Saturdays match against Wales didn’t disappoint in terms of intensity, even if we didn’t get the result we wanted. The Pope is calling for an investigation after Joe Schmidt’s canonisation came through so fast – ‘But you only won 10 in a row!’. This time it was Wales whose defense and nerve that held, who got the lucky breaks and the tight decisions. Our lineout, which had been thing a thing of beauty, failed a number of times – the Welsh would have to have been lifting Devin Toner for him to catch it where Rory Best was throwing it. Sexton had an off game, we dropped the ball, we gave it our all but it wasn’t just clicking for us. Hats off to Wales for a very hard earned victory. We now go down to an absolute bun fight for the last weekend of matches.
With the Championship wide open again, England had a chance to rack up a big score against Scotland and set themselves up nicely for the last match. They were a bit too keen, and dominated Scotland everywhere except for the scoreboard. It looked like it was going to be a cricket score after four minutes, but Scotland played the second 20 minutes of the first half as well as they’ve played all year, and went in with a lead at half time. England were never going to lose it, but they’ll be kicking themselves for not winning by more.
Finally, Italy and France wrapped up the weekend with a shambolic match, no shape or structure for either team, and lacking in the most basic of playing skills. That’s fine for Italy, who have a handful of decent players (though not a single flu half), but France have no excuses. It ended up with a big French win, but that scoreline flattered them.
Six Nations
Saturday, March 14
Wales 23 - 16 Ireland 14:30
England 25 - 13 Scotland 17:00
Sunday, March 15
Italy 0 - 29 France 15:00
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