There were some good things and bad things about the first round of Six Nations on the weekend.
Here are six things that sizzled or sucked. Not by design, but they are mostly about the first game of the round.
Three things that sizzled.
England were hot
They were the best team on the weekend and although they looked on a slippery slope when Wales got an early lead they bullied their way back.
If the early Rhys Webb try created by no. 8 Taulupe Faletau was a brilliancy for Wales—after he mined the ball out of his retreating scrum illegally and slipped it away—the one set up with a deft kick through by England fullback Mike Brown for winger Anthony Watson was scarcely less admirable seven minutes later.
They held their nerve after being ten points behind and instead of the storied Wales back line being the danger men, it was the relatively new Englanders: George Ford, Jonathan Joseph, Luther Burrell and Anthony Watson, who were lethal, and their ringmaster, Ben Youngs, was one of the best players from any team on the weekend.
Skipper Chris Robshaw was a human colossus and flanker James Haskell had one of his best test matches in an England shirt, despite missing a tackle on Faletau before the Webb try.
The super subs – Ireland
The warm-up hamstring tweak suffered by Ireland’s openside flanker Sean O’Brien sucked big time as he was due to return to test duty after his second shoulder reconstruction. But his replacement, Tommy O’Donnell, had a game to remember.
Jordi Murphy was playing at no.8 because of the shoulder niggle of James Heaslip, and did not look too shabby, either. The Murphy and O’Donnell 7 and 8 pairing had only three starting test matches between them in their scrapbooks, and none from Six Nations.
In the 67th minute reserve flyhalf Ian Madigan passed wide to O’Donnell who had nothing but grass in front of him because Italy tight head prop Martin Castrogiovanni had come off his line to challenge Madigan, who was well-covered anyway.
Fullback Andrea Masi came over to nab O’Donnell but was stepped easily, and the delighted Irishman was waved through by the Italy 10 and 12 like traffic cops.
Ireland should use him more often: that’s his seventh test match and Ireland have won all of them. Commentator Conor McNamara mentioned that he is the first Ireland player to have an unbeaten record after his first three starting games—amazing, if true.
The super subs – England
They sizzled alright. It sucked for England that they couldn’t select centres Brad Barritt, Kyle Eastmond and Manu Tuilagi because of their injuries, nor a handful of backrowers and locks, plus a good tight head prop, but all their replacements played well. And you could include George Ford, the most un-English of flyhalves, in that reckoning also, because of the ongoing problems of Owen Farrell.
Would Lancaster have chosen Jonathan Joseph or Luther Burrell in the midfield had those other centres been available? I doubt it, even though Joseph put on a masterclass for Bath in Toulouse a few weeks ago.
The second England try by Joseph after sneaking through Biggar and North early in the second half was a magic-show exhibition worthy of Will Greenwood in his pomp. How often can one say that England was more creative than the other team?
In the lead-up to the game England coach Stuart Lancaster looked like he could have been in deep shit with the butcher’s bill of injuries he had, but he ended up like smelling like, well … roses.
He turned a problem into an opportunity, as they say in the CBD, and his Rugby World Cup campaign will be the better for it.
Three things that sucked
Wales disappoint their home crowd
Wales won the anthems and started the match with a hiss and a roar to lead 10-0 after eight minutes of play. The home crowd wearing daffodil hats and other regalia were in high spirits and well they should have been when Wales scored a try despite their scrum retreating as if on roller skates.
But that was as good as it got, and although they were still eight points ahead at oranges England had the vibe and scored 13 unanswered points in the second half.
To be fair Wales contributed to a cracking first half of rugby but they were supposed to be the settled team that took advantage of the disruption of the Englanders, and it didn’t happen.
In the second half they had defenders lining up across the field but allowed England to progress up the centre through Ben Youngs and others. This meant that Wales had to scramble too often for it not to bear fruit eventually, and it did.
The scoreline even flattered the home team because Haskell of England ran into an unlikely obstruction, the padding of a goal post, when he was over for all money otherwise. Also, when the visitors got over the chalk with five minutes to go they were penalised for human obstruction that might not have influenced the play.
By contrast, Wales had few might-have-been moments as they could not get near the England goal line with the ball very often.
Wales had better watch out next weekend. They could travel to Murrayfield only to have to play on the biggest banana skin they ever saw.
The roof that was not closed
For the roof to be closed at the Millennium Stadium in test matches both sides have to agree to it.
Why that protocol should be, is odd, but England were within their rights to decline to agree; and why not if they fancied their players to play in wet conditions better than the home team, should it rain?
Not that Aussies would be crying crocodile tears for the Welsh because they had the reverse treatment in 2001 when Eddie Jones was in his first year of coaching the Wallabies. Obviously fearing Larkham, Gregan, Burke, Roff and Tune they wanted the roof open. Jones, never one to be short of a trenchant comment, pondered why they would bother to build a movable roof in their new stadium if they didn’t want to close it.
If I remember correctly it bucketed down days before the test match and they had to close the roof anyway to save the turf.
Last week there was a lot of hoo-ha in the press about the matter, but the Poms had a trick up their sleeves in retaliation.
Wales wanted their team to come out with a big light show and shooting flames but England skipper Robshaw wouldn’t go out until the Wales’ players joined them in the tunnel. Martin Johnson would have loved that brinkmanship, which delayed the start of the game, but referee Jerome Garces made them go out.
North concussed but stays on
Big George North of Wales fell on a lose ball in the first half and was accidentally kicked in the noggin by England lock Dave Atwood, who wanted to toe the ball on. They asked North “How many fingers?” and when he said “13” they took him off for a concussion test. Eight minutes later he was back on.
In the second half he tried to tackle England fullback Mike Brown—so far so good—but unfortunately hooker Richard Hibbard had the same idea and accidentally gave North the sweetest “Liverpool kiss” you ever saw as he did so.
North went down like a sack of spuds off the back of a truck, barely able to break his fall, yet the Wales’ medicos left him on the field. It was pretty obvious and commentator (and lawyer) Brian Moore condemned them on the spot.
Wales said they didn’t see the incident on the field but what I saw on my TV was apparently shown on the big screen at the ground. At that point they should have yanked him, whenever it happened, live. Why didn’t the Wales’ TV analysts at the ground twig to the situation?
World Rugby is on the case and want to make sure that the concussion protocol was followed, but Wales will probably wriggle out of this.
