And so, the Six Nations crashed to close with a rave in
Rome, a carnival in Cardiff and well, a “Pffft” in Paris. Tries weren’t exactly raining in but there
were a couple of crackers, but let’s take a look at the report cards for the
teams for Round 5...
Italy
What happened?
They rounded off another improved display in the 6 Nations
with that elusive second win – something they hadn’t achieved since 2007 – and in
doing so, grabbed their first win over Ireland since they entered the Six
Nations. They’ve tried to play with an
increased tempo throughout the tournament but have occasionally forgotten to
play to their strengths – namely their powerful and mobile forward pack – at times,
in particular against Scotland and Wales.
But this was a much improved display once again, focusing on hard, fast
drives around the fringes with the likes of Zanni and Parisse making good
yardage on so many occasions. Once they
had go forward ball, they could afford to get it wide and have big runners like
Masi and Venditti taking the ball at pace to deliver a relentless wave of
runners. With Orquera pulling the
strings nicely at 10 as well, this was a much more rounded performance – with a
decent showing in defence as well - that thoroughly deserved a win and lets the
Azzurri finish the tournament on a high.
The Winners
·
Andrea Lo Cicero – I was going to mention Sergio
Parisse but, on his last game, it’s about time this guy grabbed the
spotlight. Great last appearance for his
country, getting on top in the scrums and even adding a rare thunderous carry
to his achievements as well. A great
player who’s gone out on a high.
·
Alessandro Zanni – A blockbusting performance by
the workaholic flanker. Flies into
everything with 100% commitment and knocks the opposition off their game.
·
Leonardo Ghiraldini – The hooker has impressed
me all tournament with his dynamism and workrate, and against Ireland he seemed
turbo charged. Quality performance in
the set piece and around the park.
The Losers
·
Gonzalo Canale – He didn’t play badly but we
didn’t see too much of his trademark hard running and his dive when he received
a tap to the face was simply embarrassing.
Get off the rugby pitch and into a skirt and drama school if you’re
going to do that.
What's Next?
Italy will go into the summer with a lot of positives and a
couple of hard challenges on the horizon.
They’ll be playing South Africa, Samoa and Scotland in something called
the “Quadrangular Tournament” (whatever on earth that is) over the summer. Sounds ridiculous, but they will certainly
give the Italians a good test of their physicality, which is a strength that
can’t be cast aside in the quest for a more attractive game plan. The Azzurri have some great forwards and a
couple of very handy backs, so they need to realise that forward play can be
attractive too as long as it is done with speed and accuracy, which will
inevitably open up spaces out wide and give the backline a chance to
flourish. Strength in depth always seems
to be an issue in key positions, so perhaps it would be a good chance to blood
some youngsters as well. But overall,
the future is bright for the Azzurri – let’s hope they can keep it up.
Ireland
What happened?
The slump finally bottomed out with a defeat that summed up
a pretty miserable campaign. On top of
that, their injury crisis deepened with a backline disaster which led to poor
flanker Peter O’Mahony being shunted out onto the wing – where he did a
sterling job, I might add. But where is
the aggression which drives all the Irish packs to never take a backward step
in the close quarters? The Irish have
had varying levels of success but you could always count on their pack being
brutally physical – but here it just seemed a bit soft. Perhaps the disappointing draw to the French
was still playing on their minds, but it was surprising to see their pack
shunted back by the Italians at a rate of knots in a couple of lineout drives,
especially when you consider how dominant the men in green where in that
department last weekend against the French.
Without any decent front foot ball, the Irish backline – which was
already somewhat makeshift – never managed to make the inroads against their
opponents that the Irish fans were hoping for.
The Winners
·
Paddy Jackson – Another step for the youngster
in his development. His goalkicking
confidence has soared and he showed off his ability with several well-struck
nudges – he’ll just want to get some front foot ball now so he can showcase his
ability with the ball in hand. For
intimidation purposes, he may want to try to stop looking 11 as well.
·
Mike McCarthy – Another one who’s influence has
grown by the game. In an Irish pack that
was predominantly going backwards, he worked his socks off to change their
fortunes with a couple of thunderous charges, although it was to no avail.
The Losers
·
Brian O’Driscoll – I really hope he doesn’t go
out on this note for Ireland. It was odd
to firstly see the great centre a virtual bystander as he was denied any decent
ball, and then to see him receive a yellow card for a moronic stamp right in
front of the touch judge. It wasn’t like
Favaro could move – why is it worth the risk of using your feet? Perhaps he’s had one too many late nights
with the young one. My trick is
generally to drag people out by their collar – draws the referees attention to
the fact they’re on the wrong side, winds up the opposition and doesn’t get me
sent off. Perfect.
