England Move Into Pole Position
For England, this was the first big test of their Six Nations. And they passed. Comfortably in the end, although Ireland threatened to make it messy for a while, with multiple tries disallowed, at least one totally rightly and at least one that could have gone either way. Nevertheless, it was England who won 21-10, and deservedly so. They absolutely battered an Ireland side who had no answer in the first period and England really should have been leading by more than just the slender, three point lead that they had at half time. And as Ireland started the second half stronger, crashing over the line through Conor Murray to establish a 10-6 lead that didn't last long. By the hour mark, England had the game firmly back under their control as they finally scored the two tries that their play had deserved, Brown and Watson the men going over and Farrell adding a conversion to the mix. And at 21-10, with the game all but over, Ireland finally game to life, forcing England to weather a storm similar to the one that Ireland had to deal with in the first half. There was no doubt that Henshaw's try should have been disallowed when he dropped the ball and was in touch, but the late try for Van der Flier could easily have been given, although there was no conclusive evidence that he had been able to ground the ball.
Overall though, whilst the margin of victory could have been both larger and smaller, England will be very, very happy with this result, which makes them the only team with three wins out of three and still capable of pulling off the Grand Slam. They've got a tricky couple of fixtures left, the Welsh and the French but with Wales coming to Twickenham and France nowhere near top form (and there's no guarantee that they'll even beat Scotland at Murrayfield next time out), there's a really solid possibility that England will win the Six Nations and could even have it wrapped up before the final round of fixtures takes place.
But that said, we're getting ahead of ourselves, as the Welsh, (who won their last match at Twickenham don't forget) will also be fancying themselves as continued favourites to win the tournament, even though they can't win the Grand Slam after drawing with Ireland. But two wins in their last two games, against England and then a home banker against Italy, would see the men from Cardiff lift the trophy again this year, after they saw off France 19-10 last night. Much like England's win against Ireland, it was a hard fought affair, decided by a slightly fortuitous try from George North, but it was Dan Biggar's flawless kicking that helped Wales establish a 16-3 lead early in the second half. Like England, they dominated the opening period and also like England, they failed to take advantage. But ultimately, this was a reasonably comprehensive victory for the Welsh in the end to put them within touching distance of another Six Nations Championship. Basically, next week's match between England and Wales, as it so often does, will decide the Championship.
And meanwhile, in the dead rubber match of the year, Scotland finally overturned their terrible run of Six Nations form to see off Italy 36-20. Scotland got off to a terrific start, but every time they attempted to pull away from Italy, the home side dragged themselves back into it. 17-3 became 17-10, 23-10 became 23-20, before a couple of huge kicks from Laidlaw put Scotland out of reach and then Tommy Seymour's late try put a gloss on things. Really, this is a game that Scotland needed to win, and will have been glad that they did so, but is it going to be enough to build some momentum ahead of two huge games with France and Ireland?
The Hard and Fast Section
- Varsity update: we're crushing the poly.
- Leamington update: 1-1 draw with King's Lynn.
- Real Madrid lost and could be 12 behind Barca. Embarrassment.
- Leicester City won me a fiver off a drunk friend.
- The Cup Final is tomorrow. I can't watch it.
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