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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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S
SK 1 hour ago
Lessons the Wallabies must heed to turn Lions heartbreak into future success

Brett I love your fresh take on the picture that needed to be painted and ultimately wasnt. I agree there just wasnt enough in it for the ref to call it back and ultimately the ref was consistent the whole night at the breakdown. Australia are damned disheartened now but look how close it came to beating a team Campo said would thrash them by 30. This is the perfect prep for the Rugby Championship and the Boks and NZ. The Boks will be able to bring a scary pack to face the Aussies but it will be just as scary as facing these lads and so the Wallabies for me are making progress. They are not quite the finished article and the soft moments and tries and passive defence just proves it. Schmidt was brought in to make Australia better, he was brought in to make sure Australia improved in time for the Lions to avoid an embarrassment and look he has done that and taken them close so while the result is gutting its a job well done so far. lets see if they can take one step further and pilfer a test off these patchy Lions. Just a quick word on refs and the laws. Can we please tell World Rugby to simplify the game. At least 5 or 6 laws were examined in the wake of the last minute cleanout and several said Tizzano should have been pinged, others say Morgan should have been pinged. If former players and refs cant agree on what the right call was then it means the game is too complex. The refs have a clear mandate to let the game flow. I agree with that but the laws must support the refs. Right now they do not and leave too many holes for the refs to plug. The result is a furore after every major engagement between nations where the refs are abused.

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I
IkeaBoy 2 hours ago
'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

I’m a proud Irishman with a weakness for the underdog. My only stake in the game was an Aussie win to take the series to a decider. Even overlooking the actual clear out - which was the only thing Piardi instructed the TMO to review - I think it’s very easy to be objective and say that Australia got done on the calls.


It’s a phase of play that unfolds in less than 10 seconds but is fairly easy to breakdown.


1 - Ryan (#19 Lions) is tackled legally, goes to ground in possession of the ball but makes no effort to release the ball. He has to immediately once he goes to ground. PENALTY.


2 - Tizzano (#21 Australia) is first man to the ball (from either team) and forms the ruck with his own hindfoot. Side entry doesn’t apply to him as the ruck is not formed at this stage but rather it’s formed by him. NO PENALTY.


3 - Even to completely ignore the actual clear out (penalty/no penalty), foul play can still have occurred without the need for a HIA. The fact that Tizzano is walking around and available for the next match doesn’t mean he didn’t get emptied. His mouthguard data does seem to have registered an almighty force though. 50/50.


4 - Both Morgan (#20 Lions) and Genge (#17 Lions) go to clear out but both do so by driving through the ruck off their feet and falling over the ball. Sealing. PENALTY


5 - I still don’t understand why none of the coverage picks up on this - Morgan holds Tizzano’s feet in a wrap on the pitch after the clear out. On the match clock it’s 79.03 to 79.07 before he releases. Playing the player off the ball. PENALTY


Piardi controls the narrative when reviewing with the TMO and starts on the wrong foot. The discussion is all on the basis that both sets of players arrive at the same time (which changes mitigation around foul play) which they don’t. They clearly don’t as Tizzano is first to the ball.


For 79 mins that match was brilliant. The crowd was brilliant. The atmosphere seemed brilliant. It’s a loss on the sport that a gang of mic’d up officials can not get it right.

179 Go to comments
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