Keo.co.za
9 Feb 2013
Wales snapped an eight-match losing streak when they beat France 16-6 in Paris.
With the teams locked at 6-6, a dire Test came alive with seven minutes to go when a perfectly-weighted chip by flyhalf Dan Biggar was gathered by winger George North, who dived over in the left-hand corner.
Man of the Match Leigh Halfpenny slotted the touchline conversion and then added a penalty to consign France to their second defeat in this year’s Six Nations.
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83 Comments
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10 Feb 2013, 00:56 am
@polaris-50: I believe Oz were ranked No.2 in the world when France walloped them last year. What more do you want?
10 Feb 2013, 00:56 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzuyAwxo2qE
10 Feb 2013, 01:20 am
@kaksioek-51:
Scotland also beat them last year, and that was in Aus.
Doesn’t mean they are world beaters does it?
Inconsistent second tier teams, and France is one of the best in that category.
10 Feb 2013, 01:24 am
@kaksioek-51: I already mentioned that win as one of the few examples of Frogs on fire, those instances can be counted on one hand’s fingers, while “did not turn up” and diabolical games require both hands and feets, so what is so special with the froggie style? All they do is blowing hot and cold and those cold times are by far more frequent.
10 Feb 2013, 01:29 am
@nortierd-53: Exactly. One can recall 1999 SF as the most brilliant case of French brilliance and without any probs recall dozens of instances where they were walloped with their ar*ses fuming. I do not see any uniqueness in there.
10 Feb 2013, 01:39 am
@polaris-55:
Definitely.
No decent side, SA, Aus or the AB’s, irrespective of form, will lose to Italy and Wales on consecutive weekends.
France may and then people shake their heads, say “tut-tut, those French are so unpredictable”
Bull, they are not as good as people make out to be, rely on SH players earning fat pay checks to make their Top 14 watchable and not in the same class as top tier nations.
10 Feb 2013, 01:42 am
@polaris-50:
You are wrong with that bold statement
There is a plenty of ‘French flair’ out there in the Top 14, the lack of it in their Test team is manly because half the players aren’t really French!
10 Feb 2013, 01:53 am
Boring game. Unwatchable.
10 Feb 2013, 02:03 am
@nortierd-56: Not only this but also on each case Frogs brilliantly played vs top dogs you can recall at least 2 times more instances when they were annihilated. People can rave on about one particular 99 game (and indeed it was worth it!) and forget that each and every time Blacks visited France in the last 10 years, Frogs were fried, not just beaten – razed to the ground. Folks may laud French for their Test vs Aussies (I won’t go into sorry state they were) and easily forget how then young Aussie team scored 7 tries in their previous visit.
10 Feb 2013, 02:05 am
@Hondo-57: We are talking about l’equipe de France, not mercenary ladden Top 14 teams, as you yourself quickly acknowledge.
10 Feb 2013, 05:33 am
Why are the match reports so short and bad? I use to come to Keo for all my rugby write ups and info, but this way of writing 6 lines on what is a major six nations match is poor.
This rugby website needs to stop being arrogant in relation to the amount of hits it is getting and start to do what it use to – write reports on rugby
10 Feb 2013, 09:11 am
Michalak is kakkalakas if France want to progress out the doldrums rugby they playing now get shot of kakalak Michalak and the coach and move the fck on.
France is the only side apart from S.A. who give ABs any kind of serious competition and if it were not for the Irb setup WC 2011 in Wellington with Craig Joubert defending NZ interest France would have won that WC final else S.A. would have done if Bryce the Irb stooge hadn’t bust their chops
10 Feb 2013, 12:36 pm
France are so jekyll and hyde. Awesome in the Autumn, terrible in the 6N.
Could be the 6N decider this evening, Ireland v England!
10 Feb 2013, 12:55 pm
@NZMaori-61: It’s because they’re all being written by one guy – probably on a smartphone – who is trying to enjoy his weekend.
10 Feb 2013, 14:22 pm
@kaksioek-23:
Reads like Keo and Simon had hand bags at ten paces!!!!
10 Feb 2013, 15:18 pm
In all honesty mate it was not a game worth writing about. The worst display of rugby I have seen for a while.
10 Feb 2013, 17:57 pm
France can beat anyone on their day, and anyone who denies that has an axe to grind. I wouldn’t bet against them putting England to the sword at Twickenham next weekend.
10 Feb 2013, 18:01 pm
@wallabie.-65: I think the falling out would have happened above Simon’s pay grade. Keo’s brother works for Highbury Safika Media, the company that publishes SA Rugby magazine and that Keo sold this website to. Perhaps it was a spat between brothers. If so, we may hear less about Luke Watson on this site – wouldn’t that be a blessing!
10 Feb 2013, 18:42 pm
Why all of a sudden is this English side the team to beat? Because of their win against the All Blacks? When was the last time you have seen a rugby side match and even beat the ABs in terms of fitness on the field? Not making excuses the English side played bloody well but to think that some of the side were not feeling the effects of the bug that was going around the camp the week leading into the match is stupid. You could see it 15 minutes into the game. These next few years, I hate to say it should belong to the Springboks.
10 Feb 2013, 22:02 pm
@Hondo-57:
Hondo – you’ve made this point a few times – personally I haven’t got a problem with it; not only do these people hail from former French colonies but they have legitimate citizenship in France.
The other side of the argument – if they were to be designated to only playing for their country of origin the rugby world would not have seen the likes of the great Bennazzi and Dusatoir and all the rest of them in action and we as rugby affcionados would all be the poorer for it.
