Month: February 2022

2022 Six Nations: Ireland v Italy

2022 Six Nations: Ireland v Italy

Round 3 of the 2022 edition of the Six Nations came to an end with a trip to Dublin to see Ireland host Italy. The Irish made a handful of changes with a match against England in the near future, but were soon ahead as an inside pass put Caelan Doris through a hole and his offload found hooker Dan Sheehan, who fed Joey Carbery for the opening try in less than 4 minutes. Italy were soon on the scoreboard after Edoardo Padovani blasted over a penalty from halfway, but found themselves playing a man after less than a quarter of the match down when Epalahame Faiva—on early after an injury to starting hooker Gianmarco Lucchesi—was red carded for a high tackle on Sheehan. A quirk of the rugby laws (that is absolutely bonkers and would be changed immediately if any of the big nations fell afoul of it) means that with nobody else in the Italian 23 able to play hooker, scrums would go uncontested (which must always be 8v8) but the Italians would be down to 13 (taking 2 men off but bringing on 1 replacement front row), and the Irish took advantage of the extra space for Jamison Gibson-Park to score, while fullback James Lowry went over on the half hour from the first phase after a scrum and Peter O’Mahony secured the bonus point just before half time. The Italians kept on fighting though, and Paolo Garbisi kicked a penalty to end the half down 24-6.

It took the Irish attack a while to get going after the break, but finally they got a series of phases of front foot ball and pulled the defense narrow, allowing Gibson-Park to throw a wide pass to James Lowe to cross out wide. With the game over as a competition, the replacements were coming on earlier than usual, and Jonathan Sexton marked his 55ᵗʰ minute introduction by immediately attacking a gap and offloading to Lowry for his second of the day. The Irish continued to struggle to pull away in quite the fashion one would expect, but when Ryan Baird charged down Alessandro Fusco’s box kick, there were no blue shirts in behind to stop him gathering the loose ball and going over for the try. But with just minutes remaining Braam Steyn was carded for a deliberate knock on that saw the Italians down to 12, and the Irish took advantage by going for the scrum and using the 3-man advantage in the back line to put Lowe over for a second try. There was time for another attack which saw Josh van der Flier held up over the line, but with time remaining for the goal line drop-out and a 3-man advantage, the Irish managed to send Kieron Treadwell over for one final try, with Sexton kicking the conversion for a 57-6 victory.

rugby ireland crest
rugby italy crest

Ireland

Ireland may have earned the bonus point by half time and come away with a comfortable victory, but they should be disappointed with this. With a 2-man advantage for an hour (including 5 minutes at the end with a 3-man advantage), they should have been winning by so much more.

While there were some huge individual performances in the Italian defence, with 2 men less and 3 props on the pitch, there was always going to be space, but Ireland did not do the work to find or create it, and far too often they ended up playing into the Italian pack and getting turned over, forcing the pass once a half-break was made rather than recycling to go again with quick ball, or getting white line fever and going alone when the pass was the better option.

Perhaps even more worrying was that Andy Farrell saw the need to bring Sexton on before the hour with a lead of just 23 points. While there were a couple of unfamiliar combinations out there, I can’t help feel that a team like France or even Ian Foster’s New Zealand would have found a way to turn this into a cricket score with such a numerical advantage.

Italy

A phrase I hear in rugby too often is that red cards ruin games. That is not true at all, but unfortunately this game was ruined as a result of the red card to Hame Faiva. Now I want to make clear first of all that the officials were all spot-on in the decision and did a great job of talking everything through with the teams. Unfortunately, it was a rarely-seen law from World Rugby that saw Italy further punished.

rugby uncontested scrums referee document

As Wayne Barnes details in this video, referees are provided with the above guidelines for when a scrum goes uncontested. Lucchesi’s early injury (he went off cradling his arm after just 5 minutes) is unfortunate as hooker is a specialist position and it is rare that you will have more than 2 trained hookers in a matchday 23. And that means that if anything happens to Hame Faiva in the remaining 75 minutes, Italy will be unable to field a trained hooker.

So when Faiva then went high and gave the referee no choice but to red card him, that is when everything went tits up. With uncontested scrums coming, Italy always had to sacrifice someone for a prop in order to keep the front row unit full of 3 specialist front rows, but per the table above, they also had to lose a second player for the rest of the match. And here is the problem.

