ENGLAND FADE OUT, SCOTLAND GRAB WIN

 

 

Last time around, England faced France at Twickenham. The result was far for the best display of the '09 Six Nations campaign by the men in white. Les Bleus were anhiliated in the first half and England went on to win 34-10. The last time the two sides met at the Stade de France, the result was also pretty special. Brian Ashton was the manager back then and boy did we catch the French on the hop. We got out of Paris that night with a 24-13 win. Overall the French are usually one of our tougher opponents in the tournament and it used to be that this fixture would decide the championship. Of course that certainly hasn't been the case for the last few years.

This time around well, once again England had not only blown their title chances but had never really hit top gear throughout the tournament. The French in the meantime had faced little resistance so far on their way to a Grand Slam. So this rumble at the Stade de France looked suspiciously like it would be a writeoff from an English point of view. The biggest eyebrow raiser from an English point of view was Johnny not started, having not quite recovered from his knock in the previous match. Chris Ashton was the new guy in town on the wing with Mike Tindall and Simon Shaw more familiar faces making their return to the team. Borthwick was also injured and that left Moody of all people as captain.

England started reasonably but France were soon on the attack and Francios Trinh-Duc recrived the ball out of a maul to slot a drop goal. England quickly replied though with a string of passes finding Foden on the wing who ran through to turn the game round and grab a try with Flood converting. However the French weren't in a mood to lie down this time around and Morgan Parra grabbed a couple of penalties to retake the lead before slotting a third from long range. France led 12-7 at half time which given England's form going into this match, wasn't as bad as it could have been. It even suggested that a French Grand Slam wasn't garunteed after all.

England went on to be the better side at the start of the second half and came close to getting a second try but a hasty kick meant they they wasted the best of those early chances. Still, the game was there for the taking. The men in white were in no mood to give up though and we had another try scoring chance denied before Johnny came on to kick over a penalty and put even more heat on the French. England had one last attack before the end yet couldn't do anything with it and the French went on to celebrate glory. As for England well, it was not our worst display of the tournament someone really should be banging heads together at the RFU.

As for Scotland, well the last time they faced Ireland was at Murrayfield but the men in green still came away with a 22-15 win. For the last time the Scots won a match against the Irish, you still have to go back to that afternoon in '01 when the match was one of three postponed till the end of the year because of the foot and mouth crisis. And yet Scotland won 32-10 at Murrayfield. The Scots have certainly yet to beat Ireland at Croke Park though and for the last time they won at Ireland's old Lansdowne Road ground you have to go back to '98 when Irish rugby was down in the dumps and the Scots ended that year's campaign with a 17-16 win thanks to a Gregor Tait try. Was it really that long ago since Sotland had that sort of edge on Ireland?

Well just like with England match in France, this game looked likely to be a writeoff with Andy Robinson's crew surely being doomed to pick up the wooden spoon. Ireland on the other hand still had something to play for in what was their last rugby match at Croke Park. Maybe they still had a slim chance of getting the title before this game kicked off. They were certainly still on course for a Triple Crown. In the meantime well Robinson must have been relatively pleased with the draw against England, having picked an unchanged side. The best he could surely hope for was not to get anhiliated though - the men in green certainly wouldn't want to leave their sporting cathedral in defeat.

Still, Scotland at least started positively with Parks kicking a penalty but even that was against the run of play and the Irish soon delivered a reality check. Giving Brian O'Discoll as much space as he was given is only going to result in one thing - an Irish try, coverted by Johnathon Sexton. However the Scots did not roll over and surged to the Irish try line with Morrison offloading to Beattie to go over the line. And the Scots weren't done. Further Scottish attack bought a Parks penalty which he kicked and a drop goal which he also slotted. I can't imagine what Irish fans must have been thinking but Scotland leading 14-7 at half time was amazing.

Scotland kept their run going into the second half with another Parks pen, only for Sexton to stop the Irish rot with a pen of his own. It took a while for the Irish to break through but they eventually did with Tommy Bowe scrapping he way through a batch of Scotsmen. Ronon O'Gara grabbed the conversion. All evens. Scotland then retook the lead through a Parks pen but O'Gara replied. Clock ticking. It was Scotland that surged though and forced that late pen...and Parks did not miss! Somehow Scotland managed to get a 23-20 win out of this encounter. Somehow they conquered Croke Park. And who knows, maybe that is something to finally build on.

Elsewhere, Wales faced Italy at the Millenium Stadium. The Welsh were cruising through the first half of this encounter, with Stephen Johnes kicking pens on a regular basis, four in all before half time and the only other talking point being BBC Welsh bias. It just got better for the Welsh in the second half with James Hook grabbing two tries, both converted by Jones before a Mirco Bergasmasco pen gave Italy their first points of the game. Jones finished the Italians off by converting a Shane Williams try. Bergamasco converted a Luke McLean try in response but it really was too little too late. Wales end their campaign with a 33-10 win.

However the big congratulations this time around have to go to France. In their opening game against Scotland they clearly looked like they would be the team to beat. And they just never slowed down after that. Coach Marc Livremont admitted pre-tournament that they were seriously looking to take the title this time around. Sure enough they went on to pick up their first Six Nations title since '07 and their first Grand Slam since my Uni days in '04. Since then, something has always gone wrong and Les Bleus has been seen as a work in progress while the Celtic nations have taken their chance at glory. Now though they are the finished article. Again.

Behind them, England lie in third place, three points behind France and one behind Ireland, and one place lower on last year's finish. Not good. Scotland are just two points behind England in 5th, leaving Italy with the wooden spoon.

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