ENGLAND FINISH WITH CALCUTTA CUP

 

 

The last time England played Scotland, the two sides were at Murrayfield in '08 and the Scots came up with an iffy 15-9 win which knocked England out of the title race that year. The last time the two sides faced each other at Twickenham though, it was a much different story, Scotland getting outclassed to the tune of 42-20. The Scots do tend to get minced at Twickers, for the last time they won south of the border you have to go back to 1983. Back then neither side was in particularly good shape but the Scots came up with a 22-12 win. Back in the early 90s, the two sides were often rivals for the title but recently both sides have faded to various extents.

This time around, well it was the end of the tournament and England were returning to form. The men in white may have dropped out of the title race but Martin Johnson wanted to make sure that his guys ended the tournament on a high and named an unchanged team. For the Scots, well they were just looking to avoid the wooden spoon and Frank Hadden recalled Scott Grey for his first cap for over four years for what surely must have looked like an excercise in futility. Still, there was going to be a lot of pride at stake for both sides at Twickenham, after all this is the oldest rugby fixture in the world, if nothing else it should produce good rugby.

Well England had the first attack but the Scotland counter proved to be more fruitful with Patterson opening the scoring with a pen. Scotland then fastbreaked but somehow the English defence was able to prevent a try. Then England took the lead after ten phases of play with Flood feeding Monye to go over the line. England then drove to the line again and at the third time of asking Flutey got the ball out wide to grab a try, Flood converting. Another England attack just before half time forced a penalty and Flood kicked that over for England to lead 15-3 at half time. Scotland were still looking impressive but the smart money was on England stepping up a gear in the second half.

Well England didn't hang about in stretching their lead with another Flood penalty but Scotland relied in similar fashion through Patterson. Scotland then threatened to turn the game round, partiularly after Godman kicked a pen to cut the gap to single figures. The Scots again drove themselves to the England line and collected another penalty, this time through Godman and Scotland were suddenly back in the game. England stopped the rot by setting Care up for a drop goal and finally the men in white finished the game off with the ball going from sub Goode to Armitage to another sub in Matthew Tait who went over in the corner, Goode converting. England won 28-12, they could have done better but the win still had it's uses.

Elsewhere, Wales faced Ireland at the Millenium Stadium. Well the first half was a seriously scrappy affair with both sides largely cancelling each other out. Wales looked to be coming out on top though thanks to two Stephen Jones penalties. Ireland then finally stepped up a gear in the second half, Brian O'Driscoll and Tommy Bowe both grabbing tries converted by Ronan O'Gara before the Welsh game back with two more Jones penalties. Finally it seemed as though the Welsh would turn the game around with a Jones drop goal but the Irish had no plans to let history get away from them and O'Gara grabbed a drop goal before the final whistle to win the game 17-15 for the men in green.

France faced Italy at the Stadio Fluminio. Morgan Parra opened the scoring with two penalties for France with Andrea Marcato pulling a pen back for Italy before Parra converted a Sebastien Chabal try. Francios Trinh-Duc grabbed another French try before Maxime Medard and Cedric Heymen joined the party(both tries converted by Parra) before Parra grabbed a pen. Lionel Nallet grabbed another French try before Italy made a token effort with a try from Sergio Pairese. Julien Malzieu then grabbed one last try for France and Les Bleus ran out 50-8 winners to finish their Six Nations off with a large degree of class for what it was worth.

So, at the end of the tournament, Italy are left with the wooden spoon. Scotland finish in 5th place, two points ahead of the Italians. England manage to rise up to second place despite everything, four points ahead of the Scots, it's the second year in a row the men in white have finished in the top two despite some poor performances. However, no one could stop the Irish this time around who finished four points ahead of England to clain the title.

So, it's congratulations to Ireland who not only pull off their first Triple Crown since '07, not only their first Six Nations title as we currently know it(the last Five Nations title they won was in 1985!) but they have pulled off the Grand Slam fopr the first time since 1948! This current generation of Irish players were said to be desperate to win a title and credit where credit's due, have been there or thereabouts for a few years now. Still, if you'd have told me ten years ago that the Irish were anywhere near winning a Grand Slam then I certainly wouldn't have believed you. Still that is what they have even if the likes of Brian O'Driscoll are coming to the end of their careers now and therefore Irish fans should enjoy the glory while it lasts.

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