I am baffled at what PSA has become and i dont know know he could have had a fall from grace of such proportions.

He was a respected coach in France because of his successes in France and England. Lievremont never had this luxury and Not many have achieved thatwhat PSA had already achieved. He was also equipped with assistant coaches (Lagisquet and Bru) that have both played and coached at the highest level and had demonstrated their worth.

He finishes booed, in his communication for the last 2.5 years he has appeared weak and deflated, he has been micro managed by his administration with the appointment of Blanco to look over his shoulder and with a team that is struggling to hold together let alone play. In his post match declaration he still played mister nice guy taking the blame for players that were pathetic throughout the tournament (not only today).

How do you reach such lows? He cannot be sole responsible for this debacle but in his fall he seems to be solely taking the blame. Lievremont didnt do that and in hindsight his tactics were more effective.

i hope the French will learn from the All Blacks transformation process after 2003 which is a bench for any organization (sport or business) when they started back to square 1. It will be a lot harder to accomplish for Guy Noves, PSA’s successor, a no noone sense chap who wont put up with the rubbish of the French rugby federation.

Indeed, Taylorman pointed out the demands of top 14 and European cups are a lot greater than ever and the clubs control the players not the ligue.

A great day for the All Blacks. A sad day for France but which can lead to opportunities if they are fully embraced.

@ in brief, you are absolutely right and Guy Noves former Toulouse coach for 25 years is taking over national coaching but i feel he even will struggle to instill a new philosophy. There is an election for the position of French president of the Rugby federation. Several chalengers including current Toulon Coach Bernard Laporte are putting their hand up with a reform agenda. Unfortunately, it is such a big business there that nothing is likely to change.

@ Andrew, general consensus in France is that the AB were so good that the French team “was not invited” which is a French expression to say they did not stand a chance. If they weren’t invited that is good because they certainly did not turn up. To your point at the end of the article, the northern nations i feel cant win focused on size and impact in their prep whereas the southern nations focused on pace of execution and precision of it. The northern nations have demonstrated they chose the wrong strategy and they could not keep up with the south (except Wales).

So the french did invent rock n roll then. They failed to teach me that at school.

TVwatcher, i have just heard from Bernard Laporte on his post match commentary and he is basically saying what you wrote in your reply. He is going for president of the FFR with a reform agenda to change rugby from the grass roots.

The next french coach is Guy Noves the guru of French rugby v
Coaching coming out of 25 years at Toulouse. He is at a mature age so i hope he will have time to transform the play long term but he will only succeed if there is a transformation of the French administration (impossible).

Personally i think they should subsidise players to experience Super rugby for a couple of years. They also play ten months of the year which is way too many games. The players are contracted to the clubs not to the FFR.

Toulon is still expecting Cooper to play with them after the RWC. The matter is with the lawyers but at this stage i understand there has been no agreement to release him.

I am not a fan of QC although i recognize his qualities i dont think he has a spot in the team and should not have been aelected for the RWC.

IMO yes he should be exited from CFC at the end of the year if the situation does not improve vastly.

He has a good package of players but he is failing to implement a game plan that make sense. In addition he has embroied himself im a few controversial situations which could leave a bad taste in the supporters’ mouths.

His best player is Eden Hazard but he gave up trying To play for Mou after a champions league semi when Mou reverted back to his defensive tactics. Now Azpilicueta and Matic, two really strong defenders that is starting to build up.

Mou is losing connection with his players and that is precisely where his competitive advantage was on other coaches.

BK a hesrtfelt article and why not expressing those ideas and opinions. The roar is the perfect platform for it.

I am saddened to read that you wrote that PI nations were part of the tier two group of nations. How many PI players are playing in the top leagues? More than any other so i could say in a tongue and cheek way that PI players are now colonizing the top leagues….. And certainly the grass roots clubs too in Australia.

IMO PI nations are top tier Rugby nations but have not yet demonstrated an asertive behaviour towards other nations and the IRB.

Perhaps stop thinking you are a tier two nation group. Start behaving like a top 5 nation and the best example to draw inspiration from would be Argentina. Think big about the future of PI rugby and raise the bar in your expectations at all level and deliver on it.

I am afraid it has to start on the field, that is where the Argies kept their head high and terrorised everyone and getting to the semis.

Whilst you have highlighted ref issues i could say that i was more disappointed by the Fijian and Samoan players making the wrong choices too many times and making too many errors and bad passages of play. These errors are what cost Fiji and Samoa victories.

If the PI teams had got their discipline right then win games then go deep in RWC everything will naturally flow.

You guys should be lobbying for organizing the RWC collectively, have a super rugby team, schools (instead of having clermont and Toulon do it for you which will further drain the PI national teams from thebest talents) think about how you will win the next RWC, plan for success and stand your ground in the execution of it.

Agreed (regrettably). All Blacks by 4 tries.

I also read yesterday they invented Rock n roll.

Howdy do Dave, if Dusautoir is not the captain of France, who could do it? Personally i dont see anyone else except Pape perhaps which highlights an overall lack of talent and leadership in the French team and this is a sizeable departure from previous French teams who beat the ABs. I think that revolt story is fabricated as PSA himself came out in the press saying on Monday saying they needed to revolt.

