we were great, equally France were pretty dismal.
Right on both counts Noddy. I didn't expect the biggest defeat of France at home ever, and as you indicate: both sides were responsible for it.
Many have written about the Oz side of the story. It was a bit of a fairy tale - but it was a tragedy for France.
From the France point of view: as one mentioned before the match their selections were curious; so whatever selection game Lièvremont was playing failed miserably.
The flyhalf choice of Traille, who I described as playing like a cow at the piano in the position for Biarritz in the past, was bizarre, and he couldn't get players running off him which seemed to be the plan. Nor did his team benefit from his long punts, though some went high. This should be the last we see of him at flyhalf for France and I wouldn't be surprised if that was his last game for them in any position.
It was difficult for his midfield to play without a real no. 10, but even taking that into account they were ordinary. I mentioned before the game that the use of winger Rougerie at 13 was odd, though he had played there for Clermont, and he just looked like a big boofhead, and not a very fast one.
12. Jauzion was the huge under-achiever. He is usually a class player and was at the top of his form for Toulouse in the Top14 before the test match - and had a good 6N earlier in 2010. But he never troubled our guys, who rushed him and Rougerie all the time. The big boppers were big floppers. Our players even made rising star scrummie Parra look ordinary.
I wrote that our back three would be better than the three they selected; so I got that part right. There were some fine players who France overlooked that won't be for 6N, but it wouldn't have mattered who they selected at wing or fullback on the night.
It must have been galling for the Paris crowd to see the Aussie backs play like theirs have in the past, and theirs like ours have much too often in the last decade. Philippe Sella, the great French centre, who was at the ground, must have writhed in his seat seeing Wallabies doing what he and fullback Serge Blanco did so often to all comers.
He must have been appalled at the passing of the French backs. It was though they were passing a bomb from hand to hand instead of a ball.
The French scrum was better than ours as expected. Outside of the that the forwards performed better than the backs, but not by a lot. Some had a dig. Chabal was like Cliffy Palu on the charge in the first half and hooker Servat earned his pay. Servat's injury was significant because Szarzewski was injured and 3rd string hooker Guirado was like a rabbit in the headlights. Flanker and skipper, Dusautoir, had a lot of good moments around the park but not coming off his line to tackle earlier than he did when Genia scored wasn't one of them.
Harinordoquy was missed. He was MOTM against Fiji IIRR , yet got dumped from the 22 two weeks later. They missed him in the lineouts too. I'm not sure how much longer the left and right flankers Dusautoir and Ouedraogo will be paired for France. Ouedraogo is a linking player who duplicates what Dusautoir does but lacks the harder game of the skipper. Hairy Donkey would have been a better bet at 6 and has played there with effect when Picamoles has been at 8.
It was a piss poor effort from the 6N Grand Slammers and they deserve to be in disarray. Coach Lièvremont has used over 80 players since he got hired before the 2008 6N and apart from a 6N Grand Slam earlier in the year the returns from using so many players has been meagre. He has to pick a consistent team starting in 6N and treat it like a mini RWC.
