South African Rugby

Sunday, November 27, 2005

S**t the french were good 26 -20 to the frenchies

France underlined their growing stature with an elegant 26-20 victory over South Africa at Stade de France in Paris on Saturday. It was performance full of verve and cunning that left the touring Springboks looking decidedly flat-footed


South Africa were, until late in the game, better in the scrums. And they were better in the line-outs. But the French tackled better, protected the ball better at the tackle and contested the tackle more than the Springboks did.

There was also a big difference at halfback where the French had strong, lively, varied, accurate Jean-Baptiste Elissalde at scrum-half and mercurial Frédéric Michalak at fly-half. This was a far more effective pairing than the Springbok rookies of Meyer Bosman and Michael Claassen. Mind you, that the French were much better in the post-tackle contest made life easier for their halves and harder for the South African halves.

John Smit hearing has been postponed this is in respect to him have a pop at the french captain lang arm style .The french captain needed to go into hospital for
a fractured larynx he will be out of action for six weeks ,John I think they are going to throw the book at you.












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