Has everyone gotten their breath back? The second fallow weekend of the 6N, and the moment when the sides left with a shot at the title take a deep breath before the icy, head-first plunge into their last two games.
Unusually, one of those sides this year is Scotland, who have already lived up to expectations and are succeeding in crating a feeling that there is still more to come. The make-up of the Lions squad will be interesting indeed. Although they struggled to make headway in Paris after losing their captain (and most of the rest of their team, actually) in a freak hail storm of injuries that belonged more to the trenches than international sport, at home Scotland have mixed breakdown solidity with some ruthless back play. Some of their tries have been wonderful and the way they closed out their games against Ireland and Wales, under no small amount of pressure, was impressive. They face their toughest match next against England at Twickenham, and will want a free-for-all against a forward pack that thrives on set pieces.
England themselves are three-from-three, and have been involved in the best and oddest matches of the tournament so far, against Wales and Italy. If it has been far from convincing from the defending champions, it has also not been nearly as bad as certain journalists (mentioning no names, Greg Crowden) have been insisting on insisting. England played a full part in an even and brutally-contested game in Cardiff, and won after the execution of high skill under great pressure by players who had been on the field for the full 76 minutes. This after Wales had done extremely well, repeatedly, to save themselves on their own try line. You can call that 'luck' to Owen Farrell's snarling death-mask of a face at your own risk. The biggest disappointment for England was how long they took to adjust to Italy's breakdown tactics, but they still scored more tries in one half against the Azurri than Wales managed in an entire game and some of those tries would have troubled much better sides than Italy. If this is playing badly, I assure you England fans will take it and everyone else needs to worry about what happens when they play well, because someone is going to be on the wrong end of a hiding. Like everyone else, though, England are fallible and have it in them to lose, which is exactly what everyone else wants them to do, as reading between the lines the overriding conclusion is that the rest of the world seems to have decided that the winning run has now gone beyond a joke.
Italy had to come up with something, because lets face it if they hadn't that hiding would have been dished out: the second half was evidence enough of that. Italy were well within their rights to do what they did and it was an immensely clever tactic for shock value alone, adhered to with admirable commitment in execution. Unfortunately, it is not a tactic that is going to win them any games as it makes it easier for teams who have heads on their shoulders - as opposed to bird-watching in the south London clouds - to attack through the middle and generate quick ball. They need to come up with something else in defence and a method of scoring points. Especially a method of scoring points. Whoever they want as their goal-kicker should be working on it around the clock, and then a bit more. They should be dreaming about kicking penalties. It's difficult to imagine what they could do to cause more chaos without the ball but what was interesting after the England game was the tantalising prospect of more up the Italian sleeve, hinted at by their coach, Connor O'Shea. Personally, I can't wait to see what they come up with against France, who doesn't want to see some headless chickens?
Ah, France. The penny has dropped over the channel, hasn't it? And not just on the field, with the top-brass finally taking some steps towards knobbling the clubs and giving succour to the national side. Little things, like being able to train together before the 6N, apparently make all the difference. France are the team who can feel most hard-done-by by their result against England, who didn't turn up until the last 15 minutes and still won. Les Bleus, simply, have forgotten how to do that. They contained Scotland well in an agricultural, bull-in-China-shop kind of way, and have shown flashes of offloading brilliance without it really clicking enough. But they have resisted the urge to go full bulldozer - there have been no prop-sized centres anywhere and you get the sense that, for the first time in a decade, they know which direction they are going in. Scary for the other 5, going forwards, but they have still lost twice and so will not be challenging this year.
Much like Wales. On paper they're a brilliant side, yet they only really roused themselves for the England match and still came up agonisingly short. Dan Biggar was immense in that game and played himself right out of Lions contention with an aplomb and brilliance that will surely see him go down in history as the best 10 who should not be allowed anywhere a test in New Zealand. During the middle 40 minutes of the game, the Welsh forwards dominated England, yet the only time Wales looked like scoring a try was from a set play off the base of the scrum. The Lions, simply, will need more against the All Blacks. Wales, meanwhile, backed up their best game in a long time against England with an indifferent and inaccurate display against Scotland, dominating territory and possession only to play through the second half without scoring. The word 'disappointment' probably isn't enough to cover the strength of feeling in Wales right now. They are capable of much more, and could potentially do England a massive favour against Ireland in Cardiff.
Ireland look the best-placed team to de-throne England, with the Sexton/Murray axis reunited and the home fixture against Eddie Jones' side on the last day. Cardiff on a Friday night remains a significant hurdle, however, especially if the Welsh value their pride above England losing. They will be ruing their opening day stumble against the Scots with accomplished displays against both Italy and France and Sean O'Brien and CJ Stander bossing the back row contests. Should England beat Scotland, then the world will once again be looking at the Irish to end a ridiculous winning run, just as they prevented New Zealand from reaching 19 in the autumn. While it will not be the Grand Slam decider that was hoped for before the tournament began, Dublin on St Patricks weekend may still decide the destination of the title.
