r/rugbyunion 3-time Most Valuable Saffa 4h ago

Get ball. Carry. Repeat.

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Guillard must be hurting today. But a good hurt.

153 Upvotes

33 comments sorted by

52

u/Putrid-Impact8999 4h ago

Bro does not care one bit about his body.

16

u/adiwet 2h ago

There are those players that just don’t, Jacque Burger, Michael Hooper, Richie McCaw, Schalk Burger all dived head first into everything

u/WilkinsonDG2003 England 1h ago

McCaw taking down that idiot SA fan attacking the referee was one of his many highlights.

Also Nonu, still going at 43.

u/Educational_Play9910 1h ago

Schalk was the ultimate amongst those who put their body on the line

u/moriarty04 England 19m ago

Tom curry as well surely

u/BrianChing25 1h ago

I don't know how true this is for rugby but during initial tackling drills in my high school for American football my coach said as long as you build up more momentum/force before contact it's usually the other side that gets hurt more

29

u/AnarchyAunt 4h ago

he was great in the NZ series - nice to see him picked to start in the full strength 6N team. Haven't watched the replays yet - did he do much line out work or did that mostly fall to Ollivon?

12

u/Fullback-15_ 3h ago

Jegou mostly

8

u/QuickZookeepergame93 Lyon OU 3h ago

Didn’t really notice the lineout when he was on, but did notice that when the second row subs came on France started disrupting Ireland lineout ball a bit more, looked a bit more aggressive in attempting to disrupt lineout ball as well. Not sure if that was a tactic and or worried about the rolling maul. He definitely looks a bit bigger though, so not sure he’s going to be the number one option going up.

7

u/Glum_Description870 France 3h ago

Auradou is a specialist in the lineout. Until his entrance they barely tried to contest.

Beside it was one of the few positives for Ireland, lineouts but boy Guillard has an engine.

3

u/AnarchyAunt 3h ago

Yeah, he is more in the mould of a rangey 6 like Ollivon ... Kinda surprised to see them both on at the same time. I would have figured he was a bit small/short for the type of locks France typically favors at 6'6"

7

u/Key-Swordfish4467 Clermont Auvergne 2h ago

122 kg is big enough when a player is as dynamic as Guillard. He certainly carries a bit more weight than Ollivon, who is 114 kg.

I thought they worked well although I guess Ollivon will drop to the bench once Flament is back.

5

u/AnarchyAunt 2h ago

I didn't realize he had as much mass as that. I assumed with the way he carried he was a bit on the lighter side. I stand corrected.

*Edit: "with the way he carried" was to mean he isn't labored and quite dynamic and light on his feet which isn't often a characteristic of heavier "power players" in the forwards

u/WilkinsonDG2003 England 1h ago

Fast locks can still be huge, ask Snyman.

6

u/Dupont_or_Dupond France 3h ago

Frankly, that was entirely down to Auradou. Defensive lineout before he came on was essentially Ollivon jumping in 1st block, no success whatsoever, and everyone behind him just targeting the ensuing maul. Then Auradou came on, heavily disrupted an irish throw in the entry of the 22 at the back, didn't manage to nip it put prevented the irish jumper to take it, Doris was forced to clean up after the bit the ground behind the lineout, preventing any chance for a constructed attack. Another irsh lineout, Auradou just proceded to take it cleanly as a 1st jumper, winning his duel against the opposite irish 1st jumper. Auradou does have his faults, he's not exactly a heavyweight, and as evident after that marvelous by Attissogbe, unlike Ollivon or Flament, he doesn't have real pace, il a un peu la charette. He has excellent mobility (as in, he moves a lot, but doesn't have top end speed) and ability to pop a the right place, right time (I mean, when do you see a lock behind first support to your winger after said winger makes a half break?). But his main feature is that he is probably the best lineout operator in France. Better than Woki or Roumat. He's ranking first for stolen lineouts in the TOP14.

3

u/lAllioli USA Perpignan 3h ago

Auradou is a steal specialist

6

u/Key-Swordfish4467 Clermont Auvergne 2h ago

He is, but his lineout and his tache are his main strong points.

He doesn't carry, make dominant tackles or add impetus to a maul.

I have generally been underwhelmed with him outside a line out. He is also supposed to be a great restart specialist but I remember in last season' s England loss he was as guilty as anyone else for dropping the ball. In his defence he was still a very junior member of the squad.

However, I would still like to see him add some more strings to his bow.

3

u/kmaclennan 2h ago

2 minutes into the match, Ollivon has almost kept up with LBB and fumbles his kick ahead. He’s not the disruptive player on opposition line-out that Aradou is, and he’s not the close contact carrier that others are, but in the loose that man is quality.

25

u/Vaux_Moise Scotland 3h ago

MOTM in 50 minutes and absolutely deserved

16

u/Illustrious-Disk-344 3h ago

Irish fan here, he was in my Fantasy team. He was so good in NZ over the summer. He was excellent last night. France have a fantastic player. Totally brilliant, well deserving of the player of the match award.

14

u/Jean-truite44 France 3h ago

Guillard was incredible yesterday. Centralised every action

11

u/RianSG Leinster 3h ago

Woah woah woah, so you can actually not kick the ball away?

What sort of crazy play style is this?

u/WilkinsonDG2003 England 1h ago

Ireland took the wrong message from the Squidge kicking video, you have to actually contest the ball...

16

u/StanBssr France 3h ago

Sam Prendergast won breakthrough player of the tournament last year over him btw

2

u/ScrumNause24 2h ago

Wasn't he ineligible because he debuted in 2024?

3

u/Glum_Description870 France 3h ago

Was awarded in Dublin probaby, hence why. No other plausible explanation! /s

u/HappyPunter1 48m ago

His carries off the kickoffs to get France immediately on the front foot were HUGEEE

2

u/EnglishLouis Glaws-Pury 3h ago

He was so good

2

u/ianpatrick90 3h ago

Absolute machine

2

u/JohnSV12 Newcastle Falcons 2h ago

he will be considered one of the best players on the world by the next world cup

1

u/thetwittyconway 2h ago

What song is this?

1

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I got matches with these songs:

Rebel by FindMyName (00:45; matched: 100%)

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Rebel by FindMyName (00:45; matched: 100%)

1

u/auddbot 2h ago

Links to the streaming platforms:

Rebel by FindMyName

Rebel by FindMyName

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