6 Nations 2012 -Wales get the Slam, Scotland get the wooden spoon, and Ireland get to think again

(picure http://bit.ly/x3B9sd )

Amnesty International have been called in to investigate claims that Scotland and Italy were guilty of torturing a rugby match at the Stadio Olympico on saturday. There are two hours of video footage for them to study, but believe me, it’s too brutal to watch.  Italy claimed the honours, and the Scots walk off with the wooden spoon, rounding off another hugely disappointing season for them. Time for  a new coach I’d say.

Wales started a bit nervy at the Millenium Stadium, but a try from Alex Cuthbert steadied their nerves, and they went on to claim a well deserved Grand Slam, their third in 8 years. They have a young team that probably has a good few more slams in the tank. Good times for Welsh rugby. France are totally at sixes and sevens, Saint Andre is under pressure already, the circus continues.

Finally, England handed out a good thrashing to Ireland, to claim second spot and end their season on a high. We’ve enjoyed a lot of success against England in recent years, but on Saturday it was our turn to take the medicine. England found the weak spot in our team on the day – our front row- and exploited it to the max. There’s no easy fix for that either, the Irish cupboard is bare of props right now. And we have to rethink some of the selections – D’Arcy and O’Callaghan are yesterdays men. And Tomas O’Leary, while he played a vital part in our ’09 Slam, is woefully out of form. Boss, Marshall and even Stringer should be above him in the pecking order.

6 Nations Awards

Team of the Tournament – Wales

Player of the Tournament - Jonathan Davies

Outstanding contribution to comedy award – France – they are in a class of their own here

Moustache of the tournament  - Italian coach Jacques Brunel (takes over from Marc Lievremont)

One to watch – Owen Farrell

The Dilly dally award  - Lee Dickson – Get the ball out of the ruck!

RBS Six Nations Saturday , March 17
Italy 13 - 6 Scotland 
Wales 16 - 9 France 
England 30 - 9 Ireland

6 Nations - Scots to sack Rome, Ireland to paint the town green, and the Welsh be slammin'

"the piglet" (picture  http://bit.ly/AtsXwT )

It’s superlatives Saturday this weekend in the 6 Nations, with the biggest, the baddest, the bestest matches -and Italy take on Scotland.

Yes, its wooden spoon time in Rome, who wants a glitzy cup when you can be a proud owner of a hand crafted object made only from natural materials? How horrible that both Italy’s and Scotland’s season’s are so often defined by this match. Scotland have to come good sometime, and I think this is their time, although it goes without saying that it won’t be pretty.

This weekend, Irish people get to celebrate that special day when we can all let our hair down, and get somewhere the wrong side of locked. Yes, it’s the day we call ‘Saturday’! But seriously, taking on England at Twickenham on Paddy’s Day, how sweet is that? With the way the economy is, the proper London Irish (aka half of London) are likely to be out in force, and in the mood for a party. It’s going to feel halfway like a home match for Ireland. And we’ve had the obligatory off field sparring, with Stephen  Ferris branding England  ‘Arrogant’. Thinking of players like Ashton and Hartley, where does he get that idea from? We pooped England’s grand slam party last year ( and cost Nike a bit of money and a few blushes http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pJ5VT_u3Lb4 ), so they they’ll be in the mood to settle that score, and they harbour the faint hope of Championship this year anyway.  With all due respect to our bigger neighbours, any year we beat England is a good year. This is a hard one to call with Ireland picking up a bit of form in the last few weeks, and England even more so. We still have big names missing, but have players ready and able to fill those boots. My heart says Ireland, my head says Eng..Eng..Eng feck it Ireland! Ireland it is.

Wales are going for the Grand Slam against a French team that is frankly, not to put too fine a point on it, getting on my tits. Saint Andre nicknamed Le Goret ("the piglet") in his playing days, has aptly taken up where his predecessor Lievremont left off, in making a pigs ear out a of silk purse. I thought that with a decent coach we’d finally see the real France emerge, but plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. That’s not to say they won’t win this match, hammer Wales at home, and hand the championship to England. Apart from anything else, that will totally bugger up my office draw, with no one at all backing England. I should have listened to my non rugby watching colleague Mary when she described them as ‘cheese eating surrender monkeys’. Wales have looked a bit creaky the last few weeks, and the French have everything they need except a backbone to do the job, but for the style of play Wales showed when they beat Ireland, they deserve to win this match, and should get slammed up again on Saturday. I’ll take my tips from Mary more often.

