Six Nations Week 3
The half way point of the tournament saw away wins for Wales and Ireland in Italy and Scotland, and saw England emerge as the only unbeaten team remaining after France suffered their first tournament defeat since 2009.
All the talk in the press is about England and how they are still on course for a Grand Slam. While England have impressed so far this tournament, and they do remain the only unbeaten team, the Grand Slam talk still remains premature. In the past Ireland have been talked up as possible Grand Slam winners only for them to crumble under the pressure. On paper an eight point win over the reigning champions France should be a sign that they can win the competition. However England really had to fight for this win and on another day this could have been a French win and talk would have been about a French Grand Slam.
France came to Twickenham with a highly rated pack that was supposed to strangle England out of the game. The scrum in particular is seen as the best in the hemisphere and they did pose problems for the English scrum, even taking a few against the head. Ill-discipline in the first half hurt the home side. An early 9-3 lead soon became 9-9 as the English seemed to try their best to gift points to France. Nick Easter was guilty of needlessly handling the ball almost straight after England had kicked their own penalty. The French defence was a vast improvement on their previous two games, where they had conceded three tries in both games.With England being kept out and conceding penalties it looked like France would win it at half time as they soaked up all the English pressure. Whatever was said in the England dressing room at half time seemed to do the trick as they started the half by scoring the games only try through fullback Ben Foden. A 50th minute penalty by replacement Jonny Wilkinson, who reclaimed his points scoring record, gave England a 17-9 lead which would remain unchanged for the rest of the game.
To be honest it wasn’t the game that many had expected or hoped for. England came into the game with a good attacking record and the French backline came in with a reputation for flair. However with two equally matched teams both battling for the top spot, it was perhaps no surprise that the game turned out as it did. As well as ill discipline, both team would make mistakes. England were deserved winners but against Scotland at home, let alone Ireland away, they cannot afford to give away that many penalties again. Although it is highly unlikely that Scotland or Ireland will pose England the same questions at the scrum, Graham Rowntree does have some work to do before the World Cup. England though will be happy to come out of that game winners – against South Africa they too had a frustrating first half that didn’t go their way and ended up losing to a team that matched and bettered them up front. It could have been the same story against France but it wasn’t. France though need a rethink – they faced their likely World Cup quarter final rivals and came up short despite an advantage in the scrum and by being gifted penalties. IOpposition ill discipline helped them in Dublin, but it wasn’t enough at Twickenham. They’ve got to score tries of their own and not count on mistakes – the attacking display against Scotland looks heavily inflated by the Scottish defence. Plus side for France was an improved fringe defence, as well as cutting down the number of conceded tries.
For the first time in nearly a year Wales went into a test match on the back of a win – a pleasant change. This was a difficult match to predict. Wales have generally been poor in the last year, yet comfortably won away against favourites Scotland two weeks ago. Italy were awful and had zero defence in their thrashing against England yet contained Ireland well and nearly beat them in Rome the week before. Italy scored an early try after a Bradley Davies error, however Wales scored two tries through Morgan Stoddart and Sam Warburton to give themselves a 21-11 lead at the break. What is often the case with Italy in Rome, the longer the game stays as a one score game the more Italy grow into the game and the more pressure comes on the other team. Italy rarely make comebacks once daylight comes between the teams, and with a two score lead at the break, one would have expected Wales to pull away. However Italy fought their way back into the game with a well taken try by Sergio Parisse to make it 16-21. Bergamasco missed a few kicks which could have levelled the scores but so too did Wales miss a try scoring opportunity with a kick through bouncing dead. Wales’s only points of the half came through a late drop goal by James Hook to make the game safe.
Wales will be disappointed that they didn’t kick on and score a few more tries. However it’s another win under their belt and puts them second in the table. So often have they been heroic losers in the past, I’m sure Wales won’t mind ugly or scrappy wins. Their main problem over the last year has been confidence, and you can only remedy that through winning. Two wins in a row and Wales will believe that they can beat Ireland at home and France away. They have some quality individuals – it’s all about getting a team performance. I suspect one of these days the whole team will click, everything will go right for them, and they will put a big score on somebody. Question is whether it’ll be in this tournament or the World Cup (and hopefully not afterwards). Italy put in another gutsy performance and bounced back well from their humiliation at Twickenham. However it’s still another defeat and they look destined for the Wooden Spoon. With Scotland being away this year, one suspects that their best chance for a win was the 13-11 defeat to Ireland.
Scotland remain winless after Ireland got themselves back into the reckoning with a 21-18 victory at Murrayfield. Unlucky against France at home, Ireland needed this win if they are to keep themselves in with a shout – Scotland though were shown up at home against Wales and desperately needed to give something back to the Scottish public. Despite the close scoreline, Ireland actually outscored Scotland three tries to nil! Ireland will be pleased to have gone two games in a row where they scored three tries, however serious questions still remain. They got beaten by France who only had to score one try, and they very nearly lost to Scotland who scored no tries at all! Scoring tries is all well and good, but the Irish are guilty of giving away too many penalties. Against Stephen Jones or Toby Flood they cannot afford to do that. Scotland though will be glad that they were far more competitive than they were against Wales and will be pleased at how they were playing the game near the end. But they are still haunted by the problems of not scoring tries and from going behind early in games. Against Wales they were out of the game early on, and against France and Ireland they came back well but gave themselves too much of a mountain to climb.
Scotland only threatened when the dropped Dan Parks was brought off the bench and started kicking Scotland into the corners – whereas beforehand they were often trapped in their own half and young Ruaridh Jackson struggled. Scotland looked their most threatening during broken play, and Sean Lamont and Richie Gray had both powerful runs throughout the game. However by the time the game broke up Scotland were already behind with time running out. Also near the end Scotland were guilty of trying to be clever and often throwing passes into touch or giving poor offloads. Scotland had good intentions but simply lack the players to play that sort of game. At 18-21 down with minutes left they should have perhaps played more simple rugby, driven it up round the fringes and hoped either for a penalty or an Irish mistake. Dull and boring maybe, but it would have been more effective than acting like headless chickens. The Irish defence fed off this and by the end of the game were just pushing Scotland further and further back, and showed their experience in closing the game. While they held out strongly near the end one has to ask how a 21-9 lead becomes 21-18, particularly against a team that never really looked like scoring a try. Ireland got the win, but as shown by France they can be downed by good goal kicking and pressure in the forwards, and Wales and England should fancy their chances. However Ireland have been scoring tries again, especially since Heaslip returned to the team, and Wales and England should be concerned about that.
Going into the penultimate round, England will hope to gain a fourth Six Nations victory – something they haven’t done since 2003, and maintain their Grand Slam hopes. France will hope to make up lost ground against Italy, while Wales and Ireland will battle each other to see who can still have a realistic chance of winning it in the final week. Italy and Scotland though look destined to fight for the Wooden Spoon at Murrayfield in the final round. Scotland go to Twickenham and Italy host France beforehand, and it looks like a case of who will come out of that round less demoralised…
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