Kilts vs Frogs

[Rowdy]

And a deaf fly half!

[message #2527204]

Bambi is a waste of space ... As is jellybear

His hands are made of stones

His ears too.
Plus he managed to take all the defenders with him before he passed the ball there. Shit.

[franch fan]

Hogg saved Scotland there

[Rowdy]

Scottish defence has been great.

And fudge spidercam.

[franch fan]

Dupont is so strong in contact.
Like another loose forward

[Anonymous 1]

Dupont is so strong in contact.
Like 9th forward

[Rowdy]

I'd forgotten all about Maitland. He should be first pick every time, awkward or not.

[franch fan]

Marchand is so good at breakdown

[franch fan]

Dupont is so strong in contact.
Like 9th forward

???

[franch fan]

mediocre game to be fair.

[danny_fitz]

Scotland have been given a dozen chances to punch this and they have pissed them all away.

[iarmhiman]

Jesus Hogg

[franch fan]

Lol
Mediocre game concluded by stupid play

[Anonymous 1]

Cripple fight

[CrazyIslander]

[shereblue]

Scratchy France. Great contest Scotland.

[Rowdy]

Hoggy! You twit.

[Enzedder]

I didn't know that Mo'unga had moved to Scotland.

[Anonymous 1]

[Wendigo7]

Cripple Fight.

Would be happy facing either at Twickers in 2 weeks time.

[CrazyIslander]

What's the point anyway they weren't going to win it anyway.

[shereblue]

Cripple Fight.
Eng v Ireland?

[franch fan]

Cripple Fight.

Would be happy facing either at Twickers in 2 weeks time.

Yeah, very mediocre game.
Dupont had by far the worst game I've seen him play with the French jersey but that tells something about the level of this guy as even in this game, he did a few things that no SH is capable of doing.
Well take the win as Scotland are a hard team to play against, particularly away from home.

[message #2527204]

I always thought vakatawa was poached from Fiji, but he has a kiwi accent there?

[Short Man Syndrome]

Bambi is a waste of space ... As is jellybeark

“Jailbait”. It was agreed that his alt-handle is “Jailbait”.

[franch fan]

The Scotland captain Stuart Hogg speaks: “For 75 mins we were probably the better team ... we slipped up for 30 seconds [after half-time] and they scored a try, so that’s frustrating ... but we didn’t turn rubbish overnight. We’ll go back to the drawing board.

Lol Hogg should buy sunglasses, it might also help him in not missing crucial touches like the last one

[shereblue]

I always thought vakatawa was poached from Fiji, but he has a kiwi accent there?

Born near Christchurch but Fijian and returned to Fiji as a young child. Now translating for Finn Russell.

Did play a game or 2 for Fiji U 19s.

Was spotted by Sireli Bobi, Fijian international at Racing Metro, and accepted in minutes his countryman's invitation to come to France.

It's the money for sure but it was his chosen path. He had to take his exam to become French twice. For good measure he contracted to play 7s for France ahead, of lucrative Top14 offers.

Powerful but no bosh merchant and perfectly suited to being a bleu. MOM today

[TheFrog]

Watched in patch. Scotland are good at dragging down France to poor levels but this team finally put an end to 6 years of Jocks victories in Edinburgh.

If I am correct, Galthie will now have to release players like Leroux, Ollivon, Aldritt, Dupont, Fickou, Vakatawa or Rattez who have played 3 games, as the agreement with the league is that none of the players will get to play more than 3 games.

France B to finish the tournament now...

[message #2527204]

I always thought vakatawa was poached from Fiji, but he has a kiwi accent there?

Born near Christchurch but Fijian and returned to Fiji as a young child. Now translating for Finn Russell.

Did play a game or 2 for Fiji U 19s.

Was spotted by Sireli Bobi, Fijian international at Racing Metro, and accepted in minutes his countryman's invitation to come to France.

It's the money for sure but it was his chosen path. He had to take his exam to become French twice. For good measure he contracted to play 7s for France ahead, of lucrative Top14 offers.

Powerful but no bosh merchant and perfectly suited to being a bleu. MOM today

He'd have been tied to Fiji by playing U20. Switching to sevens was a way to get untied before the Olympics... not sure if that still works.

[Rowdy]

Translating for Finn Russell

Actually Russell should be first choice regardless of character defects. You just need a POC or Johnson character to give him a dirty look now and again.

[TheFrog]

Hey French Fan, do you still believe Jalibert is a better fly-half that N'Tamack?

