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Key occasions
27 minutes. A large maul marches France fifteen metres into the Eire half as they make the house facet pay for the dearth of McCarthy ballast. They get busy on the 22 however there’s a scarcity of precision permitting Eire to clear through the boot of Osborne.
23 minutes. That is probably the most insane exit from France you’ll ever see. Ramos is caught deep in his 22, so he offloads to Bielle-Biarrey who cross-kicks throughout his personal tryline to Penaud who catches it in-goal an kicks it clear.
Absolute insanity. Great insanity.
TRY! Eire 0 – 5 France (Louis Bielle Biarrey)
21 minutes. The ball is gained from the lineout within the nook and Dupont runs blind, which sucks an bamboozled Prendergast onto Ntamack which means the French captain can fizz a miss-pass to his winger to stroll in.
Ramos misses the conversion from the left touchline.
YELLOW CARD! Joe McCarthy (Eire)
19 minutes. Ramos comes into the road within the 13 channel to feed Bielle-Biarrey. As fullback goes to comply with him in assist McCarthy grabs his collar and pulls him to the bottom. It was cynical, apparent, silly and will get the cardboard it deserves.
18 minutes. France heat just a few pairs of arms with some phases, however a giant counter-ruck from Eire wins the ball again. A kicking interval follows with all sides given the ball some air.
Penaud wins a kick on the chase however Doris whips it off him. The ruck work from either side is ferocious.
16 minutes. The longer this goes on, the extra France will take succour as they’re repelling all the things Eire have chucked their method. The newest has them forcing a inexperienced knock on for Ramos to collect the ball and increase it clear and on the return Aki enters a ruck from the facet. Right here comes some possession for Les Blues in Irish territory.
14 minutes. Eire are on the 5m line and sending waves of assault on the blue wall, which has held for 12 phases earlier than the ball pops free beneath stress from the French tackling. Penaud is first to it and he runs free to search out Dupont on the scissor who runs all the way in which to floor it.
However wait! The ref thinks the preliminary ball spill was a blue knock-on. The TMO agrees and the rating is chalked off, however that’s a sign lesson of how France can do you.
12 minutes. It’s one other penalty in opposition to France, this time for Alldritt utilizing arms in ruck. That’s a penalty each three minutes for the guests to this point and Eire take the lineout within the nook possibility as soon as extra.
10 minutes. Regardless of the early penalties France should not being shy on the ruck and that is rewarded with Mauvaka profitable a penalty for clamping on the ball. They’ll do little with it, although, as two phases later Doris does one thing much like win one in kickable vary. He throws the ball to to Prendergast who sends it however it bounces off the left publish and out.
7 minutes. A catch and drive on the lineout has Eire driving in the direction of the road and France are offside once more. It’s three fast penalties however the ref isn’t speaking about playing cards but.
Sheehan drives to the road however is dropped brief earlier than Doris has a go however is held up by Alldritt over the road. France are creaking beneath this opening onslaught.
5 minutes. The primary scrum of the sport is an Eire one simply contained in the French half and the visiting pack are pinged for an early shove. Slight benefit to the house facet within the early set piece. Gibson-Park faucets and goes shortly and Les Bleus defence is infringing in every single place which provides Prendergast the prospect to place the ball within the nook.
2 minutes. Neat and tidy from Eire who hit up just a few carries earlier than Gibson-Park sends a kick up that’s chased and gained again by the house facet. They transfer it shortly left as France scramble however it all turns into frenetic because the ball pings a couple of bit, ultimately discovering Ramos who boots it clear.
Eire should not mucking about, in case you have been in any doubt.
Kick Off!
Ref Gardner toots his disciplinary flute and Ntamack sends the ball skyward. GAME ON!
The officers in control of infuriating individuals in remark sections as we speak:
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Matthew Carley (England) and Christophe Ridley (England)
Tv Match Official (TMO): Ian Tempest (England)
The web tells me that the stay win likelihood is 55/45 is Eire’s favour. Feels about proper and it was in all probability 60/40 till Lowe was crocked.
As a lot as we’d like to preserve increasing The Clincher universe, the groups are about to go out.
