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Paris will be the setting for the 2021 Guinness Six Nations finale on Friday night and Scotland boss Gregor Townsend would love to beat France away for the first time in 22 years and repay the massive favour they got that year from Wales.
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The Scots defeated the French on the Saturday in the final round of the old Five Nations but they didn’t have much belief that the Welsh could deliver a Sunday upset against Grand Slam-chasing England at Wembley to send the championship title from London to Edinburgh.
Wales, though, memorably did the business, the Scott Gibbs’ try a special classic that has since lived long and vibrantly in the memory.
Now Townsend wants to repay that debt knowing that if Scotland prevent France from winning with a four-try bonus point and with a margin of 21 points the Six Nations title will go to Alun Wyn Jones and co six days after Welsh Grand Slam hopes were devastatingly dashed by Brice Dulin’s added time try in Paris.
“We have got two Welsh members of staff so they have had a few messages,” revealed Townsend when asked had there been any communication from Wales this week pleading for the Scots to give them a title-winning assist.
"I can’t say on one hand we really want ambitious players here… and then turn around and say we don’t like it when they play international rugby"#SixNations #FRAvSCOhttps://t.co/EZ3SQ2hWeX
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 24, 2021
“We maybe owe Wales a favour from 1999. I remember watching that game [Wales vs England] with Stuart Grimes in France thinking, ‘Well, we had a good win yesterday but do we really want to watch England win the Five Nations?’ Wales turned them over that day, so I’m sure they will be cheering us on like we were that day 22 years ago.”
Townsend’s memories of the 36-22 Scotland win in Paris remain vivid for the coach who was a try-scorer that afternoon where the Scots outscored the French five tries to three. “We didn’t start well the first two, three minutes, especially me. I shanked a kick and Thomas Castaignede made about an 80-yard break.
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“Then we woke up and got into a flow state, what they call in sports psychology where everybody seemed to be connected with each other, wanted the ball and moved the ball very accurately, and we played some amazing rugby for about a 20, 30-minute period and then after that, it was a pretty dull 3-0 second half.
“It was one of those amazing games where everything just comes right. The fact that it was the last game of the season I felt was really important in that happening. We had built up a lot of connections.
“I remember training that week players were leading it and we felt really confident and cohesive, so having it as the last game of the season should help us now. I know it has been a different type of season for us but we can now throw everything out that we worked on this year and the confidence in how we played last weekend (when beating Italy) should help the players approach this game with confidence.”
'My first morning, I was going in for breakfast and thinking, are they sure it’s me they wanted to sign?'@BOPBweb lock @Andycramond talks to @JLyall93 ??? about how a DM from a French agent 7 yrs ago opened a door to a very different rugby careerhttps://t.co/G2Hk4ZzEjF
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 25, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments