ENGLAND CAN'T FIND PRIDE, SCOTLAND CAN'T STOP FRENCH TITLE

 

 

So, it's the last weekend of the 2007 Six Nations. Scotland are well out of the title race and were simply looking to avoid the wooden spoon. England still had a shot at the title but it required favours from elsewhere. Which left the main two combatents as France and Ireland. Three games, one day. The French came into 'Super Saturday' with the edge but not by much. It was the closest Ireland have been to a title since the 1980s.

First move was Ireland's and they faced Italy at the Stadio Flaminio. Ronan O'Gara opened the scoring for the Irish with a penalty only for Ramiro Pez to level things with a drop goal and give the Azzuri the lead with a penalty. Tries from Girwan Dempsey and Simon Easterby gave the Irish a commanding lead though that a Pex penalty and drop goal couldn't do anything about. O'Gara then converted tries from Gordon Darcy, them Dempsey before Shane Horgan joined the party. Only question then was, how many more tries would the Irish score? Well O'Gara converted tries from both Dennis Hickie and himself before Marco Bortalami attempted an Italian fightback. A last Hickie try put paid to that idea but late tries from Andrea Scananacca and Roland de Marigny made things interesting in the long term though on paper, a 51-24 win was great news for the Irish.

Next up was France vs Scotland at the Stade de France. For the French, the Ireland game meant that they had to beat the Scots by 24 points or more to take Ireland out of the picture. For the Scots, they were simply playing for pride, the Championship was nothing to do with them and this was just their last semi-competitive game before the World Cup. History certainly wasn't on the Scots' side. Yes, they beat the French at Murrayfield last year, but the last Scottish win in Paris was in the old Five Nations back in '99 to the tune of 36-22.

The opening minutes suggested that the Scots intended to make up for their recent record in Paris. They went right on the attack and a kick from Dan Parks found Nikki Walker on the opposite corner and it was a case of "what? The Scots have a try?". The French still didn't really get their act together for a while though eventually Lionel Beauxis put over a penalty and it was soon down solely to solid Scottish defence to prevent a French try. That wall finally broke with Imanol Harinodguy claiming credit for a driving try which Beauxis converted. Another dodgy interception then led to Yannick Jauzion getting a free run at the line, Beauxis converting The French kicker added a penalty before the Scots showed they were still in business when Sean Lamont caught the French defence on the hop to score with Patterson converting. France led 20-14 at half time but the Irish would have been happier.

Scotland should in theory have gotten a try early on in the second half but it was dissallowed for a forward pass. However from there on in the French took over and though once again, the Scots defence proved solid for a while the French did break through with David Marty getting a try, Beauxis converting and Cedric Heymans took advantage when bigger holes appeared in the Scottish defence. It was then confirmed that it wasn't going to be Scotland's day when the ref sinbinned Sean Lamont rather than his brother Rory and David Miloud then took credit for another French driven try which Beauxis converted. The French were headed for the title and the Scots looked happy to give it to them until they went on one last attack, insisting on going for the try time where David Murray was found to pick up the points. However the story was not over yet. One last French drive in injury time and an Irish video referee allowed Elvis Verneulan to claim a try. Beauxis converted and France looked set for the title again after a 46-19 win.

So, where did that leave England? At the Millenium Stadium, about to face Wales. Now at Twickenham we hammer the Welsh at will, like we did last year to the tune of 47-13. In Cardiff it's another matter entirely though, the Welsh never let us get away with those sorts of margins on their turf, the last time we beat them there was during the Slam of '03, 26-9. And this time round we needed to beat them by 53 points to take second place off Ireland and 56 points to take the title off France. Which is near impossible.

It's definately impossible if you're going to allow the Welsh to force you back to your tryline from the start and then allow James Hook to charage down a kick before converting the resulting try. England still didn't really get out of their half after that and Hook added a penalty before another Welsh surge brought a second try, Chris Horsman picking up where Shane Williams left off. Finally England sorted themselves out, got some attacking play and when Mike Catt burst through the Welsh defence, the home side couldn't stop the ball finding Harry Ellis and with Flood both converting that try then adding a later drop goal. Hook replied with a penalty but then came another English surge and just when it looked like the Welsh had shut it down, Jason Robinson appeared to snap up the try. Wales still lead 18-15 at half time but a turnaround of some kind looked likely.

England picked up where they left off in the second half and Flood fired in another penalty to level the scores. For the last half an hour we had a game on, only problem was that the Welsh regained the lead through a Hook penalty and once the Welsh took over again, he added another drop goal. England never really came back into the match after that, Hook finishing them off with one last penalty. The game had been effectivly over after 20 minutes and Wales came out with a 27-18 win.

So, France won the title, Ireland picked up 2nd place, and England were left with third after a set of performances that included some classy stuff at Twickenham but various forms of hopelessness away from home. We've got a World Cup to defend later this year and my thinking is that, with a group made up of South Africa, Samoa, Tonga and the USA to deal with, the only team the hopeless side would beat are the Yanks, we need a lot more consistancy.

Further down, it's Italy in fourth, Wales getting what has to be a very lucky fifth and Scotland, who by my reckoning have been a better team than the Welsh this tournament, having to pick up the wooden spoon. Having said that, the Scots despite their quality moments, will also have trouble getting out of their World Cup group. New Zealand will be mission impossible which leaves Italy, Romania and either Portugal or Uruguay, depending on who wins the repechage tie between the last two countries(Portugal having wn the first leg 12-5 in Lisbon). Scotland vs Italy is likely to decide second place in that group.

Click here to go to 'other sports' archive

Comments go here

Click here to return to sports homepage

Click here to return to Matt G's homepage