Just coming back from a few days im NZ and i am surprised at the nervosity of the Kiwis and their level of irritation is spiking with the news of an internal revolt in the French team. If only the AB concentrate and play their game they will win by 4 tries.

But i ve been wrong before and many times. What a cracking week end of international Rugby.

Dont mention the war smallfrog! Yes true.

On Monday PSA came out in the press saying that the only way his players could win the next game was by developping a spirit of revolt.

Strangely, Marc Lievremont this week wrote im his Le Monde column that in 2011 he purposedly triggered that rebellion spirit as a tactic to get more out of his players. He singled out some as poor performers and belittled them. It worked at the time minus one point. It wont have the same effect this time around PSA is too soft on them and more a mentor than a coach.

As a manager , there is nothing more powerful than a team taking ownership of their own destiny.That is what Cheika is materialising with the WBs.

Sadly so very French. PSA has been undermined by blanco since he has been appointed as ops manager anyway and has been on a slippery slope for the best part of the last 12 months.

And Quade Cooper

The difference between the 1999 and the 2007 French sides is that they could play.

The current squad can’t. The 2011 side was a struggle up to the final.

Steve Hansen said the other day that England has been trying to play a game at national level which is unnatural to them as the English game is played differently at grass roots and academy level and it is not working for them.

I would like to point out that it is exactly the same for the French national team. Since 2007 the French have played with as much flair and panache as an English team ( which is none) and have lost the DNA of what French rugby is about and how it is played in the villages each Sunday arvo. When i hear that their biggest asset is defence and against the irish they cant get an attack going in the irish 22 metre fpr the whole game, i m thinking “what the?”

New Zealand by 4 tries.

Harry , if they do relfect on it (and add Lance Franklin s current personal matters to the analysis who was an amigo of the tres amigos) then the executive summary is pretty easy to put together.

Parra confirmed as starting SH with Michalak at FH. Bastareau on ze bench. Rory Kocott a possible option as replacement for either. Logical choices all in all.

O Connor, Michael Owen (soccer – liverpool + england), Bernard Tomic, Brendon Fevola (Carlton – AFL) Allen Iverson (NBA) and many more. All the by product of our eagerness for success and relentless chase of it. All of them created something out of nothing.

Somewhat we are collectively responsible for proping these guys to superstar and legend status without giving them an outlet to demonstrate in the long run that they do have what it takes to get there.

In other words, we are putting talent ahead of culture, building the roof of a house without the solid foundations to hold it. Always with the same and disastrous circomstances.

Taylorman, not sure if the Michalak Tillous Borde pair will be on the next game. I understand Para will be first choice at scrum half. Michalak was a bit injured on his way out and is carrying a knee strain so he might make way for Talles.

I have been told that too.

I understand that. There s a difference between what you are saying and the performance he put on display last night. In the national team he doesn’t have the impact he has at Toulon too.

Sometimes Victory is bittersweet and this one certainly is for Ireland with all those injuries to key players. But they can learn from wales and the B players will have to step up.

But geez they played well and shoved up their throat all the self confidence the french had about their forwards. Bang! Loved it.

I can’t recall having seen the frogs making an assault inside the Irish 22 metres in this game and when frustration got the best of them they reverted to their dodgy neck twisting tactics in the ruck. Horrible, i thought i was back in the 90s.

Scott Spedding, nice french name and great player but he hasn’t learnt what passing the ball is yet. Bastareau, i thought he was outside center but he s a frustrated prop as he spends more time in the rucks than anything. Michalak, he is the Quade Cooper of the French team except St Andre is no Michael Cheika so Feddy keeps playing and stuffing up in the big games. Too bad. Looking forward to watch the All Blacks pass 40 points through the french gruyere.

JJ, i can tell you that your feeling is not shared by some of the french players. They cant handle Los Pumas. Last encounter in 2014 and the Argies won in Paris. Again.

They know how to rub the french the wrong way and the frogs dont like it. The only aspect which could be positive for the french to play los pumas is about preparation and opopposition analysis, ie which gear they are in at the moment whereas noone knows where the ABs are at and we are all sure they have not shown their true colors yet so there is less uncertainty about playing Argentina hasta la muerte.

Courageous they were… but on both sides. This wallabies side is really Aussie through and through not very pretty but extremely opportunistic and they ll rack up anything they can to get ahead.

Outside of that i noted that Cheika slightly altered his substitution strategy which he adapted to the game s extraordinary situation and that worked wonders. He drip fed players when we were down in numbers instead of bringing in wholesale changes. Very smart, less disruption at a time when communication and cohesion are everything yet he still kept on bringing new blood and energy coming to front up the ceaseless attacking waves of the Welsh team. He kept his captain as the last forward sub to make sure there was a handle on leadership and brought ib his 2 arrrows in the backlime with KB and Tomua when the team was getting back to 14 and 15 to hurt the welsh a bit more.

I thought that strategy kept the team afloat and was at the same time a deviation from the standard changeover i have seen him do since the start of the cup.

One of the best props of all time. An All Black and a Rugby great retires.

Thank you for the mmasterclass.

All the best for his personal and professional future.

Strangely, i feel this is what the All Blacks need right now as they have been challenged up forward.