Ye Auld Alliance Derby

[Torquemada 1420]

Great result which flattered France a bit and should have been behind at 1/2 time but a curious game where Fra players were either brilliant or terrible. Thankfully only 3 were terrible
Ntamack showed again he has no idea how to manage a game and has a sh*t kicking game. Will be glossed over for the cross kick to an almost unmarked Penaud as Sco had wilted and the Fre fwds had created all the space but I lost track of the errors
> direct to touch
> allowing ball to bounce instead of catching
> wasted kick into end goal when ball in hand was right option
> another rubbish attempt at a kick behind the defence
> 2 really poor pen kicks which meant Fra lineout was double the distance from tryline and any half decent kicker would have made a better fist of
> abject revolving door defending to wave Sco to the tryline at the end

Jaminet
Really struggled under high ball again but unlike Ntamack (Jalibert), there is no better option for Fra at present.

Jelonch
Worst player on the park for both sides. We keep hearing how he does "the unseen work " but even Bernol picked up on the sh*thouse effort in awarding him 4. 5 missed tackles FFS including at fault for Darge's try and he was totally invisible offensively so I guess he was unseen after all. Dupont spent half his time covering Jelonch's errors. At least Galthie got him off.

[Begbie]

Hats off to the travelling support yesterday, what an atmosphere

Congrats France, would love to see you get the slam.

[Openside]

And there was me thinking at half time that we still had a chance.

Congratulations France, looking very impressive.

Well, we did. Scotland had a rocky start, but came back into the game and honours were pretty even for the rest of the first half. If Harris’s pass to Hogg had been an inch or two less ahead of him, we’d have gone in ahead and the third French try wouldn’t have had time to happen. But it did, and then the French try right after HT killed us off.

France do look impressive.

Or instead of trying a high risk showboat pass he committed the defenders and made use of a 4vs2 advantage There seems to be an inability to commit defenders and pass at all levels??? It’s a backs bread and butter ffs

[Yr Alban]

And there was me thinking at half time that we still had a chance.

Congratulations France, looking very impressive.

Well, we did. Scotland had a rocky start, but came back into the game and honours were pretty even for the rest of the first half. If Harris’s pass to Hogg had been an inch or two less ahead of him, we’d have gone in ahead and the third French try wouldn’t have had time to happen. But it did, and then the French try right after HT killed us off.

France do look impressive.

Or instead of trying a high risk showboat pass he committed the defenders and made use of a 4vs2 advantage There seems to be an inability to commit defenders and pass at all levels??? It’s a backs bread and butter ffs

Indeed. As I just posted on the other thread, Harris decided he was Russell for a moment. The pass *almost* came off, but at the end of the day that was a 14-point decision.

[Slick]

Well, we did. Scotland had a rocky start, but came back into the game and honours were pretty even for the rest of the first half. If Harris’s pass to Hogg had been an inch or two less ahead of him, we’d have gone in ahead and the third French try wouldn’t have had time to happen. But it did, and then the French try right after HT killed us off.

France do look impressive.

Or instead of trying a high risk showboat pass he committed the defenders and made use of a 4vs2 advantage There seems to be an inability to commit defenders and pass at all levels??? It’s a backs bread and butter ffs

Indeed. As I just posted on the other thread, Harris decided he was Russell for a moment. The pass *almost* came off, but at the end of the day that was a 14-point decision.

21 if you add in the one after half time

[Slick]

Hats off to the travelling support yesterday, what an atmosphere

Congrats France, would love to see you get the slam.

Yup, the French support were magnificent before, during and after the game. Didn’t realise quite how many of them were there until they started doing that jumping up and down thing and they were everywhere.

Murrayfield was a little quiet all day, even the anthem wasn’t belted out. I do wonder if we are heading down the Twickenham route of pricing out the real supporters. My £85 ticket yesterday was £45 4 seasons ago

[Torquemada 1420]

Hats off to the travelling support yesterday, what an atmosphere

Congrats France, would love to see you get the slam.

Yup, the French support were magnificent before, during and after the game. Didn’t realise quite how many of them were there until they started doing that jumping up and down thing and they were everywhere.

"Anyone not jumping is not French". Toulouse fan have always used this (obviously with Toulousain substituted for Francais).

