Six Nations: What a weekend!
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the Six Nations... and a couple of other odds and ends, but mostly the Six Nations.
What a weekend! What a weekend! This was perhaps the best Six Nations weekend since... actually, perhaps this was even the best Six Nations weekend ever.
Three games, sixteen tries - Wales only scored ten in five games to get to a Grand Slam last year, while we are already at 35 per cent of last year's total - more points from the ball crossing the whitewash than the crossbar, a monumental upset, a classic and a bout of dangerous throat-clearing from Europe's most dogged animal.
Not only was the rugby of exceptional quality right across the board, but a word should also go to the officials. Both Alain Rolland and Nigel Owens were verging on faultless, while Romain Poite stood up well to several tests of coolness under some frantic pressure. If this quality of rugby from all parties involved can be perpetuated over the winter and spring, we're going to have not only a fabulous tournament, but also a B&I Lions side fresh off the back of a tournament now looking able to match its SH counterpart for skill as well as passion. It's all looking great for the game.
We'll start the more precise review with Italy. Two years ago in Rome, Italy beat France on a day when everything just went their way. France could have chucked on an extra five players and they still would not have either created an overlap or had a refereeing decision go their way. It wasn't a fluke, but it definitely was in large part down to the rub of the green.
Sunday's win over France was completely different. Italy didn't just win, they actually outplayed their opponents - most people's tip to be Grand Slammers themselves at the kick-off. France did not play truly terribly, but found the Italian defence resilient, the rucking technically superior and the attack finally running quick precise deep lines to which the French could find no answer.
Italy's problem ever since they turned five into six in 2000 has been their lack of pace and skilful threat, especially wide. Now they seem to have found the secret, the victory over France should serve as a warning to the rest: no longer it is just Italy and Scotland playing for the wooden spoon this year.
It could even be Wales and Scotland. Whatever the final half-hour of the game against Ireland presented - and it did at least show that Wales are not struggling with fitness, whereas Ireland might - the first 45 minutes of the Welsh display was abject.
Pillar defenders not manning their stations, broken lines rushing up in defence, one-dimensional attacks that plod, plod, plodded one direction across the field before plod, plod, plodding across the other way. Ruckers arriving too late, poor ball presentation, slow distribution, rusty skills... the list goes on.
It's been a feature of Wales the past twenty years that whenever they are coached local, they seem to just not quite get it. Bring in someone from abroad and the team reacts, grows up and believes. Rob Howley is facing a monumental task to buck this trend, while Warren Gatland may return from Lions duty almost able to name his price.
Meanwhile, across the Severn, what odds on England mounting a serious assault on their own World Cup now?
It was not just the manner of the win over Scotland - who really weren't that bad, by the way - it was the glaringly obvious potential for improvement in many areas. A poor decision here, a couple of needless penalties there, one or two clumsy handling errors... England already have assumed the mantle of favourites from France. If they clean up their act even more over the next two years... another home World Cup win?
Ireland were good, but they looked a smidgeon out of shape compared to others. We'll know more about that after next week's game against England.
But there's one thing to add.
An Irish gentleman approached me before the game against Wales and coined my tuppen'orth on the chances of Brian O'Driscoll being Lions captain eight years after his one and only minute sporting that particular Test armband.
"I don't think so," said I. "I think he's just taken a little too much battering down the years and I am not quite sure if he's the definite first choice any more. Paul O'Connell's been chosen ahead of him as captain once, now Jamie Heaslip as well... I think the writing is on the wall. He'll be on the tour, he'll be in the leadership group, but he'll not be the captain. There's just too much risk of him breaking down."
Following the game I took those ill-chosen words home, stored them in the fridge and then sprinkled them liberally on the omelette I had for breakfast on Sunday. After what BOD delivered on Saturday (leaving aside the odd box-kick with five to go), who can give a viable alternative?
Away from the Six Nations, we received some interesting stats on rugby's global fan base this week, from a study carried out by SMG Insight and YouGov. More is to follow in this week's excellent PR newsletter the Crooked Feed but as a taster, apparently:
- Wales has Europe's most dedicated fan base
- South Africa has the highest female fan base
- France has the highest physical number of fans at 21.7 million
- Rugby still attracts most followers from a high-income bracket, with the majority of the support in 12 out of the 14 countries (IRB tier one nations, USA, Brazil, Russia and Japan) surveyed found within high-income people.
So the Welsh can still sing, Springbok women can still speak lucidly about the game, and the French clubs still love downing tools to come together on French rugby day. Meanwhile, the nobs at HQ are ordering another fridgeload of prawn sandwiches for themselves and their guests...
