Whatever Happened To French Flair? | Thebigtip

Sacre bleu! The French have lost their imagination.

The country that brought the world Impressionist painting, blue vein cheese and the Eiffel Tower found themselves bereft of ideas on Saturday night.

Despite playing 63 minutes with a one-man advantage, Les Tricolours failed to fire a shot against a Welsh side without skipper and openside flanker Sam Warburton.

Warburton, who has impressed throughout the tournament, was shown a red card by referee Alain Rolland in the seventeenth minute for a dangerous tip-tackle on Frenchman Vincent Clerc.

In his absence, however, Marc Lievremont’s charges were more laissez-faire than Tour de Force.  Instead of moving the ball wide to expose the overlap, France persisted with a volley of high kicks in midfield, effectively squandering possession and ensuring that Wales were never put under undue pressure.

The breakdown too should have been a write off for the young Welshmen with their chief fetcher cooling in the bin. Les Bleus instead chose not to commit to the tackle-ball in numbers least they gift the Celts a penalty, preferring to stand back as Wales put together multiple phases.

As it was, the Welsh Dragons were the only side to cross the chalk through a deft break down the blind by halfback Mike Phillips.

Still, for all the lack of positive intent, the final scorecard will show France the victors 9-8 thanks to three well-struck penalties from fly-half Morgan Parra.

When Thierry Dusautoir leads his men out against an imperious All Blacks side in next weekend’s final, one can not help but think they may be headed for a date with the guillotine. Unless of course they rediscover their méthode traditionelle and play with the passion, flair and ingenuity the men from Galle are known for.