I'll get the Guinness in, see you there.
Unusually, one of those sides this year is Scotland, who have already lived up to expectations and are succeeding in crating a feeling that there is still more to come. The make-up of the Lions squad will be interesting indeed. Although they struggled to make headway in Paris after losing their captain (and most of the rest of their team, actually) in a freak hail storm of injuries that belonged more to the trenches than international sport, at home Scotland have mixed breakdown solidity with some ruthless back play. Some of their tries have been wonderful and the way they closed out their games against Ireland and Wales, under no small amount of pressure, was impressive. They face their toughest match next against England at Twickenham, and will want a free-for-all against a forward pack that thrives on set pieces.
England themselves are three-from-three, and have been involved in the best and oddest matches of the tournament so far, against Wales and Italy. If it has been far from convincing from the defending champions, it has also not been nearly as bad as certain journalists (mentioning no names, Greg Crowden) have been insisting on insisting. England played a full part in an even and brutally-contested game in Cardiff, and won after the execution of high skill under great pressure by players who had been on the field for the full 76 minutes. This after Wales had done extremely well, repeatedly, to save themselves on their own try line. You can call that 'luck' to Owen Farrell's snarling death-mask of a face at your own risk. The biggest disappointment for England was how long they took to adjust to Italy's breakdown tactics, but they still scored more tries in one half against the Azurri than Wales managed in an entire game and some of those tries would have troubled much better sides than Italy. If this is playing badly, I assure you England fans will take it and everyone else needs to worry about what happens when they play well, because someone is going to be on the wrong end of a hiding. Like everyone else, though, England are fallible and have it in them to lose, which is exactly what everyone else wants them to do, as reading between the lines the overriding conclusion is that the rest of the world seems to have decided that the winning run has now gone beyond a joke.
Italy had to come up with something, because lets face it if they hadn't that hiding would have been dished out: the second half was evidence enough of that. Italy were well within their rights to do what they did and it was an immensely clever tactic for shock value alone, adhered to with admirable commitment in execution. Unfortunately, it is not a tactic that is going to win them any games as it makes it easier for teams who have heads on their shoulders - as opposed to bird-watching in the south London clouds - to attack through the middle and generate quick ball. They need to come up with something else in defence and a method of scoring points. Especially a method of scoring points. Whoever they want as their goal-kicker should be working on it around the clock, and then a bit more. They should be dreaming about kicking penalties. It's difficult to imagine what they could do to cause more chaos without the ball but what was interesting after the England game was the tantalising prospect of more up the Italian sleeve, hinted at by their coach, Connor O'Shea. Personally, I can't wait to see what they come up with against France, who doesn't want to see some headless chickens?
Ah, France. The penny has dropped over the channel, hasn't it? And not just on the field, with the top-brass finally taking some steps towards knobbling the clubs and giving succour to the national side. Little things, like being able to train together before the 6N, apparently make all the difference. France are the team who can feel most hard-done-by by their result against England, who didn't turn up until the last 15 minutes and still won. Les Bleus, simply, have forgotten how to do that. They contained Scotland well in an agricultural, bull-in-China-shop kind of way, and have shown flashes of offloading brilliance without it really clicking enough. But they have resisted the urge to go full bulldozer - there have been no prop-sized centres anywhere and you get the sense that, for the first time in a decade, they know which direction they are going in. Scary for the other 5, going forwards, but they have still lost twice and so will not be challenging this year.
Much like Wales. On paper they're a brilliant side, yet they only really roused themselves for the England match and still came up agonisingly short. Dan Biggar was immense in that game and played himself right out of Lions contention with an aplomb and brilliance that will surely see him go down in history as the best 10 who should not be allowed anywhere a test in New Zealand. During the middle 40 minutes of the game, the Welsh forwards dominated England, yet the only time Wales looked like scoring a try was from a set play off the base of the scrum. The Lions, simply, will need more against the All Blacks. Wales, meanwhile, backed up their best game in a long time against England with an indifferent and inaccurate display against Scotland, dominating territory and possession only to play through the second half without scoring. The word 'disappointment' probably isn't enough to cover the strength of feeling in Wales right now. They are capable of much more, and could potentially do England a massive favour against Ireland in Cardiff.
Ireland look the best-placed team to de-throne England, with the Sexton/Murray axis reunited and the home fixture against Eddie Jones' side on the last day. Cardiff on a Friday night remains a significant hurdle, however, especially if the Welsh value their pride above England losing. They will be ruing their opening day stumble against the Scots with accomplished displays against both Italy and France and Sean O'Brien and CJ Stander bossing the back row contests. Should England beat Scotland, then the world will once again be looking at the Irish to end a ridiculous winning run, just as they prevented New Zealand from reaching 19 in the autumn. While it will not be the Grand Slam decider that was hoped for before the tournament began, Dublin on St Patricks weekend may still decide the destination of the title.
I'll get the Guinness in, see you there.
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