In the final fixture of the second round of matches, France managed their first win on Irish soil in a decade. Pointless for the first ten minutes, a penalty to France looked certain to get them on the scoreboard, but the difficult kick by Matthieu Jalibert drifted just wide of the mark. Billy Burns returned the favour 8 minutes later with a bad miss from his kick at goal, but 3 minutes later he puts Ireland in front with a better penalty kick.
When French lock Le Roux is given a yellow card for a trip, this was the chance that Ireland should take. A certain try opportunity for James Lowe on the wing was well defended and the TMO correctly saying ‘NO TRY’ thanks to some great defensive cover to help him into touch. This spurred the French to take the game back to the Irish after being penned in their own 22. Quick French hands saw a try from Ollivon with the conversion kicked. Jalibert then adding a penalty just before the half time whistle.
With the majority of possession and 10 minutes playing with an extra man, Ireland failed to put more points on the board. This is where great teams punish opponents. Ireland still don’t seem to be hitting games with the ruthlessness they’ve done in recent years.
The second half was scoreless for the first 14 minutes until a lovely try by Penaud extended the French lead. James Lowe who missed two tackles last week against Wales, needed to make his count this time, but he was beaten by the sidestep. The 12 points difference would mean that the next score would be vital for either team. France to push on to win or the Irish to come back into the game. It was Irish replacement scrum-half Ronan Kelleher who conjured up something special 4 minutes later to pop over for a try. With Byrne adding the conversion, this was now back to a try difference at Ireland 10-15 France. Byrne added a penalty on the 64th minute to bring the game closer at 13-15.
71st minute and a French penalty awarded after Tadhg Beirne takes out Charles Ollivon in the air, sees Matthieu Jalibert’s kick come back off the upright.That was the final scoreline in a game where Ireland didn’t look their best and the French ground out a victory.
Ireland had the most territory and also possession: 59%-41% ( same stats for both ), they had 10 minutes with an extra man on the field and still couldn’t manage to overcome a determined French team.
Saturday 27th sees Wales entertain England, in a must win for Wales if they’re to push the French. The following day Scotland are in Paris in a match that could prove important in deciding the outcome of the tournament.
Going into March we’ll either see France extend their lead at the top of the table, if they beat Scotland. Personally, I think France will win by 7 or more points. Wales would need to beat England convincingly and pick up bonus points to keep pace with France. Wales have the home advantage but they’ve limped home in their opening couple of games, both against teams who have had a player sent off. As bad as Englands’ discipline can be at times, I’d be stunned if they get a red card. I wonder what the bookies are offering for the odds on that though? I think that this will be a game England might just edge and they’ll do so by 5 points or under.
Continue reading
With both teams winning the first round fixtures this was going to be the game to see who will be top of the table on the Saturday night. Scotland 0 – 3 Wales (Leigh Halfpenny) after 7 minutes showed the visitors fancied their chances. Finn Russell though kicked an equaliser just 3 minutes later. Russell added a conversion 9 minutes later after Scotland’s Darcy Graham scored their first try. A Stuart Hogg chip and chase to gather his own kick to score a try, which was also converted by Russell saw Scotland open up a nice lead.
A passage of play that saw a series of sloppy penalties and advantages being played enabled Louis Rees-Zammit score a try just before the half time.
Gary Graham thought he’d got Scotland a try on the 50th minute, but the TMO over ruled. A minute later Liam Williams runs in a Welsh try, which is converted by Sheedy. The TMO came into play again 4 minutes later when Zander Fagerson was shown a red card for his shoulder connected with Wyn Jones’ head at the breakdown. Clearly, he’d not seen the Irish red card the week before for the exact same thing.
So for the second match on the trot, Wales were playing against a side with 14 men on the pitch. After the close result against Ireland, this would be the best time to exert pressure and put in a solid winning display. With 25 minutes left this would be the perfect chance to get the points difference in their favour and close the French in the tables.
