The Australian women’s rugby side have fallen to France in a dramatic last-gasp 29-26 defeat in Aix-en-Provence on a day so loaded with chaos that the game was even delayed after half-time due to a spectator bus exploding in flames behind the stadium.
asserted
bus → fall → stadium
In a game where aptly named English referee Holly Wood handed out five yellow cards for foul play - and one red card to a French player for making contact with the eyes of a Wallaroos player - the home side found themselves reduced to 11 players at one point in the first half.
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themselves → name → half
Along with the permanent red card to Cloe Correa for eye contact, France had three more players binned for dangerous tackles between the 16th and 23rd minutes.
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players → have → minutes
One of those was upgraded to a 20-minute red card.
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One → upgrade → card
The Wallaroos had already dominated physically early and scored, but they duly took advantage of the four-person advantage by scoring another two tries and raced out to a 19-0 lead after 30 minutes.
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they → dominate → minutes
But the French side, having returned to 13 players, rallied and somehow scored twice before halftime.
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side → return → halftime
The home crowd went from loud booing and whistling at the decisions of referee Holly Wood to joyous cheers as France somehow stayed in the contest before the break.
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France → go → break
If there hadn’t been enough drama already, the game’s resumption after half-time was delayed by seven minutes after a shuttle bus caught fire directly behind one of two main stands at the Stade Maurice David.
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bus → delay → David
Thick black smoke was seen billowing above the stadium.
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smoke → see → stadium
One Australian supporter who attended the game emailed this masthead and said when the tyres of the bus blew up “the explosions shook the whole stadium!”
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explosions → attend → stadium
When play finally resumed, the intensity picked up where it left off, and Australia scored again in the 50th minute through Piper Duck to hold a 14-point lead.
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Australia → resume → lead
But the world No.4 France side again rallied behind a boisterous crowd.
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side → rally → crowd
Having returned to 14 players, the hosts scored the last two tries and crashed over in the 75th minute to secure a staggering win against the Wallaroos.
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hosts → return → Wallaroos
It was a painful defeat for the Wallaroos, who couldn’t make the most of their varying numerical advantages and calmly manage their way home in the last half-hour of a crazy game.
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who → make → game
Coming after a spirited performance against world No.1 England last week, the performance again showed the Wallaroos are trending upwards, but they’ll be kicking themselves for not taking the gift-wrapped opportunity to bury France.
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they → come → France
“We put ourselves in a position to take out a win and we didn’t execute.
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we → put → win
But the positive is that we put ourselves in the position to win, but we’re disappointed and particularly on half-time, you know, when the French scored with 13 players,” Wallaroos interim coach Tim Walsh said.
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Walsh → put → players
“Like, that’s unacceptable.
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that → ’ → ?
And that’s probably where the game might have been at its momentum shifting.
uncertain
game → ’ → shifting
And then, obviously, half-time, I don’t know whether you guys planned to bomb the bus, but it certainly had everything.
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it → know → everything
“The game had everything, didn’t it?
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it → have → everything
It had a fantastic crowd, two fantastic teams, some running rugby, some discipline, some fireworks, and then some fire.
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It → have → crowd
Walsh said the Wallaroos, who now move on to a match against Scotland next weekend, had ample talent, but the ability of the side to “manage games” was not good enough due to their lack of experience.
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ability → say → experience
“If you compare how many matches a year the Wallaroos play to the French [players], it’s probably half, not from a Test match, just normal rugby,” Walsh said.
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Walsh → compare → match
“So our ability to manage games, to upskill, to be fit, is where we’re lacking.
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we → manage → games
We’re not lacking the talent.”
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We → lack → talent
The Aporia