The reason for this law makes sense, as the Italian scrum should be penalised for their hooker getting sent off, while this stops a team struggling in the scrum from pretending their last available front row is injured in order to go to uncontested scrums. But does this require 2 players to effectively be sent off? Being forced to field 3 props already harms a defence when you consider that most hookers these days are like an extra back row and super mobile. By the team already having to take a player off for the replacement front row and the numerical advantage in the back line, is this not already creating enough of an advantage for the opposition team? Or perhaps is it time to look at something I have suggested previously about having larger matchday squads (say 30 for example, with 5 or 6 specialist front rows on the bench) but still the same number of replacements allowed per match (or less), which would allow more flexibility so that games are not decided by a team having to play someone out of position…

Guinness Six Nations

2022 Six Nations: England v Wales

2022 Six Nations: England v Wales

With France’s win over Scotland confirmed, today’s Six Nations action moved to Twickenham, which would play host to England’s match against Wales. England’s build-up was disrupted by an injury to Manu Tuilagi following the initial naming of the squad, but they still found themselves too strong for the Welsh in the early stages, with a series of penalties allowing Marcus Smith to kick them into a 6-0 lead in the opening 5 minutes. The Welsh grew into the game and after a clever kick from Nick Tompkins put the Welsh deep in the English 22, they found themselves with a lineout 5m out, but inaccuracies cost them. England hit back from this warning and when Charlie Ewels was held up over the line, Liam Williams was sent to the sin bin for cynically playing the ball in the ruck. However the 14 men held out with a scrum penalty allowing them to clear their lines as referee Mike Adamson found himself out of his depth, and England were forced to settle for 2 more penalties from Smith for a 12-0 halftime lead.

In the last round, I noted how the Welsh lineout had finally began to sort itself out and avoid being a liability. Well it seems that praise came too early as Elias struggled to connect with his men throughout the game, and just minutes after the break and with a lineout in his own 22, he overthrew his entire pack (though it must be noted that nobody was even lifted, so it may not have all been his fault) and the ball went straight to Alex Dombrandt, who went over for his first Test try. The Welsh attack looked more cohesive in this half, and when they finally got some possession in the England 22, a clever flat pass from the back of a ruck by Tomos Williams sent Josh Adams over in the corner. What had been a 17-0 lead for England suddenly looked fragile, and after a series of penalties allowed Wales more time deep in the English 22, Topkins went over just after the hour and Dan Biggar converted to cut the lead to 5. 2 penalties from Smith gave England some breathing room but they couldn’t quite kill off the game, and when Kieran Hardy went over from a quick-tap penalty in the 80ᵗʰ minute, Biggar managed to take a quick drop goal conversion to bring the score to 23-19 but crucially give Wales one final chance to play. Of course they would need to go the length, but what looked the unlikeliest of victories suddenly became more realistic as England captain Courtney Lawes was penalised for a deliberate knock-on. However referee Adamson’s officiating style would be called questionable at best and though he awarded the penalty, he chose not to send Lawes to the bin, and though Wales found themselves in the English half, they were unable to penetrate the 15-man English defence and Maro Itoje won a crucial turnover to secure victory for England.

rugby england crest
rugby wales crest no background

England

Plenty has been said about Marcus Smith over the last couple of weeks, but today was another great example at just how dangerous he is with ball in hand.

The young Harlequins fly half repeatedly took the ball to the line, but did a great job of varying his play between playing the ball off to a forward to truck it up and running with it himself. This variety is crucial. If he plays the ball off every time, the defence can adapt to this and zero in on the forward,whereas if he runs, they know that they have to commit to him. However by varying it up, it forces the defender to make a decision as to whether they commit to Smith or the forward runner. And the moment the defender makes up their mind and commits one way or the other, Smith can strike by doing the opposite.

Granted, England were outscored 3 tries to 1 today, and that try was gifted to them by the Welsh, but that was not on Smith’s play. With such a lightweight back line outside of him, he was forced to rely on forward runners, whereas the option of a more physical back (Tuilagi may be out but Mark Atkinson and Dan Kelly were both playing in the Premiership today) would have added an extra dimension to the attack and given the defence a third option to consider.

Wales

Wales should consider this one that got away from them. Had they turned up in the first half, or had their lineout been of Test rugby standard, they could have won this.

The performance in the first half was the real killer. There was a clear tactic from the off to get the ball out to the wide men as soon as possible, and they certainly had some success out wide, with Alex Cuthbert carrying for 137 metres. The issue however was that there was not enough organisation to deal with these breaks and half-breaks. Too often the ball carrier would find themselves isolated once the were stopped, gifting England possession, territory, while 2 of Marcus Smith’s penalties came from Cuthbert holding on as support failed to get to him soon enough—those 6 points alone would have been enough to change the result. They still weren’t perfect in the second half, but they were much better organised. And with that, they were able to build phases in the England 22 and force their way over their tries.

