As we take a break from all the madness and the excessive drinking that always follows suit of the RBS Six Nations for a week, RBP are here to bring you a round up of the first two weeks and how each team are doing.
Englands’ mascot for the Italy match, Harry, became an internet sensation by showing more passion singing ‘God Save the Queen’ than the whole English football team.
England: To the chagrin of many, England have looked really good thus far in the tournament. Despite the attempts of several voodoo practitioners, the many injuries to this England team seem to have left it unaffected. Players like James Haskell, George Kruis, and Jonathan Joseph have take their opportunities really well.
This must be due in part to the deity that is Sam Burgess. I know he hasn’t played at all but he’s Sam Burgess so we have to mention him. Don’t we?
Joseph in particular has been really impressive. Three tries and we are only two weeks into the tournament, needless to say Joe Schmidt will be spending a lot of time plotting how to stop him. Additionally the English pack have looked really good as well.
Their scrum has dominated all comers, and while their lineout struggled against Italy, their performance against Wales shows what they can do. Billy Vunipola is back in form and looks really dangerous, and James Haskell has looked very dangerous with ball in hand (he just needs to keep an eye out for those tall white things guarding the tryline).
Perhaps their most impressive player has been George Ford. Ford has shown a level of composure and maturity far beyond his years, and his excellent goalkicking has kept England ahead time and time again.
His pairing with Ben Youngs has gone really well, as both can threaten the line, opening up spaces for their outside backs. Their upcoming match against Ireland in Dublin is likely to be their biggest test of the tournament, and will likely determine the course of the remainder of the championship. As much as it pains me to say it, England have to be considered as the in form team at the moment.
Top Performers: Jonathan Joseph, George Ford, Joe Marler.
France: Every Year without fail, everyone asks the question ‘What France will show up?’ Two games into the tournament, and we still don’t know.
Matieu Bastereaud giving Johnny Sexton a hard time on the weekend.
So after all the talk of the French finally having a settled team, finally being able to find some consistency, and their own coach can do nothing but confirm that nothing has changed. In any case, the French team are packed with power and skill, and on their day, they can beat any team in the world.However, in their current state, they are not even close to that level. The win over Scotland set them on the right track, but the game against Ireland showed me that they are not organized enough to win big games.
Their scrum is one of a few bright spots. Once their subs come onto the field it really comes into its own. Scotland and Ireland both struggled mightily to repress the enormous power of the French pack, and they even won a penalty against the Irish scrum with 7 men.
The French outside backs also looked incredibly dangerous during the two matches, and Yoann Huget in particular was giving the Scots and the Irish headaches. Teddy Thomas has yet to have made a major impact on a game, but he showed flashes of brilliance against Ireland, and if he is healthy he could play a major role in French success over the coming months.
This is a turbulent time for French rugby. Struggling to find their identity, don’t expect the French to roll over or wave the white flag (the Germans aren’t here…yet) but the coming weeks should tell us a lot about the direction of France at the World Cup.
Top Performers: Yoann Huget, Mathieu Bastareaud, Romain Taofifenua
Ireland: Ireland have stuck to the “1 game at a time” philosophy really well, and it has paid dividends for them. 2 and 0 and the massive physical test of France under their belt Ireland will be feeling pretty good before facing England at home.
Ireland are finally getting healthy again, and the players that are returning have looked really good. Sean O’Brien made it through 80 minutes of the game against France, and flicked aside three frenchmen in a ruck like they were nothing. But the most impressive thing was, he survived the horrors of a pre game warm up completely unscathed. Truly an incredible athlete. on the other side of the scrum, you also have the force that is Peter O’Mahony, who as of late has been a very consistent force in the Irish back row.
Cian Healy also returned, while Iain Henderson and Jordi Murphy looked really good off the bench. Perhaps the best return was that of Jonny Sexton, who, despite trying to kiss Mathieu Bastareaud twice, finished the day 100% from the boot, and controlled the game with his kicks from hand.
His decisions with ball in hand may not have been at their best, which cost Ireland their best scoring chance of the day, but other than that it was a flawless day for perhaps the Ireland are in a really good position going forward, but if they do not start to score tries more often, they may struggle against teams like England or Wales, the former of whom seem to be scoring at will. Despite this, Ireland are still the favorites for the title, set to battle England in a weeks’ time.
Best Performers: Robbie Henshaw, Peter O’Mahony, Jonathan Sexton.
