Pot... Kettle... Black... WTF

[Inside Shoulder]

this could just be Frog flair

 

[Blue]

I predicted a weaker France team and don't really expect them to worry if they win or lose this game, which means they will likely lose.

Other than Hairydonkey who is on the bench and Parra 10 (their other options have been shite), who else are they supposed to play?

 

[Gagger]

Comment from a French supporter mate

When are you off to the land of the long wide yawn? I see they are ridiculing france team for Saturday. Unbelievable, it’s actually pretty much full strength , as not much between Servat and Szarzewski, Mas is injured, and Parra is super confident player and in form vs Trinh Duc… I think they will put on a good show, before succumbing by a couple of points. That Peter Bills is a W****r… apparently , according to him, they’ve thrown this game with a bunch of no hopers starting…. Yeah, 14 of the 22 have beaten NZ and 6 of them twice for good measure

 

[Sully]

Sounds familiar matt! Could the kiwis be taking the French lightly? After RWC2007 probably not..

 

[Gagger]

More analysis from mate, gotta get him on here....

Damien Traille 84 caps- alternative was Heymans. Traille reputed to be better under the high ball , and has massive boot himself. No 2nd string.
Vincent Clerc 52 caps, 34 tries… ‘nuff said
Aurelien Rougerie 66 caps… 1st choice without doubt
Maxime Mermoz 10 caps.. 1st choice centre, when not injured, otherwise would have 25 caps more by now… a magician.
Maxime Medard 23 caps… 1st choice back, whether wing , fullback or centre… unarguably classy.
Morgan Parra 31 caps.. admittedly all starting at scrum half, but this boy is world class, and won’t do any worse than Trinh Duc , on current form. If France really wanted to throw the game, they would have put Nicolas Mas in this position, with injury.
Dimitri Yachvili 54 caps… great scrum half. Why lose one when you can have two in the same line up.
Jean-Baptiste Poux 32 caps… Mas would have played, but injured… so no choice. No mug.
Dimitri Szarzewski 51 caps. Servat on his day,best hooker in world, but coming back from injury, so why risk for later stages, when replacement is almost as good. Sensible.
Luc Ducalcon 8 caps. Barcella would be 1st choice, but like Servat, coming back from massive injury. Sensible
Pascal Pape 30 caps. Worse than Pierre or Millo Chluski. Entirely debatable who sits alongside Pierre. No mug
Lionel Nallet 65 caps. And the player who should be playing instead of him is…………?
Thierry Dusautoir (captain) 44 caps… do i need to add anything here ?
Julien Bonnaire 65 caps… outstanding line out presence in area of strength for france. Different to Ouedraogo. Different, not worse
Louis Picamoles 19 caps… if Harinordoquy was in form, this brilliant player would not be in the picture. He’s not, so….

Replacements
William Servat
Fabien Barcella
Julien Pierre
Imanol Harinordoquy
Francois Trinh-Duc
Fabrice Estebanez
Cedric Heymans


Top class bench to call upon

I make it a total of 634 caps, averaging nearly 43 caps per player… 2nd string


What Peter Bills doesn’t understand is no one has any idea of France’s best team. They have the strongest squad depth … always have had choice over the years… which funnily enough, isn’t always the ideal situation to have.

 

[Gagger]

Sounds familiar matt! Could the kiwis be taking the French lightly? After RWC2007 probably not..

Sure getting me excited at the prospect!

 

[attila1998]

C'est moi, Attila , Gagger's petit ami francais. J'adore les australiens... les Kiwis? bof... not so much.

slight typo on my analysis of team above: it should read
Pascal Pape 30 caps. Worse than Pierre or Millo Chluski? Entirely debatable who sits alongside Nallet. No mug

look forward to sharing my unblinkered view on all things un peu Francais

 

[da_grubster]

Wallabies must have lost this week so everyone is finding a chance to have a crack at NZ about anything.

If you really want to know what the Abs think, check out steve hansen comments about 'a strong french side'

 

[Gagger]

For me the excitement is more about how it would blow the tournament open excitement wise if the French did do it. Not sure it would affect NZs chances of winning overall that much, but would sure ramp the interest.

Wallabies must have lost this week so everyone is finding a chance to have a crack at NZ about anything.

If you really want to know what the Abs think, check out steve hansen comments about 'a strong french side'

You mean he didn't say "this is a pack of jokers and we'll do em easy?"

Glad I now know what they really think

 

[BRIX]

Bienvenue Attila, bien joué

 

[Riptide]

Besides, it isn't really a B team... Clerc, Medard, Mermoz, Rougerie wouldn't be there if it was. They seem to base their comments on Parra being given the 10 jersey, although he has played 99% of his professional rugby at scrum half.

