Wales shut out the surging Irish
Ireland rolled into Cardiff looking for a record-breaking 11th successive Test match triumph but they were thwarted by some heroic Welsh defence.
Everyone expected Ireland to bombard the hosts with another aerial assault but after their first four kicks were confidently claimed by Wales, they resorted to bludgeoning the Welsh wall. The first half was unfortunately dictated by the whistle of Wayne Barnes, but after the interval, Ireland laid siege to the Welsh line, keeping it tight and surging forward in a seemingly endless succession of carries.
But the reigning champions were repelled by a torrent of Welsh tackles, each one spurred on by the deafening clamour of the Cardiff crowd. Joe Schimdt’s side are renowned for their efficiency but they failed to convert two extended periods of pressure into points and it cost them dearly, whereas Wales put points on the board on the two occasions they ventured into the Irish 22.
The result has blown the competition wide open and both teams are still in contention for the Six Nations crown. But if England prevail against France, then both Wales and Ireland would have to surpass their superior points difference. With the English playing last on the final weekend, and therefore knowing what they need to do to secure the title, they are in the driving seat.
Ireland were denied their first Grand Slam since 2009, but will, however, be confident that they can pile on the points against struggling Scotland next weekend to take the title, while Wales know that they are more than capable of registering a sizeable score in Rome.
England survive Scotland scare to reclaim top spot
England returned to the top of the Six Nations table with a routine win over Scotland, however, they will be bitterly disappointed with their poor execution, especially as points difference will surely prove pivotal next weekend.
Scotland played with ambition and ingenuity, but it was another promising performance that ended in defeat. The Scottish defence spent most of the match chasing English shadows and they know that if the home team had been as clinical as they were creative, then it could have been a cricket score.
After making three slow starts in this year’s tournament, England exploded out of the blocks at Twickenham and shredded the Scottish line within 30 seconds, but Luther Burrell ignored the unopposed Anthony Watson on the right wing and the first of many glorious opportunities went begging. The hosts converted just one of their first-half chances and Scotland made them pay. Mark Bennett crossed before Greg Laidlaw kicked the visitors into a 13-10 lead.
But after the break, England scored 15 unanswered points and never looked like relinquishing the lead once they had reclaimed it. England will now compete in a final-day thriller that could go three ways, while Scotland will have to upset Ireland at Murrayfield to avoid another wooden spoon.
France ease past awful Italy
On Sunday afternoon, the Stadio Olimpico staged a soggy and sorry spectacle. In wet and windy conditions, neither side was able to keep hold of the ball for very long and a succession of phases was almost unfathomable.
After Kelly Haimona pulled out, Tommaso Allan tweaked his groin in the warm up and missed an early penalty before limping off in the 14th minute. Third choice fly half Luciano Orquera hit the post with another wayward attempt, but that was as close as the hosts came to getting on the score sheet throughout the match.
France made 19 handling errors, one more than the Azzurri, however, they acclimatised to the conditions better than their opponents and managed to engineer a handful of attacking opportunities. But the only moment worthy of the highlight reel was Scott Spedding’s scintillating break that set up Yoann Maestri’s second-half score.
The score line flattered France and highlighted just how awful the Italians were. Italy were outstanding at Murrayfield but they followed up with a dismal display, in which they failed to score at home for the first time in the history of the Six Nations.
Meanwhile, Philippe Saint Andre’s job is safe for at least another week and France’s remote chance of claiming the title remains intact.
Chiefs end Stormers’ unbeaten run
The Waikato Chiefs survived the ferocious first half physicality of the Stormers pack, to go on to claim a 28-19 win and become only the fourth team to win at Newlands since 2012. The Brumbies picked up a bonus-point win in Brisbane, where they battered the Reds 29-0, while the Rebels continued their impressive run of form with a 21-17 win against the Western Force.
The Crusaders and the Sharks secured their second wins of the season with bonus-point victories over the Lions (34-6) and Cheetahs (27-10) respectively. The Hurricanes battled past the Blues 30-23 and the Highlanders recovered from 12-0 down, to beat the Waratahs 26-19.
Toulon remain at the summit of Top 14
Clermont Auvergne stole top spot on Friday night with a 31-23 home victory against Bordeaux-Begles, but Toulon reclaimed first place with a 22-14 win over Lyon. The two teams are now level on 61 points but Toulon boast a better points difference. Stade Francais remain in third after they were beaten by Grenoble at home, 21-30.