Wyn Jones went over for an unconverted try a couple of minutes after the red card was shown, Wales in front by 3 points now. Scotland awarded a couple of kickable penalties but instead chose to go for scrums, neither bringing the try they were looking for. Eventually, Stuart Hogg produces a lovely try which Russell converts to put Scotland back in the lead by 24-20 and there were just about 15 minutes left to play. The previous week we’d seen the pace of Rees-Zammit and this week he once again showed his skills. His try here coming from his own chip and chase which was well taken. The conversion failed to add to the points.
Outcomes so far;
Scotland are dangerous even with just 14 men on the field as the past 2 weeks have shown. The Welsh have battled and beaten 2 teams who had a man sent off, 5 points ahead of Ireland last Sunday and a single point today. It’s often argued that it’s difficult to play against 14 men but my own thoughts here are that Wayne Pivac makes great tactical substitutions but against a fully functioning England side or the French in the top of the table clash, their luck will run out. Wales have held on in both their opening games, they’ve never looked dominant.
Saturday 27th Feb sees the English team in Wales for the next round of fixtures. This one will be the real test for Pivac and his men.
Continue reading
After the lesson in the Calcutta Cup last week, this was the perfect opportunity to get back into winning ways for England. The question on peoples lips was; By how many points?
This is without doubt seen as the easiest fixture in the Six Nations. The Azzurri were looking to end a 28 defeat record, but facing a wounded England team was never going to be an easy way to do so. With rumours and speculation regarding Italy and if they should be allowed to remain in the competition, this was always going to be an uphill struggle even before the whistle sounded for kick off.
A try in the third minute, therefore, wasn’t unexpected, but not many thought it would come from Italy. Montanna Ioane opening the scoring, but Paolo Garbisi missing the conversion. England came back into the game with Farrell kicking a penalty. A Jonny Hill try soon followed. Garbisi pulling back the score with a well taken penalty brought the game back to 8-8.
Watson scored a wonderful try with a sweet sidestep to leave a couple of would be tacklers wrongfooted, Farrell adding the extra 2 points. Shortly before halftime an awesome try on the left wing by Jonny May saw him dive high for the touchline, meaning the tackler couldn’t take him. No conversion this time though.
Italy have a habit of weakening in the second half of matches, so there were going to plenty points. it only took 3 minutes for the first to go onto the board and it was an Italian penalty kick. This inspired the Azzurri who started to look like they could get another try. A great interception of a pass though by Anthony Watson, saw him race 70+ metres to score under the sticks. Farrell kicking the conversion to extend the lead.
Voted Premiership player of the year last season, he comes on after 58 minutes for his Si Nations debut. A minute later a quick tap penalty taken by Dan Robson sees the replacement scrum half brought down just short of the try line, Jack Willis, in support though, picks and drives over to score a well deserved try. Five minutes later it’s all over for the Wasps Flanker, who has done his knee after it seems he got his leg caught while being rolled away by a tackler.
With the scoreline, 34-11 and about 15 minutes left there was still time for more tries. And so, Tommaso Allan obliged to score his try and also convert the kick himself. A very quick response from England, Elliot Daly outpacing a tired looking defence to score under the posts, Farrell adding the extra points.
No further scores in the game, but wishing Jack Willis as speedy a recovery as possible after that horrible injury. Surely this will be 5 minutes he’ll never forget.
Continue reading
Italy at home to France for the first fixture and it has to be said that France went out to put their stamp on this game. By half time with the score 3-24, the French were home and dry. In an impressive performance, they ran tries in from Cretin, Fickou, Vincent, Dulin, Dupont, Thomas (2) which combined with the excellent kicking from Jalibert (6 conversions and 1 penalty ) saw the final score of 10-50 put France on top of the table.
Now I’ll remind you all of my words here months ago, when I said; “As I said earlier, check the odds to see what price the French are for the Six Nations outright” and based on their performance against Italy this made sense. This was based on the final match in the Autumn series, and my comments are here.
So the next match is England who will be looking to storm out of the starting gate in an explosive fashion and lay down their own marker…..
The next game was favourites England at home in fortress Twickenham against Scotland, who seem to still play hit and miss rugby. Great one match, then poor the next game then average the third. England would have already seen the French scoreline, but wouldn’t be expecting to better that against Scotland, but would feel confident about the victory.