But guys, don't you understand ? That's just what our coach, Marc Lievremont, do. Yours don't use his bench early enough, ours shuffle the cards before every game. We've had something like 20 center pairings in 4 years. Scrum / Fly Half combinations must not be far off. Yachvilli Parra is just the new one in town. Big deal ! We're used to it.

Lievremont = genius of the game.

The depth of talent in French rugby is extraordinary and yet Lievremont constantly plays players out of position. If he had genuine concerns about Trinh Duc's form at 10, he would play him against the ABs so he could try to forge combinations with his ever changing No.9 and center pairings. Playing Parra at 10 is a disgrace and suggests that Lievremont France really want to handicap his side so they are incapable of winning whole still looking at select players for later in the tournament.

I love watching France compete and play at the highest level but Lievremont's selection policies and his communication with his own squad members expose him as a fuckwit of the highest order and I hope NZ dispatch them comfortably, and that England actually shred in the Qtrs so that Lievremont leaves the Test arena in the disgrace he deserves.

It's such a pity that Guy Noves did not wish to leave Toulouse and accept the position of French coach when it was offered to him, or that FFR did not offer the role to Galthie once Noves declared he was not interested. Phillipe Saint-Andre has not really won anything anywhere and all his teams quickly regress after initial success.

 

[Riptide]

Wallabies must have lost this week so everyone is finding a chance to have a crack at NZ about anything.

If you really want to know what the Abs think, check out steve hansen comments about 'a strong french side'

Yes, I was so surprised that I didn't read that Hansen said "We think the selection of Parra at 10 means that France really wants to throw this game but they have a few very fine players in the side which suggest they still want to look at a few players. We are going to try and humiliate these cheese eating fuckers, are I am kind of disgusted that they wouldn't even attempt to win this contest by selecting their best side. Who do they think they are, Japan? Scotland? I'm not sure the IRB can do anything about this, but fuck France anyway. We are going to give them what I think they deserve, a hiding. I hope they meet the contempt by other opposition in the competition."

 

[fatprop]

I think this is the real problem for the All Blacks.

Again they are going to cruise through their pool and not get any serious matches until the knockout rounds.

And then they will play a side who has had some hard tests and is prepared to play knockout rugby.

 

[Gagger]

Face it, anything could happen Sat.

attila tells me 14 of this french squad have won in NZ and 6 of them twice

could be a cracker

 

[Riptide]

Face it, anything could happen Sat.

attila tells me 14 of this french squad have won in NZ and 6 of them twice

could be a cracker

Could be, but it wont. What chance would the Wallabies have if Burgess was selected to play at 10 against Dan Carter? If simply wouldn't really matter who you picked up front to toil away to secure ball. Essentially, that's what France have done.

 

[Waylon]

The French are the fastest in the world to hoist the white flag.

Wallabies need to worry about the bokke before they start planning the RWC semi with the allblacks

 

[Swarley]

Burgess and Parra are pretty different. Burgess cannot pass for one, and his kicking is often-dodgy. Genia would be our best bet in that situation.

 

[attila1998]

Bonjour. The interest in this is really building up, and to be honest , a week ago, it was just another group game which i expected France to lose, so wasn't all that bothered to the extent that i agreed to a big night out with mates on friday night away from home. i was going to leisurely drive back to home on sat morning. Since Ireland beat Australia ( apologies for the reminder, guys) and potentially changed the expected QF/SF match ups, and then the rubbish that Peter Bile has uttered, i'm going to be getting up much earlier to accompanying hangover to get home by 09.30 here in UK to watch the tie of the group stages, with bated breath. I fully expect Les Bleus to put on a good show, and I for one think the Yachvili Parra axis is a masterstroke. Also good to know that a loss , for once, has upsides too!!

 

[ACT Crusader]

Could be, but it wont. What chance would the Wallabies have if Burgess was selected to play at 10 against Dan Carter? If simply wouldn't really matter who you picked up front to toil away to secure ball. Essentially, that's what France have done.

Are you kidding? Parra has played at 1st 5 before. Has Burgess???

 

[Hugh Jarse]

I think this is the real problem for the All Blacks.

Again they are going to cruise through their pool and not get any serious matches until the knockout rounds.

And then they will play a side who has had some hard tests and is prepared to play knockout rugby.

Hasn't this happened at each RWC for The Darkness. Possibly a major contributing factor to the lack of success in their endeavour to get their 2nd RWC title.

RWC is not about the best team, it is about the best team on the day.

Same as the (Choose your Competition) Grand Final game.

Being minor premier (a reward for consistently good performance all year) does not guarantee a place in the Grand Final, let alone the Premiership Flag.