Martin Bustos Moyano’s last-minute penalty denied Castres their first away win of the season and gave Bayonne a 21-19 win. Toulouse survived some late pressure to beat Montpellier 18-13, Racing Metro were thumped away at Brive 36-12 and La Rochelle overpowered Oyonnax 35-20.
Saracens storm to their first LV=Cup final
Saracens have fallen short of the LV=Cup final in their last four attempts and they looked set for another semi-final exit when the Saints seized control in the opening stages of Saturday’s encounter. But after Sam Olver kicked two early penalties, David Strettle cut a superb line at searing pace and careered over in the corner to make it 6-5.
Olver increased his first-half haul to 13 points with a try and a conversion but the turning point of the match came in the first minute of the second half, when former England Sevens star Mike Ellery ghosted past a number of Northampton tacklers on his way to a brilliant solo score. Ben Spencer converted and added two penalties to give the hosts a 21-13 lead.
Lee Dickson was introduced off the bench and made an immediate impact, squeezing over in the corner, off the back of a rampant rolling maul, but Nils Mordt responded with a drop goal to put Saracens into a 24-20 lead and they hung on to secure their spot in the final.
Saracens will meet holders Exeter in the final, after the Chiefs recovered from a slow start to claim a semi-final win at Welford Road.
Michele Rizzo went charging over in the fourth minute after a gallant break from Miles Benjamin and Leicester Tigers fly half Tommy Bell added 17 points, with a drop goal, a conversion and four penalties.
But Chiefs captain Ceri Sweeney responded by kicking 15 points and tries from Elvis Taione, Fetu’u Vainikolo and substitute Greg Bateman were enough to give the visitors a 30-22 victory.
Try of the week: Two minutes after the half-time hooter filled the Wellington sky, the ball remained in play and the Hurricanes were frantically defending in their own 22, but when the Blues were penalised for holding on, Julian Savea was expected to boot the ball into touch. But he tapped and went, the Hurricanes worked the ball across the pitch and surged down the right flank, before Beauden Barrett deftly chipped the ball over the top. Matt Proctor beat the Blues fullback to the bouncing ball, pounced on it and rolled over to score a sensational, length-of-the-field effort.
Video credit: H Hudson
Hero of the week: Sam Warburton captained Wales for a record 34th time on Saturday, but he was determined for the day to be remembered for more than a mere milestone. Despite being sent to the sin bin in the first half, Warburton inspired Wales to victory with another valiant performance and deservedly picked up the MOM award in the process.
Villain of the week: Luther Burrell’s unbelievable selfishness in the first minute of England’s match was inexcusable. An under 11s player would be grilled for such greed so England’s starting centre deserves to have the book thrown at him.
By Nathan Hyde (@NathanHyde2)
41 replies on “Best of the weekend: Brilliant Wales set up thrilling 6 Nations finale”
I’m not even sure Burrell was greedy on Saturday – just poor. He had to throw a 15 meter pass off his left hand whilst pretty much running at full tilt. Now an international 12 should easily have that in their locker – but I don’t think he does. 12 continues to be massive problem position for England and SL – no change there.
12 line breaks against a good Scotland side was very impressive, but we need to be more clinical. For the most part I thought England were good, but Scotlands scramble defense was impressive.
Saturday just confirmed what has been obvious for a long time, NZ are miles ahead of everyone else because they finish off those opportunities 9 times out of 10. The next tier of sides (SA,Australia,England,Wales,Ireland) can all beat each other on the day, but to beat NZ they need to hope that they catch them on an off day, and even then they’d need to be at their best too.
Wales were impressive on Saturday, Warburton in particular was on a different level. Seeing Wales now that they have been in camp together reaffirms SL’s stance on the Armitage saga – needs to stand by it. It also makes me worry come WC time when they have had time together.
He could have put a grubber in to the corner to at least give Watson a chance, which is probably what 12T would’ve done had he found himself in that position (although I can’t imagine it’s ever likely). I think the lack of support runners following his run, is at first shocking, but his complete lack of decision making ability once there, is just as bad. Well I suppose he did make a decision, but it was not the best one for the team.
I nneed to re-watch the England game having not seen it very clearly but my impression was that Burrell shaped to throw the pass but then didn’t as there were Scottish defenders in the way
I might be wrong but I thought Watson could have been tracking a lot closer to him
See that my first impression, but when I re-watched, I think we would up to and then realised that pass wasn’t in his locker and bottled it!