Loose Pass compiled by Richard Anderson
Comments
celticspirit says...
Agree on all points (great weekend, BOD, funny explanation of the fanbase stats), except for one: Scotland actually were that bad. They were not horrible, not atrocious, which is actually saying something after what we have seen. But losing by 20 points and with a score of 38 points against... yes, they were that bad. And this is not to take anything away from England, they were really good. But they were also made to look good by SCO missing a score of tackles while being late at the break down and once again generally not really moving forward with ball in hand.
If you compare the scoreline to the last 3 which were basically all within a try or just more, the 20 points seems a lot. Now, ENG have imporved, yes, but that SCO team that had these results gainst them was horrible (missing out on WC 1/4-final for first time, almost losing to Georgia AND Romania, then the next one in the 6 Nations 'winning' the wooden spoon and playing possibly the worst game I have ever witnessed against Italy...), so then this team must still have been bad, however much ENG imporved.
I am very very concerned for Saturday and not travelling to SCO in order not to be disappointed by another home defeat again...
Posted 19:47 06th February 2013
kybone says...
GCP_JONES- We dont think we're gonna win the world cup, we think we've got a chance. There's a big difference.
Posted 15:03 05th February 2013
jamesliveinhope says...
"a tournament now looking able to match its SH counterpart for skill as well as passion"
Plenty of rain, snow and mud to change all that in the next 6 weeks - whilst I agree that (especially in England) there had been a decline in skills as the game went defensive and set-piece orientated it has improved significantly in recent seasons. The reason that the spectacle was so good is that all of the matches were played on dry tracks.
The only surface that struggled was (as usual) Cardiff which could possibly explain why the Irish running game went off so dramatically.
Posted 14:17 05th February 2013
makemehappy says...
@curates_egg - Ireland looked exhausted LOL! They made most of the tackles on their line so didn't have to run too much. Forget the tackles made, look at the points conceded. That is a much better illustrator of how tired they were.
Posted 13:31 05th February 2013
Shoobydo says...
@rockman
Got to say I rate the Italian fans highest for passion and support, especially when you consider they lose most of their games. Cracking little city too.
Kudos to Wales for building a rugby stadium in the middle of the Cardiff city centre though.
Certainly helps build the atmosphere in the city beforehand and you only have a short stagger from pub to stadium (and back again).
Posted 12:17 05th February 2013
curates_egg says...
Ireland out of shape? 100 tackles in the second half would suggest otherwise.
Posted 10:51 05th February 2013
highschool says...
First time in many a year I have enjoyed the opening of the 6 nations, credit to all teams. As an Irishman I am delighted we got the win in Wales, a very tough arena to go to. Strange feeling at the end of the match as although we won the game we 30 - 3 up at one stage and battling it out at the end. Thought the crowd got to the ref for the yellow cards. Italy game was a joy to watch, plently of skill and guts. As for England match hard to judge, Scotland not at the right level yet, I was surprised at the success at their counter attack. Overall I thought England played very well. I am very worried about next week in Dublin. England will not be caught off guard, they have a huge pack and pound for pound are a much bigger team than Ireland. If we bring our A game and "that" intensity we give to the auld enemy it will be a close call. Otherwise we could be taken apart, remember what England did to our scrum last year ...
Posted 10:25 05th February 2013
Stellenbosched2 says...
Hi Richard Anderson
With reference to SA's female supporters- just think of all those 'attention whores' (your description of them) strutting around the stadium in skimpy shorts. Your biggest nightmare? Oh well, please say hi to Nigel Owens for me.
Hi Headhunter99
I thought the 6 Nations provided great rugby last weekend, but please add 'in my opinion' when you try to compare NH vs SH. Yet again I have to say that those who do the comparison (whether they come from N or S) show how small-minded they are. Enjoy the rugby and don't be so worried about where the players come from.
Posted 04:57 05th February 2013
Sasquatch says...
OK, let's not jump the gun here. England win two games and suddenly Anderson's talking about the WC? Based on that criteria there are a number of teams who have a chance of dethroning the All Blacks. Let's leave that kind of sentiment for later Dick.
Posted 23:17 04th February 2013
GCP_JONES says...
@kybone....
I don't have a problem with England finally starting to look like an emerging force again after 10 years of up and (mainly) downs and the feel good factor which follows. I have a lot of time for Lancaster.
I admit I took the bait with the final segment, but I would hate to think that English supportor's seriously believe that they are gonna win the world cup in 2 years time.After just a couple of decent performances.
Posted 20:45 04th February 2013
TVaddict says...
