The French knock on that's called sideways looks even worse than I remember.

I was just getting over it then this pops up.

Squidge should've made the video 16 minutes and 20 seconds long just for the evilness of it

Trust squidge for the correct take. Disappointed as a Scotland fan but it shouldn't have come down to that try

When is a knock on not a knock on? When the linesman is nowhere to be seen and the ref is 98% sure it was forward so calls it sideways.

Hands Down the best Rugby analysis out there!

7:35 OR it's because an excellent kick went exactly as Russell wanted it to but the referee has missed such a blatant knock on nobody can believe it.

Superb video, I also like the new format of moments in a match, keep it up man!

Love this format, thank you Squidgy!

I think this is much clearer and a better story than regular videos. Helps us understand better and less intensive for you!

Loving this Style of content Squidge! Seems more energetic and fun 😊

Loved this. I think we all trust your instinct for analysis. Go forth and prosper!

Really enjoyed the deep dive into a passage of play, it's a good idea :D

Great stuff - liking this new format. Sometimes when you did the longer full game analysis there would be points at which I’d kind of zone out 😂

This is so well explained, cheers squidge

Enjoyed the format, strategic analysis MUCH appreciated

Personally, I'm just happy to see you producing content. If you're happy doing videos like this - focussing on one particular aspect of a game - then I'm happy for you to do that. I'll always watch whatever you upload

This felt like classic squidge. I loved it.

amazing content change, love this serie

Really enjoyed it getting to the point well

Excellent, as always, Squidge!

I was questioning Townsends bench before kick off and I feel vindicated. This was the game that that needed a 6-2 split, maybe have some room for Jamie Ritchie there too. It goes one further when none of the backs (maybe Redpath for one minute so correct me if I’m wrong) came on. Healy I can understand, cos he’s not replacing Finn but George Horne was exactly the guy needed to run a supporting line for Kyle Rowe when he made that big break. A lightning fast live wire 9 who scored tries for fun, it would have made for the greatest 2 minute cameo ever

The last try aside. That was a knock on. There was no way it went sideways.

Can't wait for you to cover the incredible try from Portugal this week!

Amazing analysis

Informative to track a teams chosen tactics

Great analysis!

Superb analysis Squide as always

Really great analyse to watch

merci Squidge

Good analysis!

Love a Saturday Squidge.

Christie is "pinned in" and held*. Was at the game, will never ever forget that feeling of celebrating the try after hering the ref mic only for it not to be given.

All well and good… but also… that was a try! Robbed! Lol

If that penaud knock on was given, scotland win

I can't think of anything I'd rather watch less than someone talking about referees' decisions for 15 mins so fair play to ya Squidge and ignore the haters. Much more interesting to see your analysis of, you know, the actual game that was played, rather than a tough call that would've been irrelevant if Scotland had managed their game better.

Great analysis again and thank you because I did not notice that Russell kicked the ball into Schoemann's balls until this video! Not sure why i found it so amusing though

I like the new style!! Keep it up

That CeX joke got me so good, very good sir

Absolutely brilliant analysis. I wouldn’t be so affirmative about France self confidence and serenity, but apart from that, everything makes sense. Yes the try should have been awarded, but Scotland must focus on the many other things that went wrong if they don’t want to see this scenario happen again

Love the format, keep it on! Regarding the outcome of the match, it can’t be a robbery if the safe’s door is not locked, well actually wide open. General feeling in the stands, for both sides, was that both teams should aim for better than whatever was on offer in second half.

Yeah but penaud did knock on. There that's my analysis over

Finn turning down three so many times was just infuriating this team always does it and then loses by one possession I can’t handle it

I like both formats so gonna vote for the one that is less crushingly exhausting for y'all

Maybe the try would had been given but there is also a foul play from rowe when he push bielle biarrey after the fickou’s break

Massive fan of the channel but I do think that the “Scotland should have won it earlier” narrative is nonsense and is being presented as a way of distracting from a couple of clear refereeing errors. Scotland wobbled and then came back, as great teams do. They should have passed to the 3 on 1 at the end - that was where they threw it away.