A tactic of getting it wide as quick as possible puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the team to keep up with the back 3, who are often the fastest men on the pitch. Will Wales look to stick with this game plan in 2 weeks’ time? Or was this a plan to try (and fail) to keep the ball away from the English pack?

Guinness Six Nations

2022 Six Nations: Scotland v France

2022 Six Nations: Scotland v France

After taking a week off, the Six Nations Championship returned for round 3, starting with France’s trip to Edinburgh. Les Bleus were the only team still capable of winning the Grand Slam this year, and soon found themselves ahead at Murrayfield as Antoine Dupont’s break was followed up by a series of strong runs from the pack and ended with Paul Willemse crashing over from close range. The Scots soon hit back with a penalty from Finn Russell, but the French immediately answered by spreading the ball all the way to the left off a lineout and then sweepin back right, with Damian Penaud and Cyril Baille both keeping the ball alive as they were bundled into touch, allowing Yoram Moefana to cross for the try. The Scots finally began to get some control on the game and Baille was perhaps lucky to not give away a penalty try for a high tackle on Ali Price as he was held up on the line, but the Scots kept up the pressure with a quick tap and soon saw Rory Darge go over for a try on his first Test start. As halftime approached, the game felt like it was on the edge of a knife, and when Duhan van der Merwe broke away in midfield with support, it looked like the Scots would go into the break with the lead. However while Chris Harris’ support line was bettered only by his wide pass to Stuart Hogg, the Scottish captain had forgotten his catching hands and saw the chance disappear, a moment that would come back to haunt them even more just moments later as Gaël Fickou arced over in the corner, with Jaminet converting to turn what could have been a 17-12 lead for the Scots into a 10-19 lead for France.

If there was any question as to how the momentum had shifted in the final moments of the first half, it took just 2 minutes for the French to score their 4ᵗʰ try and secure the bonus point, as Damian Penaud broke down the wing and chipped forward, and though he was outpaced by both Hogg and van der Merwe, all three were beaten by a wicked bounce of the ball which fell into the hands of Jonathan Danty to go over on his return from injury. The Scots continued to have plenty of possession, but were having to attack from deep, and when Darge had the ball ripped in a maul, the ball was spread to Penaud to go over out wide, and the wing scored his second with just minutes left as Romain Ntamack foundhi in acres of space with a clever cross-kick. The game was over as a competition, but when replacement Blair Kinghorn fielded a kick and found a gap in the French defence, he burst through and fed van der Merwe for a try that at least salvaged a little pride for the home side, with a final score of 17-36.

rugby crest scotland
rugby france crest

Scotland

While this was anything but a good day for the Scots, one massive positive they can take from the game was the performance of Rory Darge. With Jamie Ritchie and Matt Fagerson both out injured and Hamish Watson also ruled out with COVID, Darge found himself given the 7 shirt having made his debut off the bench in round 2.

And what a performance the young back row put in! For a player to make 1 or 2 turnovers at the breakdown in a Test is usually an achievement, Darge seemed to be the one consistently getting a hand in at the crucial moment, bringing a number of promising French attacks to an early end. And while he did not have quite the physicality of Watson in attack, he certainly did his fair share of carrying with 14 carries (a team high) for 39 yards.

While it is still early days, Darge looks like a natural at Test level, and this is great news for Scotland as they look to develop depth in their back row. For a while now it has been Watson, Ritchie and one other in the back row, but Fagerson and Magnus Bradbury have both grown into capable Test players. With Darge now entering the fray, they have 5 great options to pick from when everyone is available, with Bath’s Josh Bayliss and Saracens’ Andy Christie also looking like they could become regulars in the wider squad over the coming years—good news for everyone except Nick Haining, who will surely struggle to keep his spot when other options are available after another performance that showed he is not suited to this level.

France

This was a stellar performance from Les Bleus. Though the Scots had the greater possession and ran for more metres, there was only ever one winner in doubt.

Barring a few breaks, the French defence comfortably dealt with everything the Scots threw at them, while the pack dominated at the set piece and helped create quick ball in attack. And with the quality of ball carrying throughout the squad, the team were able to consistently manipulate the Scottish defence—who were given an even harder task with the loss of Chris Harris at halftime—to score in just a handful of phases.