I may be wrong of course. Either way, a grubber was the right call there – which he never looked like considering.
Wouldn’t blame Barnes for being whistle happy in the first half. I’d have him as hero of the weekend – who’d have thought that being dogmatic, pedantic and precious about breakdown laws would result in thrilling running rugby? Once the players cottoned on to what he wanted you could see them dying to get out of the way, not enter beyond back foot, etc. Sam’s card was harsh but it was consistent. That second half of magic (Ireland’s recycling skill, Wales’ awesome defence) was about two teams playing at their peak and was enabled by Barnes performance in the first half.
I’ve watched the match again and it was about more than just defence – in between those heroic phases we mounted some fantastic and clinical attacks. But yes, the defence was incredible and did win us the match. “The best Welsh defence since Zulu” as Davies put it in the 90s. That 20 minute spell was stunning. No points scored. The best rugby I’ve ever seen in my life. Those who equate scorelines with quality just need to compare that to the other matches to see that exciting rugby is about a whole lot more than the try count.
Our tub of Flora outsmarts Deep Blue then. Schmidt’s distate for the offload and, in fact, pretty much any risky rugby was shown as wanting when they came up against a deficit on the scoreboard and a team that would die before they missed a tackle. Gats and his team on the other hand played a blinder – harass Sexton, batter the breakdown, catch anything above head height, use kicks as forward passes to yourself. 1/2p’s diving mark in the 22 (crucial, would have been a ~10m lineout for Ireland at a key moment) set the standard and showed how well prepared for the tactics these players were. Not bad for “Gats the plank”.
Keith Wood, Neil Francis, thanks for coming. Glad your fans were more gracious in the build up than you were.
Unfortunately we hit peak rugby too early on the weekend. England v Scotland – U11s running rugby; pitiful defensive lines, thrilling cover tackles, headless chicken breaks, least fit team lets a few in towards the end. Poor quality. Fell asleep during Italy v France – woke up, seemed to still be the same scrum for the same knock on in the same piece of the pitch despite the clock having advanced 40 mins.
Next weekend? Ideally a desperate Scotland finally snatch a win at home and the French come over all French at Twickenham and turn the rosbif’s over. However – more likely is a championship win on pts for England. We’ll end with 4/5 and some good momentum going into the WC. A much, much better finish than we were heading for a few weeks ago. Well done Gats and the whole crew.
“The first half was unfortunately dictated by the whistle of Wayne Barnes”
I too thought that Barnes was good. It just took the irish longer to get to grips with his interpretation, but come the second half I don’t think I have ever seen 2 teams roll away with such vigour (and fear). That surely helped speed up the game and make it the spectacle it was.
Massive laughs around the pub when, was it O’Mahony, was trying to roll away as fast as he could while screaming at Barnes “I’m not in the way! I’m not in the way!!”. Barnes had both teams on tenterhooks around the breakdown for fear of giving away legitimate pens. Great refereeing.
Hah! Has to be the first time O’Mahoney has made an effort to truly roll away
Personally I enjoyed it when Barnes told either an Irish player or the Irish team as a whole to shut up
I know we are in an age of whining at the ref but the Irish seem to have elevated it to an art form.
If they’d put as much energy into their game as they did to complaining to Barnes, they might have come away with a win…
“Villain of the week: Luther Burrell”
Sadly Luther ‘ s limitations were exposed on Saturday. Had 12t been there he would’ve attempted the pass or dotted a grubber through, although no guarantee he would have executed either sufficiently.
For me Burrell has been poor to mediocre this entire campaign and should be dropped, but will Bomber have the guts to do that? With points difference key this weekend we need to pick an attacking squad. Care or Simpson to replace Wigglesworth. Wade or May in the 23 shirt. 12t or Slade at 12. Given Hartley’s drop in form, I’d start with Youngs and would be tempted to bring in Parling and Wood for Attwood and Haskell.
However I expect the team and squad to be largely unchanged and for England to limp to another 2nd place finish. Will be interesting to see how much Wales and Ireland are affected by their efforts. I reckon Wales are the marginal favourites, and I can see a Scottish upset at Murrayfield.
Completely agree with your analysis of Burrell. 12T would likely have done at least something in that situation! Although would probably have messed it up! I feel for SL, he has tried so many different players in the 12 shirt and none has performed. Slade is the next to show some form but to try another different player is quite the gamble – worth trying now I think though. I’d definitely at least have Slade on the bench.