How wrong could this be? A game producing one single try, which was scored by van der Merwe for Scotland. Farrell kicking 2 penalties for England and Russell managing the same for Scotland the 6-11 final score stunned the England camp.
Well played Scotland, good and deserved victory, only took 38 years…..
So to give this some perspective for those old enough to remember these things:
The last time that Scotland won at Twickenham, the world was a very different place.
* A pint of beer cost 62p.
* Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ was top of the UK charts.
* Larry Holmes was WBC heavyweight champion.
* The average UK property price was £23,335.
* Sega and Nintendo released their first video game systems.
* ‘Gandhi’ swept the board at the Oscars.
* British police series ‘The Bill’ aired for the first time.
* A loaf of bread cost 28p.
* ‘Octopussy’, the 13th James Bond film, was released in cinemas.
Sunday saw this fixture between two teams who have had a dip or blip in recent form. These 2 sides are both well matched, but like Scotland can go from looking like world beaters in one game to being very average in the next.
The 14th minute straight red card for Irelands flanker O’Mahony was certainly going to impact the game. Juggling a back into the scrum for some of the scrummaging would leave possible gaps in the Irish backs. Halftime scoreline though of 6-13 to the Irish seemed to indicate that playing with 14 men wasn’t such a hindrance. A wonderful pick up and go try from lock Beirne, a conversion and 2 penalties from Sexton showed that Ireland were here to try to win this game.
With both North and Rees-Zammit scoring tries for Wales in the second half, they took the lead and as the clock was turning red the simple thing was to put the ball out for the final whistle. For some reason this didn’t happen and when Ireland regained possession they began to counter attack. Needing a try to draw or a converted one to snatch victory, this was the incentive they needed. A penalty awarded to the Irish and the obvious option was the ball down towards the corner and then the line out. If they could take a clean lineout then the catch and drive could possibly see the all important try being scored.
Replacement fly haf Billy Burns though could only watch in dismay as his kick went dead, much to the relief of the Welsh. Thanks in part to the impressive 11 points from Leigh Halfpenny they had clung on for a home victory.
Peter O’Mahony who was the first ever Irishman to be sent off in the Six Nations has also picked up a 3 match ban. This means he’ll miss the Sunday clash against France, which will be the pick of this coming weekends fixtures for me.
Saturday sees England entertain Italy, in a fixture that England really do need to bounce back from and rack up a shedload of points. Wales travel to Scotland in what should be an entertaining fixture as the current second placed team takes on Scotland who are third for now.
Already we are seeing England and Ireland playing must win games, with the Irish one facing the stiffer opponents for sure.
The current Six Nations holders playing on paper the only team to beat them in the Six Nations this season should have been a mouth-watering final. As we mentioned here, this was not a first choice French fifteen, it was a team that was rather makeshift. So imagine how this game played out to get to the 40 minute mark and England trailing by 7 points.
Grit, determination and passion in abundance in this first half demonstrated by this French makeshift team.
The willingness to take the game to England in attack supported by a rugged defence means that the half time lead was deserved. If you had chance to watch this via Amazon Video, this was a really good game.
Brice Dulin scoring a wonderful try to cement the young French side firmly into this fixture. Into the last 3 minutes of the half saw England pressuring the French try line. With 10, 11, 12 phases trying to get over the line, the French showed unbelievable determination to keep them out. This is one of the rare times this past couple of seasons when you se an England side camped on an opponents line and come away without points.
Based on what I’ve seen in this first half, the future looks bright for the French national team. Remembering too that England last lost against a team who were the French Six Nations team, away in Paris. These first 40 minutes was entertaining and was only the 3rd time in 2 years when they have trailed at half time. Having an ante post bet on France for the Six Nations? Worth a look for the odds, for sure.
The second half playing right to left saw an early penalty awarded to England. Opting for touch sees the line out won enabling England to pressure France, but nothing coming from it. Quick changes in the 44th minute in the second and back row, from England.
Pesenti the French lock giving away a penalty for a no-arms tackle giving Farrell a penalty kick chance, which he slots cleanly through the sticks to bring the score back to within 4 points.
