Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: The Wallabies thrash France in game of two halves

Sunday, November 28, 2010

The Wallabies thrash France in game of two halves

Despite early scrum worries and a closely contested first half, the Wallabies powered away from France in the second, humiliating the hosts with a 59-16 win at the Stade de France.

It was a tight first half and while the Australian scrum woes continued, a penalty try and yellow card did little to stop them playing the brand of rugby they wanted. Drew Mitchell scored a hat trick after Benn Robinson and Will Genia tries in the space of a few minutes killed off the French resistance.

James O’Connor added a try later in the game to add to his haul of 29 points.

Six tries in 31 minutes showed what the talented Wallaby backline are capable of as the Six Nations champions were made to look a different side in front of an expectant home crowd.

"There's a bit of a way to go to the summer," said coach Robbie Deans.

"But this has been coming for us for a while. We've got a young group of men becoming more experienced. Some of the composure showed in the physical exchanges was evident tonight. We've been flighty in the past but some of these blokes are now more assured at Test level.

"We think the future is promising, but having been beaten by England, we know you've got to earn everything. The tour's been good, we've learnt a lot and there's lots to look forward to.

"Once we smelled a bit of blood, the guys in attack got in and it coincided with some good pieces of finishing," he added.

Captain Rocky Elsom cited flyhalf Quade Cooper as an integral part of the success.

"The main positive for us, for me personally, was that Quade did an excellent job of game management.

"A lot of our finishing, which was brilliant at times, came down to choosing the right time to go. We got through more phases than in previous games.

"It shows maturity from him, choosing when to go. He was choosing the right time and the whole team was benefiting," he said.

Time: 07:00
Note: Thanks to tonytai2017. Better highlights will be posted later in the week.

HAHAHAH
use google's i am feeling lucky
and search for french victories

just joking !!

By Stubby, at November 28, 2010 3:47 pm
Pfff...
We have one of the best scrum in the world, yet our backs are just plain shit. No wonder we can't score a single try apart for the occasional penalty try...
So much for the french flair.

By Nathan, at November 28, 2010 4:36 pm
France were truly pathetic in the second half, and only mediocre in the first. That shows what the Aussie backs can do when the opposition defend in such a limp way. Despite the supposed promise of this French team under Lievremont, the results don't show too much of an improvement, a 6N grand slam was great, but hey, that's not against the best in the world.

By John F, at November 28, 2010 4:49 pm
The Australian scrum is embarrassingly awful. The back 6 are the only ones who deserved the victory.

The French defense makes Scotland look formidable. Chabal was impressive, though.

This game was over after 50 minutes. As for the French fan with the laser pointer - I wonder if the FFR will be fined at all?

By mr. orange, at November 28, 2010 5:12 pm
When you look at the french players present on the field, you see that's not the real french team. Medard, Clerc, Heymans, Bastareau, Mermoz, Fritz, Marty, Arinordoky, David, Nallet and many others are missing...
So the score is deserved, you can't play the wallabies with a such team...

By Anonymous, at November 28, 2010 5:12 pm
Lievremont is the Domenech of french rugby

By Anonymous, at November 28, 2010 5:18 pm
How do the French backs suck so much? I loved watching them play in 6N, it was beautiful, truly the "french flair"... What happened?

By Anonymous, at November 28, 2010 5:19 pm
well summed up... what the fuck happened?

By piaruskov, at November 28, 2010 5:26 pm
I'm from France and I'm really bored by the way our heads see the international rugby.

World cup is every 4 years...so, will we have to suffer every 4 years a new coach intending to "try" a new kind of rugby? Do we have to suufer 4 years of no rugby with hundred players tested and no indetity created?

November tests are always same results for us and I'm bored and angry. People who love rugby in France deserve more then the bullshit of game we've seen on yesterday. If at least this way of thinking the rugby had enabled us to be world chamions, perhaps I would not say this. But we don't have any results...

Stop this! Lievremont and all the federation : go out!

This is pathetic! A shame for France. And lack of disrespect to Australia to show them such a bad team. They made a long trip and at least, they deserve an opponnent that will make them improve.

By Anonymous, at November 28, 2010 5:57 pm
i want Toulouse back line with Medard ,Poitrenaud and Clerc.Shame on you Lièvremont !