But they didn’t even just do this in one way. They utilised a break by then having their forwards charge onto the ball at pace to keep up the momentum for Willemse’s try, while for multiple tries they forced the defence to overcommit to the farwing by spreading it from the right touchline all the way to the left wing in one phase, only to then put it through the hands and work the numbers spreading the ball right back to the right wing where the Scots ran out of numbers.

Back in 2020 I predicted that France would win the 2023 Rugby World Cup. While the Springboks still look deadly, these performances from France continue to convince me that I made the right choice.

Guinness Six Nations

Priced Out

Priced Out

Last week, Premiership Rugby announced a new streaming service called PRTV Live, which will allow fans to stream and watch all Premiership Rugby games live, starting this coming weekend. As the pilot kicks off, it is £4.99 to watch a game of your choice or £6.99 for a full round.

Will I be paying for this service? No. Why? I’m already paying for BT Sport to be able to watch Premiership Rugby. Sadly, for one reason or another, the broadcaster makes the decision to only broadcast a couple of the games each week—basically the Saracens, Exeter and Harlequins matches, a Friday Night Lights game and maybe one more match—and not even that many when there is international rugby on, such as the Six Nations. Sadly it’s not just the Premiership where BT Sport choose to deny their audience, as BT Sport also hold the broadcasting rights to both the European Rugby Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup, but while they endeavour to show all of the Champions Cup, you’re lucky to see more than a handful of Challenge Cup matches broadcast all season.

Sadly in a time when rugby should be trying to reach new audiences and grow, it feels like it is getting harder and harder for people to watch. The men’s Six Nations is split between BBC and ITV. The women’s tournament may hit the BBC red button if you’re lucky. Premiership Rugby is on BT Sport or PRTV Live, with the occasional match and a highlights show recently added to ITV. The URC is on Premier Sports (which doesn’t even come into the most expensive Sports packages for most TV set-ups) with some games on BBC Wales or S4C, while the Top 14 and a number of internationals are also exclusive to the broadcaster. Premier 15s (the top flight women’s league in England) gets 1 game on the BBC red button per round. Sky Sports used to be the home of rugby but their offerings have dwindled over the years, losing the Premiership, then the precursors to the URC, stopping broadcasts of the Championship and now most recently losing broadcast rights for SANZAAR competitions, which has led to the loss of Super Rugby and left Southern Hemisphere Test matches in a position that I am currently unsure where I stand as a fan. Super Rugby is now found through a SANZAAR streaming platform. A season pass that will allow you to watch all 91 matches during the tournament costs £49.99, while a season pass for the Rugby Championship will be available later in the year.

As a big sports fan, I have shelled out for BT Sport and Sky Sports, but I am now finding my love of rugby unsatiated, and I’m sure that I’m in a much better financial position than many other fans. Granted I didn’t purchase the channels just for rugby, but that was a damn big reason!

Rugby is still a very small sport in global terms. That’s half the reason why rugby fans can be so happy about a rugby game even when it has just a couple of licences and looks like it was made for consoles that have aged out years ago despite the game only releasing at the end of January. If rugby wants to grow as a sport, it should be making the sport more accessible to potential new fans, and yet if anything, it is hiding the sport behind a paywall that will push away both potential new fans and die-hard fans who just want to watch as much rugby as they can.

Right now, the only competition who feels like they are getting this right is the MLR, whose games can all be streamed for free on The Rugby Network.

Dissecting the Italian rugby movement

Dissecting the Italian rugby movement

As the so-called experts on TV will never speak of this, this is well worth a read to understand Italian rugby before jumping on the bandwagon to have them thrown out of the Six Nations

Carborugby

This article is intended for a non-Italian audience.

It happens every year, at least in recent times. During the weeks of the Six Nations tournament supporters from the Home Nations and France repeat the adagio: why is Italy even involved, since they aren’t level with the others? We’ve lost more than 30 matches in a row as of February 2022 and, besides a few brave games, we can’t compete against any of the other five. The last victory over France dates back to 2013, the last victory altogether was in 2015. Why is it taking so long to win a game in the tournament again? It is only legitimate for our “cousin” fans to wonder what are we even doing to fix this, and whether it makes sense to keep going together or to part ways. Are we renovating the structure of our grassroots rugby? Are we investing…

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2022 Six Nations: Italy v England

2022 Six Nations: Italy v England

Round 2 of the 2022 Six Nations finished off on Sunday with England’s trip to Rome. Eddie Jones’ men were looking to get their campaign back on track after an opening day defeat against Scotland and would certainly have been hoping that the Italian U20’s 6-0 victory on Friday night was not a sign of things to come.