Million dollar speed bump. Class😂

I would have loved a cover on the high tackle on fickou, what led to that situation and all

IMHO, despite all of Squidge's arguments (with which I agree), I still find France was incredibly...let's say "lucky". Yes, Scotland probably bottled it, but still, leaving aside the (very obvious) final try: - How is Penaud's catch not lost forward? If it's really sideways (hard to tell from camera angle), it's by a few millimeters, and anyway in this situation, the call is "knock on" 99/100 times - 50/22 by Finn bouncing *very* kindly for France - Clearing kick by Russell randomly catching teammate when by all means should have flown downfield - etc. This is just to say that, again ignoring the final drama, it was an incredibly close game and it hinged on a few key moments which tended to favor France overall. p.s. great content Squidge as always, and take heart Scotland...

And I just finished making my coffee, you legend

Honestly I disagree with Squidge here. Scotland stuck to a plan to defend a lead that many other top teams would also have done against France. When that went against them and they went behind, they then got themselves into a good position to score. All very good play by Scotland up to there. The mistake Scotland made was using the pick and go to try score which has a very high risk of leading to a 50/50 call because of the sheer number of bodies and limbs around the ball. I know Scotland fans may disagree, but under the new protocol, this was always going to be a 50/50 decision and it certainly wasn't a howler that Berry called it held up. Under a pile of limbs and bodies which would significantly impair his view of the ball, along with the ball being initially placed on a French foot, its is not unreasonable that he called it held up. It would also have been reasonable if he called a try too if he saw the ball roll off the foot (likely didn't see this live though) i.e. a 50/50. There was no mistake here, just a difficult call among a pile of limbs and these calls, unfortunately, don't always go your way. And once this call was made, there is not much a TMO can do to turn it over unless it is very clear. I agree with most everyone that it was probably a try but that isn't the issue. The issue is whether the video angles were conclusive which again was another 50/50 call. Unfortunately Scotland were on the wrong end of both of those but unfortunately this is what can happen when you leave these things up to the referee team. Remember too this is what a lot of people were shouting for - to have the on field ref make the big calls so I do find it rather amusing that the opposite is now being argued for. Refs unfortunately are damned if they do, damned if they don't but in this instance, they are not to blame. In tight games, teams need to find a way to score that takes the ref out of the equation. Mauls and pick and go are not the way to do that. Rassie and Nienaber even mentioned this at the WC after the Ireland game where SA tried to maul over for a winning try but it didn't work out and the maul collapsed with the ball trapped. One can argue all day long that Ireland collapsed the maul, came in from the side etc which was fairly obvious on replay, but the issue was that they gave the ref a decision to make and those don't always go your way. SA changed tact after that and you can see this by the winning tries against France and England. They were still direct tries scored by 2 big forwards (Etzebeth and RG respectively) but were wider out with only a couple bodies involved which leaves no/minimal doubt if a try has been scored. NZ are also very good at doing this too and Scotland need to learn to do this as well.

Genuine question: do you guys think Finn Russell is onside for his challenge on Le Garrec at 13:58 ? Thanks!

It was a robbery squidge.

Scotland's tactics reminded me of the last time Wales played France in Cardiff and Wales should have won that as well.

LOVE

That ball off Penaud was not sideways. It's clear... That changed the entire outcome. It's true Scotland lost their grip, but it wasn't as clearly Scotland and France driven as it was a confusing referee -TMO panic... At the end of it all it probably won't matter as Ireland will likely beat Scotland, but the game ended with the wrong team getting the points, even if Scotland should and could have managed it better (especially right before the half).

Good analysis as always. I always say to myself "Officials don't lose games, teams lose games", but somedays it's harder to believe than others...that said, last minute TMO aside, Nick Berry played a blinder. I've been really impressed with the speed at which he lets the game play, calling 'use it' almost immediately and ending advantages promptly. More refs should be like Berry.