Peter O’Mahony, Cian Healy and Conor Murray are first out of the tunnel to mark their closing house appearances. As you may think about, there’s a heat and rapturous applause.
George Holmes emails “The Clincher 12: The Clinch That Stole Christmas”
Sure!
Lowe pulls out of sport after warm-up damage
The withdrawal of James Lowe with a really late warm-up damage is confirmed, he’s changed by Calvin Nash.
Eire now begin like this:
Hugo Keenan; Jamie Osborne, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, Calvin Nash; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Finlay Bealham; Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.
Brian Parsons emails with an unbelievable contribution to our The Clincher franchise.
“The Clincher 9: 99 Issues However A Clinch Ain’t One.”
Chapeau, Brian.
James Lowe has taken a knock within the warm-up and limped off. There’s no affirmation if he’s been pulled from the match squad as but. We wait…
That may be an enormous blow, significantly the lack of his kicking possibility.
Shaun Edwards is speaking to ITV and has simply mentioned, on the 7-1 break up, “we positively have again rowers who can play within the centre if wants be”.
I’m completely right here for Jelonch at 12. Please make it occur.
Rob Kitson gives his ideas on the match
Why not get in contact? What are your ideas on the 7-1 bench? Or maybe you need to inform me about one thing else, like your favorite The Clincher movie that you just’ve simply made up?
Ship all this and extra to my e mail or in case you are so disposed, I’m on that Bluesky now
Groups
Eire welcome again Hugo Keenan and Caelan Doris to the beginning lineup following damage, whereas Bundee Aki returns to the centre on account of Gary Ringrose’s crimson card suspension.
Galthie has determined the answer to the wall his facet should recover from as we speak is to call a bench able to smashing it to items. Then consuming it. We are able to debate the 7-1 bench break up as a lot as you want however there’s something viscerally elemental about naming seven huge lads to come back on after an hour or so, ignoring the danger just a few accidents means Cyrille Baille at fullback. However who wouldn’t need to see that? I’m struggling to see a draw back.
In different information, Damien Penaud and Romain Ntamack are again within the beginning XV.
Eire
Hugo Keenan; Jamie Osborne, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Finlay Bealham; Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.
Replacements: Rob Herring, Cian Healy, Thomas Clarkson, James Ryan, Jack Conan, Ryan Baird, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley.
France
Thomas Ramos; Damian Penaud, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Yoram Moefana, Louis Bielle-Biarrey,; Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont; Jean Baptiste-Gros, Peato Mauvaka, Uini Atonio; Thibaud Flament, Mickael Guillard; Francois Cros, Paul Boudehent, Gregory Alldritt
Replacements: Julien Marchand, Cyril Baille, Dorian Aldegheri, Emmanuel Meafou, Hugo Auradou, Oscar Jegou, Anthony Jelonch, Maxime Lucu
Preamble
The Clincher™ appears like many issues. A horrible sequence of motion movies starring Jason Statham (my private favorite is The Clincher 5: All Clinch, No Flinch), the ending transfer of a mid-level WWE Famous person, or maybe a nickname that James Haskell gave himself that everybody refuses use. It’s additionally completely the correct description for as we speak’s match between the event’s large two with the result just about deciding the place the trophy finally ends up subsequent week.
Eire enter proceedings undefeated and with the twin benefits of a house tie with a extra settled facet and extra even type than the French guests, however neither crew have proven their best possible to this point. Simon Easterby’s males are uneven in assault with a brand new “kick-first” plan collectively carried out by Jamison Gibson-Park and his favorite youngster Sam Prendergast; whereas Fabien Galthie has given off vibes extra muddled than his optician’s suggestions with choice, gameplan, plus – whisper it – Shaun Edwards’s a lot vaunted defence is misfiring.
The earlier two matches between the nations have been snug wins for Eire, together with the away win in Marseille final 12 months. France would little question wish to level out that 2024 was a Dupont-less France, due to this fact it doesn’t rely so far as they’re involved. Eire can have none of that, however they’re additionally not the crew they have been in 2023 or 2024. All of this plus the stakes makes the outing as we speak a captivating one.
Kick off is at 2:15 GMT so there’s nonetheless time to observe The Clincher 7: Give ‘em A Clinch Earlier than They Take A Mile when you wait.
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