France v Wales - The trying to make sense of it one.
77 minutes on the clock, Sam Warburton rips the ball in contact before putting a perfectly weighted nudge down into the French 22. France scuttle back and leather the ball into touch. Wales win the ensuing line out, retain the possession, Barnsey says time's up, ball goes off the park. Wales are victorious in Paris. Back to sleep.
From a Welsh perspective, the above would have been a pleasantly mundane end to an average test match. Average at best.
Instead Warburton's punt kept rollin, rollin, rollin (Durst 2000), off the green and into the drink - scrum to France back in Welsh territory. One last opportunity for Le Bleu - albeit the wrong shade of Blue, bring back Bleu de France. Stash is important. Rant required.
Few phases later, France are camped meters from the Welsh line, the clock turns red and we enter the fifth quarter. The goings on of the nek twenty minutes, yes there was another twenty minutes, would be so farcical that they make the concept of five quarters seem mathematically reasonable.
The Head Injury Assessment
Did Uini Antonio have a genuine head hurty? He didn't think so, Barnsey didn't know, the doc sprints on uninvited to confirm that they needed to jettison the gargantuan prop to undergo the requisite protocols. The result was that Rabah Slimani, a stronger scrummager, returned to the field to give the French their edge back at scrum time.
In his post match presser, Rob Howley questioned the integrity of France's actions, particularly why Slimani was warming up prior to Antonio getting head butted by a gentle breeze. Also, kudos to Tomas Francis for re writing the rule book of warm ups - a one on one scrum and down to business.
Whether Italy's tactics at Twickenham were genius or anti-rugby, they thrust ruck legislation pretty high up on World Rugby's agenda. You would think the ruling around HIAs and substitutions would now be attributed a similar level of priority. Post match, Conrad Smith was pretty frank in his opinion that teams going Pinocchio in their approach to the head bin substitutions was widespread. Unfortunately for France, when it comes to inconspicuous manoeuvres, this played out like a 33 point turn in rush hour. I'm sure questions will be asked. At least the French prop resisted any temptation to give it the wink, a la Harlequins bloodgate protagonist, Tom Williams.
Penalty Try
Poor old Barnsey. Felt for the fella. All sorts going on. Should he have awarded France a penalty try earlier in the 5th quarter? A cranky, one eyed Welsh fan at 4am would have answered in the negative. He would have been wrong. France were dominant, once Slimani returned and Barnes awarded penalty on penalty, which resulted in scrum reset after scrum reset. In a normal course of events, you'd expect the ref to lose patience after a couple of pens and award the five pointer. Barnes was criticised for losing control. Maybe he did, but there were extenuating circumstances a plenty.
The Bite
Inconclusive. Poor skills if true!
The Rest
It would have been tough to justify a blog based on the eighty. Possibly a bit of chat around what constitutes a deliberate knock on, and what warrants a penalty try - actually, we did that one.
Both teams were ordinary with ball in hand. As frustrated as Wales would have been with an off script closing scene. Their cold light of day analysis should point to the frequency at which they surrendered possession at collision time. This was a performance deficiency that made an away day victory all the more difficult to obtain. Defensively, Wales recovered from a slow start, to meet the standards that fans have come to expect and Shaun Edwards demands. Defence, French ill discipline and a virtuoso kicking display from Leigh Halfpenny were nearly sufficient for Wales to sneak home. Nearly, how many times have we said that this campaign?
Talking of nearly, congratulations to England on winning the Championship. Missing out on the Grand Slam and losing their winning streak would have been a double disappointment for Eddie Jones' charges. But they should draw great satisfaction from the fact they did the business without consistently finding their best. They say that's a quality of a champion team - and I'm sure the winning habit will be a valuable asset when it comes to Lions selection. Gatland's 2013 model was driven by established combinations from the 2013 champions.
From a Welsh perspective, the above would have been a pleasantly mundane end to an average test match. Average at best.
Instead Warburton's punt kept rollin, rollin, rollin (Durst 2000), off the green and into the drink - scrum to France back in Welsh territory. One last opportunity for Le Bleu - albeit the wrong shade of Blue, bring back Bleu de France. Stash is important. Rant required.
Few phases later, France are camped meters from the Welsh line, the clock turns red and we enter the fifth quarter. The goings on of the nek twenty minutes, yes there was another twenty minutes, would be so farcical that they make the concept of five quarters seem mathematically reasonable.
The Head Injury Assessment Did Uini Antonio have a genuine head hurty? He didn't think so, Barnsey didn't know, the doc sprints on uninvited to confirm that they needed to jettison the gargantuan prop to undergo the requisite protocols. The result was that Rabah Slimani, a stronger scrummager, returned to the field to give the French their edge back at scrum time.
In his post match presser, Rob Howley questioned the integrity of France's actions, particularly why Slimani was warming up prior to Antonio getting head butted by a gentle breeze. Also, kudos to Tomas Francis for re writing the rule book of warm ups - a one on one scrum and down to business.
Whether Italy's tactics at Twickenham were genius or anti-rugby, they thrust ruck legislation pretty high up on World Rugby's agenda. You would think the ruling around HIAs and substitutions would now be attributed a similar level of priority. Post match, Conrad Smith was pretty frank in his opinion that teams going Pinocchio in their approach to the head bin substitutions was widespread. Unfortunately for France, when it comes to inconspicuous manoeuvres, this played out like a 33 point turn in rush hour. I'm sure questions will be asked. At least the French prop resisted any temptation to give it the wink, a la Harlequins bloodgate protagonist, Tom Williams.
Penalty Try
Poor old Barnsey. Felt for the fella. All sorts going on. Should he have awarded France a penalty try earlier in the 5th quarter? A cranky, one eyed Welsh fan at 4am would have answered in the negative. He would have been wrong. France were dominant, once Slimani returned and Barnes awarded penalty on penalty, which resulted in scrum reset after scrum reset. In a normal course of events, you'd expect the ref to lose patience after a couple of pens and award the five pointer. Barnes was criticised for losing control. Maybe he did, but there were extenuating circumstances a plenty.
The Bite
Inconclusive. Poor skills if true!
The Rest
It would have been tough to justify a blog based on the eighty. Possibly a bit of chat around what constitutes a deliberate knock on, and what warrants a penalty try - actually, we did that one.
Both teams were ordinary with ball in hand. As frustrated as Wales would have been with an off script closing scene. Their cold light of day analysis should point to the frequency at which they surrendered possession at collision time. This was a performance deficiency that made an away day victory all the more difficult to obtain. Defensively, Wales recovered from a slow start, to meet the standards that fans have come to expect and Shaun Edwards demands. Defence, French ill discipline and a virtuoso kicking display from Leigh Halfpenny were nearly sufficient for Wales to sneak home. Nearly, how many times have we said that this campaign?
Talking of nearly, congratulations to England on winning the Championship. Missing out on the Grand Slam and losing their winning streak would have been a double disappointment for Eddie Jones' charges. But they should draw great satisfaction from the fact they did the business without consistently finding their best. They say that's a quality of a champion team - and I'm sure the winning habit will be a valuable asset when it comes to Lions selection. Gatland's 2013 model was driven by established combinations from the 2013 champions.
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