Although there is one round to go in the tournament, England won the RBS 6 Nations trophy on the weekend due to a shaky win over Wales on Saturday, and a perky victory for Scotland against France on Sunday.
Before then there were cunning permutations mentioned by trainspotter journalists but it was always odds-on that the winner at Twickenham would take the chocolates whatever happened at Murrayfield. The first duck that France had to line up to win the big prize at the carnival, flew away.
But Italy had some ducks to line up also, in Dublin—to avoid the wooden spoon. In their first shot, a long shot, they had to beat Ireland, who were outside-chance winners of wood themselves.
“KevinO”, “Bardon”, and I report on the matches.
Jamie Heaslip – scoring the try of the tournament
Ireland 58 — Italy 15
by “KevinO”
Where did this come from?
Ireland came out with nothing to play for this week and put in a performance that will get Irish fans excited again. Unable to defend their title having lost to France and England, fans were calling for some changes and to play exciting rugby.
First half
The Irish played a fast attacking style, spreading the ball wide, quickly. It only took six minutes for the Irish to get their first try through Andrew Trimble.
By half-time the Irish had scored four tries including what should go down as try of the tournament when Heaslip finished off one of the best bits of teamwork rugby as they ran the ball from their own 22, passing and offloading the whole way down the ground. Kind of reminded me of French rugby in the 90’s when they scored from everywhere.
Half-time score Ireland 25 – Italy 3.
Simon Zebo – palms off Michele Campagnaro
Second half
It was the same story after the break. Ireland continued to attack the Italians who had no answers on how to stop them. They were just relentless and ended up winning 58 – 15 after scoring nine tries in the game.
The Italians were no match for Ireland and captain Sergio Parisse even described his sides’ performance as terrible in an after-match interview and admitted they deserved to lose by a large margin.
Is there much to take from this game? No not really, we all know Italian rugby is poor and their experienced forwards of past years have retired or are less potent than they were. But even against such a team as Italy was at Aviva, I did not think Ireland had performances like this in them this season.
Would I recommend watching? No, just find the highlights and watch the eleven tries from the match.
Game changer – It was fairly even after the teams sung their anthems and Ireland even had a lead of 2-1 in that department; but the kick-off was the real game-changer.
Or you could say that with the score 20-3 two minutes before half-time, that Italy was not out of it, but five Ireland tries in a quarter hour either side of the break changed the comfortable lead into a rout.
Man of the match – There were a few candidates but lock Donnacha Ryan was the official winner and he gets my vote also.
Special Congratulations to Finlay Bealham on his international debut for Ireland. The Australian-born prop has a big career ahead of him.
Get more match information from ESPN.
Maro Itoje – had a commanding performance
England 25 — Wales 21
by “Bardon”
England survived a late Welsh comeback to clinch a Triple Crown, their first piece of silverware under Eddie Jones.
Wales fielded a team full of experience and proven winners against a relatively inexperienced England side who are more used to being the bridesmaid rather than the bride.
However England were more composed in the first half; by contrast Wales looked like they were playing their first game together.
First half
England twice had shouts for a try only to be denied by the TMO. First, Youngs was adjudged to have knocked on in the act of scoring, then Cole’s grounding of the ball was inconclusive.
Owen Farrell ensured that England didn’t go unrewarded for their domination of territory and possession. He kicked three penalties for a 9-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The excellent Itoje showed good strength and footwork as he made a break and then released Watson to dive over in the corner. The extras made it 16-0 and Wales looked completely out of it at half-time.
England had the upper hand in the scrum and Itoje and Kruis ruled the lineout. Wales spent much of the half defending and when they did try to attack, mix ups and hesitation saw the moves break down.
Taulupe Faletau charges over to score
Second half
England extended their lead through a Farrell penalty early in the second 40.
Wales finally came to life when Biggar charged down Ford’s clearing kick then gathered to score under the posts.
England had a bit of a wobble following Biggar’s score but they looked to have steadied their nerves with two more penalties from Farrell to take the score out to 25-7.
But Wales came at England hard in the final quarter and the pressure told as Cole was yellow carded in the final ten minutes following a team warning for repeat infringements close to the England try line.
Wales took advantage of their extra man to score twice in two minutes as North and Faletau went over to make it 25-21 and set English nerves rattling again for the final two minutes.
Wales attacked again looking for a winning try at the death. England were hanging on as North surged up the touchline deep in their 22. He was forced out by Tuilagi and England survived, but only just.
Game changer – The contest changed from a cruise to a battle when North scored a try with seven minutes remaining, because it was followed by two more.
Man of the Match – the GAGR award has to go to Maro Itoje for an immense first half performance that will live in the memory for many years to come.
Get more match information from ESPN.
Stuart Hogg scoring his try – had a game full of highlights
Scotland 29 – France 18
by Lee Grant
Scotland beat France for the first time in ten years and won their first game at Murrayfield since 2013.
First half
That result didn’t look likely after five minutes because France was playing well and their skipper Guirado scored a slick ensemble try. And in the background Russell, the Scotland stand-off, was being helped from the ground for a head assessment; he wouldn’t return.
France went cold trying hot-potato offloads which had little effect except dropping the ball. Scotland weren’t doing much either, but at 33 minutes after some high tempo rugby in the France 22, fullback Hogg stepped in and scored.
Ahead 11-5, the Scots scored again three minutes later when centre Taylor tapped a penalty kick and ran 68 metres in the tram tracks to dot down.
Yep – Scot rugby fans can go wild, and they did.
Scotland were ahead when the hooter blew for the break but France were in a good position near the Scotland line and Fickou scored wide out.
Half time score: Scotland 18 – France 12.
Tom Visser – scored brilliant try after ball was batted to him by Hogg
Second half
Tries were scarce after the intermission and after Hogg had kicked a 51-metre howitzer penalty, and Machenaud had slotted two goals for France, Scotland led 21-18, and both teams looked nervous.
But at 65 minutes Visser scored for Scotland after WP Nel and Richie Gray had taken the ball up to get near the goal line.
With Scotland ahead 26-18, Laidlaw kicked a penalty goal with six minutes left to ice the result 29-18.
It was a cracking game spoilt only by some dreary scrum resets in the first half.
France had started with two wins in the tournament but now had two losses; Scotland, who lost by only six points to England and four to Wales, had improved at each stage.
Game changer – With 15 minutes remaining Scotland were 21-18 ahead and pummelling the France goal line when Laidlaw whipped a Harbour Bridge pass wide. It was too high for Hogg facing the line of the pass but he batted it back over his head to Visser, who scored in the corner.
Man of the match – Guirado played well for France, and Scotland were well-served by tough Kiwi flanker, Hardie, reserve out-half Horne, centre Taylor, and two shades of Gray. But the GAGR man of the match was fullback Stuart Hogg who put on a Ben Smith performance.
Get more match information from ESPN.
The wrap-up
The final round next week won’t have the helter-skelter of last year when three teams were playing razzamataz rugby to earn a higher for-and-against tally for the tie-breaker; but there will be high interest about whether or not England can earn a Grand Slam by beating France next Saturday.
It is fitting that it’s the last game of 2016 RBS 6 Nations.
Coach Eddie Jones has been on a hard road for some of his career but if his team wins the Slam for the first time since their great 2003 England side accomplished it, it will be one of the great achievements of his rugby life.
.