RBS Six Nations
Saturday , March 17
Italy vs Scotland 12:30
Wales vs France 14:45
England vs Ireland 17:00

6 Nations - Wales did enough, Ireland and England did well, and the French were unbelievable - but not in a good way

Star in the making (Picture http://bit.ly/z5IfzO )

Wales opened up the weekend by beating Italy comfortably in the end, but the match was a dull as ditchwater.  George Clancy blew the game, and his ears will be burning from what’s being said about him in Wales. Italy had a good day on defence, Wales had a poor day on attack and the resu....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Where was I?  It was an ordinary day at the office for Wales, who peaked in their win against Ireland, and have been winning ever since, but slipping in their performances. Italy’s backline is completely clueless, treating the ball like a live grenade, to be disposed of as quickly as possible.
That was the starter, the main course was Ireland taking on Scotland, where there was more excitement in every 5 minute spell in the first half than in the whole of the first game. Scotland need a good playmaker at 10 so badly it’s just not funny. They have forwards to burn, but the backline is a barren zone for creativity. It’s 15 against 8 when they play Ireland, and Ireland faltered a few times but they always had a few more gears to go to when they needed to. Ryan, O’Mahoney, Ferris and Kearney were all superb, the whole team stood up, and we have a good bench these days too. Bowe would have got a try if the officials hadn’t got all technical. We’ve scored the most points in the tournament so far, and have the best points difference too.  We get to go to Twickenham with our tails up, while Scotland face the grim battle of the wooden spoon with Italy next weekend.


France entertained England in Paris, on a day when the English shone. They didn’t really have to do anything special, just whatever need to be done, while the French tied themselves in knots, played in fits and starts and generally fannied about as you’d expect the French to. Owen Farell is a star in the making, and Croft is back to his best. Apart from Dusatoir , Harinordiquay, and Fofana in patches, France were pretty desperate. This is Wales Slam in all but name now.

Saturday , March 10
Wales 24 - 3 Italy 
Ireland 32 - 14 Scotland
Sunday , March 11
France 22 - 24 England

6Nations - the Cro Magnons will triumph in Dublin

Scotland need more Cro Magnons

Wales will be at home on Saturday afternoon, enjoying a take away pizza, with full Italian seasoning. Their biggest risk in this game is shipping any more injuries as they are starting to get a bit thin on the ground, but they should beat Italy comfortably.

In the later kick off, Ireland take on Scotland at the Aviva in what’s likely to be an epic battle. Rugby is a visceral game, appealing to the primordial enjoyment of combat in all of us. That’s why primordials are best suited to playing the game, with Neanderthals commonly used in the scrum, while Cro-Magnons , slightly higher in the evolutionary pecking order, make good backs. Ireland have a good selection of both Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons to choose from,  while unfortunately Scotland currently have a dearth of Cro-Magnons, and have been forced to select mainly Neanderthals in the back line. The Scottish supporters will no doubt be trying to capture some good breeding stock to improve their gene pool while they’re over for the match, and as by observation, all the ladies like a man in a kilt, they could well get a result.
I’m actually reasonably worried about this match, as Scotland are picking up a bit of form, and their massive pack is going to attempt to knock the stuffing  out of us. Without a decent kicker  for Scotland though, I’d say we’ll scrape by even without the inspirational Paul O’Connell. And Dublin will rock this weekend, because as the say, ‘the craic is mighty’ when the Scots come to town.

Sunday could be a classic as England travel to Paris to take on France. There’s huge history between these two teams and countries, on and off the field, and their relationship is perfectly summed up by this interview with former international Sebastian Chabal, in France.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfUmW_Mf5qc
You have an English reporter, with no French, at a press conference in France, trying to talk to a Frenchman who can speak English but won’t.