By Anonymous, at November 28, 2010 5:59 pm
the highlights are allready up on youtube, just bang in france-australie

By Anonymous, at November 28, 2010 6:01 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2QErM_qnN0

By Anonymous, at November 28, 2010 6:02 pm
So many things went wrong... It was a French nightmare of a match and an amazing rugby by the wallabies.

I found Parra slow and ineffective, Traille couldn't pass the ball in the open, the defense line was all but organised (actually, I have rarely seen it so disorganised), our wingers got the ball when they were in touch, Guirado's throws couldn't find the jumpers safely and we attacked in slo-mo. To name but a few things which went wrong. It was a complete team crash. Nothing to cling to. So many missed tackles as well, lots of French players still have Ashley-Cooper's hand print on their faces.

From then on, things can only get better. And congrats to the Oz for their efficiency. "No scrum, no win" heh? Right. But just a scrum and no plan B, no win either.

By Maximus, at November 28, 2010 6:04 pm
When I heard about the French squad at the start of the month I thought they were going to be in for a rough time somewhere. I never imagined this. They went into this game thinking all they had to do was smash the Aussie scrum. Have they not seen the Tri Nations for the last 10 years? Australia will find other ways of winning. And the way the Oz backs just glided around in that 2nd half was breathless.

By Huh!! the 3rd, at November 28, 2010 6:10 pm
Guirado ,traille, rougerie ,porical and many other players of this selection have not international level... I'm agree with you for Toulouse players like Poitrenaud or Medard. Where is the 6N squad?? Why Lièvremont dismantle his team after winning 6N? I can't believe it.

By Anonymous, at November 28, 2010 6:12 pm
Mr. Orange, just noticed part of your comment:

'The French defense makes Scotland look formidable'

Historically it has was Scotlands defence which was their best feature.....so im not too sure what you mean by that comment....

As for this game, extremely disappointing by the French, not that im too bothered who won but i was hoping for a fairly good battle....especially considering how strong french teams have been reasonably recently....

By (u-p)rick, at November 28, 2010 7:17 pm
Hats off to aussies,they played a great rugby,special mention to adam ashley cooper

By Anonymous Frenchman, at November 28, 2010 7:40 pm
I was referring to the Scotland-NZ game more than anything else, (u-p)rick. I know it's a bit of a baseless comment otherwise, given that yeah, Scotland normally has a staunch defense (as seen against SA the other week).

I was under the impression the Scottish defense against NZ was disgraceful...then I saw this match.

By mr. orange, at November 28, 2010 8:21 pm
Lièvremeont and his staff are totally incompetent. They pick a team of very average players, they let guys like Poitrenaud, Bastareaud or Medard aside, and they think they can win against teams like Australia?

Traille as a flyhalf is as good and fast as my grandmother. The entire backs line was absolutely pathetic, and the most crazy thing is that everybody knew that this back line was awful and was gonna be trashed by the aussies.Porical, Huget or Traille are total bullshit, i can't believe Lievremont, who's supposed to know something about rugby, selected them.

Put the best team on the field, Lievremeont fucking idiot! It's as simple as that moron!

By rodofle, at November 28, 2010 8:45 pm
bryce lawrence seemed to really hate the aussie pack, they got pinged for not lining up right wtf is up with that?

By Anonymous, at November 28, 2010 9:17 pm
Probably something to do with Law 20.1, 20.3, or 20.8. Who knows, the Aussie pack broke a shit ton of laws when it came to the scrum. It was as if they'd never scrummaged before.

Regarding Lievremont, he may have fielded a less-than-capable side, and these tests may have been somewhat disappointing for French fans, but at least he's got the gusto to try some new lineups. As an Irish fan, I'd rather have had his approach that Declan Kidney's during these autumn matches. It seems that France needs to develop some better flyhalves. Since Elissalde is no longer an option, France seem to pick mainly from Skrela, Beauxis, Traille, and Trinh-Duc. None of them are bad, but none seem to be that consistent, either.

Maybe I don't watch enough Top 14, but are there any younger players who are stepping up, or does the position suffer since it seems like a lot of the good Top 14 sides have foreign players at no. 10?

By burnt toast, at November 28, 2010 10:11 pm
*"than" not "that"

By burnt toast, at November 28, 2010 10:12 pm
@ burnt toast

Two of the best sides in T14 (Racing Metro and Toulouse) have to very good fly haves (Skrela and Wisniewski), but Lievremont chose to ignore them, and picked Traille who's old and not a fly half. Don't ask me why, nobody in France understand what he's trying to do.

