We’re getting towards the pointy end of what has been a tournament of ups and downs, with the table after round 3 as follows:
Ireland P 3 W 3 L 0 Pts 14
France P 3 W 2 L 1 Pts 11
England P 3 W 2 L 1 Pts 10
Scotland P 3 W 1 L 2 Pts 6
Italy P 3 W 1 L 2 Pts 4
Wales P 3 W 0 L3 Pts 1
With the fixtures as they are, the Championship could be all over bar the shouting this weekend or we could find ourselves with a final shoot out on Saturday week with bonus points being the deciding factor. So without further ado, let’s get stuck in.
Ireland
Simon Easterby now has three wins from three, but they’ve hardly been convincing. A number of comments have been made that the turning point in the Wales game came when Bundee Aki came on for Ringrose after the 20 min red card had run its course. Wales had more carries and made more metres but the Irish accumulated more kick metres and won. Is there a message in there somewhere?
Team: 1 Porter, 2 Sheehan, 3 Bealham, 4 J McCarthy, 5 Beirne, 6 O’Mahony, 7 van der Flier, 8 Doris, 9 Gibson-Park, 10 S Prendergast, 11 Lowe, 12 Aki, 13 Henshaw, 14 Osborne, 15 Keenan Replacements: 16 Herring, 17 Healy, 18 Clarkson, 19 Ryan, 20 Conan, 21 Baird, 22 Murray, 23 Crowley
Ireland captain Caelan Doris has been passed fit and returns to side with Conan back on the bench. Bealham and Clarkson swap places and Rob Herring returns to the match day squad as replacement hooker. Mack Hansen is out with a quad injury so Jamie Osborne switches to the right wing with Keenan resuming at fullback. With Ringrose’s suspension it’s hardly a surprise that Bundee Aki keeps his place, he made the difference in Ireland beating Wales. All in all a team pretty much as expected with a strong bench.
France
Galthie’s men were smarting after that one point loss to England and the Italians did find themselves on the receiving end of a good thumping. Normality restored but do they have enough to beat Ireland in Dublin?
Team : 1 Gros, 2 Mauvaka, 3 Atonio, 4 Guillard, 5 Flament, 6 Cros, 7 Boudehent, 8 Alldritt, 9 Dupont, 10 Ntamack 11 Bielle-Biarrey, 12 Moefana, 13 Barassi, 14 Penaud , 15 Ramos Replacements: 16 Marchand, 17 Baille, 18 Aldegheri, 19 Meafou, 20 Auradou, 21 Jegou, 22 Jelonch, 23 Lucu
Injuries aside, this must be France’s strongest team with Ramos returning to his preferred position and Ntamack and Penaud back in the side. Galthie has stuck with his 7/1 bench. A make or break game for the French.
Fearless Prediction: billed as the match of the tournament this has the makings of a cracker. Ireland can seal the deal with a win while the French have to win to stay in the fight and take it to the final weekend. It’s been pointed out on more than one occasion that the Irish are not the team of a year or so ago, but they’re still bloody good. It’s also the final home game for Healy, O’Mahony and Murray and I can see the Irish riding to a win on a wave of emotion.
Scotland
Don’t blame it on the sunshine
Don’t blame it on the moonlight
Don’t blame it on the good times
Blame it on the Brousset
Do I have one jot of sympathy for the Jocks? No, I bloody don’t. All the complaints about bad refereeing, yada yada, can’t disguise the fact that in spite of scoring 3 tries to 1 and with all the stats in their favour (apart from the good old kick metres) they still contrived to lose a match they should’ve won. Finn Russell had a bad day with the boot. Life’s tough, isn’t it.
Team: 1 Schoeman, 2 Cherry, 3 Z Fagerson, 4 Gray, 5 Gilchrist, 6 Ritchie, 7 Darge, 8 Dempsey, 9 White, 10 Russell, 11 van der Merwe, 12 Jordan, 13 Jones, 14 Graham, 15 Kinghorn Replacements: 16 Ashman, 17 Sutherland, 18 Hurd, 19 Brown, 20 M Fagerson, 21 Horne, 22 McDowell, 23 Rowe
Scotland welcome back Darcy Graham after the Edinburgh wing missed the England game due to a concussion injury. Gregor Townsend, reverts to a 5-3 bench after going with a 6-2 split against England, with the forward Sam Skinner and the back Jamie Dobie dropping out of the 23, and the scrum-half George Horne joining Rowe on the bench.
Scotland are aiming to make it three wins in a row over Wales for the first time in the Six Nations era.
Wales
They may have lost but Matt Sherratt can be well pleased with Wales’ performance. They showed great attacking promise backed up by a strong forward performance. Whether this was due to ‘coach’ bounce remains to be seen. Nevertheless, it’s good to see the Welsh on the up. Eloise will be pleased.
