The first weekend of the 2008 Six Nations competition was one of moments — some of brilliance, others more lamentable.
Only the French, perhaps the least likely of teams given the massive player turnover that new coach Marc Lievremont has undertaken, were able to play a full 80 minutes of quality rugby.
Watch highlights of the France-Scotland match
More rugby
Force bring out big guns for QLD trial
Wilkinson escapes citing
Reds to go on attack
For the rest it was an up-and-down first round that offered little to suggest we’re heading for anything but another year of French dominance.
England v Italy
Last year an Argentine team being described along the lines of ‘committed but limited’ took down a spluttering English team in their own backyard. At the time the victory at Twickenham was the low point of the English post-2003 slump. With hindsight we may now view the Argentine team as having been somewhat under-rated given their wonderful performance in last year’s world cup.
Italy could learn a lot from that performance as their team shares many similarities with that Argentine outfit. The Pumas victory showed the importance of tenacity. The virtues of hanging in there and weathering the storm. Time and time again the Argies found themselves bailed up by an English backline strung out at depth, a clear overlap to exploit and being beckoned on by a home crowd baying for the killer blow. Yet time and time again Marcelo Loffreda’s men did just enough to hold the home team out.
Slowly the English frustration grew as passes became sloppy and the all conquering pack started to become unsure of itself. The crowd booed, the players heads began to droop. Eventually an intercept try was gifted to stand-in fly half Federico Todeschini, the storm lifted and the English spirit broken.
Italy showed in their spirited first round loss to Ireland that they have more than enough tenacity to match that of the Pumas. Equally, England showed in their defeat to Wales that they have done little to improve their midfield leadership.
Sergio Parisse and Mauro Bergamasco are two of the best loose forwards in international rugby right now and both made life very difficult for the Irish. Similar pressure must be exerted this week on England’s halves and midfield if Italy are going to force the same sort of mistakes that Wales took advantage of late in last week’s game. New fly half Andrea Masi looks like a reliable play-making pivot around whom Italy might finally be able to supplement their great forward pack with a backline capable of scoring tries.
England on the other hand is in need of a new direction. The Guinness Premiership has offered up numerous young players of exuberance and style who have yet to take their play to international level. Despite the promise of the Cipriani’s, Geraghty’s, Hipkiss’s et al, the team’s tactics remain stuck in the bash and bore tactics of yesteryear.
Will it be enough to subdue the Italians? robably, but wear something blue on the day just in case of a famous victory.
Wales v Scotland
Just how good were Wales in their win over England? Just how bad were the English? This game is unlikely to shed any light on the matter as Scotland showed little signs last week of being able to maintain focus for more than a phase or two, let alone an entire game and Wales should account for them easily.
The monstrous Scottish pack does contain one player worthy of any international team. Nathan Hines has the bulk to make an impact in the set piece and couples it well with sublime ball handling skills that ensure good offloads from his carries. The image of Arthur Beetson drawing in tacklers and popping passes out over there heads comes to mind when Hines steams his Scottish team forward. At times Hines was able to inspire the rest of his team to similar heights and for those brief moments successions of brilliant Scottish offloads made large in roads into French territory.
Unfortunately this strength tends to get overused by the Scots as the backline, guided by the boot of Dan Parks, offered no real threat to the French. With their current structure, Scotland remain as much a one trick pony as Eddie Jones’ Queensland Reds in 2007.
It is however in the pack that Scotland will find its best chance of victory. Wales’ pack were swept off the park by the bullish England in the first half of their first round game. With no go forward and only poor field position to work with, the sleek James Hook could do little with the ball. Despite the accolades he received last week for igniting Wales’ revival it would be worth Frank Hadden remembering his poor first half kicking under pressure. Like all fly halves, he can only use the quality of ball he receives.
Wales’s forwards need to fight to keep its backline firing. Gavin Henson made short work of mastering the English defence with some smart angles and strong fending and will do the same against Scotland if given the chance. At fullback Lee Byrne is starting to bring his club form to the international stage and Mike Phillips was the perfectly, niggling scrum half Wales needed.
Perhaps the biggest threat to Wales’ chances this weekend will be how carried away with themselves they get after beating England. Keep their heads and they’ll keep their Six Nations hopes alive. Believe the hype and this game might become Scotland’s upset win for the year.