By rodofle, at November 28, 2010 10:42 pm
Lawrence was always going to penalie the shit out of Australia at the scrum.
He penalised them at one point because he felt they didn't line up straight enough. They hadn't engaged or even crouched. This is almost unheard of, and he would never have done it in a million years to any other team, simply because it's ridiculous. But it seems like Australia is just getting used to this kind of bullshit and thankfully they just kicked the shit out of France in every other facet of the game.

By Tom, at November 28, 2010 10:43 pm
I love benny alexander but he's just not a very good tighthead prop. Understandable, considering he plays loosehead for his club and province. Something tells me that if we stay with benn robinson and james slipper we might actually get less than five scrum penalties a game against us. I'd also like to see foley come back as aus scrum coach. He seems to make a huge diference.

By Anonymous, at November 28, 2010 10:44 pm
I think than we were more better with Laporte! I saw more exciting matches under Laporte!!

By sylvain, at November 28, 2010 10:56 pm
I just imagine a team with french scrum + aussie forwards. But apparently, we still don't have understood the new evolutions of rugby. Always a few years late.

By Anonymous, at November 28, 2010 10:57 pm
Actually Traille was the third choice at fly half as Trinh duc and Wisniewski were injured.
I don't know why but Lievremont made clear that he wanted Traille as 10. I find he's a very skilled player but definitely at second five. In the top 14 you can find at least 3 n°10 better than him. Trin duc is doing a great season for now with Montpellier and he is really a great attacking player, just lack of consistency while kicking. And there are player like Boyet, Skrela or Beauxis who'd have been just the fit for yesterday as they are real first five.

My opinion though...

By Anonymous, at November 28, 2010 11:00 pm
Everyone always talks about targeting the aussie scrum, but when has it ever really resulted in a comfortable victory for the other team? Try targeting the aussie try line instead.

By Qball, at November 28, 2010 11:02 pm
Once Alexander went off and Robinson and SLipper anchored the scrum we didn't give up a single penalty or free kick.
Alexander is a loosehead, playing tight head, and it shows.
Deans favours props who can play rugby (pass, catch, run, ruck, score tries, defend). And honestly I doubt Australia could be so devestating with ball in hand if we didn't select this type of front row. We just need a tight head.

By Jono, at November 28, 2010 11:13 pm
Qball - you're wise, like a miniature buda covered in hair.

Yeah oz scrum is shit but obviously they know that and don't care. I wouldn't care either if Wales could dominate every other faciet of the game like they do.

By #3 in yo face, at November 28, 2010 11:16 pm
The much vaunted 6N scrummaging culture fails pitifully again. One penalty try because they can push really well and that was that, the French were rubbish at everything else. No wonder they thought a pushover try was their only chance of scoring. And when the Aus scrum improved and they concentrated on getting quick clean ball and, you know, playing rugby, the French looked second rate and lost interest. Well done Oz.
Meanwhile the Boks have the Eng eight on toast and the Italians grind out yet another dull snore-fest in their efforts to promote the great game in their beautiful country.

By mooloo, at November 29, 2010 12:28 am
@ Mr.orange

ahhhh, i get ya...

By (u-p)rick, at November 29, 2010 2:55 am
The French had all but surrendered by the 70th minute, quite painful to watch really.

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 3:03 am
Yeah they surrendered cuz they;d had already had their arses kicked and no matter what they did they couldn't touch the Australian backline.
They were like dear in headlights.

The lesson to be learned is that scrums are one aspect of rugby, amongst dozens of different parts of the game.
If you concentrate just on scrumming and Australia get's the ball for five minutes they will rip you a new arsehole.
All Australia needs is the ball and they can pull apart any defence.

By Bill, at November 29, 2010 3:21 am
*deer

By Bill's teacher, at November 29, 2010 5:10 am
haha, fair enough, i stand corrected.

By Bill, at November 29, 2010 5:12 am
Don't know the official word, but the Aussie scrum seemed to be pretty fairly penalised in this game. The penalty try and the yellow card seemed justified from what I saw.

One of the most striking things for me during the game was france's terrible kicking to touch. I'm just so used to kicks finding touch around the half way mark, I'm sure some of France's kicks barely made the 10m mark on their side of the field. Seemed to keep Aus in their half of the field for a lot of the game.

BTW, was very worried at half time, especially has I had to go out leaving me to ponder what happened for 4 hours!

