RWC 2019

[Oldschool]

French players look fresh enough going in at HT.
That's the first sign of trouble for the rest of the teams in this RWC.
Enjoyable game too.
@RTB looks like you're going to get a good run for your 33/1.

[Ruckedtobits]

That's a decent lead for France and they are also defending well, particularly their back-row which has a couple of surprise selections. You'd fancy France unless the Argies can get their pack carrying hard and straight.

[fourthirtythree]

Wow! Argentina right back in it.

[Ruckedtobits]

The maul is proving this RWC weapon. Maybe Joe's selection of Kleyn will be an inspired one.

[FLIP]

French very lucky not to be carded. Loads of penalties against them in the red zone.

[Dave Cahill]

Neither team up to much to be honest. France looked good in the first half when Argentina were execrable - in the second half when Argentina raised their performance to mediocre things levelled out. A good game to watch because the teams were evenly matched.

[Ruckedtobits]

SH refs don't have a feel for cheating and passion. Gardner never got to the temperature of that game at all. However, France management did no thinking at half-time and scrum-half Dupont kicked possession away with 8 kicks from mid-field during the second half. France will only thrive if they keep possession and get over the gain line and get fast ruck ball going forward. I actually suspect that Brunel and Galtie said "let's have more of the same in the second half". Almost blew it, but will have learned a lot in victory.

[wixfjord]

Arg aren't up to much.

France have enough in the pack (albeit not very well drilled) and definitely enough sparkle in the backline to cause Wales or Aus trouble though. Dupont and Penaud are superstars.

[FLIP]

SH refs don't have a feel for cheating and passion. Gardner never got to the temperature of that game at all.

Gardner didn't even have a feel for the laws. 2 final warnings after multiple red zone offences, Picamoles miles offside for his key interception. Argentina can rightly feel robbed, and if it happened against us I'd be spitting.

[cormac]

Is there any way to mute Liam Toland's co-commentary?

[Dave Cahill]

Reece is beating Mapimpi like he was his girlfriend

[Dave Cahill]

So, left - right, right - left, left - right, kick, concede.

Looks familiar.

[LeinsterLeader]

Watching Barrett at 15 can't help but think that in his haste to set JC as a replacement for Sexton, JS didn't spend long enough thinking about getting them both on the pitch at the same time.

Ah well, water under the bridge now!

[Dave Cahill]

Watching Barrett at 15 can't help but think that in his haste to set JC as a replacement for Sexton, JS didn't spend long enough thinking about getting them both on the pitch at the same time.

Ah well, water under the bridge now!

If only someone had thought of that alright.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I think this game is great for us. NZ don't look great, they're basically a two man team with Savea saving their forwards and Barrett saving the backs, he's pretty much a one man attack now that he's taken control. They've also showed us exactly how TO play SA and how NOT to play SA. The SA defence was immense in that first 20 and the pack was on fire, but once NZ stopped flinging stupid passes around the place and showed some composure and went to the kicking game SA hadn't a clue how to react.

De Klerk is great on the front foot but he's technically very poor so once he's under pressure his game falls apart.

[LeinsterLeader]

Watching Barrett at 15 can't help but think that in his haste to set JC as a replacement for Sexton, JS didn't spend long enough thinking about getting them both on the pitch at the same time.

Ah well, water under the bridge now!

If only someone had thought of that alright.

I heard a couple of fellas up in Dublin where thinking along those lines but they got shouted down.

Sure what do they know?

[Dave Cahill]

Dem schmart bucks up in the schmoke!

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Neither team up to much to be honest. France looked good in the first half when Argentina were execrable - in the second half when Argentina raised their performance to mediocre things levelled out. A good game to watch because the teams were evenly matched.

Thought France were very good in the first half but even then they did a lot of illegal things and were blessed not to be carded.

I rated France coming into this but haven't a clue how they'll do now. I'd love to see them playing England in a shoot out to go through, but if there's anything riding on that then they could fall apart...after going 20 points up

[fourthirtythree]

So... Kick pass to the right wing v SA?

[LeRouxIsPHat]

The refereeing has been astonishingly bad in every game so far. Garces has mostly been good but the decision not to give SA a card was a shocker. As others have said, there must be an edict to keep players on the field.

Gardner not giving a yellow was unbelievable though considering the warnings he gave and how blatant and cynical some of the French infringements were. Given that he was the one who didn't card Farrell last November I'd have thought that he'd need to pretty sharp on that front.

Said it before and I'll say it again, refereeing is one of my biggest worries in terms of our World Cup chances.