[Yr Alban]

Or instead of trying a high risk showboat pass he committed the defenders and made use of a 4vs2 advantage There seems to be an inability to commit defenders and pass at all levels??? It’s a backs bread and butter ffs

Indeed. As I just posted on the other thread, Harris decided he was Russell for a moment. The pass *almost* came off, but at the end of the day that was a 14-point decision.

21 if you add in the one after half time

Absolutely. But I can’t claim that the one after HT was connected directly, whereas if that pass goes to hand then the third French try never happens.

[TheFrog]

Ntamack showed again he has no idea how to manage a game and has a sh*t kicking game. Will be glossed over for the cross kick to an almost unmarked Penaud as Sco had wilted and the Fre fwds had created all the space but I lost track of the errors
> direct to touch - agreed
> allowing ball to bounce instead of catching - missed that
> wasted kick into end goal when ball in hand was right option - it was Dupont
> another rubbish attempt at a kick behind the defence - yes, poor decision
> 2 really poor pen kicks which meant Fra lineout was double the distance from tryline and any half decent kicker would have made a better fist of - i thought it was Jaminet kicking
> abject revolving door defending to wave Sco to the tryline

Also, with respect to the red bit, isn't that what you want from your fly-half, i.e. that he reads the game and make use of the opportunities?

Do you prefer the English style of wasting the overlap all the time, or the Harris horrible miss pass?

[TheFrog]

I think France greatest strength is its ability to convert from defense to attack with deadly efficiency and make the most of each opportunity.

On the Willemse try, I admired how the forwards were able to follow Dupont, and how Fickou took on him to replace Dupont at the breakdown twice to ensure continuity through quick ball and thus not allowing Scotland defense to fall back in place.

France weakness remains the high ball and restarts. Plus, at times, some stupid brain farts.

Where I am less worried than before is that, even in moments of weakness, the team doesn't fall apart like before, they remain focus and manage to regather and come back. We saw this against New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland.

Now, it would be nice if we didn't have these dips in performance, it would make life easier for the players and kill any hope for the opposition.

[Big D]

Well, we did. Scotland had a rocky start, but came back into the game and honours were pretty even for the rest of the first half. If Harris’s pass to Hogg had been an inch or two less ahead of him, we’d have gone in ahead and the third French try wouldn’t have had time to happen. But it did, and then the French try right after HT killed us off.

France do look impressive.

Or instead of trying a high risk showboat pass he committed the defenders and made use of a 4vs2 advantage There seems to be an inability to commit defenders and pass at all levels??? It’s a backs bread and butter ffs

Indeed. As I just posted on the other thread, Harris decided he was Russell for a moment. The pass *almost* came off, but at the end of the day that was a 14-point decision.

It was typical Scotland wasn't it. Blown try, penalty, penalty, their 13 runs from halfway across the pitch around the 6 and Price doesn't even make him break stride when trying to tackle him. Catalogue of errors.

[Torquemada 1420]

Ntamack showed again he has no idea how to manage a game and has a sh*t kicking game. Will be glossed over for the cross kick to an almost unmarked Penaud as Sco had wilted and the Fre fwds had created all the space but I lost track of the errors
> direct to touch - agreed
> allowing ball to bounce instead of catching - missed that
> wasted kick into end goal when ball in hand was right option - it was Dupont
> another rubbish attempt at a kick behind the defence - yes, poor decision
> 2 really poor pen kicks which meant Fra lineout was double the distance from tryline and any half decent kicker would have made a better fist of - i thought it was Jaminet kicking
> abject revolving door defending to wave Sco to the tryline

Also, with respect to the red bit, isn't that what you want from your fly-half, i.e. that he reads the game and make use of the opportunities?

Do you prefer the English style of wasting the overlap all the time, or the Harris horrible miss pass?

Dupont might have done one too but Ntamack definitely did so: I was keeping count.
No. Jaminet was off at the end for those 2 kicks.
Errr... one kick to a player screaming at you unmarked is hardly enough to counter the rest of the foul ups.

[Torquemada 1420]

France weakness remains the high ball and restarts.

Kerrist yes. What TF were the fwds doing for the restart after the 1st try: Dupont didn't challenge for it either.