Wales could have won it

Jones should have gone for dropgoal when he had an earlier chance
Halfpenny should have taken penalties earlier in the game.

Criminal to be only 1 point behind for the last 20 mins and not get into the lead.

Heroic considering Wales had 14 men.

So close, Sooooooooo very close indeed.

Apart from Warbuton's red card i personaly thought that Gatland wouls od started with Stephen Jones at fly half rather than James Hook.

I dont know what else to say actualy, except very very bad luck Wales.

Merging this with the other end of match thread

+1. Superb effort by the Welsh, no disgrace there.

Halfpenny should have taken the 3rd penalty kick and Jones should have been on before half time.

Could have won it. Made some bad decisions in the last 20 mins.

missed kicks again. Even the conversion would have been enough. we should have won and gave it away again

France only managed 3 points in the 2nd half against 14 men.

Given how inexperienced the players generally are, the future looks good

4 missed kicks. 3 were easy.

Criminal against such a bad French team.

Worst finalists ever in my opinon.

I think the difference would/could have been Jones starting at 10 rather than Hook. Abrilliant kick for the first penalty from Hook but those other 2 he missed, was the difference between winning and losing.

Hook also missed countless tackles and kicked away possession when a good backs move was on.

Ospreys fault or not, Hook isn't an international 10 anymore.

I thought Wales were going to stuff France with their legendary fitness. That's all we've heard all week.

Hmmm.

SafeAsMilk wrote:I thought Wales were going to stuff France with their legendary fitness. That's all we've heard all week.

Hmmm.

France did look stuffed come the end. No need to be churlish mate.

Cheating ref - how quick was he to award holding on - yet didn't give it to Wales when France were holding?

Ps. Welsh set piece were pants and therefore deserved to lose.

Pss. Also hook forgot that outside him were two of the best centres and wingers. Why didn't he trust them.

Kiwireddevil wrote:

SafeAsMilk wrote:I thought Wales were going to stuff France with their legendary fitness. That's all we've heard all week.

Hmmm.

France did look stuffed come the end. No need to be churlish mate.

Not churlish at all. I think the churlishness (is that a word?) is coming from all those blaming the ref for losing.

That was always going to be Wales final and they played their hearts out. Better to go out now under unfortunate circumstances than to get hammered in the final.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:That was always going to be Wales final and they played their hearts out. Better to go out now under unfortunate circumstances than to get hammered in the final.

What stupid post. Shame on you.

Next week is third place play off, will Wales play as good as they played today for a third place slot.

Or will not bother turning up for the game itself.

Its a shame however that this match will be forever remembered for the red card, and thats all you're going to be reading in papers and news sites in the next week.

Brave effort for Wales to try and claw their way back into the game

offload wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:That was always going to be Wales final and they played their hearts out. Better to go out now under unfortunate circumstances than to get hammered in the final.

What stupid post. Shame on you.

Dry your eyes fella

Kiwireddevil wrote:

SafeAsMilk wrote:I thought Wales were going to stuff France with their legendary fitness. That's all we've heard all week.

Hmmm.

France did look stuffed come the end. No need to be churlish mate.

I thought it was quite amazing that the French were off their feet at the end whilst Wales where still going- but they (the French) clearly lifted themselves for one last effort and their defence in the last few phases won the match. Very aggressive defence, forced Wales back and denied them a good drop goal opportunity.

Well its a harsh result if your welsh.

We could have won and Im sure if we had 15 on the pitch we would have won but thats sport. This group of players have still produced some great rugby, they are not the finished article yet and at times that showed this morning. Sadly Priestlands loss for me was the biggest blow as both Hook and Wellies didnt produce games to remember.

Both Jamie and Shane said that they will go out and play to win the 3rd place and I hope thats a case. This world cup is going to be the springboard for a very good period for Welsh Rugby.

The future with this group of players and coaching team is looking very good. We need to find a tighthead because aSdam isnt going to be around in 4 years but the rest of the team will learn from their mistakes in this game and grow from it.