Italy: The underdogs. Every year, you want them to do well, and every year they start off looking very promising, but alas, it’s always the same thing. they under-perform.
There are quite a few excellent individuals in the Italian side, Sergio Parisse, Luca Morisi, Leonardo Sarto, for example. However you cannot win a game of rugby based on the skill of a few individuals, and sadly Italy simply do not have the talent pool to compete with sides like England and Ireland.
Italy started well against both England and Ireland, but this turned out to be nothing more than a flash in the pan. Italy just were not capable of playing at that intensity for 80 minutes. In classic Italian form, the Azzurri seem to make a lot of noise and are very theatrical, while not really doing much.As unreliable as an Alfa Romeo, the Italians set-piece has really struggled, which prevents them from being able to release their talented backs. It seems to me that Martin Castrogiovanni needs to be put out to pasture, as he is unable to operate at the same level that we have grown used to.Unlike Sergio Parisse, who has shown no signs of his age and in fact seems to be getting better. The Italians have a lot of work to do if they want to avoid the wooden spoon, and some of their young players will need to step up soon. The 674 year old Castrogiovanni cannot go on forever, and neither can the 547 year old Parisse. Things do not look good for the Italians right now.
Top Performers: Sergio Parisse, Luca Morisi, Luke Mclean.
Wales: The new France? starting to underperfom the way we’re accustomed to with the Frenchies.
Wales will not feel good about the way that they have played thus far in the tournament. Mediocre for large patches against both England and Scotland, Wales appear to fall asleep for extended periods of games. In the second half of the game against England the only Welsh players, who stood out was the goalpost for his massive try saving hit on James Haskell, and George North for staying on with an obvious concussion, albeit a very stupid move by the WRU for letting him stay on.
Wales’ scrum have really struggled thus far, and will need to improve dramatically. There’s a lot of talent in the Welsh pack, with players like Richard Hibbard and Jake Ball, but so far they have not been able to utilize that. The Welsh back row can play with any team in the world, and have shown it, but the rest of the team needs to pick up the slack as well.
Jonathan Davies’ try against Scotland was really good, and Jamie Roberts has proved time and time again he has the right to be called one of the best 12’s in the world, but of late he seems to be stutter stepping and stopping his momentum rather than taking crash ball at full speed. Dan Biggar has solidified his hold on the 10 shirt, and Rhys Webb is rapidly becoming a major scoring threat every time he takes ball in.
George North clearly suffered a concussion after he met Richard Hibbard’s forehead in a tackle, and he is a major loss, but Liam Williams is a really good backup, and I think that Wales may want to consider making him a regular starter in their back three.
Part of the Welsh problem may be communication, as it has to be tough when half the team is named Williams, and the other half Jones. In any case, Wales will have to put these problems to bed if they want to remain in contention for the remainder of the tournament. The win over Scotland puts them in a good place, now they need to build on that.
Top Performers: Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb, Sam Warburton.
Scotland: Firstly I don’t know who is responsible, but something needs to be done about the people squeezing bags of cats at Murrayfield, the noise is atrocious and we don’t support animal cruelty.
Relax Scotland fans, that was a joke. We love the bagpipes!
Scotland have started well, but remain 0-2 after close losses to France and Wales.
Their play has been expansive and exciting however they have just suffered a major blow. Finn Russell has been handed a two week ban, meaning he will be unavailable for Scotland’s next match against Italy. Given that Scotland exactly don’t have a surplus of fly halves at the moment, this is bad news. Couple this with the loss of star second row, Richie Gray, for the remainder of the tournament, Scotland may struggle against Italy.
Russell has been one of a few stars for the resurgent Scotland team. It is now nearly impossible to see Scotland winning, but they can set a really good standard for the upcoming World Cup. The lineout is one of Scotland’s strengths, and even without the height of Richie Gray, his brother Johnny Gray and Jim Hamilton form an imposing duo. Another impressive aspect of Scotland’s play has been their work at the breakdown. Every player in the side seems to want to get involved, as was highlighted in Stuart Hoggs try against Wales.
Finn Russell, a flyhalf, earned the turnover at the breakdown, and then a tight five forward made the pass that put Hogg under the posts.Scotland play a very wide, expansive game, and are a lot of fun to watch, but they need to start turning this entertaining rugby into winning rugby. Stuart Hogg is a really excellent player, and if Vern Cotter continues to build the young players around him, this team can become really dangerous, really fast. I think Scotland will take 4th place in the tournament, but will definitely turn their form around, and maybe even finish with a record over .500.
