I dont see why its so incredible. Greg has one a great job in the heart of the fieldin defence. A player like pelissier is the kind of guy you want going at the tired forwards later in the half. the incredile thing for me was it took 38 of waiting for Pelissier to come on.

no criticism of Greg - he's had a great season as captain & leader as well as looking solid wherever Trent has asked him to play but Eloi is the natural first choice hooker - we all witnessed the difference in tempo and imagination he brought to the side

the big dissappointment for me was the total neagtivity in tactics with Thomas kicking a penanlty (and missing) early doors when the french had the iniative and the obvious choice was to play the ball and go for the six points

can't imagine Bobby ever doing that in his playing days so why try it as a coach ?

Hooker? Kand and Pelissier.
Mounis at LF, Baitieri to play next to Bosc.

would somebody pleas explain that to Bobby ?

If I could.

Yes we did, but it would have been hard for him to keep that up for 80 mins. He doesnt do it for the Dragon's so why should he have to do it in the test match? I really can't imagine for one second you would have thought he could Peter.

Bobby didn't put the ball on the kicking tee, I agree the two was the wrong option but TBH the coach can only be held so accountable. Overall the tactic's wern't too negative and both sides tried to play decent rugby.

20 for Scotland match:

Elima
Casty
Fakir
Pellisier
Bentley
Simon
Baitieri
Gossard
Bousquet
Bemba
Duport
Stacul
Vaccari
Greseque
Chisholm
Pala
Baile
Cardace
Bosc
Arnaud

Starting 17:

1 Stacul
2 Duport
3 Baile
4 Pala
5 Vaccari
6 Chisholm
7 Bosc
8 Fakir
9 Bentley
10 Casty
11 Elima
12 Gossard
13 Baitieri

14 Greseque
15 Simon
16 Pellisier
17 Bousquet

We have a very very bad weather here... in the eye of the storm

I still would have started with Eloi and kept Kane in reserve - can't see why Greseque keeps his place ? surely we should be looking to new blood - he has been auseful player in his time but not international class IMO - the rest looks a decent side tho' and should be about 25 points better than the scots....

Guys, do you have the Scots line up? I let a void on my preview..

I assume it will be the same side that beat Ireland last time out - something like :

SCOTLAND

Alex Hurst
Crawford Matthews
Josh Barlow
Dave Arnot
David Scott
Lee Paterson
John Duffy
Jack Stearman
Andrew Henderson
Neil Lowe
Sam Barlow
Paddy Coupar
Alex Szostak
Subs:
Jack Howieson
Callum Cockburn
Mike Stewart
Giles Lomax

Thank you.

Quote ="catalawayoflife"Thank you.'" here's the team www.ffr13.fr/index.php/component ... e/128/1426

Quote ="catalawayoflife"Thank you.'" here's the team www.ffr13.fr/index.php/component ... e/128/1426

some streaming of this game on the net, cant wait.

I wrote the report ! Interessting game, hope I did a good job
[urlhttp://www.sang-et-or.net/readarticle.php?article_id=918[/url

Watched this one on the net before watching Engand on the sky+. I thought France played really well, stuck to the task when Scotland got fired up. The scots made a good fist of it until they run out of steam. It was like watching a Challenge cup game between a SL team and Championship team. France always seemed to have too much. Thought Bosquet was superb and is such a prospect. Max Greseque sparked the team I thought when he came on after we had all written him off after the England knights game. Chisholm seemed to do evrything right today too. Overall Scotland just struggled to conatain the power of the French pack and a few times we saw the forwards charge through the Scottish line for a break.

thanks & well done Vivien - a fair summing up of the game

France made loads of errors and made life difficult for themselves at times much to the frustration of Goulding but still managed a comfortable victory over a brave Scotland side

