Wales vs France Six Nations 2016

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Wales v France

Date: Friday, 26 February
Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 20:05 GMT

Coverage: Live on BBC One Wales & S4C, commentary on Radio 5 live sports extra, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru & BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app, plus live text commentary.

Wales team: Liam Williams (Scarlets), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Jonathan Davies (ASM Clermont), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins), George North (Northampton ), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Gareth Davies (Scarlets); Rob Evans (Scarlets), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Samson Lee (Scarlets); Bradley Davies (Wasps), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys); Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, CAPT), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues), Rhys Priestland (Bath), Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues).

France Team: Maxime Medard; Virimi Vakatawa, Maxime Mermoz, Jonathan Danty, Djibril Camara; Jules Plisson, Maxime Machenaud; Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado (capt), Rabah Slimani, Alexandre Flanquart, Paul Jedrasiak, Antoine Burban, Damien Chouly, Wenceslas Lauret.

Replacements: Camille Chat, Uini Atonio, Vincent Pelo, Yoann Maestri, Loann Goujon, Sebastien Bezy, Francois Trinh Duc, Gael Fickou.

Another penalty.

Discipline has been dire

Bleh

France finally get over the line and Barnes awards it.

Hmm. Wales give up some of their margin by 7 points.

19-10.

Well done Wales. On the wagon rolls.

Pot Hale wrote:Amazing.  France over the line again. Held up and Wales have conceded another penalty. No card.

This has been the worst refereeing performance I have seen in years. Barnes has single handledly handed the match to Wales.

Decider at Twickernam next week!

wales606 wrote:This game has been a dull succession of penalties and scrums, thanks in part to Wayne Barnes.

Thought he was getting to be a decent ref, but my opinion may have changed.

eh? There should of been more dull penalties if Barnes didn't have a case of homer reffing. Those dull penalties are thanks to the teams not the ref.

Pot Hale wrote:France finally get over the line and Barnes awards it.

Hmm.  Wales give up some of their margin by 7 points.

19-10.  

Well done Wales. On the wagon rolls.

Well done Wales Barnes. On the wagon rolls.

Exiledinborders wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Amazing.  France over the line again. Held up and Wales have conceded another penalty. No card.

This has been the worst refereeing performance I have seen in years. Barnes has single handledly handed the match to Wales.

Tone it down will you, I agree Barnes has had a poor match but having to read your drivel all game gets a bit boring.

A great win for Wales. Over all a very scrappy game, France did not play ant where near what i thought they would play like.

A great Try for George North.. bit lucky with the bounce. France could not get through a very solid defence by Wales.

Gareth Davis MOM, really? I thought Liam Williams was more deserving choice. for MOM.

But as the saying goes a win is a win.

So well played Wales for getting the win.

Ali Williams says the scrum is just a way of restarting the game. Shewerly it's more than that otherwise it's rugby league.

As soon as AW Jones went off with another 5 m line out I thought here we go again give away another last minute try and so it was. Why make subs on the line reducing points difference at the end of the series.

Wales attack was not good shame M Morgan not on the bench.

majesticimperialman wrote:A great win for Wales. Over all a very scrappy game, France did not play ant where near what i thought they would play like.

A great Try for George North.. bit lucky with the bounce. France could not get through a very solid defence by Wales.

Gareth Davis MOM, really? I thought Liam Williams was more deserving choice. for MOM.

But as the saying goes a win is a win.

So well played Wales for getting the win.

How was that a great try for George North? It was a good kick by Davies but North made a mess of the chance to pick up and score. It was just lucky for him that the idiot Frenchman kicked it back to him to score.

majesticimperialman wrote:
Gareth Davis MOM, really? I thought Liam Williams was more deserving choice. for MOM.

Warburton or AWJ MOTM for me. Forwards win these kind of games.

Have to laugh at the state of NH rugby though, watched Cheetahs-Jaguares earlier on, that was so much better than that turgid show.

nathan wrote:

Exiledinborders wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Amazing.  France over the line again. Held up and Wales have conceded another penalty. No card.

This has been the worst refereeing performance I have seen in years. Barnes has single handledly handed the match to Wales.

Tone it down will you, I agree Barnes has had a poor match but having to read your drivel all game gets a bit boring.

I'm bored of the ref getting blamed all the time. Maybe the game needs to change its ways in some shape or form.

glamorganalun wrote:As soon as AW Jones went off with another 5 m line out I thought here we go again give away another last minute try and so it was. Why make subs on the line reducing points difference at the end of the series.

Wales attack was not good shame M Morgan not on the bench.

If we beat Italy and England we'll be top regardless of points.
I'm pleased with the win though, I'd of taken it if you'd offered it to me before the game.

