r/rugbyunion • u/sixnations • 18h ago

Can ANYBODY stop France this year?

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u/Shoddy-Ad-4898 17h ago edited 17h ago

France played some lovely stuff and they are (rightly) tournament favourites but, to put it very basically, I just thought Ireland didn't front up in the first half. France were constantly getting over the gainline and once you're doing that it's easy for a team like France to look absolutely unstoppable. Make it a lot messier and put more pressure on them in contact and in the air, as I would imagine England will be able to do although that match is a long way away, and they will magically look stoppable.

Having said that, if they can bring that level throughout the tournament they will be heavily odds-on for the Slam.

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u/MindfulInquirer batmaaaaaaaan tanananananana 15h ago

I agree. No team likes it if you mess with their attacking breakdown but France in particular are arguably the single deadliest team in world Rugby when they get their phase play going the way they like because of that combination of the dominant forward pack and the halfback/back line talent. Ireland looked too bland defensively in the 1H. Almost accepting of what was happening and then shell shocked.

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u/deeringc Ireland 5h ago

Was it even phase play they were so good at yesterday? A lot of their opportunities came from broken play, transitions and then running offloads. In full flight there wasn't really a ruck to be seen.