6 Nations Roundup, week 2/2009
The second week of the 2009 RBS 6 Nations Championship didn’t throw up any surprises but there were some notable moments.
The weekend started in Paris, where France entertained Scotland. I expected the French to win comfortably and I hoped that they might even show us that French coach Marc Lievremont’s strategy was starting to make some sense. The surprise was that, from the outset, it was Scotland who seemed to be attempting to run the ball wide, re-invigorated as they were by the inclusion in the starting line-up of the Evans brothers. Nevertheless, there was the nagging feeling that, for all their ambition – and indeed first-half superiority in all areas bar the scrum – Scotland would not win.
The Scots failed to capitalise on their territory and possession, going into half time trailing by two penalties to one. The second half saw the French exercise a little more control, but they still failed to impress. Although the Scots never looked like winning, they refused to lie down and certainly can be proud to have come quite close to an upset. A little more discipline and perhaps a couple of genuine locks – the experiment of playing with backrow forwards in the second row failed to provide the expected mobility and let them down in the tight situations – and the result could have been different.
Wales took on England at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, with only one result anticipated. The only question was how large the winning margin would be. The bookmakers were not disappointed although they may have been a little nervous at times.
Before the match, much had been made of the loss of Shane Williams to an injury but such is the strength in depth of the current Welsh back division that if it was a problem it was all psychological. In the event Wales looked controlled and always threatening, if ultimately a little disappointing.
That disappointment is probably a credit to England’s defence, particularly man-of-the-match Joe Worsley. The men in white managed to bottle up the Welsh quite effectively, primarily by shutting down the threat of Jamie Roberts in the Centre. (The Welsh management must focus on a ‘plan-b’ for when this happens again, as it surely will now that England have shown the effectiveness of the tactic.)
It would have been interesting to see how Wales would respond to real pressure, a genuine threat to their Grand Slam ambitions, but England were so ill-disciplined at times that the contest was never in doubt. Indeed, England displayed flashes of clever back play and scored two tries to Wales’ one (who’d have thought it?), but the six penalties given away in kickable positions – and another two yellow cards – left Wales in a comfortable position. If England had brought a bit more gumption onto the pitch it could have been a quite different game, but then gumption is something that England don’t seem to have had much of since 2003.
The final game of the weekend saw Ireland travel to Rome. Again, the form book was quite clear and, although the Italians have made huge strides over the last ten years, few people seriously imagined an upset. At least this week Italy decided to include a scrum-half.
The first half was a fascinating contest, with Italy’s aggressive defence putting Ireland under a lot of pressure, leading to the 3 penalties that were to be Italy’s contribution to the scoreline. In between them Ireland benefitted from an interception/breakaway try, but the first quarter really belonged to Italy. From then on Ireland were in control, dominating possession and territory for the rest of the half and eventually carving Italy open.
The second half was a complete mess. Stop-start, injury strewn and just flat; very forgettable. Ireland’s dominance increased and Italy tired, but the scoreline at the end was rather inflated, though perhaps reflecting Ireland’s overall superiority. Most memorable for the bad tackles – including the Italian fullback’s clothes-line job on his opposite number at the very start – and the referee’s inability to get control of the scrums, few will want to buy the DVD of this game.
Italy will take some positives from the first quarter and if they can develop an effective attacking backline could become serious contenders. Ireland will be pleased to have won but will know they have much to work on if they are to challenge Wales, who remain clear favourites for the Championship. The next matches are in two weeks time, when Wales travel to Paris, Ireland entertain England and the Scots will hope that home advantage gives them the edge over Italy.