I’d agree with the forward changes, but I struggle to see how you fit a May/Wade on the bench without dropping Cips which seems harsh?
I’m normally a supporter of both Hartley and Haskell, but I’d definitely bring in Youngs and Wood based on form, and also stick to my thought pre-weekend and swap Parling for Attwood. Outside of that no real changes are needed.
I’m cautiously optimistic. Scotland away is just as tough as France at home IMO, so it should be tight. Wales could easily rack up the points in Italy, I don’t think they are out of it either.
Dropping Cips would be harsh – but that’s why you get get paid the big bucks. I feel very sorry for Cips, really rate him, but if SL is adamant that he cannot play with Ford, then Slade’s versatility makes better sense. But we MUST have a game breaking back 3 player on the bench. I’d bring Wade in as insurance – best finisher we have.
I’m also a bit worried by Marler – 2 sub par performances – is it fatigue? Again another frustration I have with selections, we fail to make best use of our much vaunted strength in depth. If Marler is flagging we have the likes of Mullan, Brookes (test his versatility), Corbs, Waller or Aurterac to come in. Seeing Italy dismantled at the weekend by the french pack, does give me worries.
Yeh I can see the logic – personally it’s what I’d do. Slade and Wade for Cips and 12T’s. Ford obviously doesn’t like changing the 10 when a game is going well, he has history with this. He’d often bring Flood on at 12 so that he didn’t change it. So I don’t think it is a dislike of Cips. I don’t think he can play at 12, so I understand SL’s logic here.
Agree on Marler as well, but he was brilliant against Wales so it is a tough one. How is Corbs form?
I don’t think Corbs is a starter at the moment. He lost so much weight during his lay off, he looks more like a back row now. I don’t know if that has upset his form. I really rate Marler, but he’s not been at the races the last couple of matches, and this will be the biggest test IMO.
I am amazed at the flattery of England. I have Ireland as favourites to take this championship. 3 points difference and I think they have the easier game to score points.
Awesome game by Wales. England should have put atleast 10 more points on the board.
Grand Slams – hard, hard things to get. I’m glad – they should be. 27 years between them for us recently. Every season now seems to start and be told along the lines of who is going for the slam, which teams have it left to play for, etc. Most years winning the title comes down to pts difference.
Bit worried about Wales for next weekend – expect us to still win, should have enough, but scrum creaking will likely limit the scoreline and hence any real chance of us even applying pts diff pressure to the matches that come after us.
I understand the reason for staggering the matches but this season it seems particularly unfair to give England the clearest indication of what they need to do to win the title.
I dunno, it can work agianst you knowing what you need to do. Last year England had to go out and score as many points as possible. Which they did. If they had known they needed X amount, I suspect you would have seen some of the more imprecise execution seen yesterday.
If the French forwards are as dominant as they were yesterday, and England need a plus 10 points difference, that could be very difficult.
Am I the only one that thinks the situation we have most years now is madness? Points difference? Is that really the fairest way of doing things?
I’d much rather the 6 nations move towards the BP system used in pretty much every other league/tournament in world rugby. The Grand Slam argument is eradicated with a BP offered to anyone who completes a GS.
Why has it not happened yet?
Because teams don’t play home and away. On average Italy lose by far greater margins on the road, it simply wouldn’t be fair.
Agreed – but see below. Ireland played Italy at home in 2014, and England played them away. The points difference system, it could be argued, made them the title winners.
Now that isn’t meant to discredit Irelands win or suggest England should have won, just simply another angle on the home/away argument.
I prefer the current system. Points scored. Everyone knows it and, as it often comes down to points, it is as effective as BP’s in encouraging people to go for scores but less messy and more rewarding (the more pts you score the better rather than just 4).
There are many things that are already different (no home/away for starters) so no need yet to move to a system where 3 wins + BPs would beat a team with 4 wins to the title. Comp is too small for BPs imo.
I’m not sure the points difference system actually provides much incentive to the attacking team. The only time a team starts thinking about it is during the final weekend.
Would Ireland have played in a different way against Italy if they had a BP to go at? England too may have gone for the corner earlier against Scotland?
I really enjoying the system in the European Cup, where you see teams come out really trying to score 4 tries in matches they maybe wouldn’t have.