[franch fan]

Hey French Fan, do you still believe Jalibert is a better fly-half that N'Tamack?

Hey TheFrog,
Do you believe Ntamack would have done better than him yesterday under those circumstances(piss poor conditions, France's game plan being -stupidly- based on pick and gos , Dupont having possibly his worst game with the French jersey, etc...)?

[shereblue]

I always thought vakatawa was poached from Fiji, but he has a kiwi accent there?

Born near Christchurch but Fijian and returned to Fiji as a young child. Now translating for Finn Russell.

Did play a game or 2 for Fiji U 19s.

Was spotted by Sireli Bobi, Fijian international at Racing Metro, and accepted in minutes his countryman's invitation to come to France.

It's the money for sure but it was his chosen path. He had to take his exam to become French twice. For good measure he contracted to play 7s for France ahead, of lucrative Top14 offers.

Powerful but no bosh merchant and perfectly suited to being a bleu. MOM today

He'd have been tied to Fiji by playing U20. Switching to sevens was a way to get untied before the Olympics... not sure if that still works.

Me neither. He'd have won Gold had he made the Fiji team. No criticism, but there is a more pressing Gold to aspire to when living in a relatively poor country. A very talented young man of ambition. A bit like the pursuit of the American Dream in rugby terms.

I find ready-made, slightly sub par poaches more depressing but the consequences of economic inequality for fans of Fijian and PI rugby are also harsh. The 5 year residency requirement seems better.

[message #2527204]

I always thought vakatawa was poached from Fiji, but he has a kiwi accent there?

Born near Christchurch but Fijian and returned to Fiji as a young child. Now translating for Finn Russell.

Did play a game or 2 for Fiji U 19s.

Was spotted by Sireli Bobi, Fijian international at Racing Metro, and accepted in minutes his countryman's invitation to come to France.

It's the money for sure but it was his chosen path. He had to take his exam to become French twice. For good measure he contracted to play 7s for France ahead, of lucrative Top14 offers.

Powerful but no bosh merchant and perfectly suited to being a bleu. MOM today

He'd have been tied to Fiji by playing U20. Switching to sevens was a way to get untied before the Olympics... not sure if that still works.

Me neither. He'd have won Gold had he made the Fiji team. No criticism, but there is a more pressing Gold to aspire to when living in a relatively poor country. A very talented young man of ambition. A bit like the pursuit of the American Dream in rugby terms.

I find ready-made, slightly sub par poaches more depressing but the consequences of economic inequality for fans of Fijian and PI rugby are also harsh. The 5 year residency requirement seems better.

There will still be moaning. The French clubs currently have large incentives from the FFR to raid Fijian talent before they even enter the Fijian system. Won;t be long before some of those clubs start setting up 'training programmes' in NZ too.

[TheFrog]

Hey French Fan, do you still believe Jalibert is a better fly-half that N'Tamack?

Hey TheFrog,
Do you believe Ntamack would have done better than him yesterday under those circumstances(piss poor conditions, France's game plan being -stupidly- based on pick and gos , Dupont having possibly his worst game with the French jersey, etc...)?

Yes. Because I believe part of the French plan came from lack of trust in Jalibert.

Plus Jalibert butchered an opportunity out wide from 30m out that N'Tamack would have read.

But I give it to Jalibert that it was a tough ask and he was under a lot of pressure. But he doesn't show N'Tamack's composure.

[TheFrog]

I always thought vakatawa was poached from Fiji, but he has a kiwi accent there?

Born near Christchurch but Fijian and returned to Fiji as a young child. Now translating for Finn Russell.

Did play a game or 2 for Fiji U 19s.

Was spotted by Sireli Bobi, Fijian international at Racing Metro, and accepted in minutes his countryman's invitation to come to France.

It's the money for sure but it was his chosen path. He had to take his exam to become French twice. For good measure he contracted to play 7s for France ahead, of lucrative Top14 offers.

Powerful but no bosh merchant and perfectly suited to being a bleu. MOM today

He'd have been tied to Fiji by playing U20. Switching to sevens was a way to get untied before the Olympics... not sure if that still works.

Me neither. He'd have won Gold had he made the Fiji team. No criticism, but there is a more pressing Gold to aspire to when living in a relatively poor country. A very talented young man of ambition. A bit like the pursuit of the American Dream in rugby terms.

I find ready-made, slightly sub par poaches more depressing but the consequences of economic inequality for fans of Fijian and PI rugby are also harsh. The 5 year residency requirement seems better.

