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Six Nations Weekend 4

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An Tarbh

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Weekend 4 Review

The penultimate weekend of the RBS Six Nations went a long way in deciding the eventual winners of this season’s championship. Thanks to their relatively comfortable win in Paris against England the French travel to Cardiff knowing a win will secure them their 22nd ***le while the likelihood of Ireland picking up their 17th ***le would require a monumental thrashing of their opponents at Twickenham and the upset of the season at Cardiff should the Welsh overcome the French. While the Scots and English face an even bigger task to take the championship on Super Saturday. However what likelihood of that given their inability to beat the Italians on Saturday?

Italy may have travelled in hope to Cardiff but realistically Wales should still have had too much for the Azzuri. Wales got the start they needed with a cracking try from Mark Jones but the Italians with limited chances managed to come away level at half time despite Galon’s best efforts to make an arse of himself and join Christophe Dominici in the Six Nations Bloopers reels. Steven Jones recovered from his dead leg in Dublin only to then lose the always influential Dwayne Peel early on. Again momentum taken away from the Welsh assault, although nothing against Phillips he just isn’t in the class of Peel as Henson proved two weeks earlier when replacing the luckless Jones. Jones proved his worth with a try off a quick tap from Phillips but they again let the Italian’s back in with an interception try from winger Canavosio. Ramiro Pez will rue the missed chances that could have seen the Azzuri come away with their first away victory but as proved at the death they were pretty satisfied to come away with anything at all. As for Wales it just goes from bad to worse and now they’re in danger of emulating the Scots of 2000 and finish bottom after winning the championship the previous year.

A rather tasty affair was in store at Lansdowne Road but then arriving at the ground, the rain started, lightly at first but come kick off it was pouring down and that certainly played against Ireland’s plans to have an effective running game. Not that they didn’t keep the ball in hand but the conditions were hardly conducive and the Scottish defence did sterling work helped in no small part by the referee not knowing where the offside line was. Ireland were the more inventive team with 3 good try scoring opportunities spoiled by the final pass and some last ditch defending, Horgan and Flannery combined well in the opening minutes but solid tackling from Lamont held the Irish out while Brian O’Driscoll was guilty of a poor pass to D’Arcy which would have seen him over and Murphy gave Trimble a shocker in the second half. It was a composed performance from Ireland, defensively sound, dominant in the lineout. Even the massive hit by Jason White on Jerry Flannery failed to breathe life into the Scots as the Munsterman was quick to respond to jibes from the opposition. Come the final whistle Ireland’s Triple Crown and championship hopes were very much alive.

Not for long though as it emerged that England had all sorts of problems in the buildup to Le Crunch, illness to key players Tindall and Dawson and the failure to contact Shaun Perry suggested this was going to be a long day in Paris. So it proved after 43 seconds as confusion between Lewsey and Tindall let Fritz in for the opening try, while controlled kicking from Yachvilli gave the French a comfortable start and they never looked back, England were inept when in possession and their error count was colossal, unforgiveable given the perfect conditions. The French were never spectacular but that wasn’t required against such a below par England performance and the calamity of the performance continued as Traille took advantage of Ellis’ error when chasing up his own kick. Dominici added insult to injury with a late interception try that left England shaking their heads in disbelief. The pressure is now mounting on the captaincy of Corry and the leadership of Robinson or lack of but the reaction next week at Twickenham will be crucial for both their futures.

So onto the final weekend and the championship looks to be done and dusted but at least every team has something to play for, the opening match sees the Italians with a great chance to finish on their highest points total and not take the wooden spoon for a third consecutive year, while the Scots can finish in the top three with a win in Rome. Wales know that defeat could see them finish bottom and if that doesn’t serve as inspiration then I don’t know what will, while it’s a no brainer that the French have something to play for. Ireland have a Triple Crown on the line which has to be the priority come Saturday, the championship will be long out of reach come kickoff while England are desperate to finish their season with a win and take any crumb of momentum into their Summer tour. Not bad for a Super Saturday. Bring it on.
 