By granite, at November 29, 2010 5:21 am
To be fair to France, they deserved their penalty try, and in the first half they were dominant at scrum time and deserved most of what they recieved.
There were one or two penalties that seemed a bit harsh, particularly when Lawrence penalised Moore for not going in straight, when the scrum had not engaged, and the front rows hadn't even crouched. How you can penalise a front rower for not going in straight before they go in is completely beyond me and was utterly ridiculous, but other than that France deserved their first half scrum dominance.
However, once Alexander came off and Robinson came on, with Slipper going to loosehead, Australia's scrum had no real problems.
They didn't give up any more penalties or free kicks, and so Australia got good ball, while France didn't get a piggyback up the field.
Once that happened, France were just destroyed, they had absolutley no answer to Australia's attack, none at all.
Australia scored all but 13 of their points in the last 35 minutes, that's 46 unanswered points in less than a half of rugby, all because France was asked to play up tempo rugby, and couldn't go from set piece to set piece. Their defence had no answer to it.

By Jono, at November 29, 2010 5:41 am
Dear Jono, if only it was a defense issue...you're far from the main problem of my lovely french team.

Perhaps that, finally, defensive side was better tahtn the offensive one :)))

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 9:24 am
from what lawrence said it sounds like moore had been headbutting the opposition when ingaging.
Not saying he did but thats what it sounded like when lawrence explained the penalty to them.

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 9:42 am
Jono said... Lawrence penalised Moore for not going in straight, when the scrum had not engaged, and the front rows hadn't even crouched.. utterly ridiculous.

Agreed.. it's like penalising a back for looking like he might run offside soon.
The impression I got was that he was penalised for NOT going head-to-head, but the whistle blew before they'd actually crouched!

By mooloo, at November 29, 2010 10:11 am
What a lesson!!!!

Well done the Wallabies. The only good news for my countrymen, is at least they could see what real rugby is....

I believed the average age of the Aussies team was 24 (correct me if wrong)!!!! impressive.

Also, the fact of keeping Robinson on the field, was a great tactical move. Overall the Aussie scrum remains a problem, but they can pass, run and are quick on the support.

As for the French......Lievremont has one of the worst record as a French coach (% win / average try). He is not a top international manager and most importantly does seem to have the respect within club/federation.
Since the last summer tour, he is just complaining about everything around the French team (which is partly true). His trainig method are highly debatable (no more opposition following injuries).

I heard the federation wants his own rugby stadium. Frankly, what is point? If there is something to look at and to invest it is youth training, foundation, and the basis learnt. Another will be the Top 14 calendar.

Sad for us but I hope we will be able to turn this around....in one or two years.

St Andre, Galthier, Berbizier or Noves, there is no lack of possible good manager, the question is Federation/Club/Players must pull all in the same direction.

By Flipje, at November 29, 2010 11:05 am
I really feel sorry for French crowd at Stade de France.
They all should ring at Lievremont and Maso's door, to get their money back!

I started watching this game thinking it could be the best or the 2nd best in these AI, and if Australia would have fixed the scrum, they could have compete well, even if I rated France's back too slow.
At half time I was right and I was exited, but after the 2 tries back to back from Robinson and Genia, France turned off his brain.

First from the forwards, who merely disapperead: Ouedrago, Dusatoir, Chabal/Bonnaire...

And their backs, they were just jeered by Oz counterparts! Because Oz made it simple: look, think, act.
Look at the defence, think the right thing to do, and do it! They did it quicker, better and more times than the French!

It seemed that France didn't have a plan, exept from the scrum. They wanted to outmuscle Australia, Chabal can't play no more n.8, but he was there to charge Cooper, France fielded big man outside, to go straight on the small defenders in front of them, but they were slow, off-paced, and didn't have ball in hands!

- Australia's loose forward tackled anything that was higher than the grass (the contact area was clearly win by Oz!)
- They keep possession using it running away and around from the French defender
- They ruled the lineout almost without contest

By Madflyhalf, at November 29, 2010 11:45 am
We need to rebuild everything in France...

I feel desperate...

