Six Nations: who's looking good for the title?

[Dioltach]

With both the rugby and the cricket teams they had one great accomplishment that was widely hailed as "the start of a new era of dominance". In both cases, the team then proceeded to rest on their laurels for too long, and slipped back into mediocrity.

I don't think that's entirely fair on the 2003 rugby team. They spent four years building toward the World Cup, and dominated world rugby for two years. The problem is that no one had planned for beyond 2003, and the team suffered from retirements, injuries and player burnout. It was a team built for a specific purpose, and they did what they were meant to do.

 

[delericho]

Well, two rather poor games, I thought, although the latter was a bit better than the former.

England started slowly, but when they scored their try just before half time I figured the second half would go as it did last week, with England moving up the gears and solidly outplaying their opponents. However, that was not the case. I felt England were rather poor in the second half. And, in fact, Italy scored more points in that half than England did, although they were never actually in a position to win the game.

The Scotland-Wales match was extremely scrappy, with Scotland getting the best of the match, although the lack of any tries must be a concern. According to the BBC teams, the conditions at Murrayfield were pretty poor, though, with swirling winds, cold and rain.

I remain confident that I have not yet seen the eventual winners of the competition.

 

[Dioltach]

I thought England's midfield looked good, and Farrell appears to be finding his stride. He seemed to be everywhere. But Italy's pack completely shut down the England forwards, who never really appeared to be able to compete. That's not really very strange, though: Italy have a very strong and incredibly experienced set of forwards now, while the England pack haven't really done anything notable, that I can think of, since crushing Australia in the 2005 Autumn Internationals.

It's nice to see Billy Whizz back to his whizzing ways for England, though; and is it just me, or has Brian Moore become a very fair and impartial commentator all of a sudden?

Italy looked promising, and I got the impression that they were conserving their strength for the final quarter, when they usually find themselves exhausted and run over by the opposition. That's Italy's big problem at the moment: the inability to play 80 minutes of rugby.

Wales again never looked like scoring tries, just like last week. Perhaps the conditions didn't suit them in Murrayfield, but they just seem ineffectual in attack. Not many line breaks, and most attacks went sideways more than forwards. Scotland looked better, although still not as good as they could be. I enjoyed that match though, because there was plenty of excitement even though there weren't any tries.

I noticed that England and Scotland managed to get some good offloads, although there were some horrendous mistakes. One big problem seems to be making sure that the support runners are always there, like the All Blacks manage.

I think that the weekend's best match is yet to come, though.

 

[delericho]

Well, two out of three ain't bad. Ireland - France was definately match of the weekend.

I think, based on both the result and the performance, France have to now be considered heavy favourites for the title. That said, they could easily have had the match won by half time; that they did not is... interesting.

(Also, it's worth noting that I think any or all of Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales could play a lot better than they have so far without drastic restructuring, so it's maybe less clear-cut than it might seem.)

My predictions for the next set of games is for Scotland to beat Italy at home, and France to beat Wales at home. I expect Ireland - England to be the match of that weekend, and I'm currently leaning towards an Ireland victory as they react to today's defeat. If that happens, I don't see anyone overtaking France.

 

[death tribble]

England's first great test comes with the match against Ireland who will be spoiling for revenge after the loss to France.

And delericho, there have been several occassions during my life when the England cricket team and rugby team have made me feel proud to be English. It wasn't just the last Ashes win or the 2003 world cup. Not so the football team. And it does not seem to matter who is playing for the England football team, they seem doomed to failure. And the press only make things a lot worse.

If Scotland play England at rugby, either team can win. That is part of the thrill. Similarly in any of the 6 nations matches. And if England can win the rugby World Cup then I feel that any of the home nations can.

 

[green slime]

I just wish I could actually watch some of this action. Bloody scandinavian television channels and their lack of proper sports culture.

Its tough being a Kiwi in the frozen, northern wastelands of Europe.

 

[Sidekick]

I just wish I could actually watch some of this action. Bloody scandinavian television channels and their lack of proper sports culture.

Its tough being a Kiwi in the frozen, northern wastelands of Europe.

I feel your pain Green Slime.

And to think I almost had a heart attack when I couldn't find last seasons ABs V France games on TV.

Boy was I glad I watched that, even if it was in French!

 

[Dioltach]

And to think I almost had a heart attack when I couldn't find last seasons ABs V France games on TV.

Boy was I glad I watched that, even if it was in French!

Being in the Netherlands, I couldn't get the 2003 RWC until I discovered it on one of the French channels we have here. I managed to watch the semi-final (England v. France) and the final. Strangely, during the France game, the commentators kept yelling, "Caution le drop de Weelkeensoown!" In the final, that changed to, "Attention le drop de Weelkeensoown!"

I should be in Australia for the coming World Cup, so that should make things interesting.