Hastings, Agincourt, the Romans and the 6 Nations - not like any other 6 Nations review you're going to read!

RBS Six Nations

(Team sheets available at posting are at the bottom)
Saturday , February 26
Italy vs Wales 14:30

England vs France 17:00

Sunday , February 27

Scotland vs Ireland 15:00

Italy vs Wales

I’ve been looking at my predictions so far, 4 out of 6, not too bad. Let’s see where I went wrong – I said Wales were going to beat England, and they lost. Then I said Wales would lose to Scotland, and they won. Can you see a pattern emerging here? Will you kindly stop messing with me Wales, and concentrate! About a third of their potential was on display in their last match, against what has to be said was a woeful Scottish team performance, and Wales came away with a good win. The ever moving Hook is at center for this match, which weakens their attack a bit. The Italians have prepared for the match by having the psychotherapy and electric shock treatment necessary to wipe away the memory of a grinning Englishman repeatedly swan diving over their tryline. It’s going to be a monumental effort for Wales to lose this one, even away from home, but I know they have it in them. However, even at a third of their potential they will still be too strong for Italy. I think.

England vs France

 This is a match, where as they say, there’s history. It’s been a while since the French last arrived to successfully conquer England, let’s say about 1066 , lead as they were by William (known for his ferocious rucking and his archers). The citing list that day was unbelievable, and some poor chap called Harold suffered the most dreadful eye gouging imaginable – how old is Julian Dupuy exactly? Roll the years on to 1415 and the English get their revenge at Agincourt, and then there was Waterloo. It’s a sobering thought though that if England win on Saturday, we could be still be hearing about it in 2607 AD.

Here’s how French coach Marc Lievremont feels about the English: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/9403441.stm  Don’t sit on the fence Marc, tell us what you really think! England could be back up to nearly full strength with the return of Sheridan and Croft to the squad. Les Bleus have added their caveman Chabal to the loose trio and put Jauzion into centre, tacked Clerc on the wing and substituted Yashvili for Parra. We have the team who’ve missed the most tackles (France) taking on the team who’ve scored most tries (England). Hmm, I wonder what’s going to happen?

Yes, obviously, France are going to win, because it makes no sense – when did the French ever make sense? I think if the French can match the physicality of the English, which they can, and if their backs bring their A game, which they will, then they’ll pip the English. Look, I should be shouting for England, to keep the door open for Ireland to snatch the 6 Nations on the final day of play. I had a practice run today ‘Hip hip, ‘ray.’ Didn’t seem right somehow. Then I tried shouting for France ‘Allez les Bleus’ I think I’m just going hope rugby is the winner. Lets hope we see lots of this:

Scotland vs Ireland
 Going back even further in time, when the Romans invaded Britain, they never got round to conquering Ireland or Scotland because the inhabitants were too nasty. They referred to the whole of Scotland and Ireland as Scoti or Hibernia – you know what it’s like, these foreigners all look the same. So that what the Romans did for us - they united the rest of the British Isles agaisnt them. So we’re one people, brothers really, so what kind of way was that of Scotland to treat their brothers last year in the 6 Nations? It made for a very frosty Christmas. This year, the karma so far seems to be with Ireland, with the news of the return of Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble, while Scotland are reeling from a host of injuries – Ansbro, Southwell are out, and Hines in doubt too … and it wasn’t as if they were exactly blessed in terms of depth in the first place. They also lose Euan Murray who doesn’t play on a Sunday because of his religious beliefs. So it should be a doodle right, Ireland, narrowly defeated by last year’s 6N champions, playing Scotland, pretty comprehensively stonked by last years also rans Wales. If only it were that simple.

The Scots may be welcoming hosts but they are making an annoying habit of beating Ireland. And the Irish team has been rejigged – I don’t think they needed new players, they needed the players they have to play to their potential. Bringing in O’Gara is a step backwards, and then pairing him with Reddan makes no sense. Scotland have brought in Ruaridh Jackson and Mike Blair, which is going to sharpen up their attack. While Scotland are not going are not going to be as dire as they were against Wales (that isn’t possible) I’m still going with a close win for Ireland,

Shark Bite

The Sharks take on the Blues at home - oh yeaaah! Should be a smashing match, with the Blues on a high after pipping the Crusaders last week. That plane flight from New Zealand is pretty tough though, so I reckon the Sharks will take this one.

This is a rugby blog, but I'm sure it goes without saying that our thoughts are with everbody in Christchurch affected by the earthquake.

France: 15 Maxime Medard, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.


Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Clement Poitrenaud.
 
Wales: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Morgan Stoddart, 13 James Hook, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Ryan Jones, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Paul James.



Replacements: Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Tavis Knoyle, 21 Rhys Priestland, 22 Leigh Halfpenny
 
Scotland: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Sean Lamont, 11 Max Evans, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock (c), 4 Richie Gray, 3 Moray Low, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.


Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Geoff Cross, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Richie Vernon, 20 Rory Lawson, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Simon Danielli.

Ireland:15 Luke Fitzgerald, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (capt), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Sean O'Brien, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.


Replacements:16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Jonathan Sexton , 22 Paddy Wallace.