We're gonna rue not being bold and not getting rid of Howley. I'd be happy if we used all the money from the principality naming deal and used it on a backs coach who knows what he's doing. We're top of the six nations despite never playing out of first gear but that's only because Ireland, Scotland and France are urine poor teams. New Zealand would slaughter us at the mo

Cardiff Dave wrote:

nathan wrote:

Exiledinborders wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Amazing.  France over the line again. Held up and Wales have conceded another penalty. No card.

This has been the worst refereeing performance I have seen in years. Barnes has single handledly handed the match to Wales.

Tone it down will you, I agree Barnes has had a poor match but having to read your drivel all game gets a bit boring.

I'm bored of the ref getting blamed all the time. Maybe the game needs to change its ways in some shape or form.

That is one of the flaws with the game - can't think of many others where the ref can make such a big difference

Exiledinborders wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:He had his arm round his neck - how is that not a clear penalty?

Barnes has clearly decided he wants Wales to win. Disgusting!

Questioning the integrity of a referee shows the class of that person

Gwlad wrote:Barnes is destroying the scrum and hence the game. What a dirge. Anyones game.

He needs to stop critiquing the scrum and he needs to stop being over familiar with some players.

Just Barnes inability to let a game flow by spending so much time pouncing around at the scrum

As Ali Williams says, we are watching a game of Wayne Barnes reffing

Sure Ali Williams mentioned on Scrum V last week that he'd not read the laws of the game then he goes and bashes the ref tonight. You gotta laugh.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

nathan wrote:

Exiledinborders wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Amazing.  France over the line again. Held up and Wales have conceded another penalty. No card.

This has been the worst refereeing performance I have seen in years. Barnes has single handledly handed the match to Wales.

Tone it down will you, I agree Barnes has had a poor match but having to read your drivel all game gets a bit boring.

I'm bored of the ref getting blamed all the time. Maybe the game needs to change its ways in some shape or form.

Modern rugby games are a battle of attrition, with referees on the day deciding which teams win.

Shifty wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

nathan wrote:

Exiledinborders wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Amazing.  France over the line again. Held up and Wales have conceded another penalty. No card.

This has been the worst refereeing performance I have seen in years. Barnes has single handledly handed the match to Wales.

Tone it down will you, I agree Barnes has had a poor match but having to read your drivel all game gets a bit boring.

I'm bored of the ref getting blamed all the time. Maybe the game needs to change its ways in some shape or form.

Modern rugby games are a battle of attrition, with referees on the day deciding which teams win.  

You mean Northern Hemisphere rugby surely?

Well we won, we won't beat England playing like that.

How bad are France? They look fat and unfit. Good defence by Wales but the quality of the French attack was very poor. No arm tackles, neck rolls, in front of Barnes and he ignores it. Guess he's just looking out for himself worried about getting back to England in one piece.

VinceWLB wrote:

Shifty wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

nathan wrote:

Exiledinborders wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Amazing.  France over the line again. Held up and Wales have conceded another penalty. No card.

This has been the worst refereeing performance I have seen in years. Barnes has single handledly handed the match to Wales.

Tone it down will you, I agree Barnes has had a poor match but having to read your drivel all game gets a bit boring.

I'm bored of the ref getting blamed all the time. Maybe the game needs to change its ways in some shape or form.

Modern rugby games are a battle of attrition, with referees on the day deciding which teams win.  

You mean Northern Hemisphere rugby surely?

Or the players should stop being thick s**** and learn the rules of the game instead of spending all day down the gym or nandos. That no arm tackle by Lydiate was stupid and Barnes penalises him for being a fool. Props not binding properly, late hits, high tackles, not rolling away, offside etc are all to do with the players and not the ref. He's just applying the laws

Shifty wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

nathan wrote:

Exiledinborders wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Amazing.  France over the line again. Held up and Wales have conceded another penalty. No card.

This has been the worst refereeing performance I have seen in years. Barnes has single handledly handed the match to Wales.

Tone it down will you, I agree Barnes has had a poor match but having to read your drivel all game gets a bit boring.

I'm bored of the ref getting blamed all the time. Maybe the game needs to change its ways in some shape or form.

Modern rugby games are a battle of attrition, with referees on the day deciding which teams win.  

That's why it's boring although there's the Welsh tour of New Zealand looming. Shall we blame the ref now for a 3 nil whitewash?

If you want to kill a game there is no better ref than Barnes, scrums take an age, turn overs where players not supporting their own weight and the Tackle off the ball on Falatau should have resulted in a yellow for foul play.

A positive for me, Cuthbert had a goodish game and Liam Williams was back to his best.

