TWICKENHAM HOLDS FIRM , SCOTLAND FALL SHORT

 

 

Well last year when England faced France it was at the Stade de France and after an embarrassing performance we lost 31-6 and my swearing could probably be heard on the other side of the Channel. The last time we even beat the French was during the 2003 World Cup semi finals, when I was a full time Uni student and we won 24-7 at the Telstra stadium. Earlier on that year I was still at Halls when we beat France 25-17 in the Six Nations at Twickenham.

Well the two sides met again at Twickenham with the French still sniffing a Grand Slam while Brian Ashton was forced to overhaul the men in white after the Croke Park disaster. Johnny was injured and replaced as kicker by club teammate Toby Flood. Mike Catt was brought in to captain a side even though he's ancient along with Nick Easter. It was a team charged with keeping the title race open, and despite England's schizo form it was always going to be stupid to count them out.

Well things didn't start well. France had the first serious attack and got a David Skrela penalty out of it. England soon countered and Flood replied with a penalty of his own. The match evened out with Skrela regaining the lead for France after another penalty and while it was good to see England breinging their A game to town after the poor performances of the last two games, the French kicker put another penalty over before he was substituted. Flood pulled a pen back for England, France replied in similar style through Dimitri Yashvilli though Flood had the half's last word. 12-9 France but England were well in it.

Well the second half certainly started in messy fashion but England certainly still had the edge and made use of it when Catt surged forward and beat a slow opponent before lobbing it to Flood who ran over the line and converted to give England the lead for the first time in the match! One big reason for this turn of events was the English treatment of Sebastien Chabal. What do English players do when a French player comes to Twickenham with a big rep? Whack him before he goes anywhere. Anywaay, Chabal was withdrawn because we had his number and Yashvilli turned things round again with two French penalties. Flood then had to be replaced with debutant Shane Geraghty and the French just didn't know how to handle him, his penalty to give England back the lead was for starters. Their defence freezing as he needle-threaded his way through the field after winning a kicking exchange then lobbing the ball left. It found Tindall and he found the line, Geraghty converting. Game over in awesome style, England won 26-18 and that's the England I like to see.

Scotland vs Ireland matches are usually interesting not least because I can remember Scotland running the show in these fixture most of the time in the 90s. Now Ireland have the ascendency. Last year Ireland won a messy encounter at Lansdowne Road 15-9 and you have to go back to my Hall of Residence days of '01 to find the last Scottish win, 32-10 at Lansdowne Road and that match was delayed due to the foot and mouth scare, wich was a mad way to run a rugby tournament.

So this time round the two sides faced off at Murrayfield with Ireland on a high after beating England and looking to keep their title hopes alive at least as long as the England-France game the following day(and subsequently the final weekend). Scotland's title chances are blown for this year but they just wanted to make up for embarrasssment against Italy and put on a show and in that situation, the Irish couldn't take the game for granted.

Well Scotland may have had the first attack but it didn't really go anywhere and Ireland's counter resulted in them opening the scoring with a Ronan O'Gara penalty. The Irish certainly kept the edge for a while but after an equalising pen from Chris Patterson the tide turned and Scotland looked to be getting more of an edge...only for Dan Parks to completely mess up a clearance. Easy charge down from O'Gara and the Scots never looked like stopping him picking up seven points. The Scots kept hammering though and Patterson kicking two pens to O'Gara's one in the tail end of the first half gave the Scots hope though Ireland led 13-9.

Nathan Hines getting sinbinned early on in the second half theoretically did the Scots no favours whatsoever. However this looked like a low energy Irish side and while Patterson kicked another penalty, the visitors failed to add any score of their own while he was out of action. So the Scots went on a surge and got another pen. Chris Patterson does not miss. Scotland lead and were coming within inches of the Irish line, another Patterson penalty should have meant game over! However O'Gara's quick response suggested a nervy last few mins for the Scots and another penalty conceded and the home side were back to square one! Finally Ireland played some quality rugby, enough to secure a 19-18 win and the Triple Crown.

Elsewhere, Wales faced Italy at the Stadio Flaminio. Ramiro Pez opened the scoring for the Italians with two penalties before Wales replied with a Shane Williams try converted by Stephen Jones to take the lead. The Italians replied with Pez converting a Kaine Robertson try only for the Welsh to turn it back after James Hook fired over two penalties either side of converting a Matthew Rees try. Italy reply with a Pez penalty before the kicker converted a Mauro Bergamasco try to give Italy the lead once and for all. 23-20 even if the ref did get his timing wrong at the end.

So that leaves France still top of the table but only by points difference now with Ireland and England in second and third respectivly. Pick your Six Nations Champion from there. Italy might think they have a shout in fourth but it's a long shot. Scotland are in fifth and all they should be looking to avoid the wooden spoon.

The Grand Slam is off the table. Let's rumble.

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