6 Nations 2016: France v Ireland 13th February

First topic message reminder :

Someone has to do it!

No whistles or bells, just like our team selection  

France: Maxime Medard, Teddy Thomas, Maxime Mermoz; Jonathan Danty, Virimi Vakatawa; Jules Plisson, Sebastien Bezy; Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado (capt), Uini Atonio, Alexandre Flanquart, Yoann Maestri, Wenceslas Lauret, Yacouba Camara, Damien Chouly.
Replacements: Camille Chat, Rabah Slimani, Eddy Ben Arous, Paul Jedresiak, Loann Goujon, Maxime Machenaud, Jean-Marc Doussain, Hugo Bonneval.


Ireland: Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble, Jared Payne, Robbie Henshaw, Dave Kearney, Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack McGrath, Rory Best (capt), Nathan White, Mike McCarthy, Devin Toner, CJ Stander, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: Richardt Strauss, James Cronin, Tadhg Furlong, Donnacha Ryan, Tommy O'Donnell, Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan, Fergus McFadden.

Somebody else can add in the fancy stuff.

Silly penalty France, they just need to keep Ireland in their half

Machenaud certainly making an impact
Still Can't believe we are ahead on the score.

whocares wrote:Machenaud certainly making an impact
Still Can't believe we are ahead on the score.

Agree, don't see why they have been selecting Bezy

Rory_Gallagher wrote:At least we have players on the team who can change the pace of this game and really open up the French defence. Oh wait...

Should restart your scouting in the Southern Hemisphere for project players

Ireland never played this poorly under Kidney.

Notch wrote:Madigan has just given France territory and possession from the restart for nothing. Being a better 12 doesn't justify this.

Of course, Paddy did some things as bad last night.

Except Paddy had a poor game by his own standards after a season of very consistent top class rugby and Madigan has had a couple of seasons filled with inconsistent, erratic rugby.

This refereeing performance is absolutely shocking as well. Seriously, how is that not a penalty.

Boy has this been a depressing match. Two awful teams

the quality of the 6 nations is absolutely dreadful - as always. This is a hideous game. Honestly getting bored of rugby.

Kiwis and Aussies must urine themselves watching this guff, Argentina too. Its terrible

France have shown heart but are no good. A good scrum bench and our error count has won the game for them. Madigans kick off was absolutely unforgivable

i will absolutely lose the plot when i see the teamsheet for Twickenham

True Raven wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:At least we have players on the team who can change the pace of this game and really open up the French defence. Oh wait...

Should restart your scouting in the Southern Hemisphere for project players

We have plenty of homegrown talents who can do the job but they are sitting at home right now.

Worst game of rugby I've watched for a long time

Ireland are deliberately wheeling, watch Murray, he is backing off and backwards before he has put the ball in waiting for the wheel.

Take the penalty now France, then there is not chance you lose

It'll be fun to hear the Schmidt apologists after this abomination.

Woeful. Dire. Feel like I've wasted a Saturday afternoon. Cheers Joe.

Can't believe people are debating about Paddy at this moment in time. He's the last on a long list of shocking team selections. It's harder to be dropped than get on.

Terrible game,

Well deserved win by France.

Ireland could play another 80 minutes and still not look like scoring a try.

Ireland probably out of the running for the tournament now.

Schmidt out now. Absolutely disgraceful performance that has shamed Ireland and the heroes of 1916. Paul O'Connell must be sick commentating on that.

take the penalty Plisson you fecking halfwit. Points difference tie on the last day and you leave 3 points out there!

sums up the tournament. hair brained

Games like that do the NH no favours what so ever

Rory_Gallagher wrote:We have plenty of homegrown talents who can do the job but they are sitting at home right now.

With the way the forward pack has gone in the second half you might as well be arguing that more comfortable deck chairs would have saved the Titanic from the iceberg. Thats how much relevance the debate over McCloskey et al. has. Jackson should have been on the bench.

Fecking pathetic result. We never got the platform to play in this game but France were utterly diabolical for the majority of this game. We should have killed it in the fist half. Just like last week. We also were only breached because of our scrum. Just like last week.

