RugbyRebels

Initial preconceptions after watching the game once live:
We were battered early on by the strength of the forward pack and fell off too many tackles with poor technique. Second half this got a lot better with chops.
The referee was dire and gave a lot of decisions against us - I am expecting this one to be wrong, as I am very partisan, especially when watching live (which the evening kickoff gave me a chance to do for once)
For all the press orgasming over France's attack, they didn't actually create very much at all and, despite missing a butt tonne of tackles, we didn't often look troubled. 14 points of theirs were utterly gifted.
Ramos was terrible and if France had a competent 10, we'd've been buried in the first half.
Ford was incredible
Mitchell had a terrible first half, but a decent second half
France very rarely allowed us quick ball with a lot of dominant tackles.
Slade had an excellent game and was unlucky to be taken off, again emphasising why picking a winger on the bench would've been smart. That being said, Manu did a decent job when he came on.
Smith had another game at 15.
Care was actually pretty good.

Let's see how many of those hold up.

Minute 1: I'm not bothering to recap the false start, especially since France do the same thing again - kicking long to Earl. Interestingly, instead of seeking contact and setting a ruck, he immediately passes inside to Mitchell who clears for touch. Presumably looking to deny the French an early big contact so as not to get the crowd riled up.

Mitchell doesn't find touch however and Barre can carry it back. It's a stupid decision though as he runs straight into Mitchell and Earl who chop him down at Itoje's feet. Maro is all on his own for a jackal - it should have been a guaranteed turnover/penalty for England, but he cocks up and loses his balance, ending up falling over on the French side and being lucky not to give away a penalty for then messing around with the ball on the floor.

France get the ball and send Baille on a hard line into Underhill, who tackles with his head and reels away clutching his temple - what the HIA doctor is doing letting him not get checked after that is anyone's guess.

Le Garrec spins it out to Ramos - France have a winger wide, but Slade and Freeman are up swiftly and are blocking the passing lane. Ramos tries a miracle that's never on, and is fortunate that Slade just gets a hand to it to knock it on, rather than taking the catch and being clean through.

The ball ricochets kindly for the French (I'm sure that's the only time I'm going to write that phrase in this m-b-m) and Freeman has hesitated in his blitz to see where the loose ball flies off to, which means Fickou has time to flip it through his legs and France are clear down the left. Bielle-Biarrey's pass is dubiously lateral, but good enough to beat Furbank's despairing lunge and Depoortere is free for a run. Freeman hunts him down, the ball goes loose to Le Garrec and guess who's there first to make the tackle - it's our best loose player, Dan Cole. He really has worked hard this 6N.

Minute 2: France play it into midfield for Meafou to have a rumble - he's brought down by a no-arms low tackle from Earl (Definitely won't be saying that again) but, because he's not held, releases the ball, gets up and plays again. We'd all been setting up for the next phase and are somewhat taken aback by this manoeuvre, so he gets an easy 5 metres before being tripped up. France carry again through Atonio and then immediately pick and drive through the ruck for more metres - they've definitely done their video prep for this game and spotted that we can get a bit absent minded at defending behind the ruck (as tested out by Ireland).

France spin the quick ball out and it's another mark for our blitz defence - Mitchell is up on Fickou quicker than he expected and, while he does step and bump him off, it costs him time and momentum and allows Furbank to tackle him behind the gainline.

France have slightly slower ball and a full defensive press lined up, so Ramos goes for a grubber into the space that Furbank came from. Not a terrible idea, but a terrible execution, as he punts it directly into touch.

I Bet Ntmack Wouldn't've Done That: 1

England throw long to Itoje at the back - good moves and it's uncontested. However Martin is very slow to move - it's a cockup in timing or in brain - and doesn't get there in time to secure the ball. Ollivon is onto it (around the side? Eh, we probably engaged in some blocking there anyway) and causes enough disruption that the rest of France can pile in and we go backwards and lose the ball. Maufou breaks and offloads to Gros who is running with speed.

Minute 3: England tackle, but Meafou is there to pick and go through the guts again, attacking our soft underbelly with the instant ball. Aldritt decides to try and repeat the dosage, but Genge has decided that enough is enough and has positioned himself there to absolutely melt the next person who tries it. The ball is flung wildly back... and bounces very kindly for Le Garrec. I shall start to bear a grudge against Gilbert at this rate.

