French commentators and mr Bentham are apparently watching different games.

Another year in the international second divison then.

best team won - margin should have been bigger,ten points instead of one - france were out muscled and outcoached - Munoz had the penalty chqnce to grab it at the death but was told NOT to kick (his words) by BG - the welsh were stronger and wanted to win more - it was like Catalans v Crusaders with the home team showing why they took the wooden spoon - the general standard of play was Championship,at best - what a waste of diesel !

They couldn't kick, it was a differencial penalty for breaking from the scrum. You can't kick at goal for that. You could hear Bentham saying that on television.

ok catalancs,couldn't hear that from where I was sat

all in all a poor performance - average standard of RL,Championship at best imo

still baffled by the appointment of Monsieur Jowitt - why didn't BG consider LF from Catalans as assistant ? answer - because it's a a case of 'jobs for the boys' - "gizza job Bob my old mate" etc etc

hope Bobby stays on tho' cos' he has brought on some good young players who will get better but he has to change his backroom mates for people who actually understand the french mentality - Jowitts' attitude after the game seemed to be 'oh well,never mind,let's have another pint Bob,thanks for the extra cash.'...........he critised the french game last season and questioned their right to even play in SL or Championship - what a hypocrite !
Let's get people in who actually CARES about the future of the french game,not hypocritical mercenries

Don't agree with you sanj. End of the first half the French had showed themselves to be impervious to anything the Welsh tried, they should have been 12 points up had they kept their cool. "Rush of blood to the head" sums up the French performance, they were the better side and had they chosen to play as such would have ground out a win. Interesting to note the FCL coach claiming that the French weren't playing with enough offloads! If anything they were too reluctant to play out a simple set, if that's what passes as coaching in the LER then I'm in the wrong job.

Temperament issues for the French?

Nah...

for me,the fist half was fairly even and it's the basic errors which prevented them from maybe taking in a bigger lead - the second half they were outmuscled.
they DID try offloading,sometimes successfully though most of the time their play was too predictable - the welsh moved the ball better (more expansive rugby) and again exposed the french defensive frailties
fortunately Briers wasn't playing which could have given te welsh a cricket score !
for me it was a game where no frenchmen played badly (Baitieri again looked ordinary) but the welsh played with more pride and fire - they were nOT going to lose that game...I thought Iestyn got it dead right on the day.

Im gonna watch the highlights on sky again tonight..........I very much enjoyed the game, its all very well bemoaning Bobbie and Warren Jowitt, who IMO had done a superb job at Dewsbury and made them a very difficult side to beat, I can see what Bobbie was perhaps thinking appointing him, allthough I would have liked to see Stu Wilkie alongside him again.

Anyway, as I say we have spent the club season complaining about Kevvie and now the international season comes round we replace Kevvie for Bobbie...............methinks its time for us to have a good look at the players, there was more than enough in the squad to win the comp, they had every game at home, they took the pitch and they lost the game.

Bobbie looked livid on tv with some of the desisions made on the pitch by the players, and I dont blame him.

Dissappointing effort that
Obviously not, but maybe you were able to see them breaking from the scrum or had you taken up a Kev Walters style position?

shame they wont be in the Four Nations but might give some of our players a rest at long last !!

Will they not play in the European Cup?


rlChairman of the Rugby League European Federation, Richard Lewis has hailed the success of the Alitalia European Cup which was won by Wales on Saturday following a dramatic 12-11 triumph in Albi.rl

Well, despite the result there is plenty to talk about from the Aus vs Eng match this morning.

Firstly the fact I was up an hour early for it because I didnt change the clocks back (doh!) but secondly the performance of the match officials.

I think the knock on for the first controversial try could have been construed as going backwards (if a better camera angle existed), but for me the benefit of the doubt in that instance should have gone to the defending side as it was an attacker who commited the alleged offence.

The bounce up one could have gone either way I suppose but optimistic attacking was rewarded more than aggressive defending. I am English and biased though of course.

For me the one that showed the most naive officiating was the forward pass just after we had scored in the second half. It was a shocker and whilst not excusable in the case of professional players, I could understand the English players heads going down.

As a Catalans fan it would be remiss not to point out that some supporters of our club think that the British officials make some 'interesting' decisions based on our being a French club.

A couple of disallowed tries later and then the match was over. Gutting.

As I said on another thread, Bobbie sadly has been consistent right through his career. When does his contract end? It's up to the FFR XIII to sit down and think if he deserves to be national coach and if indeed he is the right man for the job. I'd like to see more French in the backroom staff at least, with maybe Bobbie having a good French coach as his assistant/translator (that's how Jose Mourinho started ). Does Bobbie speak French yet?