Six Nations: Week 1 Review
Philippe Saint-Andre's first game in charge saw France win comfortably against Italy 30-12 in front of the Paris crowd. The home side avenged last year's defeat to the Azzurri by dominating the game from start to finish.
The game was all square at 3-3 until the 20th minute when sustained pressure by France saw Francois Trinh-Duc play in Aurelien Rougerie who sped through a gap in the Italian defence to score the first try of the tournament. Italian fly half Kris Burton reduced the gap with a drop goal but the visitors lacked the cutting edge despite plenty of possession and the home side made them pay.
Just before the break, Rougerie squirmed away from the challenge to play in man of the match Julien Malzieu who beat four players on his way to the line. Burton cut the gap to six points for a brief moment before a Dimitri Yachvili penalty and Vincent Clerc try effectively killed the game off, but Les Bleus weren't finished yet. Good work by the forwards saw debutant Wesley Fofana hand off Luke Mclean and score his first try in French colours.
Saint-Andre will be impressed with the way his team have began the tournament especially from the new players who showed the typical flair and artistry that we know and love from France. Next week's game against Ireland will be a tight affair but if Les Bleus play like they did today, then they could see themselves as early pacesetters in the championship.
Jacques Brunel can take a number of positives from the game. The new style of play Brunel has tried to infuse into the team is only steps forward for the Azzurri but the lack in power the backs have does leave him with a cause for concern. A home tie against England, who like themselves have seen drastic changes in their setup, can only look forward with confidence.
France (15) 30
- Tries: Rougerie, Malzieu, Clerc, Fofana
Italy (6) 12
A scrappy affair at Murrayfield saw Stuart Lancaster's England side run out 13-6 winners. Huge possession counted for nothing as many mistakes by the Scot's ultimately cost them a chance of an opening weekend win.
Saries fly half Owen Farrell kicked his first points in an England shirt from 25 metres giving the visitors the lead but his counterpart Dan Parks replied soon after when England went off their feet after Phil Dowson spilled the re-start. Parks then gave the home side a 6-3 lead after Chris Aston was caught in possession by Chris Cusiter.
Within second of the second half being underway, Parks went from hero to zero when he dawdled with the ball five metres from his own line only for Charlie Hodgson to charge down and ground to score the games only try. Individual performances by Scotland kept them in the game as man of the match David Denton continued to cause mayhem with his runs from the rucks. The home side piled on the pressure as they remained encamped in the Auld enemies side of the pitch for most of the half but to no avail as Farrell drilled a penalty between the posts to make it 13-6 with less than 15 minutes of the game to go.
Lancaster's side grew in strength, making their tackles and importantly keeping their discipline as they ran down the clock to secure England's interim coach a first win.
Scotland showed signs of improvement but once again their finishing was dreadful as they failed to capitalise on numerous opportunities. All the pre game hype done by the Scot's was chucked back in their faces by a brand new England. A trip to the Millennium Stadium in their next game will be a daunting prospect particularly when Wales will want to continue their fine form from the World Cup.
England will not complain one bit with a first victory at Murrayfield in eight years as their inexperienced players came through their baptism of fire with great fight and resolve despite waves of Scottish pressure. Although they only had 40% of the games possession, Lancaster was chuffed with the win. Time will tell as to whether this new outfit can continue their winning form as they travel to Rome to play Jacques Brunel's Italy.
Scotland (6) 6
England (3) 13
A late Leigh Halfpenny penalty saw Wales steal victory from Ireland by 23-21 at the Aviva Stadium. The home side failed to avenge their World Cup quarter final defeat after a fantastic game of rugby which contained action and controversy.
The home side got the ball rolling as Jonathan Sexton duly kicked through the posts to give Ireland a 3-0 lead. A quick line out by Wales saw Bradley Davies break away and almost score. This led to two minutes of constant attacking by Wales in the Ireland 22 and they finally thought they had scored the try when Ryan Jones powered his way over but the TMO deemed the Ospreys man to be held up.
10 minutes later, Wales did score a try when they went through the phases and Jonathan Davies just made it inside the angle to put Wales in the lead. Rhys Priestland has the chance to add to their lead but he failed with an easy kick on goal as his attempt hit the post. Ireland made pay for Wales lack of finishing as Sexton kicked the home side back in front and then Rory Best eased over the try line after good feet work from Tommy Bowe.
Two minutes after the restart, Sexton put three more points on the board making the score 13-5 after Rhys Gill collapsed the scrum. Priestland's day continued to have a bad day at the office as he missed his third penalty which saw Halfpenny take over kicking duties. Halfpenny then showed his kicking skills by reducing the gap to five when the tackler did not roll away.
Wales then continued their forward momentum as Davies scored his second try of the game after George North powered through a number of challenges to offload to Davies who strode his way over to bring the scores level. Halfpenny added the conversion to make it 15-13 to the visitors. Sexton put them back in front shortly after but Bradley Davies was then sin binned after an off the ball challenge on Donnacha Ryan. Davies should have seen red. Ireland then made pay to Wales's ill-discipline as great drives from the front 5 saw them metres of the line. Connor Murray recycled the ball wide for Bowe to go over in the corner. Sexton put the conversion wide of the left post which proved costly.
Credit to Wales, even with 14 players they still looked threatening and a smart kick from Priestland saw play back in Ireland's 22. Slick passing by the back line was then rewarded with a try for George North with four minutes to go. With the clock against Wales, they threw the kitchen sink at the Ireland line only for Stephen Ferris to concede the penalty for a dangerous challenge. Ferris was yellow carded handing the game on a plate for the visitors. Halfpenny stepped up and failed to disappoint winning the game with 30 seconds left on the clock.
Warren Gatland's back line looks very impressive with most of Wales's play coming from Jonathan Davies, George North and Jamie Roberts. The visitors implied a 'never say die' attitude as they were always menacing even when they were down to 14. From what I saw, the referee made the wrong decision with Bradley Davies as he should have been sent off for his very dangerous challenge. Game changing moment possibly? Their failure to make use of the possession especially in the first half as well as conceding too many points when a man down still leaves Gatland some work to do. The Welsh will go into their next game at home to Scotland in high spirits.
Ireland will look back on that game and see it as a missed opportunity after looking comfortable against most of Wales's attacks however when their opponents mixed things up a bit, a number of poor tackles proved to be their downfall. The green's showed a sign of arrogance when they were 21-15 up with five minutes to go, when Sexton went for a 50 yard penalty to run the clock down. A lot of improvement will be needed when they play France in Paris.
Ireland (10) 21
Wales (5) 23
