The 6 Nations resumes this weekend and it's all to play for in Dublin and Edinburgh. After sacking Rome two weeks ago, Ireland must now repel the French invaders, the Gauls and the Franks. The last Norman invasion of Ireland took place in the 12th century, but eventually they went native and lost their language, leaving their imprint on the Irish language with words like ‘giúistís’and ‘garsún’ (boy). I'd say if we can nip this invasion in the bud if we can defeat the French on Saturday though.
Both teams come into the match won one, lost one, so it's all to play for, lose two and your championship hopes are over. We have an excellent recent record against France, we've become a bit of a bogey team for them. It's going to be sizeable challenge though, the French are massive! When the Scots played them, they had five players go off for head injury assessments, and only one returned. It was awful to hear that Basteraud concussed himself this week in training - before he dishes out any concussions on our players! There's been a lot of debate as to who may start for Ireland at fly half, Jackson or Sexton. Sexton has been injured a lot this season, and has a history of head injuries against France. It's pity he didn't study at the Ronan O'Gara school of tackling, which doesn't actually feature any tackling as such, but Ronan still had a long distinguished career!
I think tactically we'll have to move the ball around lot to tire out those huge French players, counter their flair with our defense, show some flair of our own, and use our fitness to finish them off in the last quarter. Do I have any doubts about our victory though? Will they leave ‘Les Misrerables’? ( see what I did there?) Not at all, Ireland all the way!
In Edinburgh, Scotland and Wales are both on one win each too. For me though, the loss of Laidlaw last week is critical for Scotland, and for that reason I'd expect Wales to win. That's assuming the Wales that showed up against England is in the same mindframe aginst the Scots.
Finally, Italy could rewrite the history books if they beat England at Twickenham - but they won't enough of that nonsense. At best, they'll keep it decent in the first half.
I’ve also been completely disrespecting the ladies and the
U20’s, both of whom are undefeated in their 6 Nations. The ladies times are
below, and all the Irish matches are on RTE this year.
Mens
Saturday 25th February
Scotland 14:25 Wales
Ireland 16:50 France
Sunday 26th February
England 15:00 Italy
Womens
24 February 2017
18:30 GMT Scotland v Wales Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld
25 February 2017
13:00 GMT England v Italy Twickenham Stoop, London
26 February 2017
12:45 GMT Ireland v France Donnybrook Stadium, Dublin
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