Strong Start To The Six Nations

This year the six nations began where it ended last year, in Cardiff. With Wales bidding to become the first ever side to win three championships in a row surely the Italy game was a given. Not so, the Italians put up a fight and made it very difficult for the Welsh to play. This led to Wales making mistakes, with Rhys Priestland being turned over several times. Even Leigh Halfpenny was not immune to error; his pass was intercepted by man of the match Campagnaro who ran in his second try on his championship debut. Halfpenny did make amends for his mistake, if it were not for his 13 points Wales would have been on the wrong side of the score board. It was not pretty from Wales, they will know they were poor, but still won 23-15 against a very good Italian side. Is that the sign of champions?

Proceedings started with a bang at Stade de France when Huget crossed the whitewash with only 30 seconds gone. This lead increased to 16-3 with less than twenty minutes played, the signs did not look good for England. Then they began play, they kept calm and allowed the points to come to them. Danny Care’s break led to Mike Brown’s try just before halftime, the catalyst for the revival. England had snatched the lead when Luther Burrell scored on debut under the posts. A France of old might have capitulated at this point, they had conceded 18 points without scoring one themselves. However, they didn’t they showed why they can be called the best at times, with the young centre Fickou finishing off a passing move to make the score 26-24. The spells the end of England’s Grand Slam ambitions but don’t write them off, they were poor in the first half but much improved in the second. There are parallels to Wales’ performance against Ireland on last years’ opening weekend. For France it is a case of keep going, and keep improving, at times on Saturday they were brilliant, playing open flowing rugby. They will have a score to settle next week against Italy.

The Joe Schmidt era began promisingly for Ireland as they controlled the Scots and eased to a 28-6 win at the Aviva Stadium, a win that moved them to the top of the championship at this early stage. The ex-Leinster coach has certainly had his influence and the intricate passing patterns that Ireland played were reminiscent of the Dublin province. Two men have been much improved under Schmidt, Johnny Sexton and Rob Kearney. It is no coincidence that these both played under him at Leinster. Sexton looked like a new player in the green of Ireland; very different to the player we have seen at misfiring Racing Metro this year. He controlled the game with ease, he looked comfortable in his role and that is something that bodes well for Ireland with the Welsh coming to Dublin next week in one of the biggest games this year. For the Scots there are certainly lessons to be learnt they were turned over far too often and ill-discipline cost them points. When they did have possession the attack was far from adventurous and very predictable. The Scots will struggle in Twickenham next week against an English side desperate to get a win under their belts, and the first silverware of this year’s championship, The Calcutta Cup.