France v Ireland
Probably the make or break game of the tournament is upon us already. Ireland showed in the first half of last week’s victory over Italy that if nothing else the kicking game of Ronan O’Gara can still control a game as well as ever. A well executed set move from a scrum when Gordon D’Arcy was still on the field showed that some of their pre-world cup form is still alive. Alas, it was only too fleeting a return to form. The ghost of better times.
Against Scotland, France looked like the France we all love. Daring, dashing, confident and impetuous. You can’t like this French side just a little. They encapsulated in that performance everything that is good about the game and everything that rugby audiences around the world want to see. Most pleasingly for French eyes was that this wasn’t just a flighty backs performance but that the rebuilt French pack is just as tough and ugly as ever. New hooker William Servat was elbow-deep over the park and flanker Thierry Dusautoir has the same raw energy as his predecessors Olivier Magne and Serge Betsen.
On paper Ireland’s replacements for Paul O’Connell in the second row and D’Arcy at centre shouldn’t take that much away from the side. Malcolm O’Kelly is as staunch a lock as can be found and both Andrew Trimble and Shane Horgan have enough international experience to fill the inside centre role. Unfortunately their lineout looked all at sea without its’ red-headed anchor last week and the backline never seemed comfortable when D’Arcy was gone. Ireland are no longer a star team but a team of fading stars.
Last year Vincent Clerc made a name for himself by scything through a good Irish side to steal a last minute victory. One can only wonder what he will do this year against an ageing and inferior model.
France to win and Lievremont’s Baby Bleues to go all the way in 2008.
Ian Noble
Guest
Richard Haughton is one of the nearly men. An excellent 7's player yet has not made the grade yet as a full international. Whilst he is a winger, I think he has also played fullback for Sarries and is that a possibility for him in the future. Looking to the future, I am a Quins fan and we have had our ups and downs this year, but in the game against Sale, with all their internationals, the average age of the team was 24. The majority of the players were English and there seems to be a strategy by Dean Richards to bring on English players boosted by a few foreign players. On that point it has been rumoured that Vickerman might be joining Quins next year. Back to my vin rouge, or by the way did you read Mike Cleary blog on Telegraph Online about promotion and relegation for the 6N's very interesting. perhaps the time has come for a second tier tournament.
Garth Hamilton
Guest
Ian, Actually I was using the word fat in a very jocular sense. Like calling your best mate a bastard, a red head 'blue' or a tall bloke 'stretch'. I think it is absolutely great that the likes of both Castrogiovanni and Sheridan are so highly regarded in the Premiership and Heineken Cup. There was a great photo of Sheridan running around at training with his shirt off, not that that sort of thing does it for me, but the caption underneath the pic said something like 'does this look like the body of a prop?'. The bloke is as lean as a whippet - no fat, just complete muscle. On the whole I think the Premiership has the edge on the Super 14 on a few levels. Its not such a short burst and because of the length of the season you really need to have some depth in your team to do well. You get to see a wider variety of rugby played - you certainly can't say the clubs play boring rugby - all of the big teams throw it around when they can but with the weather being what it is they can also tuck it up the jumper and grind out wins. Wasps are great at playing both types of rugby with the likes of Vickery in the front and Cipriani at fly half highlight the duality. The current batch of youngsters coming through the Premiership are very exciting for England's future. I think it goes a long way to show how good the introduction of foreign players has been to the English clubs. Now English kids grow up watching both great forwards like homegrown heroes Sheridan and Vickery as well as great backs like the Kiwi imports King Carlos and McAllister. Hopefully the Scots start to get some good young playmakers coming through the ranks.
London bureau
Guest
Ian, I think you'll find that Garth was referring to Martin Castrogiovanni, not Andy Sheridan, as a big fat prop who was last year's GP player of the year. Not that I would call him that to his face though. Agree with your point on the number of backs coming through the ranks of GP teams. A personal favourite of mine is Saracens tryscoring machine, Richard Haughton. He has represented England at various levels and could be a darkhorse to make his international debut in the next 12-18 months.
