DISASTER STRIKES

 

(Images taken from Sky Sports)

England vs France. Recently it's turned into the heavyweight fixture of the Six Nations. OK so Wales won it last time but this match will usually play some part in deciding where the title goes. This year was no exception with the fixture effectivly acting as one of two semi finals to decide the destination of the 2006 Six Nations championship. Winning is Paris isn't easy though and this match at the Stade de France was going to be no exception.

Particularly if England leave their brains in the dressing room as right from the start a French ball went up in the air, Josh Lewsey and Jaimie Noon went "duh, we're gonna catch this together" and Florian Fritz laughed his way to the tryline with Dimitri Yashvilli providing the conversion. The good news from there on in was that the French scored no more tries. The bad news was that the men in white should have heard my swearing from the other side of the Channel. I could have played better rugby than that and no one in their right mind would want me on a rugby team! Yashvilli added in three penalties while England barely got out of their own half, and when they did, Hodgson missed a cinch of a penalty though eventually he did put one over before half time. 16-3 and we were lucky.

The second half was actually an improvement of sorts despite the injured Hodgson being replaced by Andy Goode. Solid posession, check. Goode putting a class penalty over the posts. Check. Not good enough though. Time wore on and eventually the French broke through again. Damien Traile lobbed the England defence and burst through. Game over. Yachvilli added a penalty before another English farce as Goode passed to Dominichi allowing another French try which Yachvilli converted. 31-6 and I certainly can't remember a worse England rugby performance.

The other 'semi final' was between Ireland and Scotland. Traditionally Scotland may have the better history but Ireland can easily catch Scotland on an offday. Both sides came into this match having had both their wins at home which meant in theory the Irish had the edge as this match was at Lansdowne Road. On the other hand, Scotland had beat both the traditional heavyweights so it was all to play for.

In the first half it was pretty much Ireland running the show. Ronan O'Gara kicked the opening two penalties for the home side before Chris Patterson replied to draw Scotland level though it was mainly the men in green who had the Scots with their backs against the wall. O'Gara kicked two more penalties, Patterson one more and at 12-9 Scotland were still in business.

The second half was more of the same in terms of general play with Ireland taking advantage of a dodgy Scottish line out. Their battering ram did not work though despite anyone who was anyone in green making a run for the Scottish tryline. O'Gara kicked one last penalty and Ireland had to settle for a 15-9 win. Neither side will be pleased with the game but at least Ireland got the result, the Scots can't even claim that much.

Elsewhere, Wales faced Italy in the Millenium Stadium. Stephen Jones opened things with an early penalty for Wales before Mark Jones added a try. Italy got on the scoresheet with a Galon try before Stephen Jones converted a try of his own. Then Raimiro Pez added a penalty for Italy before converting a Pablo Canovosio try to level the match before giving his side the lead with another pen. Stephen Jones levelled things for a final score of 18-18 but the moral victory was Italy's. It was the first time they'd gotten a Six Nations point out of enemy territory.

As a result it's France leading the Championship with Ireland their only challengers in second place. England have third and Scotland fourth. It's seriously dissapointing that both my sides have come up empty for the second year in a row after showing signs of improvement earlier on in the '06 campaign.

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