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 1:35 pm
i haven't seen the game but i'm not astonished by the result...
the game vs argentina and fidji wre won quite easily but what a poor quality of game!!!
that's not les bleus.
I like Lievremont as manager but i don't understand why he always change the players just 1 year before the RWC.
He must bring some cohesion, consistency and creativity in the backs. If u drop bastareaud, fritz, malzieu, clerc, poitrenaud, heymans, picamoles of the group, lievremont shouldn't be surprised to see players who don't know each others...
France have creativity to sell. now it is as if they are playing without ideas.
Bring back the fab toulouse 5 and clermont wingers and u will have some runs and tactics.

they can't go lower so i expect better for the 6 nations and rwc.
create and install a group marc!

By Flooz, at November 29, 2010 2:18 pm
that said i like australia fresh rugby.
they take risks in the game and install young speed players since 1 or 2 years.

Lievremont should be inspired about that

By Flooz, at November 29, 2010 2:21 pm
Am i the only one who thinks Dusautoir is not a good captain?
Seriously,he has no charisma,no leadership.
A guy like Servat or Chabal would be much better.

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 2:25 pm
trinh duc by far the best flyhalf france have right now. then, come skrela. rougerie is suck at outside center. and who is the no.14 guy??

By luke, at November 29, 2010 2:41 pm
N°14 was Huget in this match.But I prefer Vincent Clerc who was not selected.Same for Medard.

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 2:51 pm
I think too Dusautoir is a good player but not a captain. Moreover he is not Toulouse's captain.Noves is right. Servat has leadership of a good captain.
But the principal problem is between staff and players i think.

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 3:02 pm
15 > Poitrenaud
14> Clerc
13> Bastareaud
12> Jauzion
11> Medard (malzieu or Andreu)
10> Beauxis
9> Parra (dupuy)
This is the best team

By dezzy, at November 29, 2010 3:14 pm
Lievremont believed that he had the depth to chop and change as he wished. Sorry, but against top opposition, not possible. He didn't show enough respect against the Aussies and suffered as a consequence!!! Now, he needs to solidify a backline which he'll take with him to the WC next year, and stick to it. Then, what will be will be!

By Alexander, at November 29, 2010 5:04 pm
beauxis is not an international flyhalf, he is a very good kicker indeed, but his open play seems lacking at the moment. he lacks creativity like trinh-duc and skrela have

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 5:15 pm
To Anon above,

I think Dusautoir is actually Toulouse's captain, as far as I recall, at least he was in the last 3 top 14 games. He may lack of charisma out of the pitch, but I'm sure he knows how to motivate his men. Well, most of the time...
He must have left his head somewhere else on that sad day for French rugby, it really shocked me to see him miss tackles.

I don't get the choices of Lievremont for the backs, particularly Traille who is a center, or occasionally a fullback, but NOT a n°10 ! At least not an offensive one. I think Trinh-Duc is the best, then Skrela (if we look at his recent performances with Toulouse, I think he really improved and has a much more offensive style which is not to unplease me).

The back triangle, 11-14-15 is just idiot. Palisson, Huget, Porical... Seriously man ? When you have Clerc, Malzieu, Medard, Heymans, Poitrenaud... I just can't explain that.

By Ben, at November 29, 2010 5:16 pm
You have to look at the french league as well, there playing 26 games excluding playoffs also remember they have midweek games in france! Add in European games and internationals and that is a hell of a lot of rugby for someone to be playing. No wonder theres so many injuries and upset players

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 5:45 pm
this wasn't france playing

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 5:48 pm
Sorry ..I am Not a french , But i was a huge fan of France Rugby Team. But I think i was supporting to a team with no ambition . they were good , at six nations . but look at the scores at the six nations. None exceeded 34 ( except Italy match ) or 3 tries. Livermont's game plan is same for every match despite of whatever the other team is. he is looking to strengthen the forwards game , and he wants the backs also to play the forwards game . If France stick to this further, I am sorry more Embarrassments should be expected. on the other hand MJ ( English coach) shows some progress,( or may be the selectors are good) .
France used to have one of the remarkable back line in the world . But from 2007 and on , they could fix a formidable back-line.
and France is blessed with a good To14 tournament ( than any other country ) , but seems the same thing keep ripping them apart . or may be the selectors do not watch TOP 14 enough .

Nim- from Sri Lanka

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 6:13 pm
The best team I believes

15 > Poitrenaud
14> Clerc
13> Bastareaud
12> Jauzion
11> Medard
10> Trich-Duc / Michalak
9> Parra ( Elisalde )
8. Harinodique // for sure
7. Doustoir
6. Chabal
5. Thion /J .pierre
4. P. pape / Nallet
3. Mas // F.barchella
2. Servat ( capt)
1. Domingo

Nim- From Sri Lanka

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 6:17 pm
^^

I totally agree, Nim.

