Shane Williams: Sorry, France, but this was not in spirit of the game!
But whichever camp you are in, you must surely agree with Wales coach Rob Howley and me that this was against the spirit of the game.
It probably wouldn’t have made any difference to the result in the end had Atonio stayed on the field, but what their management team and doctor did by seemingly hoodwinking referee Wayne Barnes into allowing them to bring back the strong scrummaging Rabah Slimani was just plain wrong in my book.
Put simply, France brought the game into disrepute with their antics in their desperation to win. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that the game’s the thing – particularly in rugby union.
The problem is that the first 79 minutes were so largely forgettable that the final, frantic quarter after the clock had gone into the red zone will be all that anyone remembers.
Then add in the biting claims by George North, the calling back on to the field of Tomas Francis to ensure contested scrums could continue, and the constant stream of penalties, and you had all the ingredients of a rugby pantomime.
The question is, was referee Barnes the chief villain? It looked to me as though he tried to play everything by the book and that’s why the game went into the 100th minute before that winning score came. Like every other Welsh fan, I felt he was waiting for France to score before he called time.
For the French fans, it seemed he was giving Wales the benefit of every doubt to help them stay in the lead.
I’m sure his performance will be analysed in great detail by the Six Nations authorities when they assess the Championship. But the biggest thing they need to do is ensure that management teams enter into the true spirit of the game at all times.
There is so much pressure, and so much money involved in the game these days that the lines between right and wrong often get blurred.
They shouldn’t.
The Welsh defensive effort was superb, but the bitter truth is that they lost to England after leading with four minutes left to play and lost to France in the 20th minute of extra time. It means they finish fifth, their lowest in the Championship since 2007.
The fall-out from the last 20 minutes in France is sure to run and run, but it can’t be allowed to detract from what was overall a disappointing Six Nations for Wales. In Paris, Wales produced a pretty poor performance in attack. They barely created anything of note once again and they had to rely on the boot of Leigh Halfpenny to stay in contention.
Leigh has to take his share of the plaudits, especially after the incident in Scotland when he turned down the chance to shoot for goal at Murrayfield.
This was him at his relentless best from the tee and some of the kicks he nailed were shots that only a handful of players in world rugby would have been successful with.
He has to be involved with the Lions for exactly that reason, even though I know some people have been questioning his form in the last 12 months.
In Leigh and Owen Farrell, Warren Gatland will have two pin-point marksmen with whom he can take on the All Blacks.
That can wait for another day, though, because Wales have a lot to dissect in the next few months. I thought their body language at the Stade de France wasn’t great. It meant they had a slow start to the game which began with Ken Owens overthrowing an early lineout.
Given his impressive displays in the tournament, it pointed towards a bad day at the office and so it proved. Wales only really stayed in the game thanks to Leigh’s boot, and it was disappointing to see Scott Williams struggle in the centre.
On the whole Scott has been an excellent performer in the last year, but he dropped a few balls against Les Bleus and never really got going.
When you’re a player, you know when you’ve put in a bad display and Scott will put his hands up and accept he could have done better.
I’m sure he’ll be back because he’s too good a player not to star at international level.
With only two wins from this Six Nations, you have to say this has been a hugely disappointing tournament. A fifth-place finish simply isn’t good enough and captain Alun-Wyn Jones pretty much said that at full time.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens next. Once the dust on this game has settled, and I’m sure that will take a while, the Wales camp have an interesting few months ahead.
Warren, Rob and Neil Jenkins will all go away with the Lions, and that leaves Robin McBryde in charge of Wales for the two-Test summer tour to face Tonga and Samoa. I know what I’d do for that trip. Whether Dan Biggar makes the Lions or not, Sam Davies has to start both of those matches at fly-half.
I’d also like to see Owen Williams given a chance in the centre to see if he can feature as a second playmaker. We’ve seen with Leicester that he certainly has a lot of ability.
Out wide, Keelan Giles has to start for me, as long as he’s fit and has no injury problems with the hamstring that has bothered him this season.
It could be that we see the Wales backline of the future in the South Seas and while the Lions will be at the forefront of people’s minds, Welsh fans should be watching that tour with plenty of interest.
Robin has a big job on his hands to help bring through the next generation of talent, because this Six Nations
showed that the current crop are a way off from competing with the Northern Hemisphere’s best.
It pains me to say it, but that is the truth and, as a team and management group, Wales have big strides to make.
