Anyone watching or even interested, kick off France v Ireland both had disappointing WC performances. Maybe this was the final most were expecting.
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Shame this fixture is at the start of the tournament not at the end…
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‘Anything interesting planned for the weekend?’ asked the young lad on the Waitrose checkout earlier.
‘No…You?’ I replied.
‘Watching the rugby’ he said.
‘I’m afraid I’ve lost all interest, I must be getting old’ was my response.
Sad. Not entirely true I guess, I just can’t be bothered this evening.
Newspaper headline today was that having kids play contact sport was tantamount to child abuse.
I’m hoping for a cracking game.
France look very powerful, with some big meaty players in their XV (and on the bench)!
Letting them lock themselves in rooms eyes glued to a screen for hours and hours is far worse imo.
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I thought been sent to school was child abuse, but that’s just me.
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The audio coverage raised my interest, especially when someone suggested going for ‘the coroner’.
Unfortunately ItvX is just as crap as usual and I can’t see a thing on the computer.
We’ve got it live on one of my many streaming services. Vision’s ok but the commentary is average.
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I missed the lead up to this game so can’t comment on the coverage, except to say match commentary is standard ITV. As for the game, it’s a tough contest.
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I’d assume we all get the same (English) commentary.
Good fight back from the French.
Strangely one-sided until the last 5, DuPont is such a big miss for the French.
Never listen to the commentary - rarely any real insight - have music on instead.
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Music is much better option, think it’s just slipping away from the French.
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France were just not in the game. Poor defence and apart from a couple of smart plays ,little attack. Not the France we are used to seeing. Ireland deserved the win though. Well played.
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Discussing Dupont at the cafe this morning raised a question: is missing because of the cheek injury, or is his hear on an Olympic gold medal?
Perhaps a bit of both as 7’s are not quite so physical as the 15 game.
On another note, I enjoyed watching Sarra Elgan Easterby interview various rugby personalities today. Refreshingly frank and entertaining.
Olympic gold is his ambition. Playing for Toulouse in Top 14 and Champions Cup so his cheek getting a good workout.
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The perennial question with England, do they have an attack coach(?), as based on H1 v Italy, the answer is either ‘no’, or they need a new one. The contrast against the way Ireland play, who have runners attacking shoulders on the gain line is stark.
Wrigglesworth not a world class attack coach sadly. The new guy Irishman Felix Jones is in charge of defence having previously run South African attack.
I think we may have just witnessed a game between 4th and 6th in this year’s competition. England look unstructured, disorganised at times, and without open-field threat – plus ca change…! Please can we play a specialist winger rather than Daly.
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Slightly better second half but still nothing close to the level shown by Ireland last night.
The blitz defence was high risk but high reward most of the time. Needs refining before bigger challenges. Some good debuts with Roots and Freeman big positives.
Italy were so much better than in RWC and deserved that 3rd try at the end. Made a great game of it having been shut out for most of second half.
Now to see what Wales and Scotland are promising to deliver.
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