Rugby
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Bookmakers are kind to the French, giving them a 35% chance of beating England…
We are sooooo in need of a freaking miracle.
Clever selection of Jonny Wilkinson AND Tobby Flood. two great kickers vs .... erm, nobody in the French team. They are going to spend the whole evening kicking high on Palisson who's gonna get pummeled by England's flankers. Then the English are going to kick penalties after penalties and despite some heroic but un productive last minute effort, the French will be on their way back to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport the next morning.Tell you what, take all the French women you want, they're unsufferable anyway. Just let France win the RWC once in my lifetime. I'm 48 so I guess I have 7-8 more RWC's in me...
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Totally agree on the "unsufferable" bit….better type this quick before the missus comes in
I'm not so sure the french are gonna be coming home just yet...England have a tendency to surprise us...and usually NOT in a good way either. Gonna be watching this in the hope they surprise me in a good way...couldn't face goin back to work if we lost....too many unsufferable winners for my liking
Good luck anyway Mr Bougard! -
Bertoni, after your gloating post last week, I had to wait one week to post this and quite frankly, I was a wreck this morning, thinking we might lose by 37 points, until….
I realized that England was England as we love it: arrogant before the game, wrong game plan (let's not play the way that has ALWAYS bothered the French, let's try and humiliate them by playing like what we think the French should play, let's teach France a lesson in French flair), unable to change their game plan during the game (let's continue to pass the ball to Tuilagi even though there are 5 Frenchmen on top of him, let's never ever try the true and tested method to beat France, which is to kick the ball to the weakest link of the French defense and rush with our third row like mad dogs and get those penalties, 3 points at a time until the French lose their temper and passion...).
Dont you freaking love it when a game is won not by sheer physicality but because of human faults on the favorite team? Usually, it's the French who are guilty of being cocky, lackadaisical, of committing idiotic fouls, dropping the ball because of this sloppy last pass..
But once in a while, God forgets to favor the English side and remains just neutral, and the French regain their legendary inspiration, are able to channel their Gallic rage and passion in a positive way to feed their almost anarchic creativity, while the English have a bad day. True, against Northern Hemisphere teams, we don't need God on our side, just neutral!!! (We'll need God's assistance against SA or NZ if we're able to beat Wales.)
So, thank you England and Wales, you really made my day. The only thing about Ireland losing, was that O'Driscoll is such a great player. One of the few Northern Hemisphere player who could be selected in any of NZ, Oz or SA's teams.
PS = the sad thing about France is that on any given day they can play well, but never 3 games in a row, meaning that even if we beat Wales (by no means a given, after seeing how well Wales has been playing this whole tournament), beating South Africa or New Zealand in the final could be an unsurmountable challenge...
If we beat Wales, I'm thinking of going to burn a few candles in church to leave a message to God that we'll need Him...
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Bookmakers are kind to the French, giving them a 35% chance of beating England…
We are sooooo in need of a freaking miracle.
Clever selection of Jonny Wilkinson AND Tobby Flood. two great kickers vs .... erm, nobody in the French team. They are going to spend the whole evening kicking high on Palisson who's gonna get pummeled by England's flankers. Then the English are going to kick penalties after penalties and despite some heroic but un productive last minute effort, the French will be on their way back to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport the next morning.What? The English team did not read this post??? They should have, the method to beat France was clearly spelled out in my post…
Anyway, thank God I don't drink because I'd be drunk, no, passed out, by now!!!
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Yup!
I could hardly believe my eyes when turning on the computer I saw France was leading 16 - 0 after the half-time. What a game in the end! Let's see what the southern countries will do tomorrow. Tough luck to have to get up so early to watch the games… -
i am thinking France will be going to the finals with all blacks which is a bit scary
Yeah. The problem is, France is too unpredictable. You never know how they will handle the pressure and if they will play a good game. They may well lose against Wales, this year they have lost against Italy and Tonga…
My guess: France - NZ in the final round and the kiwis will bring it at the final with a special haka that will scare the French shitless. Or, maybe the French do not get scared and...
Anyway, the best half is always the third, so let's be happy about that! -
I thought M. Bougard said he didn't drink?! I reckon he's still lying under a table somewhere recovering
Alors M. Bougard? M. BOUGARD?!Yes Here I Am in full effect. To tell you the truth, this was such an ugly win I did not feel like celebrating. I'll celebrate when we win the RWC. Given NZ's display of force, agility, grace and intelligence on Sunday, I dont know how we can win on Saturday. Especially since I'll be in New York for the final and I dont know if they are showing Rugby there. So without me pushing and yelling, the French dont stand a chance… Now, having said that and showed the compulsory humbleness and all of that BS, there is a 15% chance (that's according to bookmakers) that France can produce yet another miracle. I was more into the 10% territory, but you get the idea. Imagine the following scenario:
AB's start really hard on us, kick a penalty at the 4th minute and lead 3-0
We kick in their 30m and Cruden fumbles the ball, which inexplicably rolls a couple meters before Clerc picks it up and bypasses Cory Jane with one of his moves to land in promised land, Para misses the conversion 5-3 France
Furious and agitated, AB's cant get their shit together for some reason and McCaw gets penalized by the South African referee more than usual. France 8-3
Right before the half, in one of the very few times we're close to their 22m line, Para kicks a magnificent drop goal
11-3 at the half for France.
44th minute, as NZ attacks, a beautiful try by Maa Nonu, great conversion by Piri Weepu 11-10 France
48th minute, Pascal Pape get yellow carded for a flagrant foul on yet another AB offense. Either that or another try. AB's conver the penalty 13-11 NZ
20 minutes of WWI Trench war style, a penalty each 16-14 NZ
68th minute, Cory Jane's pass to Sonny Bill Williams in France's 22 looks like yet another try for NZ, EXCEPT that Rougerie, for once in his life, intercepts the pass and does not fumble it, but instead runs 60 meters before being tackled by Israel Dagg, but some some reason, Rougerie is all of a sudden able to make a pass to Cedric Heymans, who just came in to replace an injured Alexandre Palisson, who zooms to the try zone, easy conversion by Para, 21-16 France.
Idiot French fumble on reception after the ball is kicked from the half line by Cruden, scrum. Evil referee blows his whistle on Nicolas Mas, penalty for NZ, 35m from the posts, slightly on the left. Weepu to kick, and misses!!!
74mn, fear and desperation start to show in AB's eyes. Images of 1999, 2007 start flashing in their tired brains. Yet they muster the energy to launch another brilliant attack, Yachvilli nearly intercepts a risky pass by Owen Francks, but misses it. Referee who must have had bad French food the night before, whistles another penalty for NZ, this time converted by Cruden. 21-19 France.5 minutes to go, France resists like in Verdun and wins the world cup...
Another bad day for NZ against the French underunderunderdogs and we win the World Cup for the first time ever...
Now how about that?
