ENGLAND LOOK SOLID, SCOTLAND NOT SO MUCH

 

It's that time of year again. The 2010 Six Nations is ready to roll. Well last time around England again scrambled themselves into 2nd place but they're still chasing their first Six Nations Championship since the Grand Slam of '03. As for Scotland, well last time around, they found themselves down in fifth place. The last time they did any better than that was '06 when the finished an impressive third in the table. They still haven't won the Six Nations as we currently know it and have never seriously looked like winning it. The last time they won the old Five Nations tournament was back in '99 and even that only happened due to the front runners knocking themselves out.

England's first engagement this time around was against Wales at Twickenham. Johnny opened the scoring with a pen only for Stephen Jones to match him for Wales then Johnny grabbed another pen and after a Welshman got binned, Haskell grabbed a try, converted by Johnny. The men in white kept up the momentum after half time with Johnny converting a Danny Care try before the Welsh came back with Stephen Jones converting tries from Adam Joes and James Hook. England still had the last word though with Wilkinson converting a second Haskell try before grabbing a penalty as England won 30-17. Amazingly our first over the Welsh since '06.

Next up came Italy at the Stadio Fluminio. Though England started well it was Italy that opened the scoring with a Mirco Bergamasco pen. In the meantime Johnny had an offday but still managed to kick two pens with Bergamasco grabbing a further pen in response before half time. In the second half England finally got going with a Tait try and another Johnny pen only for Bergamasco to reply with two more pens. Johnny finished the Azzurri off with a drop goal but though England won 23-19 it must have been the ugliest win I've seen for ages. Still England are 11 out of 11 against Italy in the Six Nations and 6 out of 6 at the Stadio Fluminio, not so bad - for now. We can't afford that sort of performance again.

In the meantime, Andy Robinson opened his first Six Nations campaign as Scotland manager against France at Murrayfield. Some things never change though and Patterson opened the scoring with a penalty only for Mathieu Bastareaud to turn the game round with a try for France. Morgan Parra added a pen before Patterson replied but Bastareaud grabbed a second try which Parra converted. Parra and Patterson grabbed one more penalty each in the second half which meant that Scotland last 18-9. Still, it was a reasonable performance from the Scots but France definately came away looking like they were the team to beat.

Next for Robinson's new crew came Wales at the Millenium Stadium. The majority of the match was awesome for the Scots, Patterson converting a John Barcley try. Stephen Jones then got a pen for Wales before Scotland got a second try through Max Evens. Jones then kicked two pens to replacement Scottish kicker Dan Parks one(with Parks also getting a drop goal)before half time. So far so good. Parks kicked another pen before Wales made their first effort at a comeback in the form of a Lee Bryne try. Then came an amazing Parks drop goal. Game over right? Two Scottish sinbinnings in the closing minutes said otherwise. Jones went on to convert tries from Lee Halfpenny and Shane Williams before adding a pen in the last kick of the match. Somehow Wales had come back to deny Scotland what should have been their greatest win for years to the tune of 31-24.

The one side we haven't covered so far is Ireland. They opened up with a 29-11 win over Italy at Croke Park, doing most of their work in the first half when the Azzurri were sludgy though they did rally late on. Still, too little too late. However they came a 33-10 defeat to France at the Stade de France. The men in green were really given a reality check by Les Bleus who reinforced their status as pre-tournament favourites by looking unstoppable. That leaves France top of the table as things stand, England level on points with a -14 game points disadvantage which puts them 2nd. Further down, Scotland and Italy are fighting for the wooden spoon with Scotland level on points but with a +7 game points advantage.

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