I understand the constant need to suggest that Scotland can't complain because they should have had it finished. However, If every game of sports contained 2 incorrect decisions which massively effected the game then we would see many score lines change and matches in which teams won comfortably (would have been the consensus due to the lead length if the try had been allowed) to change drastically.

They weren't denied a try! They didn't score one.

One large part of the Scotlands kicking mistake argument I don't understand. France is a bigger, richer and higher ranked Rugby team who decided to burn 10 minutes of the clock - Why would Scotland burn themselves out running into big players in a game where they are 6 ahead? You can say 'well see the result' but that doesn't hold weight either when you consider the ignored knock ons and disallowed try. To me France played an absolute stinker of a game tactic wise and the officials managed to patch it over. TLDR - Why is the kicking nonsense Scotlands fault, not Frances?

Tuilagi placing his arm down on the floor is really what saved france here. He literally blocked the view of the grounding and saved france big style.

Seeing as there is no 6 Nations this weekend, will we perhaps get a video on the other European tournament? Portugal v Rumania was tasty

Great analysis, Scotland could have been 2 from 2 but could easily have been 0 from 2 and their control and management are to blame.

I always thought the discourse on the final try/not a try to be a little bit boring. Scotland left 9 points on the park not taking kickable penalties and failing to convert the kick to the corner to points over the course of the match. Had Scotland played smarter test rugby the final try wouldn't have made any difference. Like i get the driving maul is stronger than its ever been (too strong imo) and of you can get onto the oppositions 5m line its all but guaranteed points theses days but its still a test match. You keep the scoreboard ticking and take 3 when its available you'll generally win the day. Feel like teams are forgetting that somewhat these days

For the rucks before the French try, French players offended for three counts, 1. Cleaned out the Scottish defenders where the Scottish defenders were not fully binding the ruck yet; 2. Joined the rucks from the side; and 3. Shoulder charged. Nick Berry is as shit as usual.

Absolutley should have been a game won by Scotland after that first half, jusy like the Wales game. I think they have a tendency to relax a little too much when going ahead beacuse they are used to coming from behind

Hello mate! What about trying to post a video of the semi finals of the Europe championship and, later, the final? It would be awesome to watch!

With regard to the style, personally I prefer the more overall game analysis but I also get that it is unsustainable so this is a good compromise

This is much better than watching Matt Williams cry about how kicking is "ruining the game" for an hour.

Shocking ref calls but without that we still should have won and we threw the game away at the end. Only really have ourselves to blame.

From a french perspective, your french accent is really crisp

So in summary, Scotland were done in that last quarter by two bad refereeing decisions. The knock on from Russell’s kick and then the try that was somehow not a try. Sure Scotland could have played better in the last quarter, but it’s always harder when the ref is, frankly, having a shocker.

I reckon there’s gonna be a couple nibbles on this title 🎣

❤

The ruling by the TMO was the proof needed that this 'Bunker' idea is a time wasting and money wasting failure. It takes a person of honor and steadfastness to occupy and that is neither McNeice nor Foley. Squidge, another gem. Thanks

I got really frustrated with scotlands management of the kicking game and the way they managed players off the bench too.

Scotland didn’t throw it away, the TMO did.

Was Russell not offside when he turned the ball over at the end?

I genuinely believe Squidge would do a fantastic job on an actual rugby analysis panel. Absolute world class observations and analysis of the game and would be loved by tv viewers because of his hilarious comments!

Has the Law changed? I started playing in the '70s and by the time I had quit reffing and coaching it we were in a different century. All that time, if you were offside there were several ways to be put back onside however, in order for that to happen you must be attempting to get onside. Just standing there was not an attempt to rectify your situation. You had to put some effort into it. You had to be retiring, making an effort to be put onside. Does the Law now say that just standing around is good enough?