However, Le Garrec looks for the pass, sees Ford shooting up and then turns back just in time to get thoroughly Chessumed. Cole and Underhill mash the breakdown and Alldritt tries to pick and go only to get smashed by Itoje who knocks the ball free. Not a great minute there Gregory.

Chessum gets a good boot on the loose ball and it's a footrace between Penaud and Daly... which is ended by the rugby ball being a dick to England again and bouncing backwards and over Daly's head. All he can do is get one hand to it and the ball goes forwards.

Finally, a fucking scrum. Can we please stop running the ball please?

Minute 4: Genge does a belting job on Atonio, getting low and twisting him inwards. It's a stable scrum for France, but not a penalty, which is good.

France play it into midfield for a pre-planned training move to try and outflank the blitz, with Depoortere wrapping around Fickou to try and get around the outside, but Slade is up fast, Fickou rushes the out-the-back ball, and Depoortere drops it. We had numbers to cover it anyway.

France hack it away and it ends up in Ford's hands with a one-on-one against Bielle-Biarrey. He feigns like he might try and take the winger on the outside, before putting in a beautiful kick that rolls down the 5m channel and goes into touch deep in the 22.

Minute 5: France throw to the front - Itoje is up competing, but can't disrupt the ball. France set up a really good drive and our maul defence is... average is too kind. They get a full 15 metres upfield before we manage to slow them and bring them to ground. France give a go at a next phase, but Earl is up quick and chops down Atonio before he can get any momentum, so instead they settle for a caterpillar and box. It's a massive kick by Le Garrec, travelling a full 50m in the air and bouncing inside England's 22. This time the bounce of the rugby ball doesn't hate us too much and Freeman can gather. He takes on Bielle-Biarrey and beats him for pace to take the ball to the centre of the pitch and thinks about feeding Furbank, but instead goes into contact. Crying shame that he didn't make the pass, cause I think Furbank was through for a likely try if he had, but he makes a great job of driving through contact, making another 10 metres after the tackle and presenting quick ball.

Minute 6: England play away instantly from the ruck and three flat, wide passes from Mitchell to Ford to Slade to Lawrence sees the latter running free down the wing. Penaud has it covered though and, as Lawrence attempts to step inside, body-checks him into touch. There's enough arms there that it's probably legal, but it's awful technique and it was an absolute fluke that there was no head-on-head contact.

France have the lineout on their 10m line and throw it to the front. This time, we don't compete for the ball, but set to defend the maul. It's another great set-up from France - we are defending a straightforward power drive like the last one, and they are instead instantly splintering and rolling around. Genge actually does very well to pick where the roll is happening and get there to defend it, but is then pinged very harshly for entering from the side, and France have rolled away from the section he's defending anyway. Gros breaks away and make decent ground through our soft close defence again, and there are a couple more half-decent French forward carries with momentum before they decide to use the backs. Ramos looks for the cross-kick, but Earl is up on him to charge down and we go back for the penalty.

Minute 7: Ramos kicks poorly for touch and they're still 25 metres out. France throw to the middle, we're ready to attack the maul and instead it goes off the top. They've been practicing beforehand, which ruins the fun.

France attempt a subtle move to put Penaud through in the middle, but Ford and Lawrence do an excellent job of reading it and pincer in, knocking the ball free. Underhill gets his nose on it and it's our ball.

Minute 8: Ford passes back for Daly to clear long. Ramos is there to take and kicks it back to start ping-pong, but Ford catches on the full and calls the mark, much to the annoyance of the French crowd.

Unfortunately, that's the end of Furbank's match - his calf has gone and we are now treated to Marcus Smith, Regular Human Fullback.

Ford puts in a belter of a touchfinder, going from deep within the England 22 up to about 30 metres from France's line. Hell of a connection.

Minute 9: France throw to the front and they now have uncontested ball because they've scared the shit out of England with the maul. Not a criticism of England - they've had to react to another team leveraging their strength very adeptly. They pass wide into the midfield but Earl cuts Alldritt down, so they set-up La Chenille et Boîte.