And while the Italians put some pressure on early, it was the visitors who scored first as Max Malins got around the outside of the defensive line and fed the ball back inside for the supporting Marcus Smith, who converted his own try. And the lead was doubled midway through the first half as England got quick ball off a lineout move and went through the phases for Jamie George to go over next to the posts. The Azzurri were being hurt hard by the penalty count, and England were happily taking advantage of the territory, but while England thought they had third try through Maro Itoje after Harry Randall found some space around the fringe of a lineout maul, the TMO found that Nick Isiekwe illegally obstructed in the formation of the maul., while their next attack minutes later saw Ellis Genge get white line fever and knock on as he tried to pick and go for the line. However the visitors did get a try right before the break. Stephen Varney attempted to clear up after a high ball from his opposite number Harry Randall, but his pass went wild and ended up in English hands, and after a clever run from Freddie Steward coming in off the left touchline, the ball was spread wide right to Jamie George, who just had the pace, power and wingspan to reach the corner, Smith converting for a 0-21 halftime lead.

Kyle Sinckler was introduced at the break and this helped the English begin to gain some dominance at the scrum and after a strong scrum in the Italian 22, Marcus Smith held Federico Mori just long enough to release Elliot Daly—onearly following a failed HIA for Jack Nowell—with a flat pass to send him over in the corner to secure the bonus point. What followed was a period of possession and territory for the Azzurri, but they could not find their way over for a try, though Tom Curry was very lucky to avoid a yellow card for cynically killing the ball during one of the Italians’ most successful attacks. However as the replacements came on, England found themselves kicking more and inviting the pressure but held on strong, and when Leonardo Marin fumbled a high ball from Marcus Smith just outside his 22, England quickly exploited it and Kyle Sinckler went over for the try. With just under 10 minutes left, Italy found themselves camped in the English 22 again but a fumble at the back of the scrum ended their attack and gave England just enough time for one more attack, which saw Henry Slade go over but lose possession of the ball as he tried to ground it under pressure from Tiziano Pasquali for a final score of 0-33.

rugby italy crest
rugby england crest

Italy

Italy need to find the balance in the back row, as it’s costing them at the moment. Granted, were everyone available, it is highly likely that the starting trio of Jake Polledri, Seb Negri and captain Michele Lamaro would be the go-to unit. However with Polledri out and Sergio Parisse in the twilight of his career, the focus has been to go to the younger players. Unfortunately, they have struggled to have any real impact on the games.

With Negri on the bench this week, there was a clear lack of carrying from the back row, while Giovanni Pettinelli will have likely wished the ground swallowed him up after fumbling the ball at the base of a crum deep in the English 22. While the answers long term may be making their way up from the U20, in the short term I think that the best answer would be the experience an all-round playing ability of Braam Steyn, who at 29 should still be a part of this squad at least through the World Cup.

England

Make sure you’re sat down before you read this: England actually came out and played rugby this week. With Harry Randall given the 9 shirt, he brought his natural quick game into play, and the speed of ball made it so easy for the pack to batter the Italian defence while the backs had the space for creative players like Smith, Malins and Steward to show their quality.

However things were far from perfect. There were a number of errors from the players, who clearly weren’t used to playing at such a pace, while a better defence like most suspected World Cup quarterfinalists would have would also find themselves catching England isolated or behind the gain line more often. Moreso, the speed and attacking mentality disappeared the moment Harry Randall was removed, just before the hour.

And to sort this is a simple situation: keep playing this way. Ben Youngs has been a fantastic player, but now that he has equalled Json Leonard’s record of 114 England mens’ caps, his time as a starter (or perhaps even in the 23) needs to be at an end as England look to play a faster tempo of rugby week in week out. Only by doing this can they cut out the errors and then find a way to build on this attacking game to beat the best defences even if Manu Tuilagi isn’t present.

Guinness Six Nations

2022 Six Nations: France v Ireland

2022 Six Nations: France v Ireland

Round 2 of the 2022 Six Nations continued with Ireland’s trip to Paris to face France. With both teams winning comfortably in round 1, this looked like a potential early title decider.