·
Luke Fitzgerald – Not his fault, obviously, but getting
injured is hardly the impact you want a sub to make is it? “Go on Luke, break a leg....b*gger”. (Not that he’s broken a leg, but you get the
gist).
·
Declan Kidney – After all the expectation, this
has been a woeful Six Nations. Unlikely
to see his contract renewed.
What's Next?
A stripped-down Ireland team will travel to the USA and
Canada in the summer which, whilst not providing the sternest of opposition,
will be very useful in continuing to develop young players and some strength in
depth. The likes of Marshall, Jackson
and O’Mahony are all likely to be overlooked for the Lions and so can continue
their international development with a fresh-faced and enthusiastic squad. And a couple of matches away from the
limelight might not be such a bad thing for the Irish. The pressure and expectation before this
tournament didn’t sit well with them and a tour to a less-established rugby
nation, in the background to a Lions tour, and possibly with a new coach, will
be a perfect place to make a fresh start.
This Irish side has talent but only if their forwards maintain their belligerence
and intensity to generate space for the inventive runners that the counties
always seem to produce, to take advantage of.
Take it back to basics.
Wales
What happened?
Just the perfect Saturday afternoon. Deny England Grand Slam? Check. Win Six Nations Championship? Check. Don’t just beat England, but administer
serious record hiding which, if it were 80 years ago, they’d write songs about?
Check. An utterly brilliant performance
by the reigning champions gave them the title against an almost bewildered
looking England side, and it was a showing that was long overdue. Let’s be honest – up until this point, it
hadn’t been a vintage six nations for the men in red, with a home defeat to the
Irish followed by vitally important, but uninspiring, wins over France, Italy
and Scotland. But this was
phenomenal. A stunningly physical,
abrasive, bullying performance smashed the English pack off the park and simply
didn’t give them a sniff. With Alun Wyn
Jones, Gethin Jenkins and Justin Tipuric leading from the front, the Welsh pack
fought tooth and nail in every single ruck, winning quick ball for their backs
and shutting off any English momentum at source. The backs did their bit well – in particular
Alex Cuthbert – but this was a win born in the pack in a display which took
apart their opposition piece by piece.
The Winners
·
Gethin Jenkins – An absolute dream captaincy for
the loosehead. Led from the front by
giving Cole a torrid time in the scrum and was a demon at the breakdown
·
Alun Wyn Jones – An utterly brilliant
display. I have a feeling that he was
the man responsible for this manic display by the Welsh pack – was a terrifying
presence in the breakdown got through an epic workload.
·
Justin Tipuric – Keep June free, JT, you’ve just
booked yourself a trip to Oz. Played the
role of the Duracell bunny to perfection, and what a draw and give for Cuthbert’s
second.
The Losers
·
Eddie Butler – You know it’s a good day at the
office when the only loser I can pick is the Welsh commentator. I’m normally a closet Butler fan, as I think
his deep voice and irrelevant poetry adds a useful bit of drama to the
coverage, but he really got on my goat on Saturday with one comment. “Well imagine, Brian, if it wasn’t for the
first 45 minutes of the Championship in Cardiff, Wales might have been
celebrating a back-to-back Grand Slam”...really Eddie, what a clinical
insight. If it wasn’t for 80 minutes in
Cardiff, Eddie, England would have been celebrating a Grand Slam. Or, whilst we’re at it, France would have
been, had it not been for the opening 360 minutes of their campaign. Ridiculous, ridiculous comment.
What’s Next?
If I was a Welshman, I’d be a) very, very hungover after a
48 hour celebration, and b) after the elation has died down, a bit gutted there
won’t be any meaningful internationals to build on this for about 6 months. In a similar way to how England felt after
beating the All Blacks, there is a tiny pang of frustration that the
performance came at the end of an international window. But the Welsh have shown that they have a
serious forward pack that can take on, and potentially dominate, anyone else –
nobody could have lived with them on Saturday.
If they can keep that level as the standard, then Welsh fans will be in
for a happy few years. A minor
criticism, or area to work on though, is the back play – for the most part of
the Six Nations, we haven’t seen enough of Cuthbert and North, so they will
need to be involved more, and Davies and Roberts didn’t make a clean break
between them all Championship. That said,
they’ll have plenty of opportunities to practice behind a pack like the one
they have. Wales have a couple of
matches in Japan over the summer, but November cannot come soon enough.
