France profit from moment of madness
15 Oct 2011
JON CARDINELLI writes that a reckless Welsh tackle proved to be the catalyst for an unlikely 9-8 World Cup semi-final win for France.
Up until the 18th minute of Saturday’s play-off at Eden Park, Sam Warburton had been one of the standouts for Wales and indeed one of the stars of the 2011 tournament. Sadly, the young Wales captain will not be remembered for his impressive displays against South Africa in the pool stages and Ireland in the quarter-final, but rather for one brainless tackle that would jettison the Dragons from the global tournament.
Wales were in firm control for much of the first quarter. While their scrum struggled against a lighter but technically superior French eight, they enjoyed the majority of possession and territory, and went to a 3-0 lead in the eighth minute thanks to the boot of James Hook.
France took a pounding at the collisions. Dimitri Yachvili floated a pass to Vincent Clerc well behind the gain line, and this proved to be the game-changing moment, as Warburton, in his enthusiasm to make the hit and possibly force the turnover, lifted Clerc beyond the horizontal and then let the winger fall to ground. Referee Alain Rolland brandished the mandatory red card, and as good as Wales had looked, they were always going to struggle to hang on for 62 minutes with only 14 men.
France used the numerical advantage to good effect at scrum time, but were woefully bad in general play. Morgan Parra had kicked them to a 6-3 lead by half-time, but it was the short-handed Wales that continued to control possession and territory. The French backs battled to field the high balls launched by the Wales halfbacks, and when they did, they often made some shocking decisions which allowed Wales to regain the pill.
It was here where Wales needed to make the best of a bad situation. Hook had done brilliantly to slot his first penalty attempt from the touchline, but proceeded to fluff two subsequent shots from midfield, as well as a drop-goal attempt. France were far too loose towards the end of the first stanza and may have scored more points had they kept it close, but Wales may also have gone to the break in the lead if they had kicked their goals.
Parra bisected the uprights in the 49th minute, but the plucky Welsh refused to lie down. They continued to pressure the French back three, and the tactical substitution of Stephen Jones had the desired effect as they played smarter and tighter. While they had wasted opportunities in the first 40, they took the first chance available to them when Mike Phillips breezed through the French defence for an important try. Tellingly, Jones missed the ensuing conversion to allow France to maintain a slender 9-8 lead.
At times the Tricolores looked like the team with the one-man disadvantage. They were guilty of being too casual in some instances, and too frantic in others. It’s the type of performance many would have expected after their strong showing against England, as they have a reputation for inconsistency. They battled to put a 14-man Wales side away, and in the end, they were the side that held on for the win.
It was always going to be too much to ask of a Wales side one man short. It would have been remembered as one of the great victories had they finished a multiphase attack at the death, but unfortunately it will go down in history as a game they lost in the 18th minute when their captain received his marching orders. Three missed penalty-attempts (Leigh Halfpenny didn’t have the distance with a 50m shot in the 76th minute) and a missed conversion, also cost them dearly.
624 Comments
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15 Oct 2011, 17:16 pm
Mpundulu the United States have a history of slavery, civil rights, kkk, “wc only for whites” etc etc etc and they never had cuotas, at least in sports.
15 Oct 2011, 17:16 pm
Wooden spoon: because the team represents a country it’s subject to the affirmative action policy standard that the government has instituted. The notion of merit in south Africa is undermined by the country’s history, you can’t argue that only the very best can have the opportunity to play for the boks, when that very best is primarily white and they’ve had the coaching, equipment (tools), etc etc owing to a system that was geared to them being a cut above those people of colour. The cost of this is affirmative action which will be a mainstay of sporting policy in SA for a very long time.
15 Oct 2011, 17:20 pm
Wooden spoon: people in political everywhere in the world manipulate the system, it’s the nature of the beast. You can cry about it but all that’ll happen is they’ll use a different mechanism to get the same result.
15 Oct 2011, 17:20 pm
‘Clash of the Titans’
so little significance in the long history of Rugby Union until the
Springoks
deified it with their Holy presence.
15 Oct 2011, 17:22 pm
Tomorrow is Clash of the Islanders. 7′s here we come.
15 Oct 2011, 17:22 pm
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-602: Doubt it. Putting the past behind us and striving to be the best we can be as collective SOUTH AFRICANS will achieve far more.
Continuing to label people by their race is archaic and no better than what happened in the past. Unity, not division is required.
As far as I know, SA is the only country to implement affirmative action in favour of the majority. It’s a temporary measure.
Any protracted use of this racist policy will simply be a result of the failure of the majority government to deliver on any of their promises to the majority (an excuse for failure, in other words).
15 Oct 2011, 17:23 pm
Markel: in the us they did not need it in sports, black sporting skills was commercialized before blacks got the vote. Major league sport is big business mate, and blacks are the backbone of sports.
15 Oct 2011, 17:27 pm
Wooden spoon: reversing over 400 years of institutional racism won’t happen over night. Affirmative action is here to stay for a very long long time. Talking of the majority benefiting from affirmative action policies, how do you treat the fact that white women in the us who constitute the biggest percentage of the us population are the biggest beneficiaries of the policy?
15 Oct 2011, 17:27 pm
Great White has a point. The majority of the Bokke women are black. what strange. ¿are the black male south africans the only disavantaged group in South Africa?
¿and the cuotas for the indians?
15 Oct 2011, 17:30 pm
The longer Affirmative Action is allowed to carry on the more money is disappearing out of State and local government coffers.
