Six Nations: Week 4 Review

Monday 12 March 2012

WALES 24
Tries: Roberts, Cuthbert
Con: Halfpenny
Pens: Halfpenny 3, Priestland

ITALY 3
Pen: Bergamasco

Wales recorded a hard fought win against Italy keeping them on course for a third Six Nations Grand Slam in eight years with a 24-3 victory. A strong Azzurri defence held out for 55 minutes but relentless pressure from the Welsh saw them finally brake through with tries from Alex Cuthbert and Jamie Roberts.

The home side hit the ground running early as Leigh Halfpenny gave them three valuable points with Jon Davies and George North also creating half chances for Wales but good defending kept them at bay. The latter also became the youngest player in rugby history to play in 20 tests surpassing Australia's James O'Connor. Referee George Clancy awarded the Welsh with a second penalty when a huge scrum shove fractured the Italian number eight. Stand in Captain Gethin Jenkins advised Rhys Priestland to kick to touch rather than kick for goal signalling Wales's intent to put big points on the board. The visitors did themselves proud with some stern defending and keeping the scoreboard low but they were showing signs of fatigue against the waves of Welsh attacks. Halfpenny kicked his third penalty between the posts on half time when Italy were deemed to be offside in their attempt to smother the ball, as the teams went into the half time break with Wales 9-3 ahead.

Wales's dominance was deserved of a bigger lead than six points as Italy came close to scoring with an attacking line out being their best chance of the game. Minutes later, the visitors defence finally buckled under pressure when Welsh centre Roberts went over for the games first try. A poor pass from scrum half Fabio Semenzato was recovered by Wales as the ball was quickly recycled wide to Roberts who burst through the gap and cut infield to score. Halfpenny continued his 100% record when he added the extras to give Wales a 16-3 lead. Halfpenny went from hero to zero when he was sin binned after a high challenge on Sergio Parisse leaving the Italy Captain writhing on the floor. For a second week in a row, the home side maintained their shape and discipline when down to 14 men as Italy enjoyed their best attacking spell of the match. Gatland sent on the reinforcements including lock Luke Charteris who was playing his first game since injuring his wrist at the World Cup.

The Welsh lead was extended to 16 points when Rhys Priestland kicked over a penalty and then they killed the game off by Cuthbert who scored Wales's second try of the match. A quick tap penalty saw substitute Rhys Webb offload to Cuthbert who raced through a sluggish Italian defence to stroll over in the right corner for an unconverted try. Wales were made to work for this win but there is no doubt that they are probably the best side in the Northern Hemisphere at the moment. They restricted Italy to just three points which shows how much they have progressed as a team since Warren Gatland took over. The final game for the Welsh could be a title decider against France next week.

Jacques Brunel can be happy with his team's defending as they held a tough Wales at bay for 55 minutes, nevertheless 15 missed tackles is not good reading for the defensive coaches. The attacking side of their game is still a cause for concern as they hardly seem to threaten the Welsh defence during the 80 minutes. The Azzurri battle it out next week for the Wooden Spoon against Scotland in Rome.

IRELAND 32
Tries: Best, Reddan, Trimble, McFadden
Cons: Sexton 3
Pens: Sexton 2

SCOTLAND 14
Try: Gray
Pens: Laidlaw 3

Tries from Captain Rory Best, Eoin Reddan, Andrew Trimble and Fergus McFadden gave Ireland their second win of the Six Nations against Scotland at the Aviva Stadium. The result puts Ireland on five points from their four games whilst Scotland, like Italy, have yet to get off the mark.

It was Scotland who made the better start to the game when visiting fly half Grieg Laidlaw took advantage of poor discipline from Ireland to score two penalties giving the Scots a 6-0 lead. Illegal binding and joining the ruck from the side gifted the visitors the lead on 10 minutes. The visitors were then awarded a kickable penalty but Captain Best decided against the kick to goal, instructing Jonathan Sexton to kick for the corner which paid off. Donnacha Ryan cleanly caught the ball from the line out, and slipped the ball to O'Mahoney who feed Best to roll over the rop of scrum-half Mike Blair. A fine touchline conversion from Sexton added two points to the scoreboard. Sexton put through his first penalty of the game when Scotland were blown for collapsing the scrum. The deficit was cut to just one point when Laidlaw scored his third penalty but the home side went over again with another piece of adventurous play. Jamie Heaslip played a quick tap penalty and drove at the Scottish defence. The ball then slipped out of the ruck and Reddan evaded a poor tackle from Sean Lamont to dive over for the games second try. Sexton again did the business with a replica of his first conversion to put Ireland 17-9 ahead.

