Super Saturday?
So the 2008 Six Nations Championship (a rugby competition between England, Scotland,Ireland, Wales, France and Italy) concluded on Saturday. Congratulations to Wales on their Grand Slam (winning all their matches), their second in four years.
Before the it began, the pundits were predicting the most open tournament for many years, and they were right. All the teams were much closer in the standard of rugby they played than for a long time, but Wales were certainly the best team and deserved their win.
You could argue that this “closeness” made the competition very exciting and, in terms of the results and winning margins, perhaps it was. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. The quality of rugby was far, far from a high standard. Why was it close? In simple terms it was because most teams (Italy excepted) have gone backwards, which made most of the games dull and tedious.
The French were the most disappointing. They used so many players over the five games, a large number of whom were debutants, that they couldn’t possibly play as a team. New coach Mark Lievremont seemed to have banned kicking, insisting that his side try to run the ball from everywhere. Historically the French have been very good at this, but in the past they did it with skill, flair and unpredictability. This year they seemed to do it with their legs tied together.
England continued their rollercoaster performance – they’ve been like this since they won RWC2003 – but, while the lows were very low, the highs barely made it above ground level. A cross between donkeys and headless chickens would be the best way to describe them for most of the time. I don’t blame Ashton, I think the players must bear the responsibility and I’d like to see a few heads roll.
Ireland are going backwards with each game. I’ll admit that I don’t like Eddie O’Sullivan at all, as a coach or as a person, and I believe that his early ’success’ was entirely due to the foundation that Warren Gatland (the man he stabbed in the back) created. O’Sullivan has failed to build on that foundation and has squandered a fabulous back line. He should go.
What can I say about Scotland? Just poor, except (as ever) when slugging it out in the worst of weather.
But Italy…they get better every year. The Masi experiment at fly-half has not worked, but their backs are starting to show glimpses of real talent to complement a great set of forwards. Three or four more years and they could be genuine contenders.
So finally Wales. The best of the six, clearly, but that’s not really saying much. Occasional flashes of brilliance from the backs, though not nearly as good as they were in 2005, and a couple of great back row forwards. But the front five are just not up to international standard, and haven’t been for a very long time. Well done Gatland and Edwards for turning things around in a matter of weeks, but there is a very long way to go.
Honestly, I think any one of the tri-nations or Argentina would have comfortably won the competition this year.
