Rugby Mad Blog

Six Nations Game 5 – France vs Ireland (26-21)

Ireland started brightly with quick ruck ball, camping in the French 22 for 2-3 minutes. But then just when they were expecting France to kick, Aurelian Rougerie steamed up the middle, the ruck formed and France had a chance of a penalty – which Elissalde pushed wide.

Bernard Jackman’s first lineout was a disaster, going to French hands. Les Bleus worked the ball across the field one way, then the other, and if it wasn’t for a forward pass, they would have scored.

Around 10 minutes, Ireland were looking for points in the French 22 after a lineout, with several phases well put together. Rucks, passes, pick and drive, until Eoin Reddan threw it wide, then back into midfield. Things only stopped when Ireland knocked on close to the line.

It was still tight until France turned over Irish ball, which was hacked ahead and Vincent Clerc [right] flew up the wing in his golden boots, gathered safely and slid over for a lovely try. David Skrela converted and the home side were 7-0 up.

Shortly after, France were caught infringing and Ronan O’Gara stepped up for three points, overtaking Neil Jenkins’ Six Nations all-time points score, (with only Jonny Wilkinson still in front). That put Ireland on 7-3.

Then after the restart, Ireland were caught napping and Clerc did it again with another blistering run – this time Skrela missed the conversion but French tails were up, 12-3. In the 23rd minute, Ireland had an opportunity when they got an attacking lineout 5m out, but Lionel Nallet’s challenge was excellent.

Just before the half hour, O’Gara punted over a penatly to bring them up to 12-6. But Clerc struck for a hat-trick, scored with a jubilant dive, just before half time and Ireland were left wondering what to do – I’d hate to think what Eddie O’Sullivan would have said at the break, going into the dressing room 19-6 down.

There was plenty of action but few points as the second half began. Then in the 49th minute, France had a scrum on the half way, the No. 8 broke away and it was kicked, partially charged down, and Cédric Heymans [left], another boy in golden boots, ran in for a try under the posts with the Irish defence in shreds. The conversion brought the score up to 26-6. The French fans were in good voice, with the Marseillaise ringing out around the stadium.

At 52 minutes, Ireland got another penalty and kicked to the corner. Their previous lineouts hadn’t been doing well, with Jackman’s throws more often than not arriving in French hands. This time they got possession and managed to work themselves up to within a couple of metres of the line, then recycled and drove again, crawling towards the line over several phases. Then the Irish won a Scrum V. It was reset a couple of times as the French went down once the drive was on. And a second time. Third time, the Irish front row scrummaged the French off the park and Ref Nigel Owens had no choice but to award a penalty try. O’Gara’s conversion was easy, and the score was back at 26-13 with 22 minutes to go.

The Irish pack made a big drive after the catching restart. Then they spun it wide, chipped ahead but it was collected by Heymans instead of an Irish hand. Then Simon Best came on for Jackman after an injury, the Irish lineout was solid and the forwards drove on. David Wallace [right] was the man at the bottom of the heap and the TMO agreed the ball was grounded. But the conversion was missed, so the scores stood at 26-18. Suddenly, the Irish were playing to their strengths (forwards) rather than running.

In the 65th minute, Clerc went into touch as he caught a bouncer, and the Irish lineout was good again. Then the Irish pack had another opportunity and drove up, and passed out to the backs – but the pass to the wing was too long and it went into touch.

The Irish comeback continued point by point, when Ronan O’Gara punted another pentalty in the 75th minute, clawing it back to 26-21. Then crucially, Ireland won a penalty on the half way, and kicked for the corner. The lineout was taken and the Irish backs broke the French defensive line. They recycled again and made more ground. The forwards took it up from the 22, mauling and rucking for their lives. 7m short, it was flung wide, collected by a French hand and it went into touch – whistle blew.

So an incredible turnaround from the Irish in the second half, and they can be proud of themselves for that. France looked extremely dangerous, especially in the first half. Ironically, Vincent Clerc (Man of the Match with a hat-trick) was dropped from the French 22 earlier in the week, and only came back in after an injury to Julien Malzieu!

After their opening game humiliation, there was always going to be a French backlash. Unfortunately for Namibia, they were the next opponents, and the mismatch was obvious.

The French made a good start, but Namibia weren’t afraid of putting in some big hits. The first try wasn’t long coming – 7 minutes in, winger Cédric Heymans [left] crossed over in the corner, his 10th in French colours, but Elissalde failed to convert. Just a few minutes later, Namibia’s Emile Wessels struck a penalty. France attacked immediately from the restart, going through two phases, for David Marty to score again in the opposite corner to Heymans. This time Elissalde’s boot was true.

But there were still some handling errors from the French. And big hits from the Africans – Sebastian Chabal took a huge tackle from the Namibian No. 8 Jacques Nieuwenhuis who was red carded for the offence. Seabass wasn’t too phased by the event, and after the break, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde made a great cross-kick for Chabal to bounce over the line and take the score to 54-3. Five minutes later, Chabal broke and ran 55m up the pitch to score a second. Elissalide converted again and the score marched on to 61-3.

France kept turning the screw – Elissalde [left] scored a try of his own a minute after Chabal’s; Vincent Clerc bagged another two and Raphael Ibanez added one too – taking the French tally to 13.

