Things that have seen yellow cards in the past are: interference with a non-ball carrying player; offside in defence and attack - repeated infringements - illegal ruck entry; slowing the ball down; killing the ball and so on.  Perhaps the mother of all inept referees. Alan Lewis, blitzed the All Blacks last year for these self same infringements, yet the precious White chose to ignore much of it last evening.  Right from the kick off, Carter was pulled back by Traille, the All Blacks were offside when he kicked and how did Mils come up with the ball at that goal line ruck?

And so these minor but important issues continued throughout the match for both sides as White fumbled and fiddled his way around the paddock officiating as if somehow the sole test level referee in Christendom.  As crass a remark as it could be, are referees actually being bought off by the media or someone else to perpetrate the scale of incompetence and inconsistency we are seeing?  And what was this business of 'same height' that he kept shouting about?  It's possible that the command was part of a brief to both teams prior to the match itself so that at least the poor old French would understand what this pompous Englishman was on about.  But to me, both front rows looked confused when he stated it no matter it being a fore runner to the new laws in 2007.  If they were briefed or not, was this really the time to bring a new 'thing' into scrummaging in a vital test match this late in a season?

And for the game itself, well, I think we have found the solution to the midfeild issue, real or perceived.  The menacing threat of Nonu so close in to the magnificent Carter was a masterstroke by Henry.  It meant that all night long the French could not afford for a moment to ignore that channel which meant they were effectively locked into a defensive pattern.  Not that it mattered greatly because we saw for periods of the game, the old disease return to haunt us; handling.  Firstly Leon - what a shocker he had - and then the Kentucky Fried Chicken hand syndrome spread elsewhere as they spilled ball after ball.  Possibly 21 points went begging because of errors at the basic level.  Not good enough.  However, the experiment with Nonu, despite protestations elsewhere, for me was a success.  He can't kick which is a weakness which can be fixed, but Jesus that boy looks the part.  Mils too was excellent and finally we saw some real muscle through the back line so reminiscent of the days of Smith, Bunce, Stanley and Umaga.  The occasional use of the flat backline or deep running saw them create real threat in the midfield which would have yielded some results had the final pass not been spilled so cheaply.

France were pretty awesome in parts too and can probably go away safe in the knowledge that they have only one thing to fix; Traille.  This is an experiment that has failed abysmally.  The issue is almost mathematical in its challenge; how fast can one joker decide to do something when confronted by three other jokers running at him from 90, 120 and 180 degrees?  Not fast enough it seems.  Traille might make the best Sunday lunch in France, he might be hung like a baboon and have balls like a couple of curling stones but for sure this man cannot think for himself in this position and to me looked to all intents, like a fish out of les aqua.  Compare him with Carter who had a real go last night and you can see what I mean.  Traille isn't a waste of space here as he'd walk into England, Scotland or the Irish team but he lacks the ability to spark that all creative urge we know the French capable of.  Mind, you could have Carts in the French backline and Laporte would probably coach any creativity from him too.

My biggest concern is the fact that we went to France to be tested by a side apparently capable of being unpredictable and perhaps finally we'll get that against the mercurial Welsh outfit.  Interestingly I think the Welsh may have better backs in some spots that the French.  Shanklin can be a bastard to defend against and we all know what Williams can do to and if Jones S. has a degree of mastery over possession, you can bet the welsh backs will pose an equal if not superior threat because I don't think the current Welsh coach Jenkins, seems all that bothered about tinkering with their gifts in the same way that Laporte or Smith does.

With the Irish you get that O'Driscoll swerve at pace; the Australians seem to have myriad lines but the Welsh are utterly unstructured by comparison and that Williams is harder to catch than Usama in a canyon.  I think they are trying to find some form and consistency but should they bring a degree of 'fuck it let's chuck it around, we'll be in for an interesting day's rugby.  The thought of a welsh victor troubles me in the sense that logically it's not always possible to get 2+2= 0.127 but it does happen.  Their unstructured running has undone many a team and I sincerely hope that we get some of that next weekend.  It seems only the welsh can now provide that uncertainty and creative flair that is a natural part of a player's repertoire.