxon « style ». As a result, for the past year or so, Les Bleus have been ultra disciplined, which is one of the reasons they get much better results in international tournaments. Something they’re really proud of. Until today… Today, all of a sudden, they get a 18/6 penalty count against… Italy? One of the less disciplined teams of all times? Sure, Italy is adapting too, and very fast at that, but come on… The yellow was deserved. Ollivon had been warned a couple times earlier in the game. The penalty try not so much, imho. A French player was still standing on the line behind the maul, so even if Ollivon had got his hands of the ball, it was not a try, yet. And why did the refs spent 5 minutes looking at the video for Ramos try? Could a try be more obvious? Dude’s alone in the goal, doesn’t even need to dive to score… What? Penaud collided in Capuoso trying to catch the pass just before? And? Is this rugby or football ? Anyway, game’s over, but I found that refereeing really biased... It will serve as a great reminder though, that for a French team, there will always be as great a challenge in the reffing than in the opposing team… PS: I understand posting this on a UK forum is lost in advance. But come on, where are my Scottish Allies?!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ i thought he was sensational for the eighty minutes................said his Italian wife.
Just fireworks between Ireland and France for the first forty minutes, what does the secondhalf hold for us rugby fans...
When Finn Russell unpacks his A game it's a delight to watch and the opposition should really stay in the changing rooms, i'm intrigued what they'll do next with the impending French match.
I don't think what i've seen so far in this tournament the Scots are on the same page as the Irish, but if the Jocks have home advantage, anything's possible on the day. I for one wouldn't mind these two Northern hemisphere teams or France winning the world cup, take your pick.
The skills shown within that French team are awesome, which serves to show how well the Irish did.Having said that, it is not easy to overcome the Irish in Dublin.or indeed the Scots at Murrayfield.
I believe losing now, for this young French team, is extremely important. They need to learn to overcome defeat, whether they were outplayed (like yesterday by Ireland) or lacked discipline (like they almost did against Italy last weekend). They need to continue to try things, even if they fail sometimes, like Finn Russell. He tries shit all the time. He’s an amazing risk taker. As long as his team is on board and trusts him, he’s gonna score - or help score - amazing goals. This is part of the build up towards the RWC this September. They need to be « seasoned » to expect to reach the final.
My mistake 90/10^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ......but the real test would BE for THE next 40 minutes playing Ireland.