A passage of ping pong kicking ends with a poor pass to the French 14 who couldn’t pick it up off his bootlaces and knocked on. From the scrum a penalty advantage allowed England to spread the ball out to the English backs, Watson showing a good turn of pace. Brought back to the penalty, Farrell pushed this wide to the right of the uprights.
Another quick penalty in the 53rd minute opting for the line out, showed France were upto the task and thwarted the English attack.
Great turnover from Itoje leads to another penalty, which Farrell nudged right once again,for a disappointing 2 from 5.
Daleys 65th minute kick into the corner was inch perfect, but France managed to clean up their own lineout. Despite all the England possession in the second half, a French penalty extending their lead as the clock ticked into the last 10 minutes. Straight from the restart, France concede a penalty, but the advantage was played and despite 7 or 8 phases there was no way through. Farrell this time kicks the penalty, ensuring he has racked up over 100 points against France.
12-16 with 7 minutes left, sees France on the attack and earning themself a penalty. 4 minutes to go, sees the kick off the post to extend their lead back to 7 points. France haven’t won at Twickenham in 15 years, yet here we have the French underdogs pushing for the win.
A penalty to England sees Slade with a pinpoint kick into the corner. They take the lineout cleanly and the driving maul from the lineout sees Exeter hooker Cowan-Dickie go over for a well deserved try. Farrell slotted the conversion with the last kick of the match to make the score 19-19.
Now it’s time for extra time, to determine the outright winner. With two halves of 10 minutes to come to see who can seal the sudden death win. The first score, any score will be sufficient to decide this final.
With only 2 Minutes in sees a sloppy French penalty given away, but Farrell manages to clip it off the right upright and it doesn’t go over. The restart sees big Billy Vinaopola knock on the balls and a scrum to France.
With France pushing forward to try get the position for a drop goal, a penalty for off feet eased the pressure on the English defence. From the English lineout, the French defence managed a turnover. A sloppy lineout sees Marler steal for England but the French get possession back.
The second period of the extra time sees a nice kick through into space, Itoje was stopped from getting the ball by French players laying on the ball. The penalty to England slotted over by Own Farrell to rob the French in extra time.
With the debate probably still ongoing as to was it a penalty or not, the official result shows a W for win for England. Was it deserved? Well they ground out the win. England did what they needed to do, but they just made hard work of things. At the end of the day they have a couple of tournaments in the bag this season.
England looked average, this unknown French team were immense. As I said earlier, check the odds to see what price the French are for the Six Nations outright and this might be a trading opportunity.
Continue reading
So, when I say pointless fixture, I don’t mean that there will be no points scored, in fact far from it. If anything it will be the total opposite and records could be broken.
Consider that England’s starting XV will have over 810 caps between them, so compare that to France’s 68. This indicates the clear divide in bother experience and quality of the players.
Thie Autumn Nations Cup final being played at Twickenham should see a clash of 2 titans in the Northern Hemisphere. The rugby powerhouses of Europe going head to head to see who will lift the crown here. With the resurgence of Argentina in the world fixtures beating the All Blacks and drawing with the Wallabies, the prospect of an enthralling World Cup has fans across the globe excited for the remaining fixtures of this year to be played.
Cast your mind way back to the start of the 2020 Six Nations, when France took the wind out of the English sail by inflicting an unexpected defeat on the England favourites. France went on to finish second in that tournament on points difference and this Autumn Nations Cup competition sees both teams in the final against each other. With Ireland not quite hitting the mark in either competition and Wales on a downward slope with 6 defeats on the bounce, maybe the next Six Nations will be between these 2 squads in action at Twickers?
What we now have here is a French team who will be captained by a player ( scrum-half Baptiste Couilloud ) earning his first ever international start. The most capped player in the team has 30 caps being the fullback Brice Dulin.
An agreement basically between the French federation and the Top14 league, is what went wrong. This put into play a rule that meant players could each only play three international Tests during the autumn window. The result of this means due to these contractual obligations, French coach Fabien Galthie has lost close to 25 of his squad to choose from.
Does this mean England can go out there are rack up as many points as possible and be saluted for this? Or is this one of those damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenarios. Hammer the understrength team and you get slated by the press for taking advantage. Or you win by a handful of points and still get slated by press and pundits for not being clinical enough, not being dominant enough and not pressing home the advantages.