It's a high kick and Daly has to come in from a hell of a distance (presumably because the last 50m box-kick from Le Garrec has made us cautious), but he gets under it well. He beats the first man, but his sidestep takes him into Gros's tackle which buries him.

Slow ball, and this would normally be our call for La Chenille, but Mitchell doesn't fancy it in the centre of the pitch and looks a bit lost for options. Eventually Slade puts him out of his misery by calling for it wide and then changing direction to run at a gap he's spotted back beside the ruck. He does nearly make it through, but Baille just gets enough on him to slow him for others to tackle.

England have marginally quicker ball, but still pretty rubbish to attack with, so Ford drops back and puts up the !!!SPIRAL BOMB!!!. Barre thinks he has it under control, but then it drops sharply on him and he has to sprint in, ending up knocking it on. He tries to say it hit the Spidercam, but I think he just wasn't prepared for the !!!SPIRAL BOMB!!!.

Minute 10: Nothing much happens as we fail to scrum and your poor recapper gets a minute's grace.

Minute 11: Genge absolutely rooks a penalty out of Gardner at this scrum. He has Atonio completely under control and off-balance, and twists his arm to yank him down and cause the faceplant that is penalised. Right in front of the ref as well. I'd be less amused if it was a competent ref and he'd been pinged, but right now I'm going to call it excellent skullduggery.

Minute 12: Ford takes his sweet time over the penalty, so much so that I was looking nervously at the shot-clock, but he strikes it with 4 seconds to go and slots it between the posts. 0-3 to the forces of goodness and light.

Minute 13: France kick down Itoje's throat, possibly after having seen some of the lackadaisical lifting he was treated to against Ireland, but this time we're competent and secure decent ball. We reset through another phase and set up the caterpillar. Mitchell box-kicks and France are putting so much energy into trying to shepherd Daly away from the landing zone that they fail to put anyone there themselves. The ball bounces straight up and France win the tip off to slap it back to their side, but it's loose and Penaud struggles to regather. Depoortere carries up and is tackled - Earl should really have been pinged for stripping the ball on the floor, but Gardner claims it was in the tackle. AS it is, justice is done, as the ball goes loose and Mitchell is thinking too much about how he's going to attack and fails at the holding onto the ball part.

Minute 14: There is a lot of scrum-fuckery and nothing much happens until Atonio loses his balance and gives England a free-kick for an early engage. Ford is setting up for another !!!SPIRAL BOMB!!!...

Minute 15: Unfortunately, this one is too long and, despite a heroic chase by Earl and Daly, they stand no chance of stopping Ramos's easy take for a mark. He kicks for touch and England will have a lineout on the halfway.

We throw to the front and Martin puts a very casual tapdown somewhere in Mitchell's vicinity, which puts him under a lot of pressure. He steps back inside and seeks the safety of his pack, and we then run through a phase to rescue him out from the bottom of a ruck, so we can Human Centipede and Amazon Package.



That will do me for this evening. Word of warning - this m-b-m is likely to be slower than others, as I've suddenly got a lot on (and y'all aren't paying me to do this as a job!), so it'll have to fit in around it all.

Puja

As ever, thank you for doing it at all; and take all the time you need.
Now hurry the **** up!

Cheers, Puja. Great stuff.

I hope you save these things. I also think that perhaps you should be offering them to one of the rugby websites as a column.

Great work Puja. To be honest I assumed this one would take quite a bit of time what with everything that was going on.

Puja wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 1:39 am
. They pass wide into the midfield but Earl cuts Alldritt down, so they set-up La Chenille et Boîte.

I checked my phone and it was the eighth minute I texted my friend that it had been chaos to that point.

16th man wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 9:16 am I checked my phone and it was the eighth minute I texted my friend that it had been chaos to that point.

I blame Furbank.

Puja

Great stuff, and really highlights how technical the game is, yet still how important it is to react when technical breaks down. Interesting that when Itoje competes our maul defence goes to shoite.

Puja wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 9:57 am

16th man wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 9:16 am I checked my phone and it was the eighth minute I texted my friend that it had been chaos to that point.

I blame Furbank.

Puja

Sloppy work, not warming up properly.

Great stuff, Pooj.

I had the impression that Martin didn't have the greatest of games, and from your early mbming, he's not.