Not sure about that one Dave. I bet the SH side wins at least one match against Wales.

new backs coach PLEASE......but said it so many times i'm boring myself !  gareth davies no way mom.. butchered try chance, 3 box kicks in inappropriate positions,  slower yes slower than mikey p with delivery, passing to the left is woeful  ...needs physio on right arm  to loosen up his service ......  hurry back webb.   5 for me did themselves proud....biggar   especially the crucial penalty and managed to reign in a 'spaghetti ' of a game,  rob evans awesome from the young guy, star of the future , warbs ...back on it , and awj.....best game so far...still off the mark, and liam w. ...reliable......but don't forget the accuracy of biggars kicks for him to chase. on the way up.............its a win

glamorganalun wrote:If you want to kill a game there is no better ref than Barnes, scrums take an age, turn overs where players not supporting their own weight and the Tackle off the ball on Falatau should have resulted in a yellow for foul play.

A positive for me, Cuthbert had a goodish game and Liam Williams was back to his best.

Feel for cuthbert, same with Tom James though in the prev two games. Wales don't put the ball in their hands and put them one on one. We may as well play a flanker on the wing for an extra defender as we don't have any back play whatsoever, the ball goes to JD2 and then he kicks it away

englandglory4ever wrote:Not sure about that one Dave. I bet the SH side wins at least one match against Wales.

True Raven wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:

Shifty wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

nathan wrote:

Exiledinborders wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Amazing.  France over the line again. Held up and Wales have conceded another penalty. No card.

This has been the worst refereeing performance I have seen in years. Barnes has single handledly handed the match to Wales.

Tone it down will you, I agree Barnes has had a poor match but having to read your drivel all game gets a bit boring.

I'm bored of the ref getting blamed all the time. Maybe the game needs to change its ways in some shape or form.

Modern rugby games are a battle of attrition, with referees on the day deciding which teams win.  

You mean Northern Hemisphere rugby surely?

Or the players should stop being thick s**** and learn the rules of the game instead of spending all day down the gym or nandos.  That no arm tackle by Lydiate was stupid and Barnes penalises him for being a fool.  

Barnes did not penalise Lydiate despite being five yards away from the incident with a clear view. Amazingly he gave a penalty to Wales which was kicked for touch. The TMO then intervened and drew Barnes' attention to the obvious foul play.

Not amazingly as he gave a penalty for the French player sealing the ball as he missed the Lydiate no arms tackle (believe it or not the ref doesn't see everything hence why there is a TMO). When the TMO told Barnes he penalised Lydiate and gave a penalty...so to sum it up he did penalise Lydiate which is what I said. If you want to post ten times how Barnes was biased towards Wales then do it somewhere else where people give a sh!t cos that crap is what immature tw@ts say

A win's a win and congrats to Wales. But is this the worse French side in a generation? Or more.

eirebilly wrote:France were once a great team to watch but these late cheap shots are a disgrace...

For zero punishment too. Shambles.

Some people on here might not have watched a lot of France games since Jauzion or even Sella were playing! it's like the PSA era never happened! Considering some of the players we had starting didn't quite have the level and experience requiers the end result wasn't too bad. It still an improvement from the previous two games it just happens that Wales has a better organised defense than Italy and that they took their points/chances which Ireland didn't! That said apart from a weird try and great defending what did Wales really show? And with probably 3 times more caps they were massive favourites as well yet they hardly the ball in the 2nd half.
Not my issue anyway but I know which team is progressing at least. From a French POV, really happy with our captain commitment and leadership. Considering he played 60 minutes last Sunday I wasn't expecting half of that performance from him, our best ball carrier and defender and player by miles. Otherwise good efforts from both props, good line out , solid Machenaud. Even Chouly had a decent game. The gambles Burban and Camara didn't worked. Plisson was rubbish but am confindent Trinh Duc will start against Scotland now anyway (he's just coming back from a long injury so being on the bench in Cardiff was already good enough).

True Raven wrote:

Exiledinborders wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:He had his arm round his neck - how is that not a clear penalty?

Barnes has clearly decided he wants Wales to win. Disgusting!

Questioning the integrity of a referee shows the class of that person

Yep. Very sad to see the Wums still rule here.

englandglory4ever wrote:How bad are France? They look fat and unfit. Good defence by Wales but the quality of the French attack was very poor. No arm tackles, neck rolls, in front of Barnes and he ignores it. Guess he's just looking out for himself worried about getting back to England in one piece.

He also ignored French cheap shots which was the clearest card. Any comment on that, or are you and your like on here one track minded?

Exiledinborders wrote:

True Raven wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:

Shifty wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

nathan wrote:

Exiledinborders wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Amazing.  France over the line again. Held up and Wales have conceded another penalty. No card.

This has been the worst refereeing performance I have seen in years. Barnes has single handledly handed the match to Wales.

