NON-STOP FROM THE VERY FIRST BELL, BUT WALES END UP FLOORED
FOR 80 minutes on Friday evening it’ll be a case of the Welsh celebrating all things Scottish – Stuart Hogg, Hotshot Hamish (kids: ask your dads, or even grandads), The Krankies, Gordon Brown, the ghost known as The Gorbals Vampire, the TV programme Take the High Road, Kenny Dalglish and all.
Even Zander Fagerson, the first man to whack Wyn Jones in this Six Nations, might get the thumbs-up. Well, perhaps not him. Said in jest. Wales need their Celtic cousins to do them a favour and stop France from recording a 21-point margin of victory and an attacking bonus point in the final Six Nations fixture of 2021.
If the Scots can do that, Wayne Pivac’s side will win the title.
It wouldn’t totally compensate for missing out on the Grand Slam in such agonising circumstance in Paris. But it would mean Pivac and his players had something to show for their efforts from a remarkable campaign which ended with a 32-30 defeat at Stade de France.
What are we to think? Every triumph in sport is built on someone else’s disappointment.
In Paris, it was Wales’s turn to be on the wrong side of the ledger, with Brice Dulin crossing for the winning try with the clock deep in the red.
Here are the winners and losers from an unforgettable night.
WINNERS ALUN WYN JONES
The man will hate being classed as a winner when his side have just missed out on a Grand Slam in the dying seconds.
But there was absolutely no more he could have done to bring the trophy home.
In the 78th minute, with Wales defending a 30-27 lead and France attempting to build attacks from deep, the 35-year-old made three tackles in 32 seconds, his battery refusing to run flat as he stopped Arthur Vincent, then picked himself up off the floor to halt Brice Dulin, then rose to his feet to bring down Romain Ntamack.
Just 40 seconds later he was taking the ball forward for his 11th and final carry, this time seemingly while carrying an injury.
The skipper’s was an immense effort, overall.
He did well in the post-match interviews, too.
Asked would he take pride out of the tournament at how well Wales had played, he replied: “There was more at stake today.
“Hopefully, we’ve made the people at home proud, but it’s out of our hands now.”
There were congratulations to France for the way they’d played. If you’re going to lose, that’s the way to handle it.
Plenty could learn lessons from this.
Another winner to his core who will surely have sealed his place in the Lions squad with his display.
Biggar wasn’t going to miss a goal kick even if he’d had to take two or three from behind the hot-dog van.
But there was so much more to his effort, including a touchdown and at least two try-rescuing tackles.
It begged the question why he was taken off as the match was coming to the boil.
Wales were ahead 30-20 at the time.
But more of that later.
LUKE PEARCE AND HIS TEAM OF OFFICIALS
Referees are a much-maligned breed, and TV officials have been known to have the occasional poisoned arrow fired at them as well, but on pretty much every big call in Paris, Luke Pearce and his team appeared to make the right decision.
OK, if you’re French you might dispute whether Josh Adams grounded the ball for his try, while if you’re Welsh you might argue there should have had a penalty touchdown when Mohamed Haouas stopped an opposition maul just metres from the home line.
But what particularly impressed about Pearce (circled, right) and his TMO Wayne Barnes was how cool they stayed under pressure.
Step by step they went through the decisionmaking process each time, with the referee then conveying his findings to the captains.
Everything was done with a clarity and calm which reflected well on them.
The job Pearce does is one of the hardest in sport. But on the night he did it very well, ably supported by Barnes.
They played a full part in one of the great rugby matches.
THE MEN’S SIX NATIONS
Tributes to the late boxer Marvin
Hagler after his recent passing invariably mentioned the opening round of his legendary fight with Thomas Hearns back in the day.
It’s still seen by many boxing aficionados as one of the sport’s greatest three minutes, with the protagonists unleashing their best shots and more.
And so to Paris on Saturday night – a different sport, yes, but what an opening, with four tries in the opening 17 minutes amid rugby of sublime quality.
The officials, as mentioned above, deserve full credit for their part in keeping the match flowing and so do the players.
At times it was like a Meatloaf concert circa 1993, starting with the best stuff and the tempo then being maintained until the very end.