Keep in mind these guys have learnt how to play rugby and made the national side on merit because they are genuine world class – I for one applaud their rise from comparative poverty and their beating incredible odds to play (WHEN THEY PLAY) quite the most exquisite rugby.
In the current tournament – having won the necessary game against the Aussies to secure a Pool C place in WC 2015 they’ve lost interest – but underestimate France at your peril, who, strangely, are more likely to beat a strong side than a weak one.
10 Feb 2013, 22:03 pm
@NZMaori-61:
Hear, hear – agree with you 100%
10 Feb 2013, 22:11 pm
@kaksioek-51:
Well said – let’s start with WC 1999 slaughter of NZ and the SEVEN other times they have beaten them since then, not to mention beating every other side including Boks a few times and the smash-train v. Wallabies last November (and that was a smash-train).
They play when they feel like it – fascinating enigma – if rugby is all about nothing but winning and stats you might as well support the totally predictable All Blacks; or if you feel there is more dimensions to the game than that, such as “the syymphonic movement of rugby that only the French can play ” (quoting Josh Kronfeld) I personally will side with the Kronfeld philosophy.
10 Feb 2013, 22:40 pm
@kaksioek-67: So much easily can ABs, as well as Boks and Wallas, even Poms now, so what? France are strong rugby nation, always somewhere around the top, never really threatening to reach and stay there though.
10 Feb 2013, 23:10 pm
@J.B. Cowper-72:
Huh?
What are you on about?
Are you saying the french have beaten us seven times since 1999?
And you think the french have beaten the boks a few times??
lol
Lets get the numbers.
Since 1999 French have beaten the ABs 4 times out of 18 matches.
Since 1999 they have beaten the Boks 6 times out of 10 matches and one of those matches was a draw, alot more than a few times.
11 Feb 2013, 00:28 am
@J.B. Cowper-72: Let’s start with the Frog slaughters every single time Blacks come to their shores in last 10 years with cumulative score 32-154 and average score 8-38.
11 Feb 2013, 00:33 am
@J.B. Cowper-72: Could you please tell us what “French enigma” really means – obviosly opposite to “totally predictable All Blacks”?
To me this enigma means they can beat the All Blacks one day and lose to Italy (or Tonga or someone else their level) next and you’ll never know which side has come to play. In that case, you are totally right – you won’t ever expect All Blacks to sink that low, of course, they can lose an odd Test or even (if the opposition is really that strong) a few more during a relatively short period of time but one will never ever even contemplate the possibility of them regularly losing to the lower levellers, if ever.
11 Feb 2013, 00:40 am
@J.B. Cowper-72: And just to be clear, I admire French rugby, I really do, I just do not buy into that their “unique enigma” and “unique flair” stuff. They are good, they sometimes are damn brilliant and even more times they are just terrible for the 1st tier nation. You can recall a few times they were on real fire and in the meantime count 2 or 3 times more when they were simply razed to the ground by obviously the teams who have more flair and do not give a sh*te about enigma.
11 Feb 2013, 13:29 pm
@Hurricane-74:
You’re quite right, I’ve got my stats mixed up: between 1993-2000 the score was equal at 5 games each between NZ and France – thereafter NZ dominated, although French second team in the off-season tour beat them at House of Pain – took the Cup home with them on that tour as well
@polaris-76:
which is what I mean by ‘enigma’ – and if you know when they are “coming to play as Fitzpatrick/Muiliamu put it, let us know so I can put money on it –
@Hurricane-74:
Also good point re: stats – Boks are down to them as well – but I wouldn’t start running the Boks down too much on this blog if I were you – they have the best results against Kiwis and will continue to do so.
And you guys can bleat all you want – when they hit their song they’re the most exciting to watch and you can’t take that away from them.
11 Feb 2013, 14:04 pm
@J.B. Cowper-78: Fair point. Is their ‘enigma’ though any different from Aussies, who beat Blacks more reglarily and yet manage to scr*w up vs Scotland and Samoa? Is their flair any different from the same Ozzmob who can be diabolical one day and thrash living daylights out of the Frogs the next?
11 Feb 2013, 14:52 pm
@polaris-79:
Good question but in answer you cannot remotely compare the two over a period of 60 years – the Aussies are, relative to the French, very consistent and have the best big match temperament by far to “kick the winning points at final whistle” – despite their big disparities they are the second most consistent team after the All Blacks – who are way out in front for consistency – and good on them for it: it’s highly admirable – they are the most ruthless side by a long way and will think nothing of putting on maximum effort to the final whistle, even if leading by 100 points!
As for the Boks – don’t get me going – as we all know they are the most like the French in terms of performance – but nobody is a mercurial as France in blowing hot and cold, not even close.
11 Feb 2013, 22:20 pm
@J.B. Cowper-80: Well said. Meanwhile sometimes I think all that “enigma” stuff is a polite way to say they are great but so farken erratic like bi-polar disorder sufferers to be considered as full-time rugby superpower. No wonder they are the most booed team by their own fans.
France have the capacity to be just that, when they somehow bring their own house in any resemblance of an order.
12 Feb 2013, 12:06 pm
@polaris-81:
We’ve waited all our lives for that happy day – truth is, it will never come: not in their nature – but they have taken 40 points off the AB’s twice and only SA have done that: in their whole history AB’s have only surrended the 40-point mark four times – incredible statistic (but two of them were to France).
12 Feb 2013, 13:00 pm
@J.B. Cowper-82: No doubt, French swashbucklers can do damage.
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