France are nowhere near the heights they reached in last year’s World Cup, while conversely, England are nowhere near the lows they reached at their tournament. It’s an England side with a lot of potential, but not really a team yet, although they have some very good promising individual players. If France is Irelands bogey tem, then England is France’s, but at home, their crowd won’t tolerate a loss and they should win.

RBS Six Nations
Saturday , March 10
Wales vs Italy 14:30
Ireland vs Scotland 17:00
Sunday , March 11
France vs England 15:00

6 Nations - short and bittersweet in Paris

Two strings to his Bowe (picture http://bit.ly/ABHF1Y )

So the first one was called off, the second was a draw, could we not make this the best of three and get a result here?  We had such a good chance with the half time lead to get a result in Paris for the first time in 12 years but it wasn’t to be. Sarkozy himself probably nipped down to the changing rooms at half time and described what the impact of an Irish win would have on the terms of our bail out deal.  It is going to go down as the one that got away, but it’s a good while since Ireland have played that way, and it is France at home we are talking here. From any angle, what both teams managed to do with a ball that must have been like a bar of soap was pretty amazing. Bowe was the stand out player with two trys that he made with his own fair hands. And Kearney, what can you say? O’Connell is a complete legend too, how many French ribs have got an ice pack on them courtesy of him? Ferris would put the fear of God into anyone with his tackling and Best was outstanding. For the French, Dusatoir and Maestri were the stand out players for me.

This isn’t Ireland’s six Nations, but with two matches to go we can still go out on a high.


RBS Six Nations
Sunday , March 4
France vs Ireland 15:00

6 Nations - England get really close, Scotland fairly close, and Italy nowhere close

The last handy running Scot before Hogg (picture http://bit.ly/yt2mpo )

Ireland got things underway at the Aviva on Saturday with a convincing win over the ItaliansThe Italians made a good fist of taking the game to a rusty looking Ireland in the first half. The crowd was starting to get pretty restless – first we went to France, and you didn’t play, then we come to the Aviva and you don’t play either. After half time, normal service was resumed and Ireland ran out easy winners. Earls got one, so did Court and Trimble, and Bowe got two, while Kearney is back to near his best. Eoin Reddan’s introduction speeded the game up and gave ~Ireland the front foot ball they needed, and Sexton’s near impeccable boot kept the score board ticking. Kidney must be feeling the pressure a bit – moving Bowe into centre, and using his bench effectively – very unKidney like. So We’re back on horse with a win, let’s get stuck into the French now.

It wasn’t the massacre I predicted at Twickenham as the English manned up and could have got a result with a bit more composure. They’ll feel a bit hard done by, but this isn’t the last great scorer, it’s the jungle of the 6 Nations, and whether you win or lose gets marked, not how you played the game. I just wish Wales had played that badly against us. England defended well, and attacked well, but only in fits and starts. In the long run, that’s not an issue as the new combinations will gel, and they are only going to get better. The Welsh had no rhythm, and there was no flow to their game. Wales staggered but progressed, England came out of it honour intact, and it’s all still to play for as the 6N is not won or lost yet.

The French in typical fashion, kept the Scots guessing up until the last ten minutes, then turned on the power and put the game to bed. It was a hard fought full blooded affair, one for the RSPCA to get on the case, as I saw cruelty to several animals including Rougerie and Grey. On the positive side, Scotland scored two tries, and their backs looked like they really meant it for the first time since, um, Scot Hastings played. On the downside, it’s played three, lost three, and they are going to arriving in Dublin desperate for a win. France are looking frighteningly good (exhibit A – Fofana), and the Wales France match is going to be a killer.

In the Pro 12, Ulster, Munster and Connacht won. Leinster got an away draw against Glasgow, which I didn’t catch because I hadn’t worked enough credit in. Result for Irish rugby!

RBS Six Nations
Saturday , February 25

Ireland 42 - 10 Italy 
England 12 - 19 Wales

Sunday , February 26

Scotland 17 - 23 France

I'm tipping Ireland, Wales, France, and Stan for Munster!

