Finally the 6N produced a real test match, with collisions appropriate to the occasion. Things were nicely poised for a close finish when two things happened. Firstly Craig Joubert missed two vital infractions by the Poms....and secondly the French coach emasculated his team with substitutions.
As for as Joubert was concerned....he passed on a ball hoofed through the ruck by the Poms. It clearly went through a lot of players and not surprisingly hit a Pom in an offside position. It was not called. Try to Tuilangi and effectively game over. Moments later he missed Tuilagi cynically impeding the scrumhalf from a position on the deck....probably a yellow.
Does Craig just prefer pasta to pate', or is he less competent than he appears. But after his RWC 11 final, where he bent over backwards to penalize the Frogs....they must hate the sight of him.
The French dominated at scrum time and at the breakdowns before the massive subbing. Picamoles was probably the best forward on the park and Domingo was drilling Old King Cole ( who some Poms think the best TH on the planet).
On the Pom side , their import Tuilagi was running over Bastareaud with monotonous regularity. But the back of the day was French 12 Wesley Fofana who scored a superb individual try.
Fofana didn't bash into anybody he used his Juan de Jongh like feet to get him through the Pom fatties..