The Irish came in without captain Jonathan Sexton, who was ruled out midway through the week, and soon found themselves down on the scoreboard as Antoine Dupont crossed for a try after less than 90 seconds, with Melvyn jaminet adding the conversion and a penalty soon after. After such a bad start, Ireland needed to get themselves into the game and did so in the best way from the restart, with Mack Hansen beating Jaminet to the ball and going over untouched, Carbery converting on his first Six Nations start. The game calmed down slightly after such a frantic start, but the game remained hugely physical and Les Bleus’ attack allowed Jaminet to stretch the lead with 3 more penalties for a 19-7 halftime lead.

Jaminet quickly added another penalty after the break, but when Andrew Porter won a penalty at the restart, Joey Carbery went to the corner and the Irish pack managed to dive Josh van der Flier over for a vital try, which Carbery converted, while Jamison Gibson-Park found and exploited a gap just minutes later for another 7 points. With the points margin having suddenly dropped from 15 points to 1, the French hit back and when they turned the Irish over on their own 5m line, Cyril Baille crashed over from short range. arbery cut the lead to 3 with a penalty as the game entered the final 10 minutes but with just minutes left a clever kick from Gaël Fickou put the French on the attack and though Jaminet was adjudged to have held the ball up over the line, an hand in the ruck from Caelan Doris allowed the fullback to kick the simplest of penalties and Les Bleus saw out the final minutes to keep their title hopes alive with a 30-24 victory, while Ireland were left to settle for a losing bonus point.

rugby france crest
rugby ireland crest

France

This was a huge performance from France, and while their attacking quality let to some beautiful tries, it was the defence that proved crucial, especially in the first half. Ever since Shaun Edwards made the move across the channel, Les Bleus have looked a different beast without the ball.

While the Irish did find a couple of chinks in the second half, the first half was a truly dominant display. Not only were they physical and trying to dominate the point of contact, they were also incredibly smart with the way they treated the breakdown. They picked their moments to attack the breakdown when they felt they could win the turnover, and held off when it wasn’t on, allowing them to spread the full team across the pitch while Ireland found themselves having committed multiple players to a non-existent ruck to secure quick ball.

And when they were spread in defence, they came up with pace and closed down all opportunities for the Irish. Take away one bad restart, one poor maul defence and one poorly guarded ruck and that French line isn’t troubled. But Because of those efforts, we all know that Shaun Edwards will expect better, and that’s why the French will continue to improve.

Ireland

It’s crazy to think that this was Joey Carbery’s first Six Nations start, but this also highlighted the big issue with this Ireland team. They will not win the big games without Jonathan Sexton.

Sexton is arguably a fantastic talent, but the reliance on him has left Ireland in an awful position where nobody has been given enough of a chance to played the position with any regularity and impose themselves in the squad. And that means that when Sexton is suddenly not available, nobody is able to adequately replace him.

With the World Cup pools already decided, the best thing that Ireland could do is rest Sexton for the rest of the season and let pick a pair of 10s to get all the minutes and develop with the team. That way even if anything happens to Sexton, their chances of progressing in the World Cup are still at a decent level. Otherwise, an injury to Sexton right before the tournament could see Ireland go from potential champions to missing out on the knockouts.

Guinness Six Nations

2022 Six Nations: Wales v Scotland

2022 Six Nations: Wales v Scotland

Round 2 of the 2022 Six Nations kicked off today in Cardiff with Wales facing Scotland. Wayne Pivac’s men had made a number of changes following last week’s dismal loss in Dublin and got the opening points with a pair of penalties from Dan Biggar on his 100ᵗʰ Test, however Scotland were soon on the board themselves when Duhan van der Merwe was released down the wing into the Scottish 22. After a series of phases, Finn Russell wrapped around in midfield and spread the ball wide to Darcy Graham, whose clever footwork allowed him to beat Louis Rees-Zammit to the corner. Three Russell penalties to one from Biggar gave the Scots the lead, but a strong driving lineout from 5m out saw Tomas Francis go over to level the scores at 14-14, a scoreline which survived to the break.

In a tight second half, Russell and Biggar traded penalties, but after a second attempt from Biggar came back off the posts to be recovered by Wales, Alex Cuthbert was just denied a try in the corner by some solid defence. However, in the checking of the potential try, a deliberate knock-on was noticed from Finn Russell and the fly half was sent to the bin with just 13 minutes remaining. Wales went through the phases but could not get over the line in the early moments and Dan Biggar chose to take the drop goal for a 20-17 lead with 10 minutes remaining. Though it left Scotland with a chance, the Welsh defended hard and repelled all attacks, but had a nervous moment in the final seconds as a high shot from Taine Basham was checked by the TMO. However referee Nic Berry found the home crowd too loud to resist and let the young flanker away with just a penalty, and the 15 men on Wales managed to stop the Scots around halfway and won a penalty with the clock in the red to confirm their victory.

rugby wales crest no background
rugby crest scotland

Wales

The Welsh lineout has been somewhat unreliable at the best of times in recent years. However with both Ken Owens and Alun Wyn Jones missing, this has looked even more of a risky area. Scotland certainly thought that they could get some fortune here judging by the selection of Sam Skinner at 6.