The home/away argument could be used against the merit of the tournament as a whole though, not necessarily against the BP system.
Too often I just feel deflated losing on points difference, as it is often completely out of your control. Take last year as an example, Ireland were brilliant Champions and England were disappointing losers based on who pumped more points against Italy. Is that fair?
Similarly, if France just don’t bother turning up next week (possible and something I’m personally hoping for) England could win a title based on that. Is that then fair on Ireland and Wales?
I am unsure where I stand on this; I think by adding try incentive’s we could see less of 3pt contests which may make things more entertaining for neutral’s who just want to see people falling over the line every 5-10min which could be a positive for the games growth.
But the other side of me thinks that current system encourages people to play for the Grandslam; whether or not it’s freely available shouldn’t it be a huge challenge?
As I type this I find myself more interested in the current system; before we begin there’s the discussion “will there be a grandslam” then if someone loses to Italy or France early; then it’s the “Triple crown” opportunities; at the end of all that; we get to go into a final weekend (as is coming) where 3 games could all potentially be a stormer; especially given the order.
If Wales do get the 30+ they need; Ireland & England both need to go for a big score.
If Wales don’t attain there margin, Ireland need to decide – go for big win or just try tick over the score and hope England get a loss or small win.
If Wales don’t get the margin & Ireland win by 10-15pts; do England push for try after try; or just try to tick over with 3pt’s hoping they accumulate?
So many potential gameplans this week makes it exciting; i can’t wait for it to get here.
Have to say that I agree with several others above. Barnes refereed very well. I am sure that he made it quite clear to both teams before hand how he was going to play, so its not his fault if the teams, and Ireland in particular choose to test his resolve. Its too easy just to blame a ref for blowing his whistle too much.
Next week? Well England have to be favourites don’t they?
They play last, and surely France at home, is an easier gig than Scotland or Italy away. Italy cannot be that bad again, and Wales have no front-row left do they? Murrayfield is a horrible place to play, especially against a decent Scots team who can justifiably feel a little hard done by in terms of results so far.
Not sure that Italy or Scotland will win, but I can’t see them losing by very much either.
The relative records at each of the grounds make some pleasant reading for England fans:
England have won 6 of their 7 Six Nations matches v France at Twickenham (the loss was by 1 in 2005), and none were by less than 8.
Ireland have only won by more than 7 at Murrayfield on two occasions (2003 and 2005)
Wales have only won one of their 7 matches in Rome by enough to top the table as it stands (by 30 in 2005), repeating that would give them a 7-point cushion over England ahead of the France game.
Sorry – 5-point cushion.
Tis comfortable reading, but this weekend was comfortable watching for Welsh fan’s.
beating a team on a 10match unbeaten run by 7pts, watch a poor France demolish Italy.
I am not being biased or anti-english but I honestly dont see them winning; if I don’t get my Wales title I see Ireland doing it; I felt England needed a much bigger win last weekend and they just failed to much at closing out the opportunities.
Maybe, but keep in mind that Scotland haven’t lost at home by more than 8 in the last 12 months (and that was to New Zealand), and Wales so far have scored fewer tries than Italy – it’s shaping up to be a cracking final weekend. I’m glad England are last, we’ll know exactly what we’ll need to do – even if it ends up being impossible to do it.
Didn’t England beat them 20-nil last 6 nations?
They did. That’s why I said 12 months.
Point’s well taken, but I can’t help but think on the “all to play for” mentality of these games; all 3 teams have the title to go for so it’ll come down to mentallity & drive.
Italy – just got torn apart by a poor form france, so they are gonna be pretty down but determined to fix it – depends if they can improve enough or not.
vs
Wales – confidence will be v.high after beating Ireland and showing a strong defence; North in particular will be raring to finally get his running game going next week. They took alot of damage so recoup could be a factor; but I think against Italy the pressure will be more on the running and less on the defensive aspect; so may balance out (not sure though)
France – well they just won by a v.comfortable scoreline so confidence will be high, but they’ll be getting drilled on handling to cut down those errors.
vs
England – Tournament is theirs to lose, I think confidence would be shaky after missed opportunities; again could go either way; either rise or fall under pressure.
Ireland – I think they’ll be down on confidence but the small margin between them & england should spur them on; also knowing Scotland are unlikely to do as good as wales did at stopping there gameplan – they may struggle though given the physicality of the last game.
vs
Scotland