Wales V France: game over after 20 mins

[Jackie Brown]

Well done Rolland, good call. Warburton only has himself to blame.

[Rooster]

Rollers is an arrogant wee tube, but as is often the case, he got this big call right by the letter of the law. Other referees would have bottled it and shown yellow. Rollers is getting a pasting for being right, when others are praised when they take the easy option.

not so sure about the arrogant wee tube bit though.

[BIGBADDON]

Well done ref. A red card job no doubt. When Warburton realised that the players feet were above his head he let go. This is unforgivable. Thankfully he fell on his shoulders. Not much sympathy for the Welsh there weren't too many of them in March telling the ref that Peter Allen got it wrong. What goes around comes around or is that oval for this game.

[WuzaFlanker]

To the letter of the law Rolland was correct. Had he given a yellow card probably not too many (French included) would have had too much to say.

As far as the outcome of the match is concerned, whether they were down to 14 men or not, Wales left too many points on the pitch. They missed 3 penalties and the conversion and butchered a couple of drop goals.

They also squandered a drop goal opportunity (around the 74/75 minute mark) when they were well into the French 22 and had good field position. Jones did not drop back into the pocket and offer himself up even though it appeared Phillips was expecting him to.

I'm not suggesting he would have converted a drop goal but the field position was right and tactically it would have been the correct option.

Sad but true.

Even sadder is the fact a poor French side have now found themselves in the final. I sincerely hope they have at least one grandstand performance in them for the final. Goodness knows they haven't been firing on many cylinders so far.

I'll not be holding my breath though.......

[AyeYerMa]

One of those occasions when you'd think the (Half)penny would drop....

[Freddie Benson]

you beat me to it wuzaflanker.........Wales had plenty of opportunities to win this game and should look at themselves rather than complaining about the referee, well at least Gatland and Davies. 4 missed kicks and butchered the drop goal attempts.

There's no debate about the red card. Aye your ma has posted the directive from the IRB. Rolland got it right and had the guts to show red and not bottle it as many others would have.

[againstthehead]

it's the inconsistancy that's the killer - the vast majority of times that this type of tackle happens, either nothing is done or it's a yellow. Either it's a red every time or it's not.

[aarons]

It was absolutely the right decision by Rolland. 'Tip tackles' as the SH call them were highlighted by Paddy O'Brien pre-tournament as something he and the IRB wanted to clamp down on. By the laws, Rolland had no option and good on him being prepared to take the tough decision and not kop out because it was early in the RWC SF.

I thought the coverage by ITV was despicable. Wait til we hear the woes coming from the valleys, there will never be an end to it.

hear hear, well said

[Snipe Watson]

It was a yellow IMO.

That's the problem, everyone is giving their opinion and they are all irrelevant. The law is clear, the correct sanction for the offence is a red card and that's it. He could have given a yellow and most referees would have gone with that, but they would all have been wrong.

[gannonman]

Anyway. I am very disappointed for Wales. I wanted them to win and it annoys me that that tool Lievermont has got his side to the final.

[Snipe Watson]

Don't think the IRB need to do or say anything. Paddy O'Brien's memo says it all.

[BaggyTrousers]

My opinion is that it was about to be a spear tackle when Warburton caught himself on & simply dropped him. I was scandalised by the ITV coverage which I've had to tolerate in England rather than Setanta or RTE at home.

Rolland in my opinion was harsh in awarding red although I considered it a seriously dangerous tackle. I though in the circumstances of a RWC semi a yellow would have sufficed but I couldn;t really argue that taken out of its important context a ref could seriously give red for that tackle.

The ITV lynchmob are all barstewards and playing the home card to a Brit audience, wonder what Larry Dellalyperson would have said if it was against England?

Wales have Warburton & Hook & Gatland to blame for defeat - Hook played much like ROG last week, totally off his game & he should have been replaced earlier.

Right off out for a swally.

I don't like Rolland but he is going to be scapegoated wrongly - it was a harsh decision, not a wrong one.

[BaggyTrousers]

ITV showed other tackles from the World Cup that looked a lot worse than that one and none of them got red cards. Either yellow or penalty. Wish Wales won. Many fans have been down at Ravenhill and have been lovely to talk to.

No they didn't the one they all called worse was from hip high FFS. It was a spear tackkle which Warburton pulled out of by deciding to drop him instead. Look at it and the first two thirds of the action were classic spear.

Now I really am away for a swally, peace be with you.

[Alister Scott]

It was a lower level one Snipe. Again in my opinion. It was not a spearing and it was not a reckless dropping from great height.

I would agree that it was not a spearing, but disagree with you about the rest - in my opinion it WAS reckless, not malicious, not nasty, not intentional, but definitely reckless. It had the potential to be a neck-breaker.

If serious injury HAD been sustained, would you still say it wasn't reckless? The potential for that WAS there. Sometimes the difference between injury and no injury is simply how the upended player lands - do they get their hands down to soften the blow, do they land on hard or soft ground, do they land on another stricken body or body part, which could deflect their head and thus change the angle of the neck at the point of impact?

The offence by the tackler is the same, but the outcome could be different - the sanction should be the same irrespective of the outcome and that is why the IRB have stated that such action should be punished with a red card, to discourage anything that could POTENTIALLY cause severe injury (or worse).

Regretably I believe it was a red card offence, but if anyone thinks the match was spoilt as a specatacle or a competition by Alain Roland, I would suggest it was spoilt a moment before that when Warburton lifted, flipped and then dropped his opponent, even if unintentional.

[dermotmccarthy]

Allan Rolland got it wrong guys IMO...it was a yellow and a penalty but taking the entire thing into consideration (he should had a word with lines man at very least) it was not a red and spoiled the game...I am depressed that the shrug of the shoulder crap rugby team that France have become under Livermont (with his poxy little tash) has put out a magnificant young Welsh Team... well coached and superbly fit who owned the ball for most of second half despite being a man down. Had an Ireland team lost in such circumstances to Nigel Owen decision we would all be crying into our pints for months and years.

Hats off to Wales...the better team by a country mile, Ireland should watch out theres a new kid on the block for this 6Ns.

Rolland did not get it wrong IMHO the laws are the laws and he applied them correctly

Did you put a post up last weekend, as the same applies the best team does not always win

Hats off to SA...the better team by a country mile, Australia should watch out theres a bunch of old blokes on the block for this 4Ns. lol