Wallabies 59 France 16
It was kind of appropriate that legendary French centre Philippe Sella was the celebrity ‘kicker-offer’ in this morning’s Wallaby v. France test.
He would have been beside himself with admiration at the way the Wallaby centres and outside backs played today. In fact, shouldn’t they have been wearing Le Coq?
In the Sella days, Le Rugby Français was a marvellous feast of attacking football with the likes of Serge Blanco, Thierry Lacroix, Philippe Saint-Andre and Patrick Lagisquet carving them up.
Mon Dieu? What’s happened since? The 2010 version looked like they’d be more comfortable in the Rodin Museum, just thinking….
Monsieur Le Président De France Sarkozy would have done a better job today as the right winger?
The consistently inconsistent Wallabies were a real surprise — mature, focussed and finally able to close out a match. In fact, this game was their arc of triumph.
Who says opposites attract? What should have been a tired Wallaby pack and a fresh French mob turned out to be vive la différence. I’m not sure what Robbie said to them at halftime but have they got it on tape for next time?
The first half was an arm wrestle and the elephant in the room quickly appeared. Who says you have to have a quality scrum to play international rugby? We certainly haven’t but it didn’t seem to matter.
Well, it did matter in the first half when Le Frog repeatedly chose the scrum option as Ben Alexander was continually penalised for… ummm… being the weakest link? Domingo just screwed him and a penalty try and yellow card resulted.
He’s got a new nickname — ‘Junior Fuse’ — as he was dropping the scrum with alacrity. Remember that politician chick Hajnal Ban in Queensland, who had surgery to increase her height? Maybe he needs an operation to decrease his.
Oh, and playing tighthead in Super Rugby next year might be a good idea as well.
In the game, we didn’t actually win a clean scrum until the 48th minute. Alexander’s banishment did the Wallaby scrum a favour. Fat Cat ambled on and young James Slipper switched to tighthead.
Now this didn’t quite solve all our difficulties but the scrum operated a damn sight better and we even got a penalty in our favour.
Bryce expressed much concern about the Froggy front rower’s health with our continual collapsing, although I’m not sure why — they all looked like Gladstone Small to me.
Scrum notwithstanding, the forward effort today was the best of the tour. They owned the lineout, won the collisions and even occasionally counter-rucked.
More importantly, I thought our defensive effort was simply outstanding. The French didn’t even look like crossing our line. Stats-wise we missed five tackles, les Bleus 28.
Didn’t we give them a spanking! This is the first time in a long time that we’ve grabbed a Bastareaud by the throat, held them down and given them a good kicking!
The French pack was soft up the middle and our pick and drive took advantage. David Pocock was just incroyable, not only for breakdown turnovers but for his workrate, aggression and support play. Arise Sir Richie David….
Fat Cat, when he came on, seemed to morph into the player of old. He scored an important try just after halftime that switched momentum the Wallabies’ way.
Rocky, Sharpie and Squeaky Moore also did the hard yards but I really liked the look of Rob Simmons. I daresay he’ll become a permanent member of the side.
The first try of the game to Adam Ashley-Cooper was a pearler, and a set move to boot. Ball to Berrick Barnes at first receiver, inside to JO’C and onto AAC on the angle and a sprint for the line.
After Fat Cat’s try (49min), the gates opened up. It was quickly followed by a Will Genia snipe to the line after AAC had broken through Le Frog centres.
Then the Drew Mitchell hat-trick (don’t mention the cricket). JO’C topped his game off with a little help from KB.
You’ve got to give this young guy his due. What a temperament. Ten successful kicks from twelve today. We’ve been missing a bit of this lately.
Last week he was acting as a pallbearer at his mate’s funeral in Brisbane. Phew, I can’t imagine how a 20-year-old copes with all this?
The backs were all that we wanted them to be. Genia’s service was top notch, QC le petit général and KB fantastique. Shmoo will have to get an amendment to his arse tat!
But Sookface Barnes and AAC together were ‘Little & Horanesque’. Barnes’s defence and distribution skills contributed so much to this win and he had his best game for the Wallabies since Wales, RWC 2007. AAC on the burst was unstoppable, the angles he ran sublime and what a fend!
Sea Bass who? This really was a wonderful way to finish a successful tour.
Again, their Arc de Triomphe….
lance@greenandgoldrugby.com