There will still be moaning. The French clubs currently have large incentives from the FFR to raid Fijian talent before they even enter the Fijian system. Won;t be long before some of those clubs start setting up 'training programmes' in NZ too.

France has always been very generous in supporting rugby development. I feel New Zealand are going backward these days and may well need support too indeed!

[franch fan]

Hey French Fan, do you still believe Jalibert is a better fly-half that N'Tamack?

Hey TheFrog,
Do you believe Ntamack would have done better than him yesterday under those circumstances(piss poor conditions, France's game plan being -stupidly- based on pick and gos , Dupont having possibly his worst game with the French jersey, etc...)?

Yes. Because I believe part of the French plan came from lack of trust in Jalibert.

Plus Jalibert butchered an opportunity out wide from 30m out that N'Tamack would have read.

But I give it to Jalibert that it was a tough ask and he was under a lot of pressure. But he doesn't show N'Tamack's composure.

Which one? The one with the long kick where he thought the advantage was still being played? Tbf, I was as confused as him by Barnes's so short length of advantage

[TheFrog]

No, toward the end of the first half where he chose to attack the line and was buried when he had Thomas on the wing with plenty of space to use his deadly finishing skills.

Interesting actually that Thomas was so underused in attack. After all the winning move involved Rattez rather than Thomas.

[message #2527204]

Hey French Fan, do you still believe Jalibert is a better fly-half that N'Tamack?

Hey TheFrog,
Do you believe Ntamack would have done better than him yesterday under those circumstances(piss poor conditions, France's game plan being -stupidly- based on pick and gos , Dupont having possibly his worst game with the French jersey, etc...)?

Yes. Because I believe part of the French plan came from lack of trust in Jalibert.

Plus Jalibert butchered an opportunity out wide from 30m out that N'Tamack would have read.

But I give it to Jalibert that it was a tough ask and he was under a lot of pressure. But he doesn't show N'Tamack's composure.

Which one? The one with the long kick where he thought the advantage was still being played? Tbf, I was as confused as him by Barnes's so short length of advantage

But he clearly called advantage over. It makes no difference whether you , or he, thought it wasn't long enough for your liking.

[shereblue]

I always thought vakatawa was poached from Fiji, but he has a kiwi accent there?

Born near Christchurch but Fijian and returned to Fiji as a young child. Now translating for Finn Russell.

Did play a game or 2 for Fiji U 19s.

Was spotted by Sireli Bobi, Fijian international at Racing Metro, and accepted in minutes his countryman's invitation to come to France.

It's the money for sure but it was his chosen path. He had to take his exam to become French twice. For good measure he contracted to play 7s for France ahead, of lucrative Top14 offers.

Powerful but no bosh merchant and perfectly suited to being a bleu. MOM today

He'd have been tied to Fiji by playing U20. Switching to sevens was a way to get untied before the Olympics... not sure if that still works.

Me neither. He'd have won Gold had he made the Fiji team. No criticism, but there is a more pressing Gold to aspire to when living in a relatively poor country. A very talented young man of ambition. A bit like the pursuit of the American Dream in rugby terms.

I find ready-made, slightly sub par poaches more depressing but the consequences of economic inequality for fans of Fijian and PI rugby are also harsh. The 5 year residency requirement seems better.

There will still be moaning. The French clubs currently have large incentives from the FFR to raid Fijian talent before they even enter the Fijian system. Won;t be long before some of those clubs start setting up 'training programmes' in NZ too.

Keeping it vaguely topical, yesterday's French lock Romain Taofifenua was born in France to a French father, Willy Taofifenua (of FC Grenoble and managing Pro 2 Limoges), a native of Wallis & Futuna, a French PI Territory.

Willy was instrumental in setting up a French Academy in New Caledonia for 2 dozen or so promising Islanders (inc. a few women), giving them an education as well as pro coaching on a weekly boarding basis aged 18-21. The aim being to better equip them to cope with any eventual success or failure in pro rugby. Caucau having been one of the most prominent but troubled on field successes who left the game with nothing.

Don't know much about the FFR / Top 14 Fiji links. It would be simple capitalist exploitation linked to globalisation. A just outcome would be to see more trickle down to the PI rugby players and clubs themselves - at all levels. I gather the Fijian President additionally contributes to the problem. After some of the turgid rugby this weekend (Swindon's Jonny May aside), I'd love to have seen Fiji and a properly rewarded Fiji would have been even better.

Swindon Town is my footballing peccadillo and I lament the trawler-like hoovering of every conceivably promising youngster by Premiership clubs within the UK, never mind overseas. C'est la vie.