England
What happened?
Bang. Welcome back to
reality. I say reality, but in fairness,
they did come up against a Welsh side who put in an almost superhuman
performance. After a run of 5 consecutive
victories, nobody expected to receive a stuffing like this – but a stuffing
they received, and the pack took the brunt of it. Smashed at scrum time in a way I’ve not seen
for years from an England side, they struggled to get any sort of foothold into
Welsh territory, and any ball they did manufacture was invariably slow and
scrappy, meaning Ben Youngs, Owen Farrell and friends never had a platform to
fire off. Worryingly this was their
second consecutive game without a try as well, and no wonder, seeing as the
Welsh pack dominated possession and outfought them at the breakdown. Any positives? Well, when you look at the statistics, it was
remarkable that the defence held out as long as it did – a tremendous rearguard
action from Chris Robshaw and Geoff Parling gave England a lifeline going into
the second half. But it wasn’t to
be. This England team will have their
day. But it wasn’t going to be Saturday.
The Winners
·
Chris Robshaw – Not only stood out in a losing
side but stood out in general as having a fantastic game. Absolutely everywhere and, as far as I’m
concerned, put to bed the argument as to whether or not he is an international
class 7. He is. He topped the tackle charts, the carry
charts, and the metres made charts – what more could you want? He may not have got his own way with the
turnovers but even Tipuric only managed one – and he was part of an irresistible
Welsh flood.
·
Geoff Parling – Utter commitment should have
been inspiring for the rest of the team.
Was almost Lewis Moody-esque with some of the kamikaze tackles he put in
to try and halt the Welsh momentum, and cleaned up a lot of loose ball.
The Losers
·
Joe Marler – We’ve not seen the running game he’s
famed for and, to be fair, it’s not much use when you’re getting creamed in the
scrum. Steve Walsh may have had some
interesting interpretations but part of being a prop is adapting to what the
referee wants, with the scrums being such a lottery. They didn’t manage that. Dan Cole wasn’t a whole heap better on the
other side, either.
·
Chris Ashton – As I said in the match report, he
needs to see a shrink. His head has gone
and he doesn’t know how to tackle – spend the summer getting your head right,
Chris, and then come back as the player we all know and, in the very odd case,
love
·
Danny Care – It seems harsh to pick him, but as
a substitute your contributions are magnified.
And so a try-costing missed tackle and a try-costing fluffed kick stood
out pretty large in a fairly dire cameo.
What's Next?
Well, a break has probably come at the right time. This England team will (or may) travel to
Argentina minus several Lions players, but they need to lay down a marker right
there. Youngsters need to step up,
especially in the pack, and face down the Argentine pack if they are to develop
a hard edge that was exposed as being missing by the Welsh. It’s not the end of the world – 1 bad game
doesn’t make them a bad side, just as 8 bad games didn’t make the Welsh a bad
side – but they need to learn quickly.
Against New Zealand and Scotland, they won the contact because runners
had someone supporting them on their shoulder, and the consequence was the holy
grail of rugby – quick ball. Perhaps
because referees are so hot on ‘sealing off’ now though, they seemed to have
stopped it, meaning runners often go in by themselves and are stopped before
the gainline – this tactic needs to be addressed before all others. You can’t tell how ineffective a backline is
until you give them quick ball to play with.
France
What happened?
The French finally showed up. Too late, of course, but better late than
never. In fact, they didn’t even play
for the whole game – they still had 0 points at half time and only began to
turn it on in the second half. When they
did begin to play though, you had to wander where this had been all
tournament. A relentlessly physical
steamroller of a performance from the French pack meant wave after wave was
sent crashing into the Scottish defence, and it was only through a lack of accuracy
that they did not score more. With quick
ball, the likes of Wesley Fofana and Matheiu Bastareaud looked devastating, and
this has to be the way forward for Les Bleus.
In the pack, Louis Picamoles once again gave an all-action display that
showed off his raw power and subtle handling skills, whilst Antoine Claassen
also gave a physical performance on his debut.
They still have a tendency to switch off in defence though, as perfectly
demonstrated by Fofana when he let Scott dance through in the build up to
Visser’s try – but to prevent that would be very un-French.