From a fan’s perspective, if I was buying tickets for a cup final, I’d be expecting both sides to field full teams. Turning up to what could be almost a training session isn’t what I’d have been wanting to see.
I hope for the sake of the sport that this is an entertaining fixture and the result is a fair outcome.
Continue reading
Yes you did read this correctly. With the bookies predicting a thrashing of the Argentinians, this was a surprise scoreline at the final whistle.
Mario Ledesma the former Argentine hooker and now head coach really did pull a rabbit out from the hat this weekend. With 33 previous attempts going back to 1976, they had never beaten the All Blacks. Looking back to July 2019 saw them lose to the New Zealanders by just 4 points, in a close game that was seen by many as one of the best performances by the Pumas. Prior to that, the closest they’d come to a victory was an impressive 21-21 draw in 1985.
With an international break of 13 months due to Covid and canceled fixtures, the Pumas had obviously used this time effectively. With Nicolas Sanchez the fly half being fit and ready for this fixture, he proved this point by scoring all the points for the Argentinian side. His converted try and six penalties putting him out there on the world stage
How much of an impact and difference did the recruiting of former Australia and Leinster coach Michael Cheika have in revamping the Pumas? This might be answered in the next few internationals, to show this wasn’t just a one off fluke. To go to Sydney and beat the All Blacks 25 to 15 is no easy task for any team. What is even more surprising though is this result follows on from the loss the week before in Brisbane against Australia, who scraped a win by 2 points in a 24 – 22 final score. Interestingly the Wallabies’ Kiwi coach Dave Rennie was a former Chiefs coach as was his opposing coach Ian Foster.
Not since August 2011 have the All Blacks lost 2 matches on the bounce. I wonder what odds you can get on the next game being a third defeat? Now that really would be a kick in the proverbials for sure.
South Africa and England, proudly sit first and second respectively. With New Zealand in third place, which is the lowest spot that they have been since 2003, things are looking a little rocky!
Argentina faces Australia next playing at the McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle NSW. Then they have the return fixture against New Zealand. The same venue hosts the Tri Nations Round 5 fixture between Argentina v New Zealand, which will be played on Saturday 28 November 2020. Can the Pumas do the double over the All Blacks? One thing for sure, New Zealand coach Ian Foster will need to see a huge improvement or he could be looking at being replaced. It was only 11 months ago we were informed that “Ian Foster, the All Blacks assistant coach, has been named as Steve Hansen’s successor as head coach of New Zealand’s national rugby team”. The shoes were there to be filled and as Hansen had been so successful, it needed someone of quality to take this position.
Continue reading
So the stage is set for the belated last match of the Six Nations. A fairly sedate scoreline at half time saw England up by 5-10. Following a yellow card for Jonny Hill, then Italy try-scorer Jake Polledri picked up one of his own. As half time approached, there could have and it could be said should have been a penalty try for England.
Whatever Eddie Jones said in the changing room at half time certainly was a massive kick up the arse. The second half kicked off and England scored a try in the first minute. Youngs offering out a sublime dummy pass from the base of a ruck, then going himself to get over the line for the first try of the second half.
Scrum-half Ben Youngs celebrated his 100th England cap in style, picking up Man Of The Match and scoring two tries too. Hooker, Jamie George found time to pop over for a try on his 50th cap too. Tom Curry and Henry Slade both added to the points tally, each running in a try each. Farrell slotting 3 conversions out of 5 possible chances, combined with a penalty added to the scoreline and points difference tally.
There were some good passages of play from England, especially in the second half when they looked more determined and with it. The team talk at half time must have stirred them, and Maro Itoje was prominent in the second period of play.
Both teams still have a chance to win the Six Nations, although France needs a huge upset as they need a bonus point win and a margin greater than 32 points.
Ireland will steal the title with a bonus-point win or if they don’t score four tries but still win by seven points or more.
An ideal scoreline from an English perspective would be France 18 – Ireland 18, but hey we can hope and dream.