The proud Scots coach Steve Mack summed it up well after the game when he said his boys (loads of young lads) competed well well for 30 minutes of each half but the superior fitness levels (SL fitness levels) were the telling factor as well as the extra class you would expect from the Catalan squad

quite agree with that marv but my criticism of Greseque still holds - he did ok when he eventually came on and did indeed spark some enthousiasm into the team tho' the the Scots at that time were struggling with fitness levels.He has been a decent player but I would have preferred a younger option like William Barthau or Tony Gigot for example.
Bousquet was impressive and with Ferriol now out of the international scene the future looks good with him a Simon plus of course the inimitable Jamel Fakir who was outstanding (and my MOM) yesterday.Dane Chisholm looked impressive and surprisingly quick when let loose.Pelissier livened things up when he eventually came on for Kane who looked a little sluggish IMO though did ok when he came back on towards the end.
A decent performance by the lads with the expected result but a less than happy looking Goulding leaving the ground alone looking forward to going home rather than spending any time with the french lads it seems whereas Steve Mack was with his players and the different approach by the two coaches was quite embarassing .....

Sat outside a lovely little cafe in Beziers... with wifi so some thoughts on yesterday. Whoever got Chisholm to play for France pulled off a real coup. Did someone scratch the Scottish number 11's car pre-game? He was in a stinking mood from kick-off... great stuff


When the French went in so early I really feared for the Scots but they were really up for it and it was only when their legs gave up on them at around 55 minutes when France started cruising. I'd like to see an expanded European Cup in the future with Italy, The Knights and Lebanon joining this year's teams.
We enjoyed the game but the atmosphere was a bit flat despite the best efforts of the bald bloke with the microphone. Really like the look of the new stand although there still isn't enough space to move around once you go looking for a toilet or a beer.

I totally agree with your criticism of MG mate, he was awful in the England Knights game. I think he has been quite poor in a France shirt for a while now. Just think that the way he was used yesterday is possibly the best way to get something out of him at international level. Dont think likes of Gigot or Barthau have the nous that Max does.
Every time i see Bosquet I see more to get exited about, his body shape has changed since being at FCLtoo. He really excites meKane was lucky to not sit down for ten after throwing a few punches early on, Pelissier did well once again coming off the bench and I really feel this is where he is best.
I don't know mate, I think you need to give Bobbie credit where its due. He doesn't seem to be able to win ATM For me Bobbie and his staff worked the game well, used the bench well and looked to have some good combos in the halves finally. The game was over and any memeber of the squad deserves their own time? ATEOTD steve mc is on tour with his boys, he can hardly avoid them?

Chisholm did ok and it was a tos-up betwen him and Jamel for the MOM - he (Chisholm) is a really nice guy and I asked him after where he was playing next season - he said he had no idea and was waiting for offers.....

The Scots no.11 was Josh Barlow (his brother was no.10) was brutal at times and was close a few times to doing serious damage to some french lads ....... Sam isn't exactly a pusycat either.....

I felt there was a lot of spite in the game, maybe spilling over from previous years, hopefully.

Thanks sanjunien.

Totally agreed with you, I've the same feeling. Just don't make Chisholm and Bousquet as stars already, look what happened to Tony Gigot with Alitalia European Cup.
I don't even know where he is playing for now! Just see the Avignonnais at the France training wednesday next to me

i'm not having a go at Bobby - he's a legend for me having played for the Saints but I just feel the present french squad are underperforming - BG said before the game that last week was the best week he has had with the french squad and the spirit was very good which showed in the performance.I agree the lads don't need the bonding thingy with the coach especially on home soil especially at the moment when the team bonding looks really good but I just go by body language and the past few months the body language betwen Larrat & BG has seemed a little strained. Maybe i'm misreading the situation ?
I would love to see BG remain but I don't think his heart is in the france for the long term.There seems to be a lot of pressure from Guasch (the same problem for TR) where the coach doesn't really feel in total control IMO.I hope i'm wrong.
Speaking of TR,he was at the game yesterday and was the first in to see his lads after the game to check on their fitness etc.
Training at the Catalans starts in mid-november for all the squad except those (the majority) who are playing in the internationals who restart on the 5th december.
The two pre-season friendlies are 14th january v Wakey then 21st january v Harlequins,or London Broncos or whatever they are called nowadays ?