There was a small consolation right at the death for Namibia, when their Centre, Bratley Langenhoven touched down in the 79th minute. Fullback Tertius Losper took the extras, to bring up ten points for the underdogs. The final whistle blew, and the result was confirmed at 87-10.

Seems like it’s ages since the last one, but the Rugby World Cup opening game has finally rolled round.

Opening Ceremony
Fans of all allegencies turned up for the opening ceremony and first game of the tournament. The French were, of course, in the majority, but I saw lots of English, a few Irish, a significant number of Argentines and the odd Aussie & Kiwi wandering about outside the ground. All getting on famously, and the French riot police in attendance had little to do except strut around in their body armour looking menacing, as only the Gendarmes know how.

The French seemed very keen to dress up, and I caught this bloke [left] wearing a chicken on his head and still grinning madly!! (The French team’s emblem is a Cockerel, but I’m not convinced it should have been blue and furry).

Once inside, the atmosphere was building as the minutes ticked by. The opening do was a bit pants, to be honest – lots of tumblers cavorting around in brightly coloured suits, but I think the analogy was lost on most people, it certainly was on me.

I was glad the exuberant flag-waver above wasn’t sitting directly in front of me, or I wouldn’t have got many pictures!

The Game
France vs Argentina was always going to be an entertaining show, and how it turned out to be! Not the result the French would have liked, but most of the English supporters I could see seemed to be shouting for Argentina!

[The Pumas win their lineout]

The French just didn’t live up to the promise of recent games. Cedric Heymans kept dropping stuff and suffered from wayward kicking. The rest of the team didn’t seem to be able to intercept or pass very well. On the Pumas’ side, Juan Martin Hernandez [right] had a great game, his first playing at Fly Half. He ran all over the place and kicked accurately. His Fullback Ignacio Corleta seemed to chase every high ball, and scored the only try of the game.

At the set pieces, the Argentine pack seemed to be doing well in the scrum – perhaps their lineouts weren’t as good as they could have been, but they certainly didn’t get pushed about too much. The French were certainly surprised to go in at the break on the wrong end of a 17-6 scoreline. I can only imagine the Gallic ranting of M. Laporte in the dressing room at half time.

The dressing-down must have had some effect, as I thought the French were going to score just after the break. They were camped in Argentine territory, about 5m from the line, for over a dozen phases of play. But the Argies put up some immense defence, and eventually only gave away 3 points for an infringement.

David Skrela [left] had a shocking game, and never really looked comfortable. He missed a straightforward penalty on 55 minutes, and didn’t link well with Pierre Mignoni at Scrum Half. Skrela limped off in the last quarter, to be replaced by Freddie Michalak who didn’t fare much better, missing a morale-boosting penalty on 70 minutes. Mignoni was subbed for Elissalde with 8 minutes left. Too little too late.

One player who did make an immediate impact as a replacement was the scary figure of Sebastien “Sea bass” Chabal, who stole a lineout almost as soon as he stepped on the field. He didn’t get it all his own way, as the Argentines weren’t afraid to go after him with the ball:

[Sea Bass Chabal gets attention of the Argentine defence]

France kept plugging away in the last minutes of the game, with amazing defence from their opponents. Argentina thought they had cleared but France got the ball back and managed to kick a final penalty, but still went in at the end down by 12-17.

All in all, a fantastic game, tremendous atmosphere and a great way to kick off the 2007 tournament. Bring on the next games!

Six Nations Game 1 – Italy vs France (3-39)

With France’s hammering at the hands of the All Blacks in the autumn, and Italy touted as being on the brink of taking a big scalp, much was anticipated for the first match in Rome.

Unfortunately, it all rather went with form. After a slow start, and some reasonable Italian defence, Dominici intercepted a wayward pass for the first try. Then the French forwards put in the grunt work and Cédric Heymans [left] finished off the move for the second try.

In the first half, Italy seemed to have the ball for quite a while, and went through lots of phases of play, but when Fabio Ongaro was turned over close to the French try line, that seemed to be typical of Italy’s inability to turn possession into points.

Shortly afterwards, Sébastian Chabal [right] went over the chalk with a quick pick and go, for his first try in French colours. I can’t believe he’s not been in the team more, considering his form for Sale over the past couple of years.

I think Italy’s main problem seemed to be their tactics of constantly kicking to touch rather than keeping the ball in hand or defending better. Canale, Italy’s No. 13, was the most convincing for me, making a lot of hard yards and decent tackles.

Chabal scored a second try and totally deserved his Man of the Match award, I think. Not only for his try scoring, but also the number of tackles he put in and ball scavanged.

Once the Italian front row was replaced, their pack did perform better at the scrum, and also stole a lineout from France. Pity they couldn’t do more of that earlier on.

Jannick Jauzion [left] put yet another nail in the coffin with another try for France, with a well-seen strike. And Mignoni, the French Scrum Half, looked particularly dangerous too, constantly bothering his opposite number at the scrum and generaly at the breakdown.

So, despite Bernard Laporte’s inistance that it was an experimental French side, they are looking quite dangerous, which is worrying for the rest of the squads!

Or read my Ten Word Review.