Team : 1 Smith, 2 Dee, 3 John, 4 Rowlands, 5 Jenkins, 6 Reffell, 7 Morgan, 8 Faletau, 9 Tomos Williams, 10 Anscombe, 11 Mee, 12 B Thomas, 13 Llewellyn, 14 Rogers, 15 Murray Replacements : 16 Lake 17 G Thomas, 18 Assirati, 19 Teddy Williams, 20 Wainright, 21 R Williams, 22 Evans, 23 Roberts.
Wales will field an unchanged XV for the first time in 66 Tests on Saturday after Matt Sherratt stuck with the starting lineup that gave a scare to Ireland in the last round.
Fearless Prediction: no skin in this particular game but Townsend has been going on like a pork chop this last couple of weeks, and for that alone I hope the Welsh stick it up ‘em. Play with the same passion that they showed against the Irish and the Jocks could be in for a surprise. However, I think the men in skirts will sneak it with a little help from their overseas players.
England
Two extremely ugly wins keep the SDs in the hunt so I’ll take them. Credit where credit’s due, the pack is starting to take shape with a solid scrum and lineout and the penalty count at the breakdown dropping. Having an international ref at training sessions may have something to do with it. But, and it’s a big but, I’m am totally pissed off the Borthwick’s pre-game BS about attacking with pace. We’ve only seen it a couple of times but it’s mostly been kick the leather off the ball and hope that the opposition don’t run it back and score. Is it any wonder that the SD tackle count was around the 200 mark? Marcus Smith is not a full back, end of.
Team: 1 Genge, 2 George, 3 Stuart, 4 Itoje, 5 Chessum, 6 Earl, 7 T Curry, 8 Willis, 9 Mitchell, 10 F Smith, 11 Sleightholme, 12 Dingwall, 13 Lawrence, 14 Freeman, 15 Daly Replacements: 16 Cowan-Dickie,17 Baxter, 18 Heyes, 19 Hill, 20 Cunningham-Smith, 21 B Curry, 22 van Poortvliet, 23 M Smith
All change again. Marcus Smith is clearly not a fullback, and in the absence of the injured Furbank and the out of favour Steward Daly takes the 15 jersey. Cue howls of derision from so called SD fans. MS reverts to the bench where his running skills against a tiring defence may come into play. I like the idea of having the Saints 9, 10 and 12 in the run on team with Ollie Lawrence dropping into his preferred position at 13. Whether this is reflected in the way the backs play remains to be seen. Only one change up front with Jamie George running on for his 100th cap. A bit sentimental as far as I’m concerned. I would have stuck with LCD.
Italy
The Italians felt the full force of French wrath in a 73-24 demolition job. However, they did score three well executed tries which should be a warning to Borthwick’s Merry Men. Defence looked a bit flimsy though.
Team: 1 Fischetti, 2 Nicoteta, 3 Ricconi, 4 N Cannone, 5 Ruzza, 6 Negri, 7 Lamaro, 8 Vintcent, 9 Varney, 10 P Garbisi, 11 Gallagher, 12 Menoncello, 13 Brex, 14 Ioane, 15 Capuozzo Replacements: 16 Lucchesi, 17 Spagnolo, 18 Ferrari, 19 Favretto, 20 Zuliani, 21 L Cannone, 22 Page-Rollo, 23 Allan
Quesada has wielded the axe to his squad with most of the alterations made to his backline. Monty Ioane makes his return to action after recovering from a knee injury and comes into the run-on side on the right wing. Ange Capuozzo shifts to full-back with Tommaso Allan relegated to the bench. There’s another change on the left wing where Simon Gesi has been replaced by Matt Gallagher, the son of legendary All Blacks fullback John Gallagher. The other change to the backline sees Stephen Varney taking over from Martin Page-Relo at scrum-half. In the forwards, Ross Vintcent takes over at number 8 from Lorenzo Cannone, who drops down to the bench. Marco Riccioni and Giacomo Nicotera replace Simone Ferrari and Gianmarco Lucchesi at tighthead prop and hooker respectively, while Danilo Fischetti retains his spot at loosehead prop.
Fearless Prediction: a resounding win for the SDs playing a game of flowing rugby fit to lay before the rugby gods at Mt Allianz😉. Nah! I reckon the SD pack will lay the foundations for a close victory. The question is, with a reshaped backline built around, allegedly the most attack focused team in the Premiership will we run the ball? Again nah! Prove me wrong, Borthwick, prove me wrong. If not, go the Azzuri and show him how it’s done. You have the players.
Enjoy the entertainment fellow G&GRians and let’s hope this weekend’s results end in a winner take all next Saturday.
