Sat 23rd Oct: Women's Intl: France v England KO 1pm BST (TV)

[Northern Eel]

Good try that, off the back of a solid set. Nice offloads out wide and simple as anything for Hardcastle. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

Good try at last and the tough French defence is broken.

[DavidM]

The D , yeh good D , poor D . Noble used to like that a lot . Defence isn’t that hard to say 

[Futtocks]

England in again.

[Northern Eel]

And there is that improved physique I was talking about. Powerful running. 12-0 England.

[Hvy wg]

I swear to God there are at least 4 English girls looking all the same with blond hair I'm so lost

[Northern Eel]

Atmosphere sounds good. The band are having a great time!

[Northern Eel]

England have stepped it up here, better ball retention and dominant in the ruck. Another well-deserved try and England are now out of sight.

[Just Browny]

Nice to have a ref using French and English. Always cringey when it's an Anglo-French game refereed entirely in broad Yorkshire.

[Hvy wg]

The ref is doing good talking in both languages. It's been a stellar performance.

[redjonn]

do the two commentators ever take a pause for breath... talk more  inane stuff than terry and Baz

[DavidM]

2 minutes ago, Hvy wg said:

The ref is doing good talking in both languages. It's been a stellar performance.

Indeed

[redjonn]

4 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

England have stepped it up here, better ball retention and dominant in the ruck. Another well-deserved try and England are now out of sight.

think its more a case of the French tiring... hence less pressure on the ball player and less forced errors, etc etc.

I mean its going to be at least 50points difference... the gap between the teams as expected is large.

[Just Browny]

Just now, redjonn said:

do the two commentators ever take a pause for breath... talk more  inane stuff than terry and Baz

At least they are talking about the game, not some red card Barrie got in 1994.

For not pausing for breath, Alan Hunte is a nice chap but one of the worst for it. When he is on co-commentary on Radio Manchester, the main commentator basically has an afternoon off.

[Futtocks]

Ideally, the French players would have had a bit more recent game time, but they are doing better then I feared.

[redjonn]

Just now, Just Browny said:

At least they are talking about the game, not some red card Barrie got in 1994.

For not pausing for breath, Alan Hunte is a nice chap but one of the worst for it. When he is on co-commentary on Radio Manchester, the main commentator basically has an afternoon off.

yep, although we did get a few minutes of talk about player getting 25 caps and comparing it to her 25 caps but the commentator had 3 GBs to better her... not sure that was about the game - that went on for a surprising babble of time

Never-the-less I get your point

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Commendable that the French have kept England down to 16 points although the second half will be very different I feel. France look better than I thought they'd be though. 

[Archie Gordon]

This is coming across very well on the BBC. Hopefully, we can get more women's test matches and more of them on TV.

[Futtocks]

Danika Priim is coming across well in the studio. She's done some co-commentary recently too.

[Just Browny]

1 minute ago, Archie Gordon said:

This is coming across very well on the BBC. Hopefully, we can get more women's test matches and more of them on TV.

I do wonder if, for the women's game, the world cup postponement might end up a blessing in disguise. We seem to have built up a bit of momentum this year and an extra year's run up should help standards, coverage and awareness even more.

[unapologetic pedant]

Quite encouraging from the French. Their passing isn`t great, which limits them, but their defence has been excellent. Far better than the last time the two sides met. The young girl from Marseille looks really good.

I reckon there`s been about half a dozen phantom knock-on calls, most by the Touch Judge, including the one from the kick-off where he must have been 30 yards away. The knock-on obsession is a blight on the game generally, but it adversely affects the female game particularly because the handling is less secure.

The whole commentary team managed to miss that the significant aspect of the first England try was that it was a sixth tackle running play. How can viewers pick up the tactics of RL listening to this lot?

[The Hallucinating Goose]

3 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Danika Priim is coming across well in the studio. She's done some co-commentary recently too.

Jon Wilkin has been smoking something questionable though if he thinks the women's game is going to surpass the men's game in commercial attractiveness and viability. 

[Northern Eel]

Lovely support play.

[Chris22]

Enjoyed that discussion at half time about the women's game. It didn't always fall into the trap of saying everything is perfect about the women's game, as many tend to do, possibly out of fear of talking the game. The points about the excellent growth recently and the need for the women's game to stand more independently in the longer term were both well made.

[Futtocks]

2 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Jon Wilkin has been smoking something questionable though if he thinks the women's game is going to surpass the men's game in commercial attractiveness and viability. 

Agreed. Although I can see how the women's game, with less historical baggage, could be more attractive to potential sponsors who wouldn't get involved with the men's game, thanks to stereotyped views. Not for the same amount of money as the men's game, but a televised match like this will have got the attention of people who wouldn't have been watching a women's game on OurLeague or even Sky.