I say it every week but it's always true - a great read. If only other people submitted articles too...
 
Here's my synopsis:

Wales - ****.
Italy - better
Scotland - ****
Ireland - ****
England - utter ****
France - French

That is all.
 
heres my fairer sypnosis

france - inconsistent
ireland - inconsistent
england - crap
scotland - great defence
wales - bad year for them - so incosistent
italy - getting alot better
 
Yet they've still scored 0 tries in their last 2 games???

Jeez they must be good!

If i was being totally honest i think the downward spiral of other teams has made Scotland and to some extent Italy look good.
 
Alright then compared to last seasons championship Ireland, Italy and Scotland have improved. England and Wales have gone backwards. While the French are pretty much the same.

Our performances against Wales and France were much better than last season, Scotland and Italy is a no brainer. England have only been able to put a weakened Welsh team to the sword at home while the Welsh have suffered through injuries but still with what they have they're not good enough.

But you're right at the moment none of the 6N teams would strike any fear into NZ and SA.
 
this has been a porr 6n in terms of quality and as ive said before not one team clearly deserves to be crowned champions.

im hoping wales can do there bit and keep the ***le within the celts
 
Originally posted by umosay@Mar 14 2006, 05:05 AM
Yet they've still scored 0 tries in their last 2 games???

Jeez they must be good!

If i was being totally honest i think the downward spiral of other teams has made Scotland and to some extent Italy look good.
They still have to be good to make the most of other people's mistakes.
 
Originally posted by robbinho@Mar 14 2006, 05:18 AM
Here's my synopsis:

Wales - ****.
Italy - better
Scotland - ****
Ireland - ****
England - utter ****
France - French

That is all.
best post I've read on here yet
 
Originally posted by loratadine@Mar 15 2006, 12:24 AM
this has been a porr 6n in terms of quality and as ive said before not one team clearly deserves to be crowned champions.

im hoping wales can do there bit and keep the ***le within the celts
It's their (as in something belonging to them) not there as in over there, a place etc. Illiterate fool.


Odly enough I've only heard this complaint from Welsh fans. Could it perhaps be that it is your team that is dire and isn't delivering? There haven't been alot of tries, but I for one have enjoyed many of the games this year, just for the fact that they've been close. Here's my synopis:


Wales - gone from an decent team to hopeless in the space of 12 months. The WRU is a joke (funny that, they said that about the SRU when the row over the Celtic League broke out) and that has perhaps not helped, but ultimatley it doesn't affect how those players can play on match day.

England - Looked good going into the championship and the demolition of Wales made it look like it would be their year. But it's all come undone since the defeat in Edinburgh.

Ireland - Improved a hell of alot and I hope they take the ***le though there's hee haw chance of Wales beating France the way they've been playing.

Italy - Really starting to come together and they look like they could be a decent team.

France - Promised so much and only partly delivered. Shock defeat to us at the start, but other than that they've played well.

Scotland - Funny that we've gone from hopeless to a not too bad side with the same players. Defence has been superb all championship....Jason White is the balls. Attack perhaps lacked a creative spark but our rolling maul has been beastly. A functioning lineout and more possesion could have seen Scotland perhaps sneak it in Dublin, but it wasn't to be. Against Wales we were unlucky, the penalty try (for that scrum) was dubious given that they drove before the feed, and the red card was harsh. No doubt with 15 men our defence would have been better and the tries we conceded wouldn't have been conceded.


A pretty good championship in all, not alot of tries but plently action all the same.
 
Originally posted by robbinho@Mar 14 2006, 06:18 AM
Here's my synopsis:

Wales - ****.
Italy - better
Scotland - ****
Ireland - ****
England - utter ****
France - French

That is all.
haha fance - french. f*** your a legend robbinho.


its like that futurama joke.

professor "ive just invented a translator, but it doesnt quite work yet. when you say something into it, only gibberish comes out"
fry "really? can i give it a try?" leans into translator, "hello"
translator "Bonjour!"
 

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