However the lineout did a fantastic job today, being near perfect in its ball retention, while even mauling Tomas Francis over from short range at a vital point in the match. Sometimes it can really hurt to lose players of such quality as Owens and Jones, but what it does is force the other players on the pitch to step up and fill the void. And while I still don’t know how Ryan Elias gets away with a hendred dummy throws at each lineout, he is starting to get some familiarity with players like Adam Beard and Will Rowlands, which is helping solidify a key area of the game.

The challenge now will be to continually hit these high levels in repeated Tests.

Scotland

While the Welsh defence and physicality was infinitely better this week, Scotland did not help themselves. With Sione Tuipulotu, Chris Harris and Duhan van der Merwe all starting, this was arguably one of the most physical back lines Scotland have played in years. And yet they were not used enough.

While there were some moments, such as the try, where they were utilised well—van Der Merwe breaking into the 22, an arc and offload from Harris getting them up to the 5m line and the physicality of the midfield allowing Russell to hit the Welsh with the wrap play— there was not enough of this through the game. Wales were clearly playing much more confidently and yet the Scots would just kick the ball back to them and let them play their game, allowing Dan Biggar to run the game, while too often van der Merwe was just left carrying into contact rather than being put into space, resulting in multiple turnovers.

In Finn Russell, they have one of the most gifted attacking 10s in rugby. If Scotland want to start winning regularly and challenging for the Six Nations, they need to start playing to their strengths.

Guinness Six Nations

2022 Six Nations: France v Italy

2022 Six Nations: France v Italy

After the Home Nations kicked off the 2022 Six Nations on Saturday, Paris played host to the final game of round 1 as France welcomed Italy.

In wet and slippery conditions, France played the territory game early on, allowing Melvyn Jaminet to mark his tournament debut with an early penalty. However when the French fullback fumbled a high ball under pressure, the Azzurri took advantage, hitting up hard to pull in the defence before kicking wide to debutant winger Tommaso Menoncello, who somehow just avoided landing in touch to dot down for the first try of the game. The French continued to dominate the territory however, and when an Italian lineout was spoiled off the top, Anthony Jelonch intercepted Stephen Varney’s pass back to Monty Ioane and had an easy run-in for the corner. As the half went on, Jaminet and Paolo Garbisi swapped penalties, but a late penalty gave Les Bleus one last chance before the half ended, and when the driving maul was illegally stopped, they spread the ball wide to put Gabin Villière over in the far corner, with Jaminet kicking the conversion for an 18-10 halftime lead.

The French were soon back on the attack after the break, and when Jonathan Danty’s crash through off a lineout was stopped just millimetres short, Julien Marchand thought he had successfully got the ball over for the try, only for the TMO referral to show that he was bound into the ruck so not legally able to pick and go. However just 5 minutes later the French were over for their third try, with Grégory Alldritt’s pick and go finding a gap in the Italian defence and his offload releasing Villière for another try, while Damian Penaud just failed to collect a crosskick that would have put him over on the hour. However the wing successfully broke down the win with 12 minutes remaining and after feeding Dupont inside, he continued his run to take the return pass and secure the bonus point for Fabien Galthié’s men in his COVID-enforced absence, and with the clock entering the red, Player of the Match Villière was given the ball in space to complete his hat trick, with Romain Ntamack kicking the conversion for a 37-10 victory.

rugby france crest
rugby italy crest

France

Grégory Alldritt looks back to his best, and that should be a big worry for other nations.

While France are a great team with so much depth, they do seem to lack a real ball carrier in the back row when Alldritt is missing or not fully firing. Yes they have players who can make the hard yards and a group of very dynamic hookers, but there are very few like Alldritt who can carry in the tight but then also make the big metres when put in space.

However, he looked close to his best today and it helps make the team much more dangerous. You just need to look at Villière’s second try or the change that Penaud just failed to complete on the hour, where one strong carry into space put Les Bleus on the front foot, giving the skill players the time and space to take full advantage.

