A war of attrition won deservedly so by France - after scoring three tries against the English 2. The English tried to use their forwards most of the time and they had some success with it dominating possession for long periods during the game. No finesse - pure power play.
Just one thing - I can now see why Plisson is keeping Morne Steyn out of the Stade Francais starting line up. He is something Morne will never be - a decent pivot and a good defender.
Shezza
It was Plisson's first test and that first kick of his that set up the first try of the French showed real class. He definitely is much better already than Morne will ever be.
Did you hear what the French commentator before the match said about Plisson keeping Morne out of the Stade Francais starting line-up and how really promising Plisson is. I think the youngster will play for France at flyhalf in future.
Sure the French 6 was excellent.
Jus t - Win
They were playing the Meyer game plan - try and use their forwards to overwhelm the French and it did not work out according to plan.
The Frogs didn't do much in the second half, a penalty and a soft try was all it took to deflate all the good work of the English. Based on that performance there's more chance of my garden gnome rehearsing the quickstep than of France winning the WC.
My MOM goes to the TMO.
"Lambie has been brutally exposed, Goosen was a flop, Jantjies was another flop, Pienaar was felled and the rest have proven nothing. Swiel? Far too early my friend. Catrakillis? A good boot, what else? A very big call indeed."
True...well said.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, going forward we need one that stands out as being better than Morne.
Sun Tzu
You can't be serious. Morne and option taking are words never to be mixed up in the same sentence. If ever there was a robot playing at 10 - it was Morne Steyn. He played according to instructions and used to stand too deep in the pocket - allowing him to take decisions being a slow rugby thinker. By the time he has decided to -
* kick the ball - the opposition has covered the areas he aimed kicks at: and
* pass the ball - it represented hospital passes, since the opposition was really on top of the recipient.
Since he never attacked the gain line himself - he was the most easily read flyhalf in world rugby. Even Meyer could eventually not take it anymore and last year instructed Morne to stand flatter and pass the ball more and kick less - necause his lkicking game was so farcical. That presented two problems, namely -
" Morne's always fragile defence fell apart; and
* he completely lost his way and his implemtation become a darce - since he lost it completely and passed balls he should kick and kick balls he should pass. (eg the second Messam ty at Ellis Park).
Other teams in world rugby are lucky -
* they have real options to select as pivots; and
* for them Morne is always a positive in helping them when playing the Springboks.
It did not take Stade Francais long to find out what the real Morne represents - not the asset they thought he was.
The fact is the Poms dominated that match. They made far more ground than the French, and kept the ball for much of the time. The Frogs were saved by their early lead. Still it puts in perspective the effortless ease with which Morne and his mates put these Frogs to the sword a few months back. HM devised a way to dominate the collisions the English were never able to duplicate....Alberts and Vermeuelen were a big part of that.
In terms of the players the Frog 10 Plisson was no where near a Morne in general play. His kick that led to the try was the result of total luck and a deflection. For the rest he was pretty anonymous....and of course there is Morne's boot.
I like the look of the French loosies, especially Picamoles....a sort of poor man's Alberts. And of course Fofana is a small centre ( 5" 10" and 90 kgs) with pure class. Who says a an 88 kg centre can't play test rugby.
The one thing I don't get about France is how they Szarzewski on the bench....he was the difference in the last 10 minutes. Well done France....in the end.
Ou Oom I see you used the Frog game to put Morne down again: " he is something Morne will never be - a decent pivot and a good defender."
Just a pity that Plisson's coach said this:
"Saint-Andre said the performance of debutant flyhalf Jules Plisson, who set up Huget for the first try after just 30 seconds with a kick, summed up the team’s showing.
“His first 20 minutes were absolutely brilliant, in terms of skills, decision making, strategy. Then he started to fade, missed a few tackles, made a few mistakes "
Do you enjoy being so thick?
Mozart
Plisson had his FIRST TEST for France and showed one thing - he is an all round flyhalf something Morne Steyn would never be. Why do you think he keeps Morne out of the Stade Fracais starting line - up? Because firstly he is an all round flyhalf and secondly he is a better ball distributor attacking the gain line himself - that is the reason.