@GCP_jones
Ireland will definitely be a tough prospect, and to be honest I won't be that upset to lose that match. Ireland are quality and I've said before, when playing England in Ireland they play with a ferocity bordering on rabbis. While many would see it as a step back for England to lose, we have to remember this is a very inexperienced young team and even if they do lose they will be able to learn a great deal about it.
However, the fact that this is a young inexperienced team (I'm repeating this because I don't feel like people realise this) and considering the last few results they have achieved in spite of this, it's surely not stupid to say that if they keep improving they'll have a genuine chance at winning the next world cup? Especially since they'll be playing at home, and that is all that has been said.
Posted 17:31 04th February 2013
NHsaints says...
Allain Rolland was excellent, good to see recognition for that. Owens and Poite were also very good. An absolutely outstanding weekend of rugby and to those saying there should be changes to the six nations only 2 or 3 years ago I hope you have gobbled down your words without hesitation, this weekend was every bit as entertaining as the tri-nations/rugby championship. Good signs from all.
Posted 17:10 04th February 2013
APV1 says...
No mention anywhere on the site about the Georgia : Belgium match. Not only the result, but one of the biggest mass-brawls I've seen for quite some time. There'll be some bans there, me thinks.
Posted 17:06 04th February 2013
Headhunter99 says...
Good article with a needless sting in the tail at the end to stir things up... but thats what journalist is paid to do. On to referees, I agree all three had excellent games, although in Rollands case an excellent game means he had an off day.
Great win for Italy, edge of the seat stuff, beware a wounded France especially in Paris. England played really well but I'm not getting carried away or being jingoistic, Dublin will be a hell of a test and if we do prevail Cardiff at the end of the competition will be even bigger. You can always rely on Wales to rain on any English parade.
The real winner at the weekend was NH Rugby, the SH guys can go on as much as they like but there is no competition with the passion and intensity of the 6 nations, a big thank you to all the 6 countries who provided such a riveting weekend.
Posted 16:51 04th February 2013
kybone says...
GCP_jones- I agree, next weeks game in Dublin is too close to call, but do you have to go off on one anytime England get some credit for good performances. Yes we know we're not the finished article, and we know we made a lot of mistakes that maybe NZ or Australia at their best might not usually make, but overall it was a really good performance. We played with confidence and freedom which was great to see. I only see us getting better from here. You seem to think we should be shuffling about pessimistic all the time.
Posted 16:29 04th February 2013
GCP_jones says...
@TVaddict...
Wales can take a very good 2nd half display, While we(I'm Irish) can look forward to meeting the 2015 World Champions to lansdowne road, sure if we go by Mr Anderson's assertions, we might as-well give you a walk-over.
England are developing into a good team, and have a chance of victory next Sunday, but they could just as easily be defeated in Dublin and Cardiff.
Posted 15:22 04th February 2013
carpelone says...
Referees.
Owens was exceptional for 65 minutes, than I think he felt a bit sorry for France and helped them set up a nail biting end. A re-set scrum went to France, a decision in the breakdown went to France, a yellow card for the Italian hooker with one minute to go (with this interpretation, Ireland would be always playing in 14 or 13).
Poite did not administered well the breakdown, in the first half, allowing the Irish to slow the ball too much, then he did not take action against Welsh players for stamping the Irish at the breakdown.
Rolland's performance was immaculate.
Posted 15:07 04th February 2013
lawynd says...
@GCP_jones and philipjfry - I'm reasonably confident Richard Anderson isn't an Englishman, based on previous comments by PR and his own columns. In any case, we all know he likes to stir the pot fairly vigorously!
Posted 14:36 04th February 2013
TVaddict says...
@GCP_jones
Weakest nation? I thought we played Scotland not Wales? ;)
Anyway, it was a great win for England. We played a less experienced team than last year against a Scotland team with vastly more caps than us, and took them apart really. Our work at the breakdown continued to be top notch, Marler held his own in the scrum following question marks about his last performance, Launchbury continued his meteoric rise, and we even bloodied a new centre in Twelvetrees who performed fantasticly. A massive improvement for us was the impact of the bench, almost all the players made an impact when they came on (Strettle and Flood excluded) and seemed to be rally pushing for a place in the team. All in all, a successful game with a lot of positives. Perhaps GCP_jones can inform us of the many positives Wales can take from their game?
@philipjfry
Although I agree with you, technically England won't need to be able to win away from home to win the next world cup. :)
Posted 14:20 04th February 2013
12Counties says...
PSA offering his team a ready-made excuse prior to the game, what did he think was going to happen? Did he think he was going to inspire them by pointing out that they're overplayed in recent weeks and underprepared?
Posted 14:16 04th February 2013