A
An Tarbh
Guest
Weekend 4 Review
The penultimate weekend of the RBS Six Nations went a long way in deciding the eventual winners of this season’s championship. Thanks to their relatively comfortable win in Paris against England the French travel to Cardiff knowing a win will secure them their 22nd ***le while the likelihood of Ireland picking up their 17th ***le would require a monumental thrashing of their opponents at Twickenham and the upset of the season at Cardiff should the Welsh overcome the French. While the Scots and English face an even bigger task to take the championship on Super Saturday. However what likelihood of that given their inability to beat the Italians on Saturday?
Italy may have travelled in hope to Cardiff but realistically Wales should still have had too much for the Azzuri. Wales got the start they needed with a cracking try from Mark Jones but the Italians with limited chances managed to come away level at half time despite Galon’s best efforts to make an arse of himself and join Christophe Dominici in the Six Nations Bloopers reels. Steven Jones recovered from his dead leg in Dublin only to then lose the always influential Dwayne Peel early on. Again momentum taken away from the Welsh assault, although nothing against Phillips he just isn’t in the class of Peel as Henson proved two weeks earlier when replacing the luckless Jones. Jones proved his worth with a try off a quick tap from Phillips but they again let the Italian’s back in with an interception try from winger Canavosio. Ramiro Pez will rue the missed chances that could have seen the Azzuri come away with their first away victory but as proved at the death they were pretty satisfied to come away with anything at all. As for Wales it just goes from bad to worse and now they’re in danger of emulating the Scots of 2000 and finish bottom after winning the championship the previous year.
A rather tasty affair was in store at Lansdowne Road but then arriving at the ground, the rain started, lightly at first but come kick off it was pouring down and that certainly played against Ireland’s plans to have an effective running game. Not that they didn’t keep the ball in hand but the conditions were hardly conducive and the Scottish defence did sterling work helped in no small part by the referee not knowing where the offside line was. Ireland were the more inventive team with 3 good try scoring opportunities spoiled by the final pass and some last ditch defending, Horgan and Flannery combined well in the opening minutes but solid tackling from Lamont held the Irish out while Brian O’Driscoll was guilty of a poor pass to D’Arcy which would have seen him over and Murphy gave Trimble a shocker in the second half. It was a composed performance from Ireland, defensively sound, dominant in the lineout. Even the massive hit by Jason White on Jerry Flannery failed to breathe life into the Scots as the Munsterman was quick to respond to jibes from the opposition. Come the final whistle Ireland’s Triple Crown and championship hopes were very much alive.
Not for long though as it emerged that England had all sorts of problems in the buildup to Le Crunch, illness to key players Tindall and Dawson and the failure to contact Shaun Perry suggested this was going to be a long day in Paris. So it proved after 43 seconds as confusion between Lewsey and Tindall let Fritz in for the opening try, while controlled kicking from Yachvilli gave the French a comfortable start and they never looked back, England were inept when in possession and their error count was colossal, unforgiveable given the perfect conditions. The French were never spectacular but that wasn’t required against such a below par England performance and the calamity of the performance continued as Traille took advantage of Ellis’ error when chasing up his own kick. Dominici added insult to injury with a late interception try that left England shaking their heads in disbelief. The pressure is now mounting on the captaincy of Corry and the leadership of Robinson or lack of but the reaction next week at Twickenham will be crucial for both their futures.
So onto the final weekend and the championship looks to be done and dusted but at least every team has something to play for, the opening match sees the Italians with a great chance to finish on their highest points total and not take the wooden spoon for a third consecutive year, while the Scots can finish in the top three with a win in Rome. Wales know that defeat could see them finish bottom and if that doesn’t serve as inspiration then I don’t know what will, while it’s a no brainer that the French have something to play for. Ireland have a Triple Crown on the line which has to be the priority come Saturday, the championship will be long out of reach come kickoff while England are desperate to finish their season with a win and take any crumb of momentum into their Summer tour. Not bad for a Super Saturday. Bring it on.