He is also a BETTER defender than Morne Steyn is. Lets take Morne's test against the All Blacks at Ellis Park and Plisson's first test as example:-
Morne
Tackles made - 7
Tackles missed - 4
Missed tackle ratio - 36,4%
Plisson
Tackles made - 8
Tackles missed - 3
Missed tackle ratio - 27.3%
This was Plisson's first test and he would improve on his performance - Morne showed only good goal kicking abilities - Plisson showed all-round skills. Since the latter is the first choice flyhalf of Stade Francais - it is absolutely clear he is better than poor Morne.
Mozart
Let me quote from you above :-
"HM devised a way to dominate the collisions the English were never able to duplicate....Alberts and Vermeuelen were a big part of that."
Vermeulen I believe you are right about - he played an 80 minutes game and produce the goods. Alberts loaf 70% of the time and has serious negatives. That is evident from the following statistical data:-
le Roux 0/0 0 0/0/2 0 0 0 0 0 11/3 1/0 0 0
Alberts
0/0
0
0/0/5
19
0
1
0
0
9/4
0/1
0
0/0
Lwe Roux really is a very poor blindsider - yet at 21,4% he has had a better defence indicator than Alberts had in the recent Paris test - namely 30,8%, Naking more tackles and missing less than Sloth did. For the rest Sloth got lucky - the Granch hooker over threw the ball at a line-out - it landed where Alberts was standing at the back of a line out, got the ball and ran about 10 meters with it before being tackled by the first defender. For the rest his ball carries amounted to zero of value.
Now lets look at Robshaw - that is the kind off figures reflecting a decent blindside, He carried the ball in traffic - he PASSEED the ball (something Alberts is incapable of) and his defence is twice as good as that of Alberts - that represents a good no 7.
Meyer is onto a player that showed par abilities in France and will show his poor performances and work rate in Super 15 as well. He already started that against Saracens - where Alberts gad one ball carry of significance - which in fact produced nothing of consequence - made NO tackles and missed 1 - and that in NH conditions.
Allberts in that fame was replaced after48 minutes and after that the vack row of the Sharks functioned considerably better.
Like in the case of Morne in the case of Alberts it is unfortunately so that Meyer is missing the plot badly and you are unable to see it.
Mozart
I compare one test with one - not a series. Plisson had one test - not a string like Morne. I was the one that pointed out that Morne's missed tackle ratio for whole RC was 19,4%. If Plisson played 6 matches I could have taken 6 matches and compare the figures.
Fact is that Stade Francais sees the difference between Plisson and Morne and pre fer Plisson - why should that be? Because Plisson at 22 is a better flyhalf than Morne ever was and ever will be.
No need to check numbers - I use one test of each - and at the best of times Morne is a questionable defender in any event. Slapping Barrett on the b ack - wishing him well on the way to score a try is typical of dear Morne.
Plisson will improve in performance - Morne was always a poor pivot with zero chance of improving on anything,
No need to check numbers - I use one test of each - and at the best of times Morne is a questionable defender in any event. Slapping Barrett on the back - wishing him well on the way to score a try is typical of dear Morne.
Plisson will improve in performance - Morne was always a poor pivot with zero chance of improving on anything,
Ceradyne
Dof Doos - we are living at present not in the past. Morne is a poor pivot - end oof story. Mozart is incapable of answering a simple question - why does Stade Francais have Plisson as first choice flyhalf ahead of Steyn? That is the key to the present issue. Incapable of answering that simple question too?
So the TROOF, maybe you should change your name, for 'The Truth' just does not wash!!
You say Morne has done reasonably well against the AB's.......would that be his 4 victories out of 11 matches against the AB's........a win record of 36%, yes 36%........if that is reasonably good then I'd hate to know what bad is?
Kindly indicate where I have stated that I am a huge Pienaar fan, you liar
Glad to be of service
Dave...another source, you will note 5' 10" is 178 cm....same as Wiki :
Wesley FofanaFrance Full name Wesley Fofana Born January 20, 1988, Paris Current age 26 years 14 daysMajor teams Clermont Auvergne, FrancePosition CentreHeight 5 ft 10 in Weight 194 lb