There were seven tries, a red card and three yellows and more drama than Harold Pinter would have dared to script.
The two sides deserve pats on the back.
The game did the Six Nations
proud.
FRENCH FORTITUDE
Staying with the boxing theme, a great from the past had a saying that a champion is someone who gets up when he can’t. Jack Dempsey, for those who are wondering. The Manassa Mauler would have applauded Les Bleus.
Ten points adrift with 10 minutes to go and down to 14 men, they could have been forgiven for believing it wasn’t going to be their night. Plenty would have thought as much at that point.
But France raised their performance level, Welsh discipline fell apart and 12 unanswered points secured a home victory.
The French showed deep reserves of courage.
They still have a lot to do to win the title, but they did fantastically to keep their hopes going on Saturday evening.
LOSERS PAUL WILLEMSE
This one isn’t difficult.
Making contact with the eye area of an opponent isn’t acceptable. End of.
The act for which Willemse was sent off looked grim in slow motion and probably didn’t feel great to be on the end of.
It cost his side a try and could have cost them the game.
What is it about Welsh props? First, Tomas Francis copped a forearm to the face off Peter O’Mahony and Wyn Jones has attracted the attentions of Fagerson and Willemse.
Red cards were rightly shown in all three cases.
Willemse may or may not plead he was giving Jones nothing more than a customised ocular massage.
But in front of millions of TV viewers it looked shocking.
He had to go.
WELSH DISCIPLINE
Wales had gone 15 previous games without being shown a card of any colour. Then two yellows came along in successive minutes, and Welsh
hopes of a Grand Slam were in grave peril.
Taulupe Faletau and Liam Williams had performed strongly before their indiscretions, but as French pressure mounted they fell foul of referee Pearce.
Wales could still have won. Perhaps they should still have won. They just had to retain possession for the final minute.
It was presumably an exercise they had trained for: how to close out a game, how to put a match to bed, call it what you will.
But Cory Hill was penalised for sealing off at a ruck with just 57 seconds left on the clock. A kick upfield from a penalty and, well, the rest is history.
No-one in the Wales camp will blame Hill. The best sides lose collectively, as teams. The Cardiff Blue had made six tackles in 24 minutes and won two lineouts before conceding that penalty, playing with typical energy.
Rugby is also a game of fine margins. But, down to 13 men, Wales couldn’t survive those dramatic final seconds.
Fifteen penalties conceded over the game, compared to six by the
French, ultimately proved their undoing.
PIVAC’S CHANGES
Callum Sheedy has been a huge success off the bench in this tournament and couldn’t be faulted for his effort once again.
He tackled ferociously. In just 13 minutes on the field he put in eight hits, showing courage and determination.
Even so, Dan Biggar had been playing outstandingly well. Was it a great call to bring him off as the game came to the boil?
Pivac’s substitutions have been largely spot-on throughout the tournament.
He obviously felt there was a need for fresh legs, also suggesting that Biggar had picked up a touch of cramp in a calf in the minutes before he was taken off.
Wales also decided to take off Jonathan Davies, Ken Owens and Tomas Francis in the same batch of substitutions.
We’ll never know for sure if the calls were right or wrong.
But we can say it was a lot of experience to be taking from the stage at such a key point in proceedings.
FABIEN GALTHIE
Was something lost in translation?
Some said so after France’s head coach pointed the finger after the game.
Whatever, his quotes weren’t great. Wales had seen three opponents sent off in the championship and Galthie saw fit to detect a theme.
“You see the way the Welsh are specialists in red cards, and can specialise in opposition red cards”, he said. “They play their part. The Welsh body language.
“I hope the officials decide that this sanction is not necessary for Paul Willemse.”
Well, Galthie is likely to be disappointed.
When there’s interference with the eye area of a player it is a human response for the individual in question to put his hands to his face and maybe hit the deck. That is what Wyn Jones did. No other Welsh players did anything in the seconds after the incident: no immediate throwing up of arms, no surrounding the referee and vehemently protesting.
Galthie’s words, if reported correctly, didn’t reflect well one bit.
Wales had other things to reflect upon.