Cheers from France

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 7:29 pm
The backs selection, as said above, was ridicoulus. I mean, Palisson puts in a lot of effort but he is small and not THAT fast, Huget was a joke and got lost in defence once every couple of minutes and Poricla is a club player. He doesn't have any flair.

Lievremont, brain up and get the Toulouse guys in or get out.

By Juggernauter, at November 29, 2010 7:42 pm
Lievremont and his mates have got to pack their bag and go to the coaching school. The man simply is out of sorts at international rugby.

During the week, Harinordoquy made the shortlist for IRB player of the the year, but he isn't even in the 22 ? "His 20 minutes against Argentina did not impress us". You moron ! He's been pure class all year, and you squeeze him out for 20 minutes ? LIEVREMONT IS A JOKE. If he's man enough, he should resign.

By François G., at November 29, 2010 8:03 pm
for those who think it's only a problem of selection, i give you the players who have been trashed by both Argentina and SA this summer (Perhaps this will refresh your memory):

Porical/Poitrenaud/Clerc/Marty/Mermoz/Fritz/Rougerie/Malzieu/
Trin Duc/Yachvili/Skrela/Parra/
Bonnaire/Lauret/Dusautoir/Pica
Nallet/Millo/Pape/Pierre
Mas/Szwa/Domingo/Barcella

And oh surprise! whith Clerc,Mermoz,Malzieu...we've been beaten twice 41-13 and 42-17.

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 8:06 pm
Aussie rugby is so very entertaining right now. Love watching them.

By jdawg, at November 29, 2010 8:20 pm
Our french team november tests have always been disasters for 10 years now. Beating a SA team is a big exploit.

We suffer for years this research of the "french flair"

Damn wake up guys! Rugby is pro now and Aussies, Blacks, Welsh and all the other are not more stupid than us.

We are still playing an old fashioned rugby and every 4 years we need another exploit during the world cup to survive.

The point is french rugby is weak and overrated. No more discussion about it.
Ou players have lack of technique and fitness, that's obvious.

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 8:21 pm
@ anon

Fact is in summer tours, the players are REALLY burnt out.
Today though, after such a collapse and even if the rhythm of the games isn't perfect (far from it), there's no excuse. The best players can be beaten after a long season, remember SA when France and all Europe beat them here.

So okay all these players you cite have already been severely beaten/trashed/whatever but a lot of them is the core of the French team. You can't change a whole team and think you can compete with the best. They had like 2 weeks to prepare a match against Oz team that's been playing together for months (not to say years now), how can you then imagine changing 14 (14! ffs!) players in 2 matches and have a fluent attacking (or defending) team?

Let Dusautoir captain or put Servat if you like, nevermind, they are the same types of guy: they lead by what they do on the pitch. But please, give the keys of the machine to an efficient #10 to begin with. I'd put Baby (vision, flair, pass, kick, speed, intelligence) but that's another debate.

By Maximus, at November 29, 2010 8:31 pm
I forgot: put Galthié as coach (sorry MHRC, I know you don't want to hear that and I understand you), he knows how to organise and lead men and teams. What's more, he already knows high level as coach.

By Maximus, at November 29, 2010 8:35 pm
the french team has to take a long hard look down themselves, u dont let urself get slaughtered like this at home: u just dont!

the french managment also has to rethink or finally start thinking of a strategy rather than drawing players out of a hat by chance

i wish had just one player in my team running lines like AAC

By Anonymous, at November 29, 2010 9:05 pm
What does this result tell us about French rugby?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!

The French are inconsistent. They can get beat by a team by 50 points and then beat them at the world cup 5 months later.

They can play like world beaters and beat NZ in New Zealand or the world champ Boks in France....and then a week later play like crap and lose by 40 points to the same team.

You never know which French team is going to show up.

Fair play to the Aussies though....

By jpm, at November 29, 2010 10:55 pm
JPM I agree with you to some extent but i also agree with the anon above... The only positive thing about that is that france is never better than when they are the outsiders. That said, what a spanking. The aussie backs are awesome. I have always thought Ashley-Cooper was like Traille, big and boring but I changed my mind. Well done Aussies. This was also an interesting game for me as I hold both passports...

