What a weekend of rugby! Notably, in the Six Nations, Scotland beat England at Twickenham for the first time since 1983 in the Calcutta Cup. Also, Wales is looking like world rugby contenders again, overwhelming Ireland 21-16 in Cardiff on Sunday. Now that we’ve set the stage for you, let’s breakdown the exciting action from this weekend. We start with the Six Nations in Rome.
Six Nations: France 50- Italy 10
The score doesn’t represent how close this game really was. France had a 24-3 lead over Italy at halftime before scoring another 26 points in the second half. It’s not surprising since France is a top-five team in the world and Italy is on the outside of the top 10. But this game means a lot more than rankings, standings, or reminding everyone how good Antoine Dupont is.
France is still without star scrum-half Romain Ntamack as he recovers from jaw surgery last December. That meant we got to see more Mathieu Jalibert and Louis Carbonel at the number 10 position for Les Bleus. Jalibert scored 15 points in 59 minutes (6 conversations and a penalty goal) while Carbonel carried the ball three times, gaining 33 meters, in 21 minutes. France can thank both of these players as they are (and will) big reasons for their success.
Making his fourth ever appearance for Italy on Saturday was 20-year old Paolo Gabrisi. Scoring both a conversation and a penalty goal, Gabrisi made a noticeable impact with Gli Azzuri and will continue to play an important role for them. I will be pleasantly surprised if Italy wins a match in the Six Nations but if they can play as they did in the first half regularly, they’ll be even more fun to watch.
Scotland 11- England 6
“Oh, Flower of Scotland!”
After having one the most disappointing finishes at Rugby World Cup 2019 and struggling for most of 2020. Scotland was unquestionably a wild-card heading into this year’s Six Nations Championship. Considering England are the reigning and defending Six Nations and Autumn Nations Cup champions, it was difficult to see them lose this match. But that’s why we play the games, for moments like these.
This is possibly the biggest moment in the last 10 years of Scottish Rugby. There’s no bigger rival for Scotland than their neighbours to the south and to beat them on their home pitch is such a great accomplishment for this team. Credit to their captain Stuart Hogg, who had a wonderful game on the back end receiving England kick. It was an all-around impressive performance from the Thistles and one that has raised expectations for this time.
Losing this game has to be heartbreaking for England. They’ve now lost to Scotland twice in their last four meetings and questions will be brewing about head coach Eddie Jones and his style of play. He admits to “letting the country down” with the loss and we’ll see what changes they host Italy next weekend.
Wales 21- Ireland 16
This game was fantastic from the very beginning. It’s the first time in five games that Wales has beaten Ireland, going back to the 2019 Six Nations, which will help Wayne Pivac’s job security for a little longer. It sets up for a terrific matchup between Scotland and Wales at Murrayfield next weekend.
Did the loss of flanker Peter O’Mahony due to a red card in the 14th minute hurt Ireland’s chances of winning? Possibly. They were leading 13-6 at halftime but I don’t know that the collapse in the second half was because they were without O’Mahony. They had advantages in territory and ball possession throughout the game so it might have just been one of those games where Ireland just fell short.
Anyone will tell you that Wales is a team full of talented players. George North and Louis Rees-Zammit each had a try to help push their team to victory and if Wales are going to be competitive in this year’s Six Nations, they need performances like these. Any Cymru fan has to be thrilled with the result and will be anxious to get a victory next weekend away from home.
Final Thoughts
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