February 15th, 2015, 05:50
Posts: 6,256
Threads: 17
Joined: Jul 2014
I'm going to hijack the thread with a long post, but it needs to get out.
My day started pretty well yesterday. My town's club, the Red Star FC, currently 3rd in the 3rd football division, was receiving the Paris FC, current leader of the league and (of course) regional rival. The game was reasonably good, tense but not violent, and the Red Star won in the end. I was happy. I then had two friends over to watch the rugby game.
That rugby game was not too bad. AND THE FACT THAT I'M SAYING THAT IS THE REAL PROBLEM.
I am now almost content to lose to Ireland in a game like this, because it's better than losing 27-6 (as we did last year in Cardiff). One of my friends predicted 20-6 yesterday, and it shows the level of optimism you'll find in France when it comes to the national team : none at all. Yesterday we didn't play well. Thankfully Ireland played poorly as well, and I think that if we had played them last week (ie. without Jonathan Sexton) we'd have won. It's good to know that other teams are playing poorly too. But to be perfectly honest, last week after the victory against Scotland my first and only reaction was "at least we won't get the wooden spoon". In case you don't know what the wooden spoon award is, it's when you lose all your games in the 6 Nations.
In those two games, 160mn of rugby, I was reasonably satisfied at about 15 of them. The last 15mn against Ireland were acceptable, and if we played like that even 40mn per game I'd be supporting the team without restraint. When you play well and you lose because the opponent has played even better, you can be satisfied ; Frustrated but satisfied. In this case, 15 minutes of rugby over 160 is absolutely unacceptable. Even more so because the current manager has been in place for almost 4 years. He does not have the excuse of "putting the team together" and of "a transition period" until things will get better.
To put it in context, Philippe Saint-André took over a team that played the 2011 world cup final. Two things could be said about this team. 1) It should never have accessed the final. When you lose to the Tonga in the group stage you do not deserve a second chance. And winning the semi final against Wales 9-8 thanks to a red card was the luckiest event in the French sporting history. Wales deserved that final much more than we did. 2) It should have won that final. We were robbed of that game by Craig Joubert, who decided not to blow his whistle against NZ in the final 30 minutes of the game. I'm ready to debate this with anyone who's not convinced.
Everyone hated the former manager, but he won a grand slam in 2010 and brought the team to the final. All of France thought he was bad because of the loss to Italy in the 2011 6 nations, when we finished 2nd of the tournament.
Now enter Saint-André. His record in the 6 nations : 4th, 6th, 4th. My prediction for this year : 4th. When Italy finishes 6th of the 6 nations, the federation tells the manager "it's alright, you'll do better next year, maybe you'll defeat Scotland next time". When Scotland finishes last, it's basically the same thing except the federation is more pissed, Scotland has a history of playing good rugby after all. But with the pool of players in France, if after two years your manager has a record of ending 4th then 6th you should be telling him to just GTFO. And it's not like the record is much better when it comes to test matches. Last automn a reasonably convincing victory against a ridiculously weak Australia was followed by a defeat against Argentina.
I'm honestly frightened at the thought of the coming world cup. Our group is relatively easy, with Ireland and Italy, I think we'll get to the quarterfinals. Compared to the Australia/England/Wales/Fidji group it's ridiculously weak. If Ireland plays next September like they did yesterday I think we may even end up first of our group. But who will we play in the quarterfinals ? NZ or Argentina. Unless a miracle happens it will be a slaughter. A grand humiliation on British soil. I have no hopes about how such a match would go. My only hope is that England gets eliminated from its own world cup in the group stage, we'd then only be the second most humiliated team in the tournament.
Sooner than the wold cup is the next 6 nations game. In two weeks, France against Wales. I wouldn't be surprised at a Welsh victory. I pretty much expect one. I'm not very confident at the next game either, we've lost in Italy under Saint-André's lead before, it got us a well deserved 6th place. And of course going to England on the last day will probably be my worst moment of the tournament. If the English score less than 30 points I'll be relieved. Relieved and depressed at the thought of being relieved.
I, along with most of the country, am getting used to mediocrity. It is way too late to change the manager, the world cup is coming and there's no time to build up a new team. But I expect nothing from this one any more.
good job