ENGLAND CLAIM SECOND, SCOTLAND FADE AWAY AGAIN

 

Well the last time England faced Ireland was in the Gaelic sports cathedral of Croke Park. The men in green were in full voice and the only thing that went right for us was God Save the Queen not getting booed, other than that, it was a disaster. Fact is, the Irish have had a good run against us recently, the last time we beat them was during the Grand Slam of '03! That match was actually at their old Lansdowne Road ground but we still won 42-6.

This time round, well neither side had had an awesome Six Nations so the match between the two sides was effectively a third place playoff. The bad news for England was that Ireland not only had played some good rugby this tournament but were the ones that held that third place. The good news was that the match was at Twickenham and England were needing a good performance to end the tournament on. Danny Cipriani finally started a game as did Nick Easter with Johnny dropped.

Our start came out of the worst case scenario book though, a string of Irish passes leading to Rob Kearney finding a hole in which to score a try with Ronan O'Gara converting before adding a penalty not long afterwards. England replied with Cipriani opening his England account with a long range pen and then England got down to business, Cipriani giving Sackey a hole to run into, try England, Cipriani converted, match level and England were back. Cipriani added another kick and the match cooled down after that, England leading 13-10 at half time.

Cipriani picked up where he left off after half time with another pen and after that it was all England. A string of passes(including one from Johnny the sub) found Tait on the flank and he threaded the needle to touch down with no Irish opposition whatsoever, Cipriani converting. A scrum under the Irish posts provided the next score with the ball finding it's way to Noon who went over, Cipriani converting, game over. Cipriani added another pen. Is the Johnny Wilkinson era over? Who knows, bottom line fr the time being was England winning 33-10!

Scotland vs Italy. It's always been the match with the least amount of interest ever since the Six Nations started up. The general rugby population hasn't rated Scotland for the best part of a decade and Italy have yet to be rated as a serious threat in the tournament. Last time round, the Scots had one of their worst performances ever at Murrayfield, losing 37-17. The last time Scotland beat the Italians was a scrabbly 13-10 win at the Stadio Olimpico in '06.

This time round it was back to the Stadio Olimpico and another wooden spoon decider. Scotland were in theory the stronger side having actually won a game but Italy had put up a fight on a couple of occassions and had home advantage. Still, it was possible for the Azurri to win the match but still finish bottom. Fergus Thomson was a new name in the Scotland XV and Frank Hadden was banking on another decent result, though some class from the Scots would have been nice.

Things didn't go well for the Scots though as they picked up another injury. The Azurri pack responded by driving into their opponents and got a penalty try off a maul, Andrea Marcato converting. Scotland quickly replied though, McCloud feeding Hogg inches from the line to go over, Patterson converting. The ace kicker added a penalty to complete the turnaround only for Marcato to level in similar fashion. A stoppage time attack led to Blair running through for a second Scottish try, Patterson converted, Scotland led 17-10 at half time.

The second half opened up in tight fashion with both sides soaking each other up and the game looked to be grinding to a halt, which would have been fine by Scotland but Italy had other ideas, a Scottish fumble allowing Segio Parisse to fast break before throwing the ball to Gonzle Canale, Marcato converting. Scotland ran the show for most of the match afterwards but it was Italy who completed another turnaround with a Marcato penalty. Patterson levelled only for Marcato to have the last laugh with a drop goal, Italy won 23-20.

Elsewhere, Wales faced France and the Millenium Stadium with the title and Grand Slam up for grabs. James Hook opened the scoring for Wales with two penalties. France pulled three back through a Jean-Baptiste Elissalde pen but Hook restored his side's six point lead only for Elissalde to level the match with two more pens. Finally a try came, for Wales from Shane Williams with Steven Jones converting before adding a pen. Dimitri Yachvilli pulled three back with a pen Jones then added a pen before converting a Martyn Williams try to secure a 29-12 lead.

Well Scotland only avoided the wooden spoon by the skin of their teeth. Level on points with Italy, they finished the competition level on points with Italy with only a +5 match points difference advantage! England not only finished a full four points ahead of the scrapheap but somehow, despite everything, scrambled into second place for the first time since the Grand Slam of '03! Four points ahead of us were Wales though, winning not only the title but the Grand Slam for the first time since '05! What can you say about the Welsh rugby team? They can be utterly useless sometimes but the 2008 Six Nations will go down as the year that they caught everyone on the hop!

 

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