France may be missing a few players like Virimi Vakatawa and captain Charles Ollivon, but with Alldritt back on form, that will be a huge boon to their Championship hopes.

Italy

So often in the past we have seen Italy put up a dogged fight for 50-60 minutes, only to run out of steam and get ripped apart in the final quarter of the game. This week however, the Italians kept the competition going to the end.

This is a big moment for the Azzurri. At Test level, if you can’t compete for the full 80 minutes, it’s going to be very difficult to come away with a result. More that that though, it’s noticeable that this fitness retained despite spending pretty much all of the second half defending, which was also the case for much of the opening 40 minutes.

Were France perfect? No, but you’d have still to expect that in the past they’d have ran away for a 30-40 point margin of victory, yet instead had to fight until the death for a 27-point margin. If Italy can keep this up throughout the tournament, it will be a big step forward and could catch a team out.

Guinness Six Nations

2022 Six Nations: Scotland v England

2022 Six Nations: Scotland v England

With the latest edition of the Six Nations having got underway in Dublin, we weren’t made to wait long for the battle of the auld enemies as England made the trip to Murrayfield to face Scotland.

Eddie Jones’ men came in with some unfamiliar combinations, but they were the dominant team from the start, though it took 17 minutes before they could take advantage on the scoreboard, courtesy of a penalty from Marcus Smith. However the Scots appeared to be woken up by this, and after a quick throw caught England napping, Stuart Hogg put Darcy Graham through a gap and Ben White—on for his debut as a HIA replacement for Ali Price—popped up on his inside shoulder to put Gregor Townsend’s men in the lead, with Finn Russell adding the extras. As the half went on, England continued to dominate the territory game with strong carries and kicks to the corner, but a strong lineout drive saw the ball held up over the line and the only additions to the score before the break were a penalty apiece for the fly halves for a 10-6 halftime score.

It was more of the same early in the second half, with Smith adding another penalty, and as the English pack got a solid lineout drive going, the Harlequins fly half looped round to the large blind side to go over in the corner and give his team the lead, before kicking another penalty just after the hour before being replaced by George Ford. Scotland were soon on the attack though, and as Finn Russell put i a cross-kick to Darcy Graham, the wing was clearly impeded by a deliberate slap forward by Luke Cowan-Dickie and with no other cover anywhere near, referee Ben O’Keeffe awarded the penalty try to level the scores with 15 minutes remaining and sent the Exeter Chiefs hooker to the bin. As the clock ticked into the final 10 minutes, Finn Russell kicked the Scots ahead following a scrum penalty out wide, and when Darcy Graham won a turnover following 4 minutes of reset scrums, Scotland could finally boot the ball out to celebrate a 20-17 victory that would see them retain the Calcutta Cup for the first time since 1984.

rugby crest scotland
rugby england crest

Scotland

Scotland went for an interesting tactics with their kicks today, choosing to keep most of them infield rather than kicking the ball out. While it suggests that they are confident in their fitness that they can keep going at a high tempo, it’s also very dangerous play as it allows England the chance to either counterattack or kick the ball back to touch for a territorial advantage.

I can’t help but wonder if this was decision was made due to a nervousness about the English driving maul. They were certainly hurt by it on a couple of occasions during the match, so any chance to reduce the number of English lineouts makes sense, while on some occasions the kick chase was so good that it actually put the opposition under pressure as they tried to kick.

However, while it took away one weapon, it gave England the chance to run the ball back and was a big factor in Scotland barely playing any rugby in the opening hour, whereas kicking to touch would have allowed them moments to regroup and even try to steal ball at the lineout.

Next week, against a Wales team with dangerous counterattackers in the back 3 but questions over the lineout, don’t be shocked to see the Scots putting more of their kicks out to touch.

England

England dominated this game, yet once again what should have been an easy victory turned into a disappointing defeat due to Eddie Jones’ tactics.

While the pack played incredibly well—solid in the set piece and carrying tirelessly with strength—the back line lacked any semblance of shape in attack, which is no real surprise considering it included no specialist 12s or wings and three 13s. But more than just the bad shape was the continued tactic of kicking for territory rather than playing heads-up rugby.

Marcus Smith is a fantastic talent, but this tactic hobbles him, while it also puts pressure on the defence to be solid, which it struggled to be in this match. If they played real heads-up rugby, this game would have been over by the hour, instead, England spent most of the match behind courtesy of just a few moments of attacking quality from a team who should have been down and out.

Guinness Six Nations