The opening weekend of the Six Nations certainly did not disappoint with wins for Wales, France and Ireland.
From it there were several talking points – here we look at six things we learned from the first round of matches.
1) England showed great character to fight back but worryingly lack of composure
Thirty seconds into the game at Paris heralded delight for the French and horror for England, as Yoann Huget took advantage of a lucky ricochet off a England player from Jules Plisson’s grubber kick, allowing Huget to run in for the game’s first try.
For most of the first half France ran riot in the Stade de France, as they capitalised on the cruel luck of a bouncing ball, which deceived Billy Twelvetrees and Jack Nowell allowing Huget to score his second try.
England found themselves 16-3 down after 22 minutes and you feared for Stuart Lancaster’s men. However, Mike Brown’s try just before half time pulled it back to 16-8, giving Lancaster some hope to his players in his half time team talk.
Whatever Lancaster said in the dressing room it certainly worked for England were immense in the second half. From the get go England created several phases and built momentum – their forwards especially Billy Vunipola and later on Ben Morgan carried excellently punching holes in the French defence.
Luther Burrell’s try highlighted Vunipola’s rampaging ball carrying, as he went past the gainline off a Owen Farrell pass before Vunipola wonderfully offloaded to Burrell who scored underneath the posts to put England 18-16 ahead after Farrell’s conversion.
Vunipola’s thrust forward was key, as it drew three French players onto him, giving Burrell a clear run to the tryline when receiving Vunipola’s offload.
However, England had a few chances to seal the game but could not extend their five point lead. Owen Farrell and Jack Nowell made line breaks but were unable to look up and see support runners causing the move to break down and eventually the French were able to turn the ball over. Their inability to close the game would haunt England, as France fought back to score at the death.
For Stuart Lancaster he will be pleased how his team fought back after conceding a early try and being down by 14 points but will be disheartened at how they were unable to close the game.
Danny Care was brilliant though his substitution when the game was still in the balance was baffling for he wasn’t injured.
If England had won then I would be writing about how Lancaster’s men have turned a corner showing character but steely resilience needed to go far (or even win) a World Cup.
However, England will be hurting at losing the game at the dying moments. Danny Care as said before was excellent along with Billy Vunipola.
Owen Farrell’s line breaks showed his creativity that in the past had been lacking at times. But despite these good individual performances they would prefer to have won the game.
2) France were lucky to win and have Gael Fickou to thank
As said before France were monstrous in the first half prior to Mike Brown’s try just before half time. However, in the second half their game crumbled, as England roared back into the game.
Centre Mathieu Bastareaud was ineffective and lost the midfield battle with Luther Burrell.
Though Wesley Fofana was quiet head coach Philippe Saint Andre made the right decision in subbing Bastareuad for Gael Fickou who showed just why the 19 year old is highly rated and potentially a world-class starlet.
The arrival of Gael Fickou would prove key, as head coach Saint Andre replaced physicality with pace and flair for the final ten minutes of the game.
With a few minutes left Fickou received the ball on the left wing and expertly ghosted past Alex Goode to score the winner to the sheer delight of the Parisian crowd. Were it not for Fickou’s composure and expert finishing France would have lost that game.
It is likely Gael Fickou will replace Bastareaud for next week’s game at home to Italy.
Saint Andre would have been relieved to record a victory. Though a breathtaking game for neutrals the French will take great positives from it.
They needed the win after a horrible 2013 and be a massive confidence boost for next week’s game to Italy especially when defeating an old rival who had designs on winning the Six Nations.
3) Wales were lacklustre and need to shape up against Ireland
Wales want to lay down marker – they won but were unimpressive. Wales’ two tries came from Italy mistakes.
The first try by Alex Cuthbert came by a calamitous error from debutant Angelo Esposito when he misjudged the bounce of ball to allow Cuthbert to score.
The second try came about from Italian centre Alberto Sgarbi drifting too early and missing Jamie Roberts who broke through the line and passed to Scott Williams to score underneath the posts.
At 17-3 at half time it seemed Wales would run rampant but Warren Gatland would not be impressed at how they lost control in the second half.
Italy’s two tries came about after Wales surrendered possession – one of which came about from a intercepted pass from Leigh Halfpenny.
The performance was sluggish – when Leigh Halfpenny misses kicks that in the past he slotted with great ease, it spells trouble.
Wales know they have to improve immensely against Ireland in Dublin because if they repeat their sluggish performance against Italy they will be blown away. But a win is a win and Wales will take it.
There’s one bright spot for Gatland: centre Jonathan Davies made his comeback from injury for the Scarlets on the weekend and is in contention to play against Ireland. That will be a huge boost for Wales.