How much of that is the incredible "Loughborough 3rds" Flament, though...

Stom wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 1:10 pm Great stuff, Pooj.

I had the impression that Martin didn't have the greatest of games, and from your early mbming, he's not.

How much of that is the incredible "Loughborough 3rds" Flament, though...

I didn't notice him that much, probably because he's become known for dominant hits and trying to do that against that massive French pack must be like throwing your shoulder at a moving car.

FKAS wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 2:18 pm

Stom wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 1:10 pm Great stuff, Pooj.

I had the impression that Martin didn't have the greatest of games, and from your early mbming, he's not.

How much of that is the incredible "Loughborough 3rds" Flament, though...

I didn't notice him that much, probably because he's become known for dominant hits and trying to do that against that massive French pack must be like throwing your shoulder at a moving car.

Very much the same on not noticing him a bunch. Will keep an eye out and see if there's anything to your impression of him Stom.

Puja

its funny cos Martin is making most pundits 6N XV squad.

Banquo wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 3:13 pm its funny cos Martin is making most pundits 6N XV squad.

TBH, I feel like most English picks are like...we need to pick an Englishman!!! Who can we pick?!?!?!

Obvs, it's Itoje and Itoje and Itoje, but hey, poor guy gets ignored now he's busy with all that "unseen work".

Banquo wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 3:13 pm its funny cos Martin is making most pundits 6N XV squad.

Probably because McCarthy and Beirne were the top performing lock pair over the 6N and Martin folded the pair of them in the game Vs Ireland. It was an outstanding performance and when you add in the impact off the bench Vs Scotland the hype train starting rolling, a quiet game Vs France is then overlooked.

Stom wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 3:19 pm

Banquo wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 3:13 pm its funny cos Martin is making most pundits 6N XV squad.

TBH, I feel like most English picks are like...we need to pick an Englishman!!! Who can we pick?!?!?!

Obvs, it's Itoje and Itoje and Itoje, but hey, poor guy gets ignored now he's busy with all that "unseen work".

These were Barclay and Warburton's I was thinking of tbh...

FKAS wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 3:51 pm

Banquo wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 3:13 pm its funny cos Martin is making most pundits 6N XV squad.

Probably because McCarthy and Beirne were the top performing lock pair over the 6N and Martin folded the pair of them in the game Vs Ireland. It was an outstanding performance and when you add in the impact off the bench Vs Scotland the hype train starting rolling, a quiet game Vs France is then overlooked.

fair...

Banquo wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 4:05 pm

Stom wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 3:19 pm

Banquo wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 3:13 pm its funny cos Martin is making most pundits 6N XV squad.

TBH, I feel like most English picks are like...we need to pick an Englishman!!! Who can we pick?!?!?!

Obvs, it's Itoje and Itoje and Itoje, but hey, poor guy gets ignored now he's busy with all that "unseen work".

These were Barclay and Warburton's I was thinking of tbh...

I always think football pundits are awful.

And then I remember the rugby pundits...

No more of this, Puja?

Stom wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 4:16 pm No more of this, Puja?

It is coming - have had people around and no space in my house to do. Shall be able to knock some more out this week.

Puja

Puja wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 4:36 pm

Stom wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 4:16 pm No more of this, Puja?

It is coming - have had people around and no space in my house to do. Shall be able to knock some more out this week.

Puja

Legend

Minute 16: Mitchell's kick is too long and allows Penaud to take it on the 22 and run at England. Thankfully, Earl and Underhill put in a two-pronged low tackle and this becomes one of the few contacts that he doesn't just bounce out of. France then take their own sweet time about a caterpillar and box, before eventually kicking long to Marcus Smith. He runs sideways, looking for a gap, but the French chase is well aligned and he makes just a couple of metres attacking between two players.

It's a very good clearout by Earl and Freeman, which gives us quick ball for Genge to run onto. He makes another few metres in contact and a George/Slade combo does an excellent job to prise Alldritt off the jackal.

The ball comes out to Ford, but unfortunately Atonio has read the next play and comes up to take Itoje man-and-ball. Maro holds his ground, but we've lost 5m and the momentum, so Ford drops back into the pocket to put up the garryowen. Penaud does an excellent job of (legally) impeding Daly and Ramos takes it cleanly.