I’m going to grab a beer or 2 and watch with anticipation this final game of the series and see if England can capture the title again. I don’t think the All Blacks will be looking over their shoulders just yet at the Northern Hemisphere teams for the next world cup. This reinforced by them hammering Australia, at home in Sydney, today in the Bledisloe Cup. The Australia 5 New Zealand 43 scoreline didn’t speak volumes, it positively shouted from the rooftops. The half time score of 0-26 was certainly a warning as to how potent the All Blacks squad still is.
This is the 18th consecutive year that New Zealand won the Bledisloe Cup. Pretty impressive I’m sure you’ll agree.
Continue reading
It’s taken a week to get my head around this fixture. What on paper should have been such a one-sided affair, became nothing like it. When people talk about something being a ‘game of 2 halves’ they should cite this match as the example to use. Watching England running in a point a minute for the first half hour, 31-0 didn’t bode well for the Scots. Reminders of the 61-21 thrashing in 2017 were no doubt in the minds of the kilted following. The World Cup opponents would be watching this game to assess how good England are and see if Scotland have improved at all. The final score of this game was something nobody would have dreamed of, especially after the half hour mark. I’d expect the bookmakers had a really good day thanks to this scoreline.
England were my choice to lift this cup this season. First round they went to Dublin on 2nd Feb and demolished the Irish in their own backyard. Leading 10-17 at half time, England had played well enough to gain the upper hand. The final score of 20-32 with the bonus point for scoring 4 tries ( May, Daly and Slade with a couple ) sent the warning out to the other teams, that England were coming for them.
The next round saw France battered 44-8 at Twickenham, another bonus point win with Jonny May scoring 3 tries for himself.
The 23rd Feb saw the England machine ground to a halt and beaten by the Welsh in Cardiff. Wales scored 21 points to Englands 13, so not even a losing bonus point in this match. This was not what the punters were expecting, as we reported here. After Wales had scraped home by 5 points against France in the first round, they had improved significantly to play England.
Against Italy, service was resumed. An impressive 31-7 half time lead meant the win was on the cards. Tries rained in from George, May, Tuilagi (2), Shields (2), Kruis, Robson and the final score of 57-14 meant the points difference was expanding further in the table.
Sat 16th March 2019 was the day that could have proved a game changer. Ireland had to win against Wales in Cardiff, not impossible but wouldn’t be easy. England just needed to beat Scotland and England would win the Guinness 6 Nations. So Wales decided that they didn’t like this, and Ireland were their next victim. Ireland looked clueless as we discussed here.
England set off out of the blocks like a bat out of hell, once again storming into a 31-7 lead by the break.
First game was at home against Italy. A Half time lead of 12-3 didn’t give much indication which way the match was going to end. The final score of 33-20 and a bonus win with tries from Kinghorn (3), Hogg and Harris made for a good start to the campaign, however the second half score of 21-17 showed a weakness in their second half defences. The following week saw Ireland visit Murrayfield. A close first half was too close to call at 10-12, but the second period saw Ireland come away with a deserved win at 13-22. France next in Paris, with an average looking French team looking to bounce back. The first half was quite evenly balanced, 10-3 to France at half time. The second half saw French fans happier as they won 27-10, the bonus point for 4 tries much needed.
Wales at home and the low scoring game saw Wales run out winners 11-18, the Scots holding Wales to just 3 points in the second half. The HT score of 6-15, indicating this was going to be quite a close game. No doubt Englands 57-14 demolition of Italy will have caused concern in the Scotland camp.
So the Calcutta Cup, Scotland at the home of England rugby and it’s half time and the score is 31-7…..
I am not sure what happened here. You have a powerful team such as England 31-7 up, coming back out of the dressing room and the stadium are expecting them to follow up and run another 10, 20 or 30 points past the hapless Scots. Well let me say, this was NOT the case. The wheels fell off the England bandwagon, the ideas faded, they looked void of concepts and ideas. Play making decisions were lacking, there was one team in this half who wanted to win, were determined to score and they were in Blue shirts.
As Scotland ran in an amazing 38 unanswered points at the ground they had not won for over 25 years since 1983, there was a sudden astonishment as to what people were seeing here. England were well and truly battered, both physically and mentally. 