4) Michele Campagnaro – a star is born?
Prior to the game against Wales all eyes were on Tommaso Allan after Jacques Brunel selected the young fly half. Allan’s story is well known in terms of choosing Italy instead of Scotland.
The Perpignan stand off had a decent game despite missing two crucial kicks and combined well with scrum half Edoardo Gori. Allan was willing to run with the ball and be positive, which is always a good thing in a fly half.
But it was the 20-year-old centre Michele Campagnaro who excelled for Italy despite their 23-15 defeat.
He was at the heart of everything good about the Italians. Despite being 17-3 down at half time the Azzurri showed great heart to fight back to 20-15 before Wales extended the lead to eight points via Leigh Halfpenny’s penalty.
Campagnaro did well to kick Leonardo Sarto’s hopeful punt forward after Italy turned the ball over on the 22 and gratefully touched down.
Campagnaro’s second try was excellent anticipation, as he intercepted Halfpenny’s lacklustre pass. Campagnaro did well in attack with his two tries, warranting his man of the match award, but he was equally as good in defence doing well on his tackling and drift defence.
Kudos goes to Jacques Brunel for giving youth a chance and in doing so have unearthed a real gem in Michele Campagnaro. If you add Tommaso Allan, Leonardo Sarto (who played well) along with the returning Gio Venditti and Tommaso Benvenuti then Italy’s backline suddenly looks quite dangerous.
5) Ireland shook off the loss of skipper Paul O’Connell to win comfortably
Joe Schmidt must have sweated slightly a few hours before kick off when hearing talismanic captain Paul O’Connell was ruled out of the game against Scotland with a chest infection.
The lock is a brilliant player; adding an aura of confidence, with pundits before the game saying how O’Connell would be a big miss for the Irish.
But Ireland did not miss him. In fact the Irish played well even though the first half was quite close. Both teams’ forwards competed fiercely at the breakdown committing several players into the ruck in an absorbing contest.
However, Andrew Trimble’s try at the end of the first half turned the game, as they led 11-3 at half time.
In the second half it was a different story, as Ireland ran riot in the lineout and scrum. The Irish forwards were excellent in winning the battle of the breakdown in the second half winning several turnovers.
As the game unfolded the Irish forwards became dominant in the lineout and scrum. Fly half Jonathan Sexton was mischievous in his playmaking – delaying passes, kicking good garryowens to put pressure on Scotland.
His line break, which led to Jamie Heaslip’s disallowed try, served to energise the Dublin crowd giving the team added impetus to take their chance via Trimble’s try. Schmidt would have been pleased how his team played but know they will have to be at the top of their game against Wales next week.
6) Same old story for Scotland
It was the same script for Scotland, as once again they failed to take what ball and territory they had in the first half. Scotland dominated possession in the first half but only had a solitary penalty for their troubles struggling against a good Irish defence.
There were two key moments where Scotland lost the game – the first moment was losing the lineout on their own ball just five metres from their tryline led to Trimble scoring just before halftime.
The second moment was losing the ball on their own scrum purely because their hooker Ross Ford did not strike the ball towards the No.8. Ireland did try to hook the ball and turned the ball over that would lead to Jamie Heaslip bundling over the tryline via a rolling maul.
Scotland badly missed prop Euan Murray who would have added stability in the scrum and would have gone toe to toe with Ireland’s Cian Healy.
But Scotland’s main problem once again was failing to take their chances and score tries. As said before in my preview on Scotland though they may huff and puff they are unable to show that killer instinct when it matters.
When it was 11-3 the Scots wilted away with Ireland asserting their dominance and not allowing Scotland to score any tries. Compare that to Italy who fought back valiantly when 17-3 down to lose by eight points when many thought the margin of victory would be twenty points.
To make things worse Scotland have lost Sean Maitland to a nasty ankle injury that will likely end his Six Nations campaign.
Next up for Scotland is home to England where England will look to kickstart their Six Nations with a win after their heartbreaking defeat to France.
Scotland have done decently against England at home in previous Six Nations matches but they need to finish off what possession and territory they have.
If things remain the same they will likely finish bottom – the dreaded wooden spoon.
Hero Of The Week: Michele Campagnaro for his two tries on his Six Nations debut. Also Nigel Owens for another great refereeing performance. No coincidence that the best games of 2013 were under Owens’ watch.
Villain Of The Week: Scotland’s toothless back line bar Stuart Hogg – the full back battled manfully, as did the forwards.
Also scrums – lots of reset scrums in the Scotland/Ireland game. A blight on the game.
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