Ian Noble
Guest
Garth It is a pity you should say that Sheridan is fat, presumably implying that he is unfit and a lump of lard. He is happens to be 19 stone and his fat ratio is one of the lowest in the England team. Why, quite simply he trains very hard and benchpresses enormous lifts and as an ex back rower he is reasonably quick for a prop. I certainly would not wish to be hit by Sheridan in full flight. The success of the GP can only be judged by the increasing number of spectators, which has led the GP board to indicate that all clubs in the GP must strive to have grounds capable of handling 15,000 spectators. How good it is, is a subjective opinion but turning it on it's head some observers of S14 consider it to be "powder puff" rugby and not a mans game!! All teams try to impose their style of play on the opposition to build a platform for success. I think over the next few years the impact of the foreign influence on the GP will become more noticeable as the new breed of English players are faster, fitter and will play a more expansive game as they have learnt alot from these players and the influx of foreign coaches from the SH. Certainly there is a greater choice of backs coming through allied with the tradition strength in the pack could create an interesting English team and indeed other NH teams. I look forward to the new laws being implemented as it will play into the hands of new breed of NH teams, as the professional era is at last creating players who will be able to perform and welcome the greater space available.
Garth Hamilton
Guest
Ian, Sheridan is a huge loss. Paricularly as the Italians have a very good front row with Martin Castrogiovanni leading the way. Just as a side note, how good is the Guinness Premiership where a big fat prop like him can be awarded player of the season! Some really interesting stats from the first round of the six nations. The England v Wales game produced by far and away the least number of passes at 184 compared to the 285 in the Scotland v France match and 221 in the Ireland v Italy game. This match also had the least stoppages, the least tackles/ruck/mauls and the least number of penalties awarded. You kind of get the feeling from reading these figures that for much of the game not a lot was going on. I certainly got that feeling watching it until Wales started to turn it on. I would be surprised if these figures change much for the rest of England's games as perhaps their biggest strength is that they can impose their way of playing the game onto the opposition. Put bluntly, they bring others down to their level.
Ian Noble
Guest
Gareth Looking in fron the NH, an interesting analysis and unless England pull themselves together they will come unstuck in Rome. England have lost key players through injury, of which Sheridan is the latest. Johnnie is under alot of pressure; generally the media are calling for him to be replaced by Ciprani and as his kicking percentages have dropped so the clamour has increased. Italy under Mallett are improving and have a very powerful pack as illustrated against the Irish. Wales did not have to play well against England and it will interesting to see how they go against Scotland. Scotland have promised so much but have failed to deliver so far. The game in Cardiff will be close and if the Scots are fired up they could pinch it. France have made a number of changes as they rotate their squad and they should too strong for Ireland. Ireland need some new blood. They have the most experienced squad but they seem to run out of ideas and were lucky to beat an improving Italy. One of the beauties of the 6N's is it's unpredictability and I am sure there will be some surprises this weekend. Can't wait to spend a few hours with mates drinking bottles of vin rouge, with french bread and shilton cheese watching this festival of rugby.
Garth Hamilton
Guest
Photon, Pleased to meet you. Feel free to pay your attention any which way you wish. I'm happy to put my name to my opinions and believe me I suffered more than enough ribbing from my South African friends for having done so on the Roar. I got that call wrong, it wasn't the first and it won't be the last. If I got every prediction right I wouldn't be moonlighting as a busted arse hack - I'd be down the TAB making millions with my 'never-fail' predictions. I've offered this preview, like my others, as a means of generating debate on the coming games. If you like you can even give your own opinion on what you think the outcome of any number of games might be. Its that kind of site. In the meantime its good to see Lievremont has stuck with largely the same side this week. Unfortunately the exciting new winger Malzieu has been forced out with injury but I think we'll see much more of him. Chris Paterson will get a run-on for Scotland but not at fly half as Dan Parks has been retained for at least another run. England won't make any more changes to last week's side than injury will force them to and the beleaguered Jonny Wilkinson will get a chance to make things right.
Photon
Guest
Aren't you the chump who predicted that the boks would lose to Argentina in the semi-finals of the world cup, then was to spineless to post a preview for the final after they got smashed!! Why would anyone pay attention to what you have to say. Then again maybe northern hemisphere rugby takes less rugby knowledge to profile.
Rabbitz
Guest
It would be nice to watch the Six Nations... Pity that even the premium pay-tv package on the nations largest provider doesn't give you access...