Minute 17: Another slow ruck and box-kick from the French - Ford takes this and feeds Smith on the run. It looks like a promising attacking opportunity on first glance, but France are very well organised and our forwards are still retreating so, when Cros chops him down, Marchand is over instantly and survives the clearout long enough to get the penalty.

Minute 18: Ramos takes his time and slots the penalty from 44m out. 3-3.

Minute 19: We drop the kickoff on Meafou again, but the timing is perfect and Freeman is there to smash him with a running tackle... only for the GM to call "No effect". It does stop him long enough for Itoje and Chessum to arrive and wrestle him to the ground, but that tactic is going to injure Freeman long before it even discomfits Meafou. France set up the ruck and box-kick for touch.

England's lineout on the French 10m line and it's a terrible call. We got for a quick ball to the front jumper, which only works if the French aren't paying attention and we can beat them up there. Unfortunately, the French are very much paying attention, are shadowing Martin every step of the way and, when we commit to the manouevre anyway, put their jumper up in front of Martin and nab the ball. Nothing wrong with the jump, lift, or throw, just utterly idiotic lineout calling.

The slap-back could have gone anywhere, but once again bounces well for Le Garrec and he can wang the ball across the field to put us in trouble.

Two main defensive failures here. We start off numbered up in theory, but both Daly and Smith pelt backwards to cover the long kick (credit to the 50:22 law for making this try possible). This leaves us outnumbered, 6-to-4, and two decisions make this worse. Ford and Lawrence are once again seduced by a retreating attack and bouncing ball, so they commit to the straight blitz, pressing up hard and straight, despite there being 20m between our backline and theirs. They never stand a chance of getting to the inside men, but it means Slade has to do the same and hope he can catch Depoortere before he can get the ball away. He doesn't, which then leads us to the second failure - Freeman has not reacted to the situation at all. He starts out standing very wide for the attacking play - possibly looking for a cross-field kick or just trying to stretch France's alignment - but when the ball is lost, he stays there, despite his inside man of Smith running back to the backfield. He should be working in to link up with Slade and he doesn't. Instead, he stays wide in the hope that the defense will drift across to join him and, because that doesn't happen, there's a 15 metre gap between him and Slade at the point Depoortere offloads.

I think the major issue is the original decision to blitz when there's 20m to cover as it always leaves a 3-on-1 on the outside, but Freeman's failure to join the blitz means that, instead of him having a chance to take Fickou man-and-ball (or force Depoortere to try and throw the difficult pass over him), Fickou now has a 1-on-0 overlap in the hole between our 13 and 14. He runs through and times his pass perfectly before Lawrence can get to him, leaving Barre with a 2-on-1. Smith gets utterly suckered by the dummy and Barre steps him - I always prefer my 15 to make the tackle in that situation, as you always need to force them to make one more pass, but frankly Smith is screwed every which way there, so it's hard to criticise.

Ford does phenomenally well to get back and scrag Barre, but Daly doesn't trust that he'll get there and is concentrating solely on getting to the ball carrier rather than covering his supporting man, leaving Le Garrec free to take the offload...

Minute 20: ...and saunter over the line. It's a great try and perfectly finished by the French, but there's a lot of English players who will feel they could've stopped that. Different decisions in the lineout, by Ford/Lawrence, by Freeman, by Smith, by Daly, I don't know where Mitchell was for the majority of that and feel he could've made more effort in corner-flagging - frankly, the only person in the backline who shouldn't be cross with himself is Slade, and he seems to be the one that a lot of pundits are blaming for the try.

Minute 21: Ramos pops over the conversion and it's 10-3.

We kick-off and France make a right cock-up as both Ollivon and Meafou call for it and get in each others' way. The ball spills loose, but Depoortere does well to sweep up and make some ground to take France to the edge of the 22.

Minute 22: France reset with another ruck and box-kick away, this time finding touch just inside the England half. Can't say as I blame them for attempting to repeat the dose. This time England use a bit more guile with a 4-man lineout to take uncontested ball. We play it into midfield and run Genge at Ramos - the France 10 has attempted to mitigate it by blitzing up hard, but Genge just drives though him, making about 10m after contact and setting up quick ball. We have numbers, but Mitchell gets his foot-placement wrong at the ruck (seeming surprised by the long ball presentation that we've been doing all 6N and ending up with it between his legs) and his effort to get the ball away quickly results in a rank low pass that bounces in front of Slade. He does very well to dive and claim it, but any hope of the clever attacking shape we were setting up is gone.

