Gringoboy said:
That red card was too harsh by far. Seen worse tackles than that.
Wales stole defeat from the jaws of victory.
The red card may or may not have been too harsh but the fact is that the rules have changed since two years regarding the speared tackles (following, I believe, this precise tackle on Brian O'Driscoll :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTVhckB3juk ).
Rugby is not only played by overtrained pros in perfect physical shapes.
There also are amateurs and kids : if you allow such tackles, what will be the spinal cord injury rate. How many will end in a wheelchair?
Aside of that, was the penal at 74" justified?
Don't get me wrong, like many French think, the Welsh would have desserved to reach the Finale. It reminds me a bit of the French team ten years ago : doing the show but losing in the end (the English 2003 win : 72 points scored in various stages, among which 62 scored by Wilko with drops/penals... if I recall).
Criterias such as "intent" are not taken into account with those tackles.
I feel sorry (sincerely) for your Captain. Indeed, I don't think he did it on purpose and he must feel ashamed. The reds played a style of game I like (what we call Rugby Champagne).
There might be two different types of frustration here : the one regarding the red card (all the refs agree it was red, even the Welsh ones... TV commentators are not there to be objective).
The other source of frustration is that the Welsh were two points away from winning what would have been one of the greatest moments in the history of rugby (15 vs 14, semi-final of the WC, facing the damn Bleus = all the perfect ingredients)... They didn't:
-Had it not rained before, the Welsh would have had a little plus.
-France did convert 100% of the penals, Wales did not (hitting the pole once + the 74" one which "died" from a few inches = that's the cruel law of sports).
-France, despite being very boring watching (I agree), did like 130 tackles in the game (impressive), missing only 8 of them!(Thanks to our English defence coach since 2000
avid Ellis).
-During the last +20 phases of the game : Welsh were trying to get a penal but the fact is that the French are disciplined now (it's not like 20 years ago where they would react with their latin blood to provocations). Just one drop was needed to win the game.
Aside of that, the fact it was the French spices it up obviously, as you certainly know.
But all in all, indeed the world is turning berzerk: French have now discipline, are quite good at defending (with ups & downs) and play a boring game.
But don't worry, the AB will avenge you... unless
It seems our British friends won't support us for the Finale, which is a bit sad since we would have supported any team from the NH... But it's not a bad thing = the Bleus love that when everybody is against them
If some of our British friends want to join the French to watch the Finale, they are welcome at the "Merval" bar on sunday morning. They can come with their jerseys and will be warmly welcomed (first rounds of drinks on me!)