jgriffin wrote:Interesting match! Thought Kaplan's reffing was fine except at the breakdown. Can Wales play joined up rugby ever again? They seem to be stuck with the blocking tactic to make space except when the back three have the ball.
Surely you are not suggesting it is a coaching problem they have?
You could just be right!
Hey ho - have to wait a few more years for the golden era.
Game didn't really tell us much we didn't already know...
Wales will always put a good period of play together but also give points away through trying to force the game too early.
France will likewise look good but are still prone to being... well... french... at times and implode. And they still "Don't like it up 'em" as Corp Jones used to say.
I seriously hope England don't win. If they do, MJ will stick with this team until the WC, and that would signal disaster.
Has nothing been learned from Woodward's sticking with the same team after the 2003 WC? Or are England waiting to build a team capable of winning the WC until 2012?
"Our fitness was superb and we had France on the ropes. They were out on their feet. There was only one team playing rugby and we had 70% territory and posession in that second half.
Unfortunately we pushed the self destruct button and gave away a couple of intercept passes.
At no stage did we feel under pressure because I don't think they played a lot of rugby."
He can't have been watching the same game as I watched in the first half where France's ability to keep the ball alive with quick interpassing out of the tackle was some of the best I've seen in a while. It's a shame that they couldn't have gone to ground a few more time where that was the correct option. If they had, Wales would have had much less posession but to suggest that Wales were never under pressure and only one team played rugby is abject nonsense. The 'come back kids' did it the once against 13 men but that was in the main lost by Scotland rather than won by Wales.
Life can be unpredictable, so eat your pudding first!