By Gman, at November 30, 2010 12:06 am
JPM I agree with you to some extent but i also agree with the anon above... The only positive thing about that is that france is never better than when they are the outsiders. That said, what a spanking. The aussie backs are awesome. I have always thought Ashley-Cooper was like Traille, big and boring but I changed my mind. Well done Aussies. This was also an interesting game for me as I hold both passports...

By Gman, at November 30, 2010 12:06 am
@jpm

In other words France is to rugby what Mokujin is to Tekken?

By Anonymous, at November 30, 2010 1:01 am
Yes France blow hot and cold, but never this cold.
Credit should go to Australia, with ball in hand they are absolutley devestating at the moment.
Their backline contains playmakers across the pitch.
O'Conner, Beale, Gitaeu, Barnes, Cooper are all world class flyhalfs, and they all play in the same backline. Then you've got great ballrunners like Ashley-Cooper, Mitchell and Turner to support them, with two good scrum halves (both good runners of the ball themselves) in Genia and Burgess.
It's a lethal backline.
This was the highest number of points Aus have ever scored against France, the highest number of tries and biggest winning margin and it was done in Paris.
Not half bad.

By Bill, at November 30, 2010 1:38 am
As a complete neutral, Aus is my fav. team to watch rigth now...NZ is of course better but as a neutral it is more interesting to cheer for the underdogs...despite the losses some real positives out of this tour...first breaking the spell against NZ. McCalman (sp.?) at no. 8 settles the back row, he is a battering ram, Barnes seems to fit better at 12 at the moment than Gitau. Cooper impressed me in the 1st half against France, made some good kicking decisions, taking the heat off when the french were still in it and physical, played smartly. But really the story with Australia is the 11-14-15, they play at a level that is *much* above anyone else right now, including NZ. They have a lot of skill and give Deans a lot of options, for example, again in the 1st half against FR, a couple of times they called a play for Beale to act as a 10 in open field and kick to Mitchell streaking down the line, very dangerous and almost got a try out of it. It is very exciting stuff, great to watch.

Of course they also have serious flaws, unreliable scrum, little depth, no established kicker, and a captain that does not convince...sometimes I think no. 6 is only the captain b/c he is the only guy on the team older than 25, I mean, even their props are 22, I thought props were born at the age of 30?

By Anonymous, at November 30, 2010 3:55 am
Something about the Aussies I noticed after watching the game again, was the role Berrick Barnes played in the backs. several times I saw Aus on the attack, and all Berrick did was run straight for 2 or 3 steps and just pass the ball along. Nothing complicated, but it was exactly what was needed! This sucked in a defender and gave Adam Ashely-Cooper plenty of space to run, and this resulted in Drew Mitchell's first try, at least.
I remember reading Mark Ella saying that Giteau's problem was that he was trying to do too much. Perhaps Berrick is showing the way.

By granite, at November 30, 2010 4:15 am
Barnes has certainly settled the side, and is preforming better than Gitaue was. His goalkicking is good and his defence is very strong.
All in all I'd leave him in and have Gitaeu as an option off the bench.

And in regards to the forwards, we've got some really good forwards still to come back.
The big two are Palu and Horwill. With Palu back we've got an escellent back row, and with him and Horwill, we've got two massive units, both great ball runners and great defenders.
Mcalman has done well, but he's really not big enough to be an international no 8, his strength is his versatility off the bench, as he can cover 7, 6 and 8.
Also we've got Vickerman coming back.

By Jono, at November 30, 2010 4:48 am
Well done Oz...not sure where France disappeared to in the second half.

Oz backline looking better and better, Beale has become a quality player. On a seperate note why were the French backs so abject? They have always seemed to provide challenge for whatever team they play against...must the french coach like people have been saying earlier

By NiWiTa, at November 30, 2010 3:10 pm
Great win by Ozzies. French need a non French coach. Cheika would give them some mental strength

have you seen this site rugby dump, they call themselves rugby onslaught

http://rugbyonslaught.blogspot.com

By Anonymous, at November 30, 2010 5:08 pm
^^ I dunno, its no RD... By way, we gonna get to see the Ireland highlights??

By Anonymous, at November 30, 2010 6:49 pm
France are a crazy team. They genuinely could win or lose by 30 points against any team in the top 10. Very strange. Great players though, so many great players. Biggest pool of talent beside NZ and the Boks, I'd say. Stronger than the Boks probably in the backs, and the Kiwis up front possibly (in terms of depth).