Valid try not given… you say ‘robbed’ is not fair language. If valid try was given then ‘gifted’ is valid language. Hahah thanks for that squidge. Maybe think that one through again.

I sadly think the disallowed try was the right call. If you watch the slow-mo close up, you see the ball on someones leg. Then it gets moved off the leg, but it *falls* an inch or two before someone puts pressure on it. So the ball isnt being controlled and has effectively, though over the shortest of distances, been dropped. No try.

I made it through 50 seconds. I can't. It's still too raw.

Also, Scotland are so, so, so prone to attacking players clearing way past the ruck and tying defenders in and preventing the defensive fold. Wales did it in the tap penalty try and france did it twice in the summer internationals. Massive part of France's try in this game. They are so prone to it, it's obvious that other teams know it's something they can do and obvious that Scotland either don't know about it or don't know how to prevent it.

As is often the case with "X team was robbed" games, there's a lot more to the story. Great vid

Gregors post match analysis should just wait for squidge to upload then get all the boys round and watch youtube

Come on Squidge, Scotland didn’t throw this game away. They nearly did, but they very clearly came back at the end and scored the winning try only to be robbed of it by the most ridiculous refereeing I have ever seen. People say France were robbed against South Africa in the WC quarters last year, or NZ in the final, but those were definitely situations where it was a lot more ambiguous. This was straight up incorrect. What more do you need before you can acknowledge foul play by the ref? Does he need to literally kick the ball out of a players hands and be like “Sorry, knock on! Disallowed!”?

In short: Scotland weren’t robbed by a refereeing decision. They were robbed by several.

Still getting over it 😢

For a Welsh fan you do surprisingly little coverage of the Welsh matches (unless they're coming, dunno). Not expecting the England match as it was a bit meh but I was at least expecting the Scotland match as it was so mental

The thing which annoys me with this Dupont's law is that every team seems to have abandoned the kick chase. Russell wouldn't have this much time if France actually pressured him with an onside player? it's baffling

Its not hard to see why Erasmus was so irritated by Berry. Missing the knock on by Penaud at 65 mins was just disgracefully bad at this level of refereeing and he barely makes an effort to check if the ball is grounded and basically calls a lazy 'held up' when the ball is clearly on the ground and shoves all the responsibility onto Macniece. Him and Angus Gardener have been a problem for years

France look like a shadow of the side they´ve been for the past 4 years. No Dupont, no Ntamack can´t be helping, but their cohesion on defense has been poor, their fitness has looked off the pace, their attack has been flat footed and on the whole they just look deflated. Is it just a post-RWC hangover? Or have we seen the best of this team already, and French rugby are set to descent once more into a mutli-season mire of infighting, dysfunctionality and underperfromance, just as they have done every other time they fell short in a World Cup that they entered as favorites?

Both teams made errors and had sloppy play at times. France won due to an outrageous error by the referee and TMO. End of. It’s an 80 min game. Unfortunately this game had some of the worse officiating seen. That alongside rugby Union killing the game with overly complicated laws being subjective leads to the inconsistency we see every game now.

This game perfectly sums up scotland. Scotland deep down dont have the belief to stick to their strengths despite how things are going ala south africa, all blacks or ireland. Scotland had the winning of the game but with 25 min to go they started playing not to loose and took their foot off the neck of the french

Love your videos but I can’t bring myself to watch this one! I was there which makes it worse! We should not have to rely on a last minute decision by the ref to have won that game. It was such a Scottish thing to do - far too many years of being a Scotland fan means I’ve seen it before!

TMO Saved you 16 minutes

It's just Scotland being Scotland they lost that game in other 79 minutes. Not taking the points and playing like they're 20 points up when they're only 6 up in the last 10 minutes.

My god its even worst looking at it again. The knock on is clearly a knock on, the pass to score frances second try is clearly forward, and thats before we even get to the disallowed try. It looks a bit like this ref let his bias influence his decisions.

France took time to work it out but got there. Scotland partly to blame but nothing like Wales playing to England's strength