24-2-20 6 nations
6 NATIONS
ENGLAND 24-12 I2
IRELAND
DEADLY DALY
Back come England through a big Lawes carry, and the
fast recycling allows Youngs to kick a grubber around the corner and Ford and
Farrell flood through onto it, Sexton makes a mess of it after a difficult
bounce in the in-goal and Ford gobbles it up to score. He also adds the extras.
There was nothing to see as far at the TMO was
concerned and the try is given! Ireland are so discombobulated they can’t even
field kick properly at present
The attack fizzles out and Farrell points at the posts as
the ref comes back for the penalty. The captain slots it and that is the
perfect flourish to end an utterly dominant first half for England.
Murray charges at the line from the scrum, and as England
are pinged again for offside the ball is worked right to Henshaw who powers
over from short.
England take the
lineout in the corner and Cowan-Dickie finds Launchbury at the front, They peel
and drive and the Exeter hooker gets his hands on the ball to fall over the
line and score. Farrell converts.
Lots of repeated drives from Ireland in England’s 22 and
they are up to within inches and Andew Porter touches down finally. Cooney
converts it.
MY
OPINION
This is a disaster for Ireland
but a good thing is the fact they can’t win the 6 nations or grand slam should
mean that this team should want tom start to evolve and get young players in
fast as they will need to give them experience needed for next world cup
ITALY 0-17 SCOTLAND
H MAKES ALL THE
DIFFRENCE
And it’s the Scotland captain who delivers. After Scotland
win possession thanks to that errant off-load by Polledri, captain Hogg grabs
the ball in midfield. He drifts to the right, switches on the after-burners
after a side-step, beats a couple of would-be tacklers, and burns over in the
corner. Brilliant try and a very welcome one from the Scotland captain’s point
of view. Hastings misses a tough conversion. For all their good early work,
Italy find themselves trailing in Rome. That of course is Scotland’s first try
of the tournament.
That was a really patient, well-worked score as Scotland
gradually ground the Italian defence down. Watson and Ritchie made a huge shove
to virtually over the line, it was recycled and spun to the right, and Harris
did well to dive over despite the attentions of a tackler. Hastings misses the
conversion
Counterattacks down the blind side for Scotland, no-one at
home for Italy, and Hastings runs the ball in. That was the 21st turnover of
the match by Scotland. They are home and dry. The conversion is drop-kicked by
the try scorer, saving a few seconds, so they can try and grab a very late
bonus point.
MY
OPINION
This was Italy’s only chance to
avoid the wooden spoon this season and the theory of a promotion relegation
system in Europe is one still to be looked at but other countries from across
the world could come in also like South Africa and the USA to get more teams in
the tournament but more teams doers mean more matches
WALES 23-27 FRANCE
NIFTY NITIMACK
Ross Moriarty does some magnificent back row mischief on
Cyrille Baille by holding him in the ruck and buying a penalty for the
Frenchman not rolling away. Biggar fancies kicking sticks and slots it from 40
metres.
Alldritt’s first big carry off the game meets a
bone-rattling tackle from Ken Owens of halfway, Alldritt’s ancestors felt that
one.
A few promising France phases after a Fickou carry into the
Wales half come to an end with a turnover. A big kick from Ntamack is spilled
by Halfpenny on the 22 and Bouthier is first to it to walk in. Ntamack adds the
extras.
France are up to the 22 and Dillon Lewis puts his hands in
the ruck, giving the visitors a penalty wide right. Ntamack wants to try his
luck from the tight angle and drives it through the posts with all the
insouciance of gently lobbing a tissue into a wastepaper bin
The result of France chucking everyone in ruck is that there
is space out wide that the French defence have to drift to cover. Wales are not
taking advantage as they are working it through hands without fixing a defender
or changing their running angle. It’s there for Wales if they could execute
better. Wales have a penalty after Baille puts his hands in the ruck on the 22.
Biggar will gobble this up. He doesn’t
miss those.
Vakatawa thunders Halfpenny as he is about to kick and the
ball is turned over to Fickou who chips on and gives Parkes the only option but
to run into touch on his own 5m line. from the lineout it’s a front peel ball
and the big lock powers over on the left though the tackle of McNicholl. Ntamack
slots another lovely kick.
Halfpenny chases his own kick and wins it for Wales, he’s
stayed down after that as his team go into the 22 via a Biggar chip to Tompkins
who feeds Davies and he in turn sends McNicholl towards the line. France
infringe and Wales get very manic and the attack fizzles out. We come back for
the penalty which Biggar kicks with little fuss.
Wales win the lineout safely and drive up to the line and a
a couple of drives later the prop powers over from inches out. Biggar converts.
Wales have the ball from the scrum and work it
left quickly through hands, but as Tompkins tries to feed Tipuric, Ntamack
flies up, nicks it and canters in through open field from forty metres. Hes
dusts himself off and converts his own score
Penalty to France after Dillon Lewis leaves his legs
obstructing the ball in the ruck. Ntamack takes it on from 40 metres and it
curls inside the right-hand post.
Will Rowlands makes a big carry and set Tomos Williams free,
but he’s pulled down on France 22. It comes right this time to Aaron Wainwright
who powers forward in the 13 channel, need 3 French defenders to pull him down.
It’s worked back to centre of field and Biggar drives over and grounds the ball
to score. He adds the extras.
MY
OPINION
This was a quality performance by
the French and they have shown in this match what it is that they need to do in
order to win the match. This French team could win a grand slam and I think
they could be the team most ready to move forward
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