By Mike, at December 01, 2010 12:26 am
Oh yeah - Aus were great. Well done Aussies.

By Mike, at December 01, 2010 12:47 am
The T14 doesn't really prepare players for top level rugby though, it's not a good enough standard, they don't play fast enough.

By Bill, at December 01, 2010 12:58 am
I disagree, Bill. Outside of the Heineken Cup, the Top 14 is the best European rugby competition, in my opinion. They don't always play at the same tempo, but many games have the same energy as a fast-paced Currie Cup match (the Currie Cup being probably the best domestic rugby competition there is), or at least the tries do.

Sometimes T14 teams look stronger than the French national side. It's a bit bewildering...

By fry, at December 01, 2010 1:36 am
They only looks strogner because they are playing at a lower standard.
It's just not fast enough, there's too much kicking away possesion and the refs allow too much cheating at the ruck.
They have the players, but they need to address these aspects of their domestic league, or they will never reach the heights they could.
Oh and I was comparign the T14 to the S14.

By Bill, at December 01, 2010 2:08 am
@Bill

it's the S15 now, but I agree with you're saying.

By Anonymous, at December 01, 2010 3:28 am
Yeah fair point, actually technically it's just Super Rugby now or soemthing isn't it?

By Bill, at December 01, 2010 4:49 am
French flair is a legend. The modern game has nothing to do with rugby 80s.
The truth is that France is a second division team.France has struggled to win second division teams: like Wales, Argentina, Ireland. I think it's time to turn the Top 14 in league with franchises.France has the talent and the economy to support such a league : There are big clubs are being formed in major cities : In Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux. We must seize it.We must limit the number of foreign players and take only the very good players.

By Anonymous, at December 01, 2010 11:03 am
Missterrugby - If France, Ireland and Wales are second division, who is first? Australia, who lost against England? The Boks, who lost against Scotland?

The truth is that NZ are on their own in the first division, and everyone from the Boks to Scotland and Argentina are in the second division (they could all beat each other).

A lot of teams are in transition though - Aus have done a great job of bringing through new players in the last 2 years, and they are nearly finished theirs. The Boks - I don't really know what they are doing, same with England and Ireland. France are a special case: they were destroyed by Aus, but I would give them as good a chance as any team after NZ of winning the World Cup because they just have so many great players in all positions (except, perhaps, outhalf).

By Mike, at December 01, 2010 12:46 pm
The french don't have the best scrum in the world. The New Zealand or Welsh Pack would compete well with them. But I really want highlights of Scotland's win over Samoa. The actually scored a try when they won for a change!

By Anonymous, at December 01, 2010 1:47 pm
As bad as the French were I think it was one of the most clinical second half performances I've ever seen. Fair play to the Aussies. The speed of their attacking rivalled the ABs.

AA Cooper is a touch of class.

By BearGryllsFurCoat, at December 01, 2010 7:25 pm
where are those better highlights?

By Anonymous, at December 02, 2010 5:41 am
yea, yea, France were a disgrace but who would you back at the world cup? When they line up their proper side they'll whip most teams and they are the only team you'd back to beat the All Blacks. People who lump them in with Ireland and Wales in the second tier dream on. AUSTRALIA ARE NOT IN A TIER ABOVE FRANCE, NO WAY. Even England whipped France two years ago. whipped them mercilessly but then they just come out and whip ypu back when it catches their interest.

As Mike said, top tier equals New Zealand and no one else.

By Dub in Oz, at December 02, 2010 1:07 pm
Australia is the only country to beat NZ this year. France, in thier current form, couldn't beat NZ at all.

By Jono, at December 02, 2010 11:35 pm
You should know better than attach "current form" to anything relating to the french rugby team. Even they don't know which side will show up. On any given day they could beat the All blacks or get whipped by Scotland and everything in between

By Dub in Oz, at December 04, 2010 7:04 am
Sure they're capable of beating the All Blacks.
But so are Australia, and South Africa.
Those are the three teams that have shown they can beat NZ more than once every ten or twenty years.

In regards to france this loss wasn't a one off thing. They got spanked by the Argies and South Africa, and I don;t know if they've adapted at all to the new style of rugby being played.

Maybe they will, but I wouldn't give them much hope in 2011.

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By 副収入, at January 25, 2011 6:31 pm