The Winners
·
Louis Picamoles – Once again a stand out
performer. His huge limbs are the key –
big legs to power through the initial hits, and long arms to sneak out passes –
and it’s a perfect combination that the Toulouse man invariably uses to good
effect
·
Antoine Claassens –Great full debut. Relished the physical contact and was one of
the chief reasons that the Scots were backpeddling in the second half.
·
Wesley Fofana – A master class in finishing once
again. He is just an utterly mesmeric
runner, and it makes it more ridiculous by the day that he was shunted out onto
the wing
The Losers
·
Vincent Debaty – Made a great impact when he
came on, but I have to put him here because he was the man behind one of the
most hilarious butchered two on ones I’ve seen (see below). In most cases, you can see how the culprit
may have made a mistake – they thought they could get there themself, or they
tried a dummy – but Debaty didn’t bother to even look and just legged it
straight into the last defender, doing 4th XV props across the
continent proud.
·
Morgan Parra – hauled off at half time, he wasn’t
able to get his backline firing the way he would have liked with all that
possession. It improved with Machenaud
replacing him – coincidence?
What's Next?
Well, it’s probably safe to say that Philippe Saint Andre
won’t be around too much longer in the national set up. You would have got great money for calling
the French as Six Nations wooden-spooners at the beginning of the tournament –
many had them down for the Grand Slam – but this where they’ve ended up. But at least the second half against Scotland
pointed the way forward in terms of game plan – no more aimless tactical
kicking, no more lobbing the ball wide for the hell of it, just send runner
after runner down the narrow channels to get yourself surging forward and then
pull the trigger in the backs.
Simple. Of course, some common
sense and consistency in team selection would help (there’s Gallic flair and
then there’s stupidity) and they have a nice, easy, 3 test tour to New Zealand in
June to get things right.
Scotland
What happened?
There was plenty of huffing and puffing, as we’ve become
used to with this Scottish side, but once again there was relatively little
bite. They have a fantastic defence –
especially on their goal line – put it wasn’t enough considering they were
under the cosh virtually the entire game.
Once again they struggled to win any quality possession and get go forward,
which is a major disappointment for a nation that has prided itself on its
physicality around the breakdown. They
did show a couple of promising moments – with Tim Visser’s try being an
absolute beauty – but there’s not been any regularity in possession to allow
this exciting back three to show what they can do on the front foot.
The Winners
· Johnnie Beattie – He’s been a consistent
contributor throughout and although we haven’t seen as much as we would like of
him with the ball in hand, we have seen some crunching defensive work, such as
when he sat Bastaraud down in the first half, as well as couple of delightful
touches with the boot as well.
· Greg Laidlaw – Along with Leigh Halfpenny, one
of the few kickers who I would put my imaginary mortgage on with a touchline
conversion. His calmness gave real hope
to the Scots in the first half, but the pressure was eventually too much on his
pack and there was nothing he could do.
· Matt Scott – Invisible throughout the game, and
then one perfect example of centre play – inside step, through a gap, draw the
man, pass and take the pats on the back for setting up a try. Poetry in motion.
The Losers
· Euan Murray – Not a great day in the scrum and
wasn’t particularly effective in the loose either. One bump off Vincent Debaty will prove
especially painful viewing.
· Stuart Hogg – Decent enough game, but his ‘fight’
with Frederic Michalak was pathetic.
Fight is the wrong word actually, as it looked like two schoolgirls practicing
some modern dance rendition. And letting
yourself get hit by Michalak – you can’t let that go...
· The average Scottish supporter – I would be
absolutely sick of everyone saying how grabbing 2 wins in the Six Nations is a ‘step
in the right direction’. They may not
have the resources of the English but they have the players to set up a mighty
pack and dominate possession in games, but that just hasn’t happened for some
reason. With at least an even split in
possession the Scots may have seen a different result against the Welsh and the
French, but we’ll never know. The fans
deserve more than the ‘plucky loser’ tag now.
What's Next?
As with Italy, they’re off to play in some strange “Quadrangular
tournament” in South Africa in June.
Like the Azzurri, it will be a perfect ground to test their physicality,
as the Samoans and South Africans will not be soft, and if the Scottish aren’t
careful, they will find themselves on the end of some bad results unless they
can find away to at least gain parity in possession. The backrow, with the likes of Kelly Brown
and Johnnie Beattie, are working hard, but it’s the tight five who need to get
nastier, not taking a backward step in the contact zone. Only then will we hopefully see some
sustained possession and perhaps even some space to see what the likes of
Maitland and Visser can do.