The penultimate weekend of the RBS Six Nations went a long way in deciding the eventual winners of this season’s championship. Thanks to their relatively comfortable win in Paris against England the French travel to Cardiff knowing a win will secure them their 22nd ***le while the likelihood of Ireland picking up their 17th ***le would require a monumental thrashing of their opponents at Twickenham and the upset of the season at Cardiff should the Welsh overcome the French. While the Scots and English face an even bigger task to take the championship on Super Saturday. However what likelihood of that given their inability to beat the Italians on Saturday?
Italy may have travelled in hope to Cardiff but realistically Wales should still have had too much for the Azzuri. Wales got the start they needed with a cracking try from Mark Jones but the Italians with limited chances managed to come away level at half time despite Galon’s best efforts to make an arse of himself and join Christophe Dominici in the Six Nations Bloopers reels. Steven Jones recovered from his dead leg in Dublin only to then lose the always influential Dwayne Peel early on. Again momentum taken away from the Welsh assault, although nothing against Phillips he just isn’t in the class of Peel as Henson proved two weeks earlier when replacing the luckless Jones. Jones proved his worth with a try off a quick tap from Phillips but they again let the Italian’s back in with an interception try from winger Canavosio. Ramiro Pez will rue the missed chances that could have seen the Azzuri come away with their first away victory but as proved at the death they were pretty satisfied to come away with anything at all. As for Wales it just goes from bad to worse and now they’re in danger of emulating the Scots of 2000 and finish bottom after winning the championship the previous year.
A rather tasty affair was in store at Lansdowne Road but then arriving at the ground, the rain started, lightly at first but come kick off it was pouring down and that certainly played against Ireland’s plans to have an effective running game. Not that they didn’t keep the ball in hand but the conditions were hardly conducive and the Scottish defence did sterling work helped in no small part by the referee not knowing where the offside line was. Ireland were the more inventive team with 3 good try scoring opportunities spoiled by the final pass and some last ditch defending, Horgan and Flannery combined well in the opening minutes but solid tackling from Lamont held the Irish out while Brian O’Driscoll was guilty of a poor pass to D’Arcy which would have seen him over and Murphy gave Trimble a shocker in the second half. It was a composed performance from Ireland, defensively sound, dominant in the lineout. Even the massive hit by Jason White on Jerry Flannery failed to breathe life into the Scots as the Munsterman was quick to respond to jibes from the opposition. Come the final whistle Ireland’s Triple Crown and championship hopes were very much alive.
Not for long though as it emerged that England had all sorts of problems in the buildup to Le Crunch, illness to key players Tindall and Dawson and the failure to contact Shaun Perry suggested this was going to be a long day in Paris. So it proved after 43 seconds as confusion between Lewsey and Tindall let Fritz in for the opening try, while controlled kicking from Yachvilli gave the French a comfortable start and they never looked back, England were inept when in possession and their error count was colossal, unforgiveable given the perfect conditions. The French were never spectacular but that wasn’t required against such a below par England performance and the calamity of the performance continued as Traille took advantage of Ellis’ error when chasing up his own kick. Dominici added insult to injury with a late interception try that left England shaking their heads in disbelief. The pressure is now mounting on the captaincy of Corry and the leadership of Robinson or lack of but the reaction next week at Twickenham will be crucial for both their futures.
So onto the final weekend and the championship looks to be done and dusted but at least every team has something to play for, the opening match sees the Italians with a great chance to finish on their highest points total and not take the wooden spoon for a third consecutive year, while the Scots can finish in the top three with a win in Rome. Wales know that defeat could see them finish bottom and if that doesn’t serve as inspiration then I don’t know what will, while it’s a no brainer that the French have something to play for. Ireland have a Triple Crown on the line which has to be the priority come Saturday, the championship will be long out of reach come kickoff while England are desperate to finish their season with a win and take any crumb of momentum into their Summer tour. Not bad for a Super Saturday. Bring it on.
