Proud England, Biggar steps up and it's time for the 20 minute red card rule: 6N Talking Points

Round four of the 2022 Six Nations produced some stunning battles and while the score lines were relatively low, the contests were enthralling. Not surprisingly there is so much to talk about so let’s get stuck in.

England can turn performance full of pride into victory in Paris

While England will be bitterly disappointed at losing to Ireland at Twickenham, they will take so much pride from their performance that they can genuinely go and beat the champions elect, France, in Paris next weekend. 

Everyone who watched how England managed to stay in touch with Ireland despite being a man down for 78 minutes of the march was impressed and many couldn’t quite believe how they were only three points behind with eight minutes left in the game.

Love them or hate them – and let’s face it, pretty much everyone else hates them – you couldn’t help applauding the non stop effort from the English players. 

Hooker Jamie George said after the game “this is one of the proudest days I’ve had in an England shirt” and former Irish number eight, Jamie Heaslip, heaped plenty of praise on the effort from the England side. 

Despite being forced to make well over 130 tackles and spending huge amounts of time trying to defend against the most cohesive team in world rugby, the English missed less than 25 tackles and gave away only eight penalties. 

Their pack was incredible and their scrum was destructive with Ellis Genge showing the world that he should be regarded as one of the very best props on his day – more of him later. 

The key now is that England must deliver that exact same level of heart and intensity against France in seven days and add to hit some attacking power. If they can, then France, perhaps nervous when they realise they are just 80 minutes away from a Grand Slam, might stumble at the final hurdle. 

But let’s be clear – if England don’t deliver next week then Eddie Jones and the RFU are going to have to reflect on another poor Six Nations and one brave loss isn’t going to be enough to cover up the issues that this England side have yet to figure out how to fix.

Cut Ellis Genge some slack – being the best is about using the dark arts

The English prop had a fantastic game against the Irish and made Tadhg Furlong look out of his depth. Tadhg Furlong! The guy who has been regarded as one of the greatest props to play the game by many was out scrummaged over and over and over again. 

This in a match where England were missing one of their first choice locks to a red card in the second minute and had to rely upon 87kg winger Jack Nowell to play at flanker come scrum time.

Genge helped earn his side six scrum penalties and was the perfect example of the spirit and relentless effort that saw England come much closer than many would imagine to making something incredible happen.

Yet despite this, there have been plenty of people jumping on Genge’s performance and saying that the guy was side stepping at scrum time more than a flamenco dancer when the music starts. As if trying to find a way around the rules wasn’t something that the very greatest in the game have been lauded for down the decades. 

The sports writer, Sam Walker, explains in his book Captain Class that the greatest leaders of the greatest teams in the history of sports had that part of their game that would do whatever it took to win, including breaking the rules. He uses the Richie McCaw trip in the 2015 World Cup against the Pumas as a prime example of what the very best will do, perhaps even should do, to help their side win.

So let’s give Genge a break shall we and enjoy his performance for what it was – something special where a player combined power, ability and game smarts to do what it took to give his side a chance of victory.

France add adaptability to their list of strengths

So many compliments have been showered on this current French side but you can now add adaptability to the long list, and that is worrying for their opponents. 

Against Wales this weekend, France played some inspiring passages during the match and demonstrated again their pace and accuracy with ball in hand, their confidence in attack, their power in defence and their ruthless nature.

But so often with even the top sides, one ability has often eluded them – the ability to adapt their game plan when it doesn’t work as desired. 

So often sides reach the heights by being able to execute one game style incredibly well but then on the odd occasion when an opponent finds away to spoil this game plan, even the best stumble. 

The Welsh came up with a clever plan of using their back rowers Seb Davies and Josh Navidi to target key French line out man Cameron Woki. Wayne Pivac and his team had clearly identified that so much of France’s attack from lineouts begins with the powerful Woki and and so they wanted to cut off the source – and that worked very well. 

The Welsh also realised the threat the French look to use their outside backs to terrorise opponents and so commited very few men to the breakdown, preferring instead to have more men in their defensive line. 

Both of these tactics worked really well, until that is, the French adapted. 

