The Fall of France

[Adder]

Taken back ... Did they not pass the ball again in their 22?

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[hugh_woatmeigh]

O'Shea has the game plan but there's only so much you can do with such limited players.

Immediately after Zanni's break the french commit nobody to the ruck. First support player arrives, joins ruck. Second arrives... joins ruck. Scrum half eventually arrives and the defence has set. Cringeworthy.

[rowan]

Apparently the French ran riot in the U20 fixture, 72-13 or something . . .




78-12, in fact, and the Italians had done fairly well in their previous outings against England & Ireland. French obviously have strength at age-grade level. They posted 69 points against the Scots as well and are averaging 60 per game.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

What is it about Italy capitulating at the 60 min mark? Is it fitness? Treviso and Zebre do it often as well.

[rowan]

Shame. Nearly 2 decades in the championship and they look headed for back-to-back winless campaigns.

[Sandydragon]

O'Shea has the game plan but there's only so much you can do with such limited players.

Immediately after Zanni's break the french commit nobody to the ruck. First support player arrives, joins ruck. Second arrives... joins ruck. Scrum half eventually arrives and the defence has set. Cringeworthy.

Aye. Some individual decent performances from Italian players, but as a team too slow and too indisciplined.

France were terrible, but almost got a bonus point.

[Adder]

O'Shea has the game plan but there's only so much you can do with such limited players.

Immediately after Zanni's break the french commit nobody to the ruck. First support player arrives, joins ruck. Second arrives... joins ruck. Scrum half eventually arrives and the defence has set. Cringeworthy.

Aye. Some individual decent performances from Italian players, but as a team too slow and too indisciplined.

France were terrible, but almost got a bonus point.

Good 1/2 backs missing for both teams.

France missed so many points. It looks like a mental thing.

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[rowan]

Shame. Nearly 2 decades in the championship and they look headed for back-to-back winless campaigns.

In fact, it'll be 3 winless seasons in a row. The last time Italy won was almost 3 years ago to the day, versus Scotland on Feb 28, 2015, and they've now lost 15 straight games since then. I wonder how long its been since a team went three seasons without a win. Possibly back to the first years of French involvement in the 5 Nations?

[rowan]

Just researched this: Italy has indeed broken their own record of 10 straight losses (04-06). They managed 7 after beating Scotland on debut, and have lost 6 in a row twice. Ireland also lost 6 in a row (61-62) and no one else has gone more than 5 - not even France in the early days.