Minute 23: Lawrence and George do well to get us quick clean ball and we attempt to resuscitate the possession with sending Martin in on the crash. It works well and the speedy possession sees Smith running onto a pass from Ford - he chooses to go himself rather than feed Earl which is probably the wrong call as the French don't buy the dummy and close in on him. Cole does exceptionally well to get across and stop us from losing the ball, but it's scrappy possession that comes out before Mitchell's ready, so he goes for an end-over-end dink over the top of the ruck. It bounces well and Barre makes a mistake - the ball slips off his hand and into touch for an England lineout deep in the French 22.

Again, we show more nous in the lineout - Martin acting like they're going to the front jumper again, only for Itoje to move to where France are weak and call to himself. France defend the maul well (it is shocking that the touch judge doesn't call Atonio for the most blatant side entry, but he doesn't have a massive effect on the play, so I'm not furious) and so Mitchell breaks away and feeds Lawrence on the crash ball.

Minute 24: Lawrence runs over Depoortere and Marchand and Slade/Underhill do a fantastic job at clearing the ruck for instant ball, but Mitchell has got tangled in trying to evade the rolling tacklers and is rushing to get to the ball. He makes the decision in a dive-pass to George, but it's not accurate enough and the ball goes across the face of him, bouncing kindly for Bielle-Biarrey to hack it away. A bit more composure and taking the time to pick his pass and England had numbers to spare there.

The fly-hack from France is a good one, leaving England scrambling back and France chasing a second try. Daly goes for an extremely bold one-handed gather on the run, and manages to get enough on it to reel it in at the second attempt and carry the ball up far enough for Martin and Itoje to get back around and rescue him at the ruck. I was going to criticise his risk-taking but, frankly, if he hadn't gone for that (and pulled it off), he'd've been swarmed and the absolute best-case scenario would've been just a France penalty for holding on.

Slow ball and we take a breath, resetting for a caterpillar and box. Unfortunately, Mitchell fumbles the ball bringing it out the ruck, and then compounds it by throwing a wild pass that he ends up catching himself. The ball ends up with Lawrence, who carries it up well into what can probably be described as a confused French defence at this point. We recycle to another forward carry to bring the ball back infield (with some rather lazy off-feet sealing of the ruck, but the ref seems happy) and try this routine again.

Minute 25: We set a full 5 player human centipede, across 15 seconds of dead time, and this time Mitchell kicks cleanly, only to get under the ball and barely make 15 metres in distance, meaning everyone has to stop and wait for it to come down. He has had an absolute shocker in the last 5-6 minutes.

Luckily, France make a complete pigs ear under the ball again and spill it backwards (possibly taking a deflection forward off Daly, but no-one spots it...) for Lawrence to catch 5m behind most of the defence. Le Garrec does very well to hold him and Ramos comes in to rip the ball away - more disappointing ball protection from Lawrence. To add insult to injury, the ref rules it a knock-on, but it's not relevant anyway, as France manage to gather the ball and, while Itoje puts in a big hit, he only manages to knock the ball loose for Penaud to regather and once again demonstrate why he's a guaranteed starter for the World XV against Mars. I actually thought this was a different run of his when I saw him gather the ball, the one where he bounces off about 7 tacklers, but this is apparently a different world class break - he takes scrappy, ball going backwards, accelerates away to get to the gap between Chessum and Martin, brushes off/accelerates out of Chessum's tackle, leaves our cover for dust, and then puts in a beautiful long kick through for Bielle-Biarrey to chase.

We survive, by dint of Smith reading Penaud very early and thus being quick to turn and chase, plus a lucky last bounce of the ball that takes it into Smith's hands rather than B-B's. Still, it is a close-run thing and we are lucky to escape again. An argument could be made that we could've done better with our defensive alignment (a few too many players chasing the loose ball and retreating French again, rather than setting up the defensive line in midfield), but frankly, sometimes world-class players are gonna world-class. We'll count ourselves lucky and move on.