Red Card Rolland brings the Welsh party to an end

Is it too easy to blame the man with the whistle (and, crucially, THE card) on this occasion ? Are we Welsh happier with the tag of plucky underdogs ??

If, like me, you were busy debating with your friends whether Sam Warburton deserved a sin binning or not when you were thunderstruck by the caption at the top of the screen that read "Sent Off", you'd be quick to point the finger at Alain Rolland. Probably as quick as he was in whipping out the card.
And you'd be quick to agree with the TV pundits, as well as the post match interviewees, who were unanimous in their conclusion that a potentially great game had been wrecked in that one moment of officiating. The tackle itself was perhaps a yellow card offence. Certainly a penalty. But even a cursory rechecking of the video playback (and poor Sam will see it every night in his dreams for a long, long time) would confirm that it was first and foremost a very heavy hit, right on the target, and it was the French players' momentum that did much to spin him round on his axis. If the Welsh skipper had really wanted to spear him, he'd have driven him down hard into the turf, then followed up with a few choice words. Sam just got on with what he does, and pinched the ball. If refs issued red cards for every tackle in that category, we'd be down to 5 a side matches by half time. Rugby League afficionados must be chortling into their Tetley's.
Gatland said as much in his dignified summing up to the TV cameras. A look at his body language would tell you that he was seething. And I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of Shaun Edwards tonight. My betting is that he was still punching the air at the quality of the hit when, like us, he realised what Rolland had done.
But neither man will want Wales to settle for the plucky losers tag. The brutal fitness sessions in Poland were all about lifting Wales over the line after seeing them get painfully close in a number of matches. They won't want the Welsh players, or the fans, to use it as an excuse for another hard luck Max Boyce song. We must kick on.
Meanwhile, just as in 2007, one of the more limited teams in the tournament staggers into the final. Let us hope that, for entertainment's sake, the French don't try to win it by just trying to kick the ball to death.