Week 1 – Analysis

The Six Nations is back, and what a weekend to start it all. Ireland sneaked past Italy, but looked rubbish in doing so. Wales caused the upset of the weekend by taking advantage of a poor second-half showing by England. And, in a much anticipated encounter at Murrayfield, the French rose to the occasion while Scotland looked out of their depth.

Ireland 16 Italy 11
Italy performed better than I’d thought they would, and held firm with some hard tackling but ultimately came up short. In my mind, there were no surprises in this Irish side which look well past their best – and unlikely to be in the mix when the honours are handed out this year. While better than their World Cup display, this was, as my good friend Mike pointed out, a performance which was “rusty rather than stale”. A quiet, uninspired, hard-fought win, but nothing to write home about for either side.

England 19 Wales 26
Warren Gatland must have taken advice from Rafa Benitez on his half-time team talk, as this really was the epitome of a game of 2 halves. Trailing 16-6 at the break – and it really should’ve been more – Wales looked out of sorts, and England only needed one more score to put the match beyond any doubt. However, with Jonny out of sorts and the team settling for 3 points when they should have had seven early in the second half, Wales were able to stage a recovery with a wild two minute spell to snatch their first Twickenham win in 20 years. Neither side will be happy with how they played for large parts of the game, but the Welsh will be delighted with the win.

Scotland 6 France 27
A lack of confidence. An inability to contain. A couple of bad decisions (both by the players and by the referee). And a whole lot of rubbish. For a side with four new caps and an expectation that they may be on the wrong side of a Scottish renaissance, France looked as slick and skilful as French sides of the eighties. Confidence seeped through them as they ran from deep and cut through the Scottish tacklers. Contrast that with the disorganisation, the unforced errors and the incompetence of certain members of the Scotland side. A lot of work to be done on the Scottish side but the French can look forward to a home game against a sub-par Irish side, with dreams of the Grand Slam well and truly on.