Author: Mark McArthy

Happy St Patrick’s Day to all our readers for this Sunday. I don’t want to say it’s not prophetic, but I’m expecting big things from the Irish this weekend. Scotland v Wales This was a game of forward control from the Welsh pack with some hard defense from the Welsh backline. Really that is a very simple summary for this game as neither team really shined nor showed that they were competing for a Grand Slam, or even looking forward to the Rugby World Cup. Wales started out strong but the quickly leveled out and decided that Scotland were going to do the…

This is it, the final 2 weeks of the 6 Nations are upon us and what a two weeks it’s going to be with Wales on the way to a grand slam with only Scotland and Ireland left to try and stop them.  England have an easier run with Italy and Scotland both at home, but England will be hoping that Wales lose to either team to give them the shot at winning the championship on points. England’s main goal is to get all 5 points out of both remaining games. This tournament is really down to three teams now…

Wow did I get humbled over the weekend with 2 of my 3 predictions being flat out wrong.  My last prediction being vaguely close to what I said but that’s about as close as I got. This weekend really changed up the shape of the table making the final 2 rounds very spicy. France v Scotland This was a game of French youth and flare, and a Scotland team very similar to the teams of the mid 00’s with plenty drive up front but no stars in the backline. France played the most of this game with a real determination and…

It was nice of the 6 Nations to have a break from their international window to allow the spotlight onto Super Rugby this weekend past, but they are back into this week with some fascinating encounters. Let’s take a look. France v Scotland This game is very hard to preview purely because it’s near impossible to predict what kind of French team you are going to get from hour to hour never mind day to day. Another reason it’s hard to call is the fact that Scotland have been hammered by injuries over the past 12 months. It’s still getting…

After an action packed Round 1, the 6 Nations teams were back at it last weekend with some more memorable moments.  Before their bye this weekend, let’s check out what happened in Round 2. ROUND 1 CATCH UP. Scotland v Ireland This was a game of physicality and handling errors that put the teams under serious pressure. Both Scotland and Ireland had a massive loss each in the first half with Stuart Hogg and Jonathan Sexton going off due to injury. This obviously changed the style and pace of the game. In the end, Ireland never looked like losing the game…

Round 1 Catch Up. France v Wales France started the first half like a new born team forgetting about all the issues from the November tests. Playing an expansive game in the pouring rain and dominating Wales  giving them no time on the ball and when they did get time then made stupid unforced handling errors.  Coming into the second half you would have expected France to continue on with how they were playing well you would be wrong. It looks like France decided to leave the building to celebrate at half time. Wales took advantage of this and put…

This year’s 6 Nations competition is one of the most competitive in a long time with most teams on an upward curve performance wise. Three of the six nations are in the top 5 international teams in the world with Scotland placed in seventh, France in ninth and Italy in fifteenth. All teams have one eye on the World Cup coming around the corner and the other on putting in a huge performance in the 6Nations to secure a position in their respective nations. Let’s take a look at each country. Ireland  Ireland are looking strong coming into this year…