Stan for Munster (picture http://bit.ly/xfxQNq )

Ireland are up first to defend their honour against the Italians, and to get back on the horse after their defeat to Wales.  The team still has a bit of a stodgy feel it to it, with O’Callaghan and D’Arcy there for the ride, and Earls badly misplaced in center.  He’s not there for his tackling or handling skills, fairly basic requisites for a center. D’Arcy may be there because of a lack of options, but the time is now to be giving Bowe a go, or look at O’Malley, even Trimble could be an option.  Italy have taken a punt on Tobias Botes  (pronounced Bow-tez) at fly half. Not a bad player, but he can’t kick penalties to save his life. I can’t see any other way Italy are going to score points, so that pretty well scuppers whatever slim chance they had in the first place. I don’t know if it’ll be proscecco rugby from Ireland but they will surely win this easily.

The match of the weekend is the contest between England and Wales. Wales are like a juggernaut pounding down the M25, while England are more like a mini with a learner driver, changing lanes without checking their rearview mirror. The results are not likely to be pretty. England may well beef their team up with Flood, Lawes and Tuallagi, but – loads of unfamiliar combinations, it’s not likely to gel in time. Could easily be a match to go down in history, and not for the reasons England want. Wales by 10-14 points. While we’re on Wales they’ve apparently been boosting their fitness with treatment s in freezing cryochambers in Poland. Aren’t those the ones the Irish team used in the build up to the 07 world cup, which did us basically feck all good. Do you think the Poles sabotaged the chambers as payback for us robbing them of a generation of young people?

The final match of the weekend is Edinburgh, where the Scots will be trying to get the better of the French. Thanks to a colossal balls up on the part of French rugby in Paris on THAT Saturday night, they haven’t played together for a three weeks, while the Scots were actively bashing their brains out  against Wales a mere two weeks ago. The Scots stepped up their game from England to Wales and if they step up again, they are going to give the French a good match. France may feel the backlash of a lingering grudge by the Scots for decisions going against them against Wales. The French, on paper, should beat them easily, and will probably do that.

Finally, with Tony McGahan on his way out of Munster, time to throw a leftfield suggestion into the hat. With the IRFU and the FAI sharing the Aviva Stadium, could the spirit of sharing not extend to managers, or in this case , ex managers, namely Steve Staunton? Graham Henry could be an advisor, but I’d back Stan the Gaffer to deliver something completely unexpected for Munster.

RBS Six Nations Saturday , February 25
Ireland vs Italy 13:30
England vs Wales 16:00
Sunday , February 26
Scotland vs France 15:00

Snow in Rome, no go in Paris, and no luck for the Scots

Fat lot of good that did (picure http://bit.ly/ziiqqF )

Snow in Rome for the Six Nations match between England and  Italy... and the snow on the pitch was a lot prettier than the match that was played on it. Easy to  be cynical from a warm dry couch, but you’re not likely to see three more shambolic international tries in a hurry. There was lots of aimless kicking, interspersed with plenty of earnest but ineffectual bashing up the pitch, scrum resets and failed line-outs. But frankly what were we expecting, it was cold and wet, Italy are the least skilful team in the 6N and England has a young inexperienced team. As hard as England tried to throw the game away, Italy just went that extra mile to hand it back to back to them on a plate, with charge down Charlie providing the final coup de grace.

To put it all into perspective, the first match of the day was the pinnacle of organisation compared to events in Paris that evening. So the Italians, where rugby is complete minority sport, laugh off the first snowfall in Rome in 27 years and get THEIR show on the road, while the French, moneybags of the world of rugby, call the match off two minutes before kickoff in front of a packed stadium because of a frozen pitch? Ireland didn’t lose on Saturday night, so at least that was some good news.

Wales saw off the Scots on Sunday in a gritty encounter.  Is there any description of Scottish rugby that doesn’t involve the word gritty somewhere? The Scots managed to drag the game down into an arm wrestle in the first half, then an error from the kick off led to a Welsh try, and after that, the Scottish yellow cards ended the match as contest, as the Welsh scored first against 14, then against 13. Scotland finished the stronger, and got a try, their first in 5 games. Wales could be going for the slam now, they didn’t play as well as they did against Ireland, and they are shipping injuries at an alarming rate, but they have momentum.
RBS Six Nations

Italy 15 - 19 England
Wales 27 - 13 Scotland

6 nations preview from a bitter, bitter man

Even though I’m not quite finished sulking over last week’s loss to Wales, I suppose there’s matches on this weekend, so whatever, here are my predictions. And wayhey! It’s post number 200. However did I get here?

