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Gregory Alldritt says France used Eddie Jones' pre-match words as motivation

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

France number eight Gregory Alldritt declared that England paid the price for Eddie Jones’ pre-match promise of delivering “brutal physicality” in their Six Nations opener.

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Jones’ words caused controversy in French rugby circles because of the connotation of violence and they duly backfired as Les Bleus claimed a 24-17 victory having raced into a 24-0 lead built on their own ferocious onslaught.

England were battered in the collisions and Alldritt revealed Jones’ posturing was used as motivation.

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“Eddie was saying that we couldn’t manage the brutality of the England team,” the man of the match said.

“But when you are a winner, a competitor, you just want to show him that you can manage that.

“Of course we read it. We were clearly going to put some fighting spirit out there.”

Alldritt paid tribute to Shaun Edwards, France’s new defence coach whose stamp was all over the home performance.

“Shaun is a tough guy and he always wants aggression from you, in every bit of work and in every tackle,” Edwards said.

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“He wants big tackles. And speed in the tackle. He is bringing a lot of experience to us at international level and a lot of competence too.”

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Jonny May conjured two outstanding solo tries to propel England back into contention when they appeared to be fighting a lost cause, but he was also partly responsible for France’s second.

The Leicester wing stopped playing to appeal to referee Nigel Owens in the belief the ball had been knocked-on by France in the build-up to Charles Ollivon’s 20th-minute touchdown.

While he was protesting, France continued and it was a costly error for which May accepts blame, although he thought Owens had blown the whistle at a noisy Stade de France.

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“That’s one of the first things you learn as a kid isn’t it – play to the whistle. And I didn’t, so I’ll own that one,” May said.

“But what I saw is that it hit his hand and then somebody in front of him caught it, and Nigel did go to blow his whistle. But I own that. Play to the whistle.”

– Press Association

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J
JW 2 hours ago
How key Waratahs playmakers could reshape Joe Schmidt's Wallabies backline

Yeah like a classic comedy show, not too different to how he went at the same venue last year? Perhaps there’s something about that latitude that puts his equilibrium off?


The rush on Jo was fine though, you’d catch most players out with Dmacs ex3cution of it. There were actually quite a few instances like that, not too dissimilar to that Bledisloe game actually, were things just didn’t work out for no luck of trying to skill. I laughed when Dmac took himself out of that try and basically gifted it to them by trying to bowl over Kellaway was perhaps the most comical.


Actually now you say that, yes, very reminiscent of Aus v England wasn’t it. The two changes at halves have been instrumental for me. Not that the first two weren’t playing well, but these two seem to pair up better, with everyone. Like you say with those sorts of counter attack plays, they are on instinct and that stuff needs to be shared with everyone. That’s another thing too I was thinking, in that respect guys returning can be a hinderance to a team playing well, but I might have just thought that because I wasn’t sure (hadn’t seen much) which of NSWs midfields were best suited where.


I’m very similar in my TMO preference as well. I had actually said to myself several times already this season (SR here) that they are pretty bullish basically telling the ref what theyve seen as fact. If I remember rightly it even happened a few times in November and some of the refs then said “no, I’m actually happy with that.” etc. But very tough on Maybe (I think) who probably has plss poor vision on the big screen to say anything otherwise, so yes, definitely just make it an offer to look and also communicate ‘why’ precisely to the ref, and (just like he does to the players) he can even say to the TMO “no I was happy how I saw it live, I don’t need a replay thanks” etc. He started like that I think, “I’d like to review a simultaneous grounding” but then yes, he took over after. Of course in the refs minds, it’s the right call, thoughts how it’s always been ref’d, even when theres a good few frames in the slowmo that actually show ball obviously hitting grass first (which they didn’t in this game), they’ve always ruled that (like in cricket) if the ball continues to then be ground on the line after (or in the same frame in this example) they always gone ‘dead ball’. The new SR committee apparently what to making the line the attacking teams so they award the try’s instead of taking them away, but just like I said with them not wanting to look closely at the first forward pass (like they did for the Chiefs try), I don’t want random JRLO level decisions, and giving the line to the attacking team is just going to make clear no trys, a try instead. It’s exactly the same result.

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