Wallabies v France 1st test - Suncorp 7 June

[Slim 293]

I would have thought Dusatoir would be captain.

He's being rested after only playing two matches since tearing his bicep earlier in the year........

France's hopes of ending a 24-year Australian drought have suffered a huge blow with inspirational captain Thierry Dusautoir ruled out of the first rugby Test against the Wallabies.

Les Bleus coach Phillipe Saint-Andre pulled a major surprise on Wednesday night by preferring to let Dusautoir overcome an arm problem instead of risking him on Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium.

The flanker is only two matches back from arm surgery after a torn biceps kept him sidelined for four months and Saint-Andre opted to rest him after he pulled up sore from training on the weekend.

Although he finished the season with Toulouse, Dusautoir had been wary about travelling to Australia but the coach had been keen to have his skipper play as much as possible with the World Cup 15 months away.

 

[ACT Crusader]

don't know much about the french players guys. How do they match up against our 23? strengths and weaknesses in that team?

I would have thought Dusatoir would be captain.

Dus is being rested.

They have a good young dynamic midfield. Could be around for many years to come if there is patience. Big concern will be how Freddie approaches the game and whether he unleashes them. Freddie drifts in and out of games with the best of them.

It's not their number 1 backrow, so there may be issues with combinations, but all 3 are strong in the tackle and love to carry. Tight 5 will play a disruptive style of game, so the game could turn into a frustrating watch if France can't get their hands on the ball.

 

[tranquility]

Their center pairing as already alluded to by ACT Cru is more talented than our pair. That is, our pair is 'starchier' in comparison. Ouedraogo, who is playing 6 is a real warrior. Wobs should win by about 10 I would have thought.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Fickou and fofana are fantastic to watch. Problem is Freddie. He is not
The player he once was and I think he will struggle against the inside backs and back row.
Too bad about the projected crowd.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Sounds like a plan. I'll maybe add - get the ball to Folau with some space as much as possible

Think if the Wallabies' defence gets on top, the French will kick plenty of ball Izzy's way.

 

[grousehouse]

Btw for those that don't know, Brock James has French citizenship and is keen on playing for France.

No can do apparently - he's played 7s for Australia.

 

[qwerty51]

I could be wrong but I think he played so long ago it was before the new regulations and therefore doesn't count?

 

[USARugger]

Fickou and fofana are fantastic to watch. Problem is Freddie. He is not
The player he once was and I think he will struggle against the inside backs and back row.
Too bad about the projected crowd.

Fickou and Fofana will be great on attack but they will leak like a sieve defensively. They both put on big hits once in a while but they're also both prone to getting caught flat-footed on the line.

10. Freddie 12. Fofana 13. Fickou should have Foley, To'omua and Kuridrani salivating for all the opportunities it will provide for them.

Vahaamahina and le Roux will be the weak links in the pack. Vahaamahina is like Skelton except he provides 1/5th of the impact and gasses even quicker.

For all intents and purposes Oueadrago is a like-for-like with Nyanga. On the smaller side, very fast and hard as shit at the breakdown.

Chouly is solid and won't make mistakes but will never match up to Picamoles in terms of impact and dynamism.

Huget and Bonneval will be very good from the back. Bonneval was one of the best backs for France during the 6N but for some reason was not rewarded for his performances.

Wallabies should take this first test comfortably all things considered - even with the short preparation window.

 

[grousehouse]

I could be wrong but I think he played so long ago it was before the new regulations and therefore doesn't count?

Yeah, it was ages ago but this was from the horse's mouth recently.

 

[qwerty51]

Bernard le Roux is a good player, reminds me of Francois Louw

 

[USARugger]

Bernard le Roux is a good player, reminds me of Francois Louw

Sorry, I wasn't trying to insinuate he's bad - he's not.

Le Roux is solid but I don't think his breakdown work is the best and our backrow should be able to get the wood over him in that department.

 

[Scrubber2050]

1. WIN THE GAME BY ANY MEANS
2. HOPEFULLY PLAY AN EXCITING, EXPANSIVE STYLE THAT THE FANS WANT SO AS TO ACHIEVE NUMBER 1 ABOVE.

SIMPLE REALLY

 

[rugbysmartarse]

<-----------------

you mean that's not a professional photo of you? Now I don't know what to believe...

 

[Ash]

Anyone have the size comparisons on the packs?

I am too lazy to actually look at the stats, but I actually think that the Wallaby pack is bigger / heavier.

 

[Mr Doug]

Re the projected low crowd figures being tossed around. Im not surprised, given the almost total absence of coverage on radio and television news here in South East Queensland, with a maximum of 10-second segments on ABC tv, Chns 7 and 9, and not much more on the match broadcaster, chn 10. It took Wilko two days to give 30 seconds to the team on ABC TV Grandstand last night!
Plenty of coverage of Soccer (World Cup), NRL, Brisbane Broncos, State of Origin, Brisbane Broncos, AFL, Brisbane Broncos, Netball, Brisbane Broncos, Basketball, and the Brisbane Broncos, (you get the picture)!
We have to accept the fact that Brisbane is a "Rugby League City"!
Different scenario with Bledisloe Cup matches, with around 75,000 Kiwis now living in SEQ!!

I agree with the previous comments about fans' available discretionary finances and how they're allocated.

 

[Sully]

Lee wrote a good write up on the front page.
http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/preview-wallabies-v-france/

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[Braveheart81]

I think Slim's point regarding the promotion is pretty apt.

Channel 10 have actually been airing promos for the rugby quite frequently.....

Looking at their ratings it's no surprise people have missed them...

One problem with the FTA network showing the game being Channel 10 is that so few people are watching that the ads don't get nearly the penetration they would if they were on Channel 9 for example.

The in kind promotion that a broadcasting deal gives is crucial and through Channel 10 we're getting less value because of the ratings.

My guess is that the ARU's marketing budget is focused more heavily on things like the Bledisloe Cup in Sydney where tickets are more expensive and there is more likely to be a greater return on advertising dollars.

 

[Tangawizi]

Plus, hardly any average punter knows anything about the French players. Many big rugby fans don't know much about them.

It's not exactly a great rivalry and we had a very disappointing domestic test season last year so floating fans aren't interested.

Just hope we win the series 3-0 so can go into the Sydney Bled full of confidence. Can't afford another Deans era Samoa/Scotland implosion.

 

[Mr Doug]

One 'positive' from a Suncorp Stadium crowd of, say 35,000 v's 45,000 would mean 10,000 extra fans watching at home, at their club, or the pub, and being 'exposed to' the advertisers products!!

 

[RedsHappy]

Plus, hardly any average punter knows anything about the French players. Many big rugby fans don't know much about them.

It's not exactly a great rivalry and we had a very disappointing domestic test season last year so floating fans aren't interested.

Just hope we win the series 3-0 so can go into the Sydney Bled full of confidence. Can't afford another Deans era Samoa/Scotland implosion.

I think that is the hard truth - the Wallaby brand has been persistently sullied by RWC debacles, the Deans Dark Years, no Bleds won, and so forth, and the non-rusted-on fans are now happy to cut their investment in attending it.

Why do I say this? Well, I've read the multiple other explanations for this week's forecast low Suncorp Test crowd such as weak economy, Bled game, 2 SOOs, poor Reds year, etc.

None of them really hold water in that, over the period 2007 to today, not one Suncorp-held rugby Test has had a crowd of less than c.41,000. That period spans Bleds, Wales, Ireland, France etc games and further includes double SOO years and the awful 2008-10 GFC-afflicted years and also the really bad Reds years 2007-09.

When that's all added in and considered, it's clear that the most likely explanation for a comparatively weak crowd on Saturday v France will be that set forth in my first paragraph above.