The ‘action’ if that’s what we’ll call out, kicks off in Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Stuart Lancaster , caretaker coach, is apparently ‘excited’ by England at the moment. No there’s a man that’s easily pleased. This match promises all the excitement, tension and display of skills that were evident in the Scotalnd/England match i.e. not very much. England have a load of youngsters on a learning curve, and I know Italy beat France here last year. But that’s the bloody French. Italy will only win this England somehow manage to hand it to them on a plate.

Playing the French is difficult enough for Ireland at the best of times, never mind when they’re at home, nevermind when you’re still trying to pick yourself up from being stabbed in the back by your erstwhile Celtic ‘mates’, Wales. Then to add to that, they gone and put the match at 8.00 pm, it’s going to be freezing cold, and even the French are saying the pitch is going to be like concrete. So what can we expect from Ireland? They weren’t terrible against Wales, just inconsistent, so I suppose it’s fortunate in a way we get to play the team whose middle name is ‘inconsistency’ next. We have to work on our tackling and our defence. We seemed to stand off Wales a bit, and not get stuck in to the rucks and mauls. So we need to change all that, and get the Leinster style of the backs running angles onto the ball going. It’s an awesome French side if they play to their potential though, and it’s hard to see us doing much apart from damage limitation.

Wales round up the weekend by entertaining Scotland on Sunday. In team news, Bradley Davies’ attempt at Greco roman style wrestling moves on Donnacha Ryan have been viewed dimly by the IRB, who gave him a 7 week ban. For Scotland, Dan Parks spat the dummy, and flounced from the International scene – probably milliseconds before he was axed from the squad anyway. Wales are going to gobble Scotland up and spit out the bits, with only the Scottish scrum providing a modicum of roughage. Scotland are awkward enough to keep the score the right side of respectable.

On Thursday night Leinster will take on Treviso, with a few youngsters on board, but still a handy enough looking team. !5600 tickets have been sold –that’s massive!

RBS Six Nations
Saturday , February 11
Italy vs England 16:00
France vs Ireland 20:00
Sunday , February 12
Wales vs Scotland 15:00

6 Nations round up - Ireland need a hug right now...

We need the right Donnacha (Picture http://bit.ly/zIj43y )

France’s performance on Saturday has me wondering if I’ve tipped the right horse for the 6N. The ‘cheese eating surrender monkeys’ (as my colleague refers to them) were in typical erratic form, scoring four trys without ever looking like their hearts were in the match. When they put their minds to it, they were devastating, imagine if they’d concentrated for the other 75 minutes! Italy have a fantastic team 1-8 ,they would win an 8 man form of the game hands down. But it’s the seven bystanders behind the scrum that are their problem. The French front five are looking a little elderly, and are eminently there for the taking. Saying that, Picamloe was massive, and Malzieu, Rougerie, Fofana and Dusatoir were all top notch.

I was hitting the fast forward button in the Scotland England match to try and get the game going. Scotland’s problems are Italy’s problem. The secret to beating Scotland (covers page) is to give them the ball. They have not a notion of what to do with it, either handing it straight back, or toiling diligently away with scant effect. In fact, both teams treated the ball like a live grenade, to be disposed off as quickly as possible. England at least have the excuse of youth and inexperience, but really, all they had to do was put in a few tackles and let the Scots self destruct. Ross Rennie was just about the only player on the pitch who showed any penetration – has he ever played fly half do you think? 

The last match of the weekend was the best by a country mile with both sets of fans on the edges of their seats and with their hearts in their mouths up until the last second. Ireland need a hug right now for the manner of the loss, but they got beaten by a better team.  Kidney has to keep on weeding out the passengers, DOC for a start, and use his bench better. Murray and Sexton are still building up a relationship which means we go in fits and starts some times, but I can’t think why Donnacha Ryan didn’t start to help match the dynamism of the Welsh forwards. North, Faletau, Priestland and Phillips were all superb for Wales. Tough for Ireland, but it’s no disgrace to be beaten by that team. Completely deflating though.

It's the bigest, it's the baddest - it's the 6 Nations 2012!

Six European countries are going to be going into battle, and this time, anyway, it’s not over the Euro. No, it’s Six Nations time, a reminder that spring is on the way, time to get behind your country as they take on all the old foes. But first, a quick look at form.

England
They won it last year (despite not being good enough to beat Ireland) but a lot has happened in the intervening year. They didn’t have the happiest World Cup, with off field antics (dwarfgate, boobgate, ballgate, etc) getting the way, and on field form being in short supply. They’ve had a big clean out of players, Martin Johnson is gone and they have Stuart Lancaster as caretaker coach in charge of a fairly green looking squad. They have the players, but will the combinations click in time...probably not, so a mid table finish is likely.

France
They were beaten by Italy last year, then came within a whisker of claiming their first World Cup, so very French of them. Having ditched clown-in-chief Marc Lievremont, installed Philippe Saint-André and retained most of the players that got them so close in the final, they must start as favourites for this year’s tournament. But, never knowing what to expect from the French is the oldest adage in the book, so let’s see.

Ireland
We came so close to nearly doing well, beating Australia, topping our group – then getting sucker punched by the Welsh. Coach Kidney is still in place,  and our side is a settled side, to me a bit too settled, like a fine wine with a load of sediment at the bottom.  I think the team could do with freshening up, we are treading water at the moment, will probably finish mid table this year, then make the changes we need about a year too late.

Italy
Italy have a new manager, Jacques Brunel  but he has the age old problem of no players to pick from, with only one and a bit decent teams as his selection base. They are likely to be winless this year.

Scotland
The Scots have a bit of player form, with Edinburgh the first Scottish team to make the quarters in yonks, and have a settled coaching team. They don’t have a lot of players to pick from, always struggle in the backs, but have a pack they will make you feel like you’ve been put through a cement mixer.  5th spot beckons unless they can do a number on England and other results go their way.

Wales
Wales are the joker in the pack, they were growing in stature with every match at the World Cup, and have all the ingredients for success. But you never with the Welsh. They are playing with  confidence, but are carrying a few injuries, notably Rhys Priestland , the one player who really makes them get their groove on. The draw suits them this year, so second is probably where they are going to finish.

RBS Six Nations Saturday , February 4
France vs Italy 14:30
Scotland vs England 17:00
Sunday , February 5
Ireland vs Wales 15:00
France V ItalyFrance have a bone to pick with Italy after last year’s ignominious defeat in Rome. The French have any number of players eager to impress the new coach, and while the Italian pack will delay the onslaught, France will inevitably win this match, and handsomely.

Scotland v England
Are Scotland up for this one? Do bears poo in the woods? Scotland will be itching to get the new England reign off to a bad start. I can see a ferocious forward battle, but a fairly inept backline duel,  the skill of Fodden and Ashton blunted by the inexperience of Farrell and the woodiness of Barrett. And I hope Charlie Hodgson has been doing his tackling practise – because he’ll need it... Scotland with millimetres to spare

Ireland v Wales
This is the jewel in the crown of the opening weekend, Scots/Eng is likely to have the strange fascination of a slow motion car crash, France/Italy is for the people who pull the wings off flies, but the Aviava should see some decent running rugby. If I was Kidney, I would have booted DOC and D’Arcy  into the stands, and Earls is not a centre, he’s not a centres bottom, Kidney should be made to write out a hundred times ‘Earls is not a centre, he is a wing’ . Otherwise, looking OK, good to see Trimble starting, and O'Mahony and McFadden on the bench. Are we going to be able to avenge the defeat in last year’s world cup? Without Priestland starting for Wales, I’d say we have a good chance. We can put aside old Lion and Celtic friendships for the moment , and give cheery Warren Gatland something to be really miserable about. Ireland to scrape home in undignified fashion. O’Gara drop goal in extra time not out the question.