The visitors hit back quickly as Glasgow Warriors huge second row Richie Gray was fed the ball by Laidlaw and powered through attempted tackles from Reddan and Tommy Bowe, he then dummied past Rob Kearney to score his first test try. Laidlaw failed with the conversion. The match continued to be end to end as Ireland made it three tries when the home side went through the phases and offloaded to Trimble who strode in. After the break, Bowe thought he had added to the scoreboard when he was picked out by Sexton's cross field kick, but the television match official called that Bowe had grounded the ball with a second movement. The Scot's battled on valiantly only too aware that the Irish had not managed to put the game to bed only until replacement back McFadden squeezed over under the posts that Ireland could breath easier.

Solid displays throughout for Ireland after the disappointment of last weeks late draw to France. Sexton proved to be influential with the boot whether it was at goal or up the field along with man of the match Donnacha Ryan who was consistent at second row. Declan Kidney will be optimistic with his team's chances next time out as they make the trip to Twickenham to face England.

Four defeats in a row for Andy Robinson really puts the pressure on him as they will look to avoid the wooden spoon with their trip to Rome next week against Italy. They were outgunned at the scrum for the duration of the game and made ten errors which needs to be addressed urgently. On a positive note, Richie Gray looks to be a pivotal player in the Scottish forward pack after a good performance.

FRANCE 22
Try: Fofana
Con: Parra
Pens: Beauxis 3, Dupuy, Parra

ENGLAND 24
Tries: Tuilagi, Foden, Croft
Cons: Farrell 2
Pen: Farrell

France and England played out the game of the weekend with the latter sneaking a third victory of the championships 24-22. Tries from Manu Tuilagi, Ben Foden and Tom Croft cancelled out Wesley Fofana's effort to become the first side to win a Six Nations game in Paris since 2008.

France, who had beaten England at the quarter final stage of the World Cup, boasted three times as many caps as their opponents and were favourites to make it two wins in a row against England, but Lancaster's team had other ideas. The visitors bossed the opening 20 minutes with fly half Owen Farrell pulling the strings in attack and defence, and this showed when a superb tackle from winger Chris Ashton on hooker Dimitri Szarzewski saw him misplace his pass for Farrell to collect. Farrell passed from the floor to Lee Dickson who quickly offloaded to Tuilagi as he sprinted home into the corner just beating the challenge from Aurelien Rougerie. Farrell beautifully kicked the extras from the touchline. Mourtiz Botha was then penalised by referee Allan Rolland for entering the ruck from the side, and French fly half Lionel Beauxis kicked the penalty over to reduce the visitors lead to four points. England then continued their forward momentum when Ben Morgan steamed through the French defence offloading to full back Ben Foden to go over for their second try of the game. Farrell again kicked the extras to make it 14-3. Indiscipline from England saw Beauxis score two more penalties to give England a 14-9 lead at half time.

The home side hit the ground running hard after the break but their over exuberance cost them as Fofana purposefully knocked on disrupting the England attack and giving away the penalty. Farrell nails the kick between the posts to increase the gap to eight. Minutes later debutant Charlie Sharples was sent to the bin for a deliberate knock on, in what was an interesting decision, bearing in mind Fofana had done the exact same thing minutes earlier. In those ten minutes, the 14 men of England held their own brilliantly against a well drilled French outfit. The England scrum had been a focal point to their attacks but crumpled under French pressure gifting Morgan Parra, who had switched positions with Beauxis to scrum half, the chance to add three points to the scoreboard. Parra struck it sweetly through the posts.

The home support sensed a swing in momentum as Ben Foden was turned the wrong way which forced the referee to blow up for England's 11th penalty of the match. Beauxis made them pay for their ill discipline to make the score 17-15 to England. With ten minutes to play, both sides desperately searched for the win. England took the initiative with Tom Croft putting the visitors firmly in the driving seat when he dummied Rougerie and swerved inside, leaving Harinordoquy for dead and running over Poitrenaud to score a fantastic individual try. Farrell put the conversion over to give England a commanding 24-15 lead with eight minutes to play. Les Bleus weren't finished yet; they came back through Fofana after they went through the phases to bring France back into the contest. From the touchline, Parra knocked through the conversion to set up a thrilling finale. The home side continued to push for the winner as they set themselves up for the drop goal with Francois Trinh-Duc ready in waiting. Trinh-Duc went for it, but his effort fell agonisingly short to the despair of the home crowd as England saw the match out to make it a memorable win.

Phillip Saint-Andre will be frustrated with his team's slow start to the game as they conceded two tries in as many minutes. They were played off the park in the scrum and only started playing the way we know they can when they were behind. France travel to the Millennium Stadium in what will be one of the games that will decide the championship.

Stuart Lancaster is instilling a never say die attitude into the England team with the likes of Farrell and Brad Barritt putting in big hits for the defence. Lee Dickson is reminiscent of Ben Youngs during the early tenure of Martin Johnson when he was able to create opportunities on his own. The one black spot on today's performance was the number of penalties they conceded, which will need to be addressed if they are to beat Ireland at Twickenham next week.