Tone it down will you, I agree Barnes has had a poor match but having to read your drivel all game gets a bit boring.

I'm bored of the ref getting blamed all the time. Maybe the game needs to change its ways in some shape or form.

Modern rugby games are a battle of attrition, with referees on the day deciding which teams win.  

You mean Northern Hemisphere rugby surely?

Or the players should stop being thick s**** and learn the rules of the game instead of spending all day down the gym or nandos.  That no arm tackle by Lydiate was stupid and Barnes penalises him for being a fool.  

Barnes did not penalise Lydiate despite being five yards away from the incident with a clear view. Amazingly he gave a penalty to Wales which was kicked for touch. The TMO then intervened and drew Barnes' attention to the obvious foul play.

Worst most obvious foul was the hit on Taulupe. Talk me through that, for some balance then wum.

whocares wrote:Some people on here might not have watched a lot of France games since Jauzion or even Sella were playing! it's like the PSA era never happened! Considering some of the players we had starting didn't quite have the level and experience requiers the end result wasn't too bad. It still an improvement from the previous two games it just happens that Wales has a better organised defense than Italy and that they took their points/chances which Ireland didn't! That said apart from a weird try and great defending what did Wales really show? And with probably 3 times more caps they were massive favourites as well yet they hardly the ball in the 2nd half.
Not my issue anyway but I know which team is progressing at least. From a French POV, really happy with our captain commitment and leadership. Considering he played 60 minutes last Sunday I wasn't expecting half of that performance from him, our best ball carrier and defender and player by miles. Otherwise good efforts from both props, good line out , solid Machenaud. Even Chouly had a decent game. The gambles Burban and Camara didn't worked. Plisson was rubbish but am confindent Trinh Duc will start against Scotland now anyway (he's just coming back from a long injury so being on the bench in Cardiff was already good enough).

Wales were never in danger of losing that, despite being blunt. That's a worry surely?

You mean 9-3 at HT and leaving possession to your opponent during the 2nd half is deemed as being in control that's pretty high standard

If you trust your defence yes. For all that dominance, it took to 79 to score, did it not? Particularly if even you choose to mention possession.

I think a better team will trouble us more. Certainly England will, as players like Joseph have proven they can. Whether it turns into that sort of thing is a different matter. This six nations is a turgid affair and so if Team Wales hit a lead, I don't see them being troubled too much. Trouble is, I don't think England will give them a lead next up.

Sign of a good side is win when playing poorly

Welsh defense is superb and makes them extremely hard to beat

Biggar kicks his goals and we usually add a try or two in the last 3rd

England will come rumbling at us the way they are won't to do but I expect we'll win again just the same

"That's only the second try we've conceded against France in six matches and that was a driven lineout where you could argue it was truck and trailer."

Well said Cement Head.

Still, we were in real danger of losing that game. Hope the cheap shotters get banned finally too. Targeting players deliberately is bang out of order, whether you have a lot of possession or not.

Glad Samson decided to bind on the arm in the end too, seeing as it was fine for one team's tighthead. Well done Team Wales.

Bit harder than usual, well the 2nd half was but seeing as they have not beaten us since 2011 they can not all be easy

Still that's our main rivals dealt with, 2 games to go.

rainbow-warrior wrote:Bit harder than usual, well the 2nd half was but seeing as they have not beaten us since 2011 they can not all be easy

Still that's our main rivals dealt with, 2 games to go.

agreed

4 points from the last 2 matches

Blimey even Andy Howell has woken up & smelt the coffee!

'George Norths try summed up Wales win - a game low on quality & largely devoid of ideas'

How didn't the French captain get mom?

Yes a win is a win but...........

Seems to be a lot of posters criticising Wales for their lack of creativity whilst implying England are the next messiah in this regard. Let's be clear: England have beaten Scotland and Italy. Let's see how they do today against a team with a good defence who will deny them easy space for the full eighty, and then revisit how fantastic and creative their backs are...

You've gotta laugh on here. Wales win and again we have the usual suspects coming on here saying that we got away with it, and that the ref was biased.

We get ALL the decisions Wales had in their favour scrutinised yet nothing is said about the decisions that went against us, Wayne Barnes kept us in our own 22 for about twenty minutes last night, he allowed France to hold on every time in the rucks, when we clearly were winning the ball fair and square, he was pinging us in the scrums when it was clear that the French tight head was driving inwards at an angle and not binding, and the less said about the cheap shot on Faletau the better, but the usual suspects do not seem to want to talk abot this.

Wales won last night because they ruled the air, and were rock solid in defence, France had no answer to this, that being said, we seriously need to see some imagination when we have the ball, we butchered do many oppertnities as well, I just do not know what Howley is telling our players.