They adjusted their line out plans and brought in their kicking game more and played a more direct style with ball in hand to suck in defenders before trying to spin the ball wide. 

This ability to adapt is an incredible strength. Knowing that something isn’t working is one thing – being able to identify specifically what isn’t working, how to fix it and then fixing it while the other side are throwing themselves at you is the difference between the very best and the rest. 

If France can continue to combine a pretty impressive Plan A with the ability to adapt to an effective Plan B when needed, then they are looking at a World Cup Final in 2023 and a chance for the big one.

The Six Nations needs to adopt the 20 minute red card rule

No one is doubting that the decision to send Charlie Ewell to the sidelines in the second minute of the game was the right one – he got it wrong and while there was no malicious intent involved, he had to go. 

But the game was pretty much decided from that moment onwards and it highlighted that the Six Nations must embrace change and start to use the 20 minute red card rule. 

The rule has been tested in the Southern Hemisphere and shown encouraging results when it comes to protecting the integrity of the contest.

In Super Rugby AU in 2021, there were seven red cards in the regular season and the team who had the one man advantage finished with just a cumulative one point difference if the red card happened before the 60th minute. Furthermore, in the four games when the rule was used, the team who lost a man to the red card actually went on to win three times.

Currently there’s little evidence to suggest that the 20 minute rule leads to more red cards because it’s not enough of a deterrent to players, although there is still a relatively small dataset to carry out the analysis.

Ironically, the contest that unfolded between England and Ireland after the red card was one of the most compelling of the competition. But the Six Nations cannot rely upon that happening every time a player is sent from the field for good, and the tournament needs to move with the times.

Welsh Captaincy suits Dan Biggar

Dan Biggar has always worn his heart on his sleeve and many thought that he wouldn’t be able to cope with the responsibility of being the Welsh skipper. Could he bring a more mature attitude to his discussions with refs? Could he be calm and collected when a crucial decision was required?

Against France this weekend, Biggar played so well and was the main reason why the Welsh were in with a genuine shout of beating the incredible French side. 

As former Welsh fly half James Hook explained “Dan Biggar gets criticised so much for the things he can’t do, I think we have to start appreciating the things he can do.” There were plenty of these things on show in Cardiff including a quite beautiful 50:22 and a cross field kick that so very nearly led to a game changing try for the Welsh. 

But beyond his kicking, Biggar was the energy and guts that typified the Welsh game. He didn’t miss a single tackle all match long – pretty amazing when you consider the size and pace of ball carriers that were coming down his channel.

Biggar will earn his 100th cap when he takes the field against Italy next week. He’s had the chance to learn leadership at the hands of one of the game’s greats in Alun Wyn Jones and now he’s showing that he is ready, willing and very able to take on the mantle. 

One round to go and there’s loads to play for

Super Saturday is just a few days away with the final three games of the 2022 Six Nations running back to back and what a day it’s going to be. 

If England win in Paris then it’s the kind of victory that not only would secure them a vaguely respectable finishing position on the ladder, but could be the crucial step they need to head down to Australia with confidence. If they lose then there will be very serious discussions about whether Eddie Jones’ position is tenable any longer. 

Ireland will know that the best thing they can do, the only thing they can do, is beat Scotland and then hope for a favour from England. Arguably, not winning the title could be a good thing for the Irish. They are so often seen as the team that peaks a year too early for the World Cup so perhaps just missing out in 2022 will keep them hungry for 2023 when it really matters.

Scotland will know that beating the Irish is going to be tough but boy, if they can pull it off then the loss to Wales will be forgotten, at least for a while and they will take great confidence into the July internationals. If they lose to Ireland, then it will be a disappointing Six Nations for a side that promised better and failed to deliver when it mattered.

Italy will be yet again in search of that victory that can help them somehow keep some semblance of positivity and hope. 

And then there’s France. The side that everyone feels deserves not just the title but the Grand Slam to go with it. But can they live with the pressure of being the team we all think should lift the trophy at home against a struggling England side. If France falls at this final hurdle then will it make them hungrier for the next 18 months or will it cause such a crack in their confidence that they can’t come back from it?