I was thinking Perpignan. Would there be a good crowd if it were held in Beziers?
With Catalans rumoured to be taking a game to Montpellier, wouldn't it have been an idea to take this game there?

Could have been. Having made the decision to go to Paris though, they could have at least promoted it and, dare I suggest, given some freebies out in the area in a PSG stylee.

Hmm. Villegas starting on the wing, Pelo in the centre. Sadaoui, presumably, on the bench.

Tonga 4, France 0

Tonga 8, France 0.

Even without any points on the board, I feel we've played better this week than either of the last two. Australia are way off, for sure, but so far so reasonable.

Australia finally on the board. Hope this isn't a portent. Oh s. 40/20...

In the first half our backs did alot of the clearing/driving. Wonder whether this is a BG tactic to stop our forwards from tireing in the last 20. Could this be why Ferriol is being very quiet in attack?

Hope your guys can hold on in the second half. Last time I looked it was two tries in six minutes by the Aussies. I daren't look ... (must be ten times worse for you!)

Big mistake holding the match in Paris.

We're in!! Marvellous.

Great try by the Aussies there. Not so great footwork from Hoffman

I'm confused about why France fall away in the second half? I'm not being critical. England can't do first halves. But I'm just mystified as to why they play so well in each first half but can't seem to do it again in the second. It's a pity halftime has to happen.

Stamina?

That was probably our best performance of the competition. Proud of them all.


Right, the freebie king (that's me, by the way) is off to the Galpharm

But are they physically tired? They scored in the second half, which takes some doing in itself. It looks more like a mental thing than a physical one but of course you are probably right.

Jennings in fantasy team

but decided against Brett Morris!

I think the new tactic next year will be to kick for the ref and get a repeat set. Grrr

Ref had a good game, we need more depth and more players of SL level to keep up the intensity for the full 80 (either a second side in SL or more French players playing fo UK clubs).

Yes, Paris was a mistake. Amusingly, had we not done Paris this year then next 4N it could have been a goer.

No freebies, no advertisement... I've just heard there were around 9,000 on


Well done to all involved.

TBF 9k with no freebies in Paris, that's good.

Emailed the FFRXIII re maillots. Will ring them next week if I get the chance. 01 75 44 97 57 ... France is 0033, right?

[url=http://www.sang-et-or.net/readarticle.php?article_id=649Report[/url

A few quick thoughts:
* In the first 40 we did really well stopping the Australian offload, much as they will say they didn't step up a gear, we contained them with good tackling.
* On 64 mins Bosc kicked a bomb on the 4th tackle, why not play for another 10m and bomb into the in-goal area? We tried the bomb to the in-goal once and got a try from it, why not try it more.
* Ferriol did not have a massive 4N for mine, but possibly because he was the only go-to prop in the french side, so Oz were able to plan to contain him.
* Pelo dropped some ball and got bundled to touch a couple of times, but this is only because he is not afraid of the touchline and is trying some high-risk stuff. I can't praise him enough.

Spot on in my opinion. France, Ireland and Wales will make next year's European Cup very competitive.

Next year's European Cup will be a cracker. Would the BBC go for the rights? Would be great to see the matches.

Wales and France are on the up, looks like Scotland and Ireland are benefiting from regualr matches too. What can/should the RLI(E?)F do to support Lebannon and develop Italy and Serbia?

As far as I was aware Whoever lost the game this morning between Italy and Serbia this morning would make way for France.

I'd imagine it would be on Sky again.

Ah, of course, would need one team to drop out to make way for France.

Which unlucky side will be drawn in the same pool as France?