At last count South African tax money stolen by the ANC has now run into a few billion dollars that has somehow ‘disappeared’.
The playing field was levelled up to 2040. There won’t be anything left to level in a few years when it all dries up.
15 Oct 2011, 17:49 pm
Great white shark: the political market will correct itself, it’ll pull itself into line and ensure that corruption is far more organized, they’ll as time goes legitimate their stealing like they do in the US.
15 Oct 2011, 17:55 pm
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-611: Perhaps it will just go the way of every other African country [much closer to home than the U.S].
Banana republic.
15 Oct 2011, 18:59 pm
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-602:
so we’ll have aa in sport until the underpriviledged kids get all the latest sports equipment?
eish, comrades have been spinning you a good one.
the enlightened africans on this continent are calling for an end to the excuses of colonialism etc and time the leaders admitted the woes of the people are largely of their own making.
15 Oct 2011, 19:05 pm
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-611:
oh no my chum.
these boys here are going for it wholesale.
15 Oct 2011, 22:40 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-606:
“Putting the past behind us and striving to be the best we can be as collective SOUTH AFRICANS will achieve far more. ”
You have another solution instead of just not agreeing with what is currently on the table?
Puty it out there.
Not generic kak. give us specific solutions.
“As far as I know, SA is the only country to implement affirmative action in favour of the majority. It’s a temporary measure.”
So, you are saying that AA should be geared towards the minority (read whites)?
15 Oct 2011, 23:52 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-409:
“If the Fakes like NZ so much they should fark off to NZ.”
Such a STUPID argument. Telling people to leave SA if they don’t love everything about SA.
Where are you going? There are some things about SA that YOU don’t like/love, isn’t there?
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-411:
“Good point. If New Zealand lost on a regular basis one wonders if so many South africans would support them.”
No, they would not have. The reason why they are not big supporters of England, Ireland, Aus (except in cricket)
Facts are, people supported teams who could beat your people (read whites) in the past. Going by the drivel a guy like YOU posts on this site sometimes, many may feel that nothing has changed since then Why then, do you blame them for not making that paeadign shift?
People like you are the very reason WHY some people don’t want to cross that Rubicon.
__________________________________________________________-
Pundy vs about four clever white okes and beating them hands down without once having to lower himself to personal insults or doubting their credentials (:have you ever been to that countries>”)
Good on you Mpundulu.
Keep them on their toes.
16 Oct 2011, 00:42 am
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-590:
you seem to have picked on a site that had the right information……for you.
In fact i found the List that was made in October 2011 of the best cities to live and have a career.
Top 10 does not have a SA city.
Actaully #10 was Auckland.
I can find 100s of sites with the best cities and they all differ.
Looks like you found the one you like and posted it.
Which makes the rest of your stuff you have said on here very questionable
16 Oct 2011, 00:50 am
Its great to see so many South Africans attacking Mpundulu cos he is different.
Isnt this what got SA in trouble in the first place.
Has this nation changed at all?
Its amazing what you all do and say just because your Bok team lost.
All this because the Boks were not good enough to win.
Most the same guys crying on here were giving us rubbish about complaining about Barnes in 2007.
And too right as well, we were silly and didnt notice that the ABs blew it many a times.
But what you guys on here have done is gone the next step of stupidity, is turn on people that have a different opinion in numbers, blame IRB for match fixing, blame the POB for corruption. I never have seen such a sour lot in my life.
16 Oct 2011, 01:40 am
@mudrockshark(mudrockshark)-529: Eh? How is it they we have dished up a clanger – what part of last night – other than the game being played here – were we responsible for any of this?
16 Oct 2011, 01:52 am
sad for wales? no not really. Warburton f’d up, they missed multiple shots at goal – cardinal sin, they had plenty of possession, but lacked creativity as a team, their try was made of one mans risk and another mans tired tackle.
France defended admirably – they did, its what they did to us in 07. France kept Wales away as much as they could from being within striking distance to secure a drop goal attempt.
Watch the game again without the beers and jeers, and you will see France did what they knew they had to do to win – that was all that was required. Yep, they let it run real close, too close almost, but they got home, they backed themselves, and they played to the ref.
What was the last penalty awarded to Wales for? Should have been a penalty to France. The Welsh man gathered the ball whilst laying on the ground, he should have returned to his feet, then get the ball after France 7 had gone through, and left the ball behind, then France 3 attempted the pick up, but Wales 5 held on – surely a penalty to France?
16 Oct 2011, 08:00 am
so many games ruined by awful officials…..none more than this game [ a semi ] and last weeks Boks aussie game [ a quarter ]….throw in the Samoa….Bok game for good measure….bad man…very bad!
16 Oct 2011, 08:25 am
@grant10(grant10)-621: Agreed,
I post regularly about my wish for an upcoming game to be decided by legitimate on field display and not by some controversial reffing decision or incident that the ref missed.
I have posted this prior to Super Rugby games, Tri Nations tests and now my worst nightmare came true in the QF.
Wales have felt it now too.
They were the best team in that half of the draw, and it’s sad that they didn;t get a crack at the final.
The French, on current form, will be no match for whichever team wins the upcoming Semi.
Basically the next game is the final.
Let’s hope that it’s also not negatively influenced by the officials.
16 Oct 2011, 08:30 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-622:
Its all happened before in RWC 2007.
16 Oct 2011, 08:33 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-623: True, and I’m not unaware of that, I watched that game too. Sucks to have a decision like that influence the game.
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