The final few minutes of France and Wales were dramatic, but were largely farcical, and ultimately quite a fitting to a dreadful, dreadful game.
France battered the Welsh line late on, and within a minute of the clock hitting red, they were awarded a five-metre attacking scrum. And TWENTY MINUTES LATER...they were still there. Absurdly, neither side could string together an acceptable scrum: France couldn't make a forward shove and Wales kept collapsing. Barnes did not award a penalty try as the French scrum was not edging forward.
After another few reset scrums, Samson Lee was yellow-carded in the 83rd minute, and Wales stood around for a few minutes deciding who to remove instead. Absurdly, the game dragged on for so long, that the sin-binning elapsed before the end of the game.
There was a further stoppage as Barnes reviewed footage claiming George North was bitten by a French player. After that, there was another couple of scrums that did go forward: yet a penalty was the decision, not a penalty try. But finally, five seconds before the clock hit 100 minutes, France crossed, and finished off the conversion.
Viewers were transfixed, as the kick-off to Ireland/England was delayed.
They're gonna have to cancel tonight's episode of Alf at this rate. #FRAvWAL
— Kevin Coghlan (@kevin_coghlan) March 18, 2017
Nobody is watching Michael D shaking England paws...
— Gavin Cummiskey (@Cumoski) March 18, 2017
A couple in the bar we're in in Toulouse met, married and had their first child during injury time#FRAvWAL
— Phil Steele (@philsteele1) March 18, 2017
Enda Kenny now saying he won't leave office until #FRAvWAL is concluded
— Gavan Becton (@GavBecton) March 18, 2017
FRANCE WIN. Ireland will stay 4th. 99 minutes 55 seconds on the clock. What a fucking farce.
— Three Red Kings (@threeredkings) March 18, 2017
If this keeps up we'll miss God Save The Queen and Ireland's Call.
Actually...— Brendan O'Brien (@byBrendanOBrien) March 18, 2017
Madness. Good news for Ireland: we are guaranteed to be seeded fourth in the World Rugby rankings for the 2019 World Cup.
