Scotland holding up well here... Hopefully for 80minutes ...
Someone's going to have to explain the low degree of danger thing to me. Like, he intentionally headbutted him. Not as part of a tackle or a clearout but in retaliation.
If you punch someone but it's a shit punch do the say 'low degree of danger' and make it a yellow?
The French hooker is a lucky boy. Head on head as part of an off the ball scuffle and he made the move that caused it. Ben White deserves sanction too for the footballer antics.
France should win this if they stick to their game. But Scotland are a good watch - players like Russell mean that they can play whatever happens to be on. Van Der Merwe has been quiet so far too. He normally does something very good at some point.
Kinghorn is my Lions 15 - Keenan as backup.
Absolute straight red.
and yellow for football antics too!
Game over now. Scotland need to be careful not to concede 60 now.
Scotland now entering the 'England' phase. One out passes to marked runners through several phases then running out of bodies and getting turned over.
Seems to be a lot of video review in this game
Lot of tired Scots boys tonight, don't have the strength in depth to compete for 80 mins
Yeah they seemed to run out of steam but did try.
The France bench is immense
The France bench is immense
Yeah, I think a lot of people are going to give Scotland more credit than they deserve and say the scoreline doesn't reflect how close the game was. Nope, the scoreline reflects exactly how close the game was.
The game was won between the 44th and the 65th minute and it was won very convincingly. SA and France are now playing a new type of rugby that no one else seems to have caught up with yet.
Well I have now watched all todays games. France were the best team of the day and the tournament. Wales were the worst team of the tournament Scotland were better today than they were last week but overall were disappointing even given the missing Tuipulotu. England have improved , Ireland have a lot of personnel changes coming up , a period of transition looks likely
SA and France are now playing a new type of rugby that no one else seems to have caught up with yet.
Well, England beat them...
And England tonight looked like they believed they could beat anyone
Scotland should've been playing against 14 men but they ended up playing against 16.
Headbutting someone on the ground is a red card yet the ref & TMO somehow treated it as if it was head contact in the tackle.
Unsurprisingly, the French TV director showed only one quick replay then nothing. If a Frenchie had been headbutted you can guarantee we'd have had every conceivable angle multiple times. They did likewise for any other moments that might've gone against France.
There was a moment in the second half when Scotland asked the referee if another headbutt had occurred & the ref said "we aren't going to look at that" but then moments later went to the TMO to check a Scottish forward lifting a French leg a ruck.
The ref let it get to him & he was a lapdog to the FFR for the rest of the match.
This just highlights how poorly rugby, as a sport, is run.
For those complaining about White's "antics" a headbutt to the face is painful. Personally I doubt he was play acting but I guess we'll never know.
Carley is dreadful. Always has been. One of the worst in what is already a poor bunch in the Prem refs group (along with Tempest, and Dixon). International quality he is not. I always groan when I see he's reffing a Tigers game as you know he'll decide the result a d not the players
Well, England beat them...
Yeah, that was a weird game. I think France's decision to play with a greased up piglet rather than a rugby ball cost them in the end.
England tonight looked like they believed they could beat anyone
Believing and doing are two different things.
I agree that Carley is a rubbish ref.
He is definitely one of the ones you groan at when you see he is reffing a game you will be watching.
I blame the ref for the Welsh loss.............I mean he started the game 😄
