Can't believe the shape France is in, anyone know the last time they lost the first 3 games in a 6 Nations? Was hoping they would help the Irish out this weekend.
First time the French have lost five in a row in the comp since 1958. They finished joint last in 1999 and were wooden spooners in 1957.
Hearsay has it that Conor O'Shea, commenting on the French, said yesterday's starting team had little to do with PSA. Juding by his idiotic substitutions between 55 and 65 minutes - Parra, T-D, Mas, Kayser and Nyanga all hooked - you can only think he was determined to have his preferred team on the field led by Machenaud and Michalak.
The French had scrum superiority so PSA hooks Mas and Kayser. The Human Shampoo Bottle isn't an international hooker's bumhole. Parra was running the French game intelligently, giving them shape for the first time in the tournament, and he was hooked. Machenaud undid all Parra's good work. T-D wasn't having a blinder but wasn't the liability Michalak has been. And was again when he replaced T-D.
England will take the win. There's no way of knowing how the game would have panned out without PSA's decisions but England's job was certainly made easier. Manu's try wasn't, but it's too late now. For some reason Farrell Jnr took to the field determined to be an obnoxious provocative twat. Maybe he over-pumped himself for the occasion. Didn't help his game a jot. Ashton's defence was exposed yet again, as was his twattishness, even after the 80 minutes were up.
Wales were marginally better in Rome than they were in Paris, but my beloved Italy were dire, making Wales' job so much easier. Unless PSA joins the England coaching camp, I can't see anything other than an England GS.