Ultimately though, there's very little we can do about our scrum. What I'm furious about is the skill level in the 22 in the first half. No ruthless edge whatsoever. Thats not down to selection, the players for Ulster last night were equally sh!t and made sh!t mistakes. McCloskey would be sitting pretty to start next weekend if he had played well but he was poor. The one thing you can say is that this has been a sh!t weekend. Absolute sh!t.

dublin_dave wrote:the quality of the 6 nations is absolutely dreadful - as always. This is a hideous game. Honestly getting bored of rugby.

Kiwis and Aussies must urine themselves watching this guff, Argentina too. Its terrible

France have shown heart but are no good. A good scrum bench and our error count has won the game for them. Madigans kick off was absolutely unforgivable

i will absolutely lose the plot when i see the teamsheet for Twickenham

I agree for all the talk of Ireland missing playrrs against Argentina, we were thought a lesson on how to play rugby. I thought we would be way more attacking this 6n.

I thought this would happen. Ireland went in at half time, but could not capitalise in the second half.

France starting too look like the france of old. Free flowing rugby, running the ball from anywhere.

Well played France.

Schmidt is some bluffer. That BS would turn you off rugby.

Ireland surely for the wooden spoon now. Schmidt has to go

Shambles. Schmidt should probably start picking players on form. His old dependables are getting beyond a joke. The Kearney's and McFadden have no place in international rugby.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

dublin_dave wrote:the quality of the 6 nations is absolutely dreadful - as always. This is a hideous game. Honestly getting bored of rugby.

Kiwis and Aussies must urine themselves watching this guff, Argentina too. Its terrible

France have shown heart but are no good. A good scrum bench and our error count has won the game for them. Madigans kick off was absolutely unforgivable

i will absolutely lose the plot when i see the teamsheet for Twickenham

I agree for all the talk of Ireland missing playrrs against Argentina, we were thought a lesson on how to play rugby. I thought we would be way more attacking this 6n.

I think the biggest problem today is we were too attacking. We were trying inside balls, offloads and wide passes when the skill levels of the players aren't there.

Notch wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:We have plenty of homegrown talents who can do the job but they are sitting at home right now.

With the way the forward pack has gone in the second half you might as well be arguing that more comfortable deck chairs would have saved the Titanic from the iceberg. Thats how much relevance the debate over McCloskey et al. has. Jackson should have been on the bench.

F£cking pathetic result. We never got the platform to play in this game but France were utterly diabolical for the majority of this game. We should have killed it in the fist half. Just like last week. We also were only breached because of our scrum. Just like last week.

Ultimately though, there's very little we can do about our scrum. What I'm furious about is the skill level in the 22 in the first half. No ruthless edge whatsoever. Thats not down to selection, the players for Ulster last night were equally sh!t and made sh!t mistakes. McCloskey would be sitting pretty to start next weekend if he had played well but he was poor. The one thing you can say is that this has been a sh!t weekend. Absolute sh!t.

But they would have certainly made a difference in the first half when Ireland were on top...

Schmidt has to have a long look in the mirror after this.

eirebilly wrote:I have a feeling that the French subs will have a big impact on this match.

Spot on

Commiserations to the Irish fans for the shock loss.

France may be rubbish but they at least are trying to build a new team from scratch and have a decent scrum while ours was decimated with injuries

i would dearly love to throw a pint over Gerry Thornleys head. Telling us how great a tournament it is and how we cannot risk form young players in a tournament of such quality and tradition. Ultimate yes man journalist.

We have seen Standers impact, what on earth is there to stop McCloskey, Jackson and Ringrose making a similar impact

I am bored watching the Kearney brothers, Mc Fadden, Madigan in the green jersey especially when they are utterly out of form

I am not going to bother watching Wales. Even more turgid and one dimensional then us

whocares wrote:

eirebilly wrote:I have a feeling that the French subs will have a big impact on this match.

Spot on

Commiserations to the Irish fans for the shock loss.

Cheers bud, enjoy the win

Notch wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

dublin_dave wrote:the quality of the 6 nations is absolutely dreadful - as always. This is a hideous game. Honestly getting bored of rugby.