The belief here that England could throw away a game like this was slowly becoming a reality as Scotland racked up points, after points after points and took the lead. With the clock ticking down, Eddie Jones and the England staff looked shell shocked. On the Scotland staff faces, a wry smile was seen from Gregor Townsend on a couple of occasions at least. It was George Ford who came to England’s rescue, running in the final try to save the blushes. Finn Russell for Scotland was outstanding but the whole Scotland team must be applauded for the second half recovery. Scotland may have not had a great six nations, but they retained the Calcutta Cup, so have the bragging rights that they at least picked up a trophy this time around.
From an English perspective, with the World Cup coming up, this has to be a worry that you can concede 38 points in 40 minutes to end up in a losing position. There will be few countries who will go behind against England by 25-30 points after the first half as it is, but those who do should not be allowed back into the game like this.
Scotland faces Ireland in the World Cup, and also the hosts Japan, Samoa and Russia. Based on this Calcutta Cup performance, there’ll be no team in the group to worry them.
For more information including upcoming fixtures, please go to www.sixnationsrugby.com and we’d like to thank them for borrowing their photo above.
Continue reading
What was a pretty decent first half by England, the half time lead was merited for sure. After securing bonus point wins against France and Ireland, the expectation was this would be yet another England win on the way to a Grand Slam season.
Well, the wheels came off that plan in Cardiff. Despite England going in a half time leading, the second half belonged to Wales. Their record-breaking 12th consecutive Test win, came about as they humbled England. I’m not sure what Eddie Jones said or did in the half time team talk, but the players who came back out for the second 40 minutes looked bereft of ideas. What had worked the previous 2 matches wasn’t put into play in this fixture.
England had led 10-3 as the whistle sounded for the half time interval after 20-year-old Tom Curry scored his first touchdown in the six nations for his country. This young man is maturing as each game comes and goes, his awareness and positioning combining with the hits he makes on opposing players means he’s someone with a long international career in front of him for sure. This was a very much deserved try and he was my name to be Man Of The Match sheet.
Wales decided to target Kyle Sinckler and it worked! He’d already caused controversy in the French fixture, by slapping France’s Arthur Iturria on the head during play. This incident happened shortly after being spoken to by referee Nigel Ownes in the previous scrum shortly before this act of petulance occurred. This is a guy who has been banned before for dangerous tackles, for eye gouging and is a ferocious tackler despite his faults in crossing the line.
Against Wales, he led the tackle count with 20 tackles made by half time, and he was on a roll. He’d made his presence felt with the tackles but also taking the ball into contact making hard yards. It is possibly his actions in the French game that inspired the Welsh to wind him up on the pitch in the second half.
Wales said before the match that while they felt Kyle Sinckler “struggled to contain his emotions in the heat of the battle, they had no intention of lighting his fuse”. So when he gave away a penalty on the 55th minute for a shoulder charge on Gareth Anscombe, which was pulled up by the TMO it was the first sign of him ‘losing it’. A couple of minutes later another penalty conceded for a UFC type choke hold around the neck of Alun Wyn Jones. Jones managed to flail his arm and raise his voice enough to get the referees attention though. Resulting in the final warning from Jaco Peyper handed out to Sinckler, the die was cast and Harry Williams was warming up while Sinckler was still being spoken to by the referee.
The combination of Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards has turned around Welsh rugby. After the dismal Gareth Jenkins results of 20 games played, Won 6, Drew 1, Lost 13 led to his sacking, it was time for fresh blood and this came in the shape of Gatland.
Warren Gatland who came to the attention of the British rugby fans as Wasps and then Ireland coach, is now touted as the replacement for Eddie Jones in the England role. His name has also been thrown about to manage the Lions 2021 tour too. As great as either or both these positions would be for English supports, the big question would be if he’d bring with him the former rugby league dynamo Shaun Edwards?
Shaun Edwards joined the Welsh coaching staff as the assistant coach (defence) on 14 January 2008. He made an instant impact as Wales conceded just two tries in 400 minutes going on to winning the 2008 RBS 6 Nations Championship and Grand Slam.
Another point to note, looking at Welsh records, during the 2013/2014 RBS 6 Nations, a new defence record by not conceding a try for 400 minutes, as set by the team under his coaching.
Continue reading