Kiwis and Aussies must urine themselves watching this guff, Argentina too. Its terrible

France have shown heart but are no good. A good scrum bench and our error count has won the game for them. Madigans kick off was absolutely unforgivable

i will absolutely lose the plot when i see the teamsheet for Twickenham

I agree for all the talk of Ireland missing playrrs against Argentina, we were thought a lesson on how to play rugby. I thought we would be way more attacking this 6n.

I think the biggest problem today is we were too attacking. We were trying inside balls, offloads and wide passes when the skill levels of the players aren't there.

Yep. We should have kicked all day. I have no idea why we didn't.

Notch wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

dublin_dave wrote:the quality of the 6 nations is absolutely dreadful - as always. This is a hideous game. Honestly getting bored of rugby.

Kiwis and Aussies must urine themselves watching this guff, Argentina too. Its terrible

France have shown heart but are no good. A good scrum bench and our error count has won the game for them. Madigans kick off was absolutely unforgivable

i will absolutely lose the plot when i see the teamsheet for Twickenham

I agree for all the talk of Ireland missing playrrs against Argentina, we were thought a lesson on how to play rugby. I thought we would be way more attacking this 6n.

I think the biggest problem today is we were too attacking. We were trying inside balls, offloads and wide passes when the skill levels of the players aren't there.

I can't remember any significant offloads to keep the momentum of an attack. Offloads kill defences and our players refuse to do it. Our attack mainly comes from set pieces with sh1te inside passes that almost never work and one off forwards running into a wall of defenders.

What other coach in world rugby would ignore some of the best attacking players in Europe and pick Leinster reserves? Its just bizarre.

So glad we didn't poach Schmidt from Ireland

LeinsterFan4life wrote:I can't remember any significant offloads to keep the momentum of an attack. Offloads kill defences and our players refuse to do it. Our attack mainly comes from set pieces with sh1te inside passes that almost never work and one off forwards running into a wall of defenders.

Kearney threw a couple which resulted in turnovers. We threw several inside balls to players which would have worked but they weren't anticipated and support did not get there.

Offloads kill defences when executed well and kill attacks when not. I haven't seen any evidence that we have the skill set. I know we have the skill set to kick, chase and ruck. We played too much rugby today.

NH rugby on life support, that must be why Peyper had that cheeky smile at the end.

Is this what James Connolly died for?

profitius wrote:What other coach in world rugby would ignore some of the best attacking players in Europe and pick Leinster reserves? Its just bizarre.

Hopefully it will be the kick up the rectal cavity that Schmidt requires to start looking at players in form and positioning them in their correct positions.

Notch wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:I can't remember any significant offloads to keep the momentum of an attack. Offloads kill defences and our players refuse to do it. Our attack mainly comes from set pieces with sh1te inside passes that almost never work and one off forwards running into a wall of defenders.

Kearney threw a couple which resulted in turnovers. We threw several inside balls to players which would have worked but they weren't anticipated and support did not get there.

Offloads kill defences when executed well and kill attacks when not. I haven't seen any evidence that we have the skill set. I know we have the skill set to kick, chase and ruck. We played too much rugby today.

Even if we kicked more, where are the tries going to come from? Even if we get penalties and scrap by this rubbish French team, what then? We have to create more to become one of the top boys and if we can't open up a team like even Italy did last week, what hope do we have?

greygoose wrote:Shambles. Schmidt should probably start picking players on form. His old dependables are getting beyond a joke. The Kearney's and McFadden have no place in international rugby.

Dennis Buckley is tearing up trees with Connacht but isn't given a look in. Baffling to leave McGrath on the pitch the full 80 last week and more than 75 minutes this week.

Not including ringrose, gilroy, mccluskey, jackson et al when we have everyone fit i can sort of understand but missing fitzgerald,earls, zebo and bowe who despite their flaws are exciting is inexcusable

Henshaw is a good player but his hands are not good enough for 12 at international level.

Our pack are decimated and that to be fair is not Schmidts fault. Surprised a half fit Ross did not get 50 minutes today. We need Moore back too and a Healy return to form would be great too.

Schmidt moaning about a lack of yellows grates. I guess its because we only really look like scoring v 14 men

Notch wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:I can't remember any significant offloads to keep the momentum of an attack. Offloads kill defences and our players refuse to do it. Our attack mainly comes from set pieces with sh1te inside passes that almost never work and one off forwards running into a wall of defenders.

Kearney threw a couple which resulted in turnovers. We threw several inside balls to players which would have worked but they weren't anticipated and support did not get there.

Offloads kill defences when executed well and kill attacks when not. I haven't seen any evidence that we have the skill set. I know we have the skill set to kick, chase and ruck. We played too much rugby today.

Well then here's a novel idea, how about we pick the players (that we do have at our disposal!) who are able to play good rugby, instead of the endless swathes of journeyman and Leinster backups?

LeinsterFan4life wrote:
Even if we kicked more, where are the tries going to come from? Even if we get penalties and scrap by this rubbish French team, what then? We have to create more to become one of the top boys and if we can't open up a team like even Italy did last week, what hope do we have?

Quote of the day, cannot agree more

Really disappointing loss,injuries and the scrum killed us.Our backrow couldn't backup there performance from last week.2 tough games in a row is proving too much for us.The depth just isn't there

We've also got to look at our decision making,in both the games we've turned down a kickable penalty to go for the line and come away with nothing.

There are a lot of things to work on but right now it looks like we're going to struggle unless our 1st choice front 5 are available as the depth isn't there and we aren't good enough elsewhere to make up for it.

I have no doubt there will be a lot of whinging and crying about selections at centre,wing and fullback being the problem but that's just ignoring reality,that match was won and lost up front.

We have to improve coaching at youth level and provincial level. It is as simple as that. We need to improve the skill set of our entire player base and its not going to happen overnight. Progress has been made in the last 15 years but it will be another 5, 10, 15 years of improvement to keep us moving forward. I do think the next generation will be better than the last and I hope we'll see some of them in the next few weeks.

I also believe the structure of the season needs to change to allow coaches more time with the players in the build-up. 4 games into the Six Nations and three have been abysmal in terms of even the basics being executed. If its one team its bad coaching, if its every team... Finally too much rugby is being played and the calendar needs fundamental reform.

We now can open up knowing that the next three tests are about getting us ready to try and take a scalp on the summer tour. Some experimentation is fair.

Never rated O'Donnell, was non existent on the pitch and missed the crucial tackle, Ruddock should have been on the bench any day.

JmD wrote:

Notch wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:I can't remember any significant offloads to keep the momentum of an attack. Offloads kill defences and our players refuse to do it. Our attack mainly comes from set pieces with sh1te inside passes that almost never work and one off forwards running into a wall of defenders.

Kearney threw a couple which resulted in turnovers. We threw several inside balls to players which would have worked but they weren't anticipated and support did not get there.

Offloads kill defences when executed well and kill attacks when not. I haven't seen any evidence that we have the skill set. I know we have the skill set to kick, chase and ruck. We played too much rugby today.

Well then here's a novel idea, how about we pick the players (that we do have at our disposal!) who are able to play good rugby, instead of the endless swathes of journeyman and Leinster backups?

That would be Stuart Olding and no-one else in my view. I agree Olding should feature in the last three games.

On the positive side, CJ Stander is continuing his great form and it is having a very notable effect on Heaslip. Heaslip has put in two very good performances this 6N due to Stander doing some excellent work. They are forming a great 6 - 8 pairing.

Notch wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:We have plenty of homegrown talents who can do the job but they are sitting at home right now.

With the way the forward pack has gone in the second half you might as well be arguing that more comfortable deck chairs would have saved the Titanic from the iceberg. Thats how much relevance the debate over McCloskey et al. has. Jackson should have been on the bench.

Fecking pathetic result. We never got the platform to play in this game but France were utterly diabolical for the majority of this game. We should have killed it in the fist half. Just like last week. We also were only breached because of our scrum. Just like last week.

Ultimately though, there's very little we can do about our scrum. What I'm furious about is the skill level in the 22 in the first half. No ruthless edge whatsoever. Thats not down to selection, the players for Ulster last night were equally sh!t and made sh!t mistakes. McCloskey would be sitting pretty to start next weekend if he had played well but he was poor. The one thing you can say is that this has been a sh!t weekend. Absolute sh!t.

We have already discussed what McCloskey can do behind a retreating pack. Not to mention the fact that the French defence has been dire. Also, why on earth was this comment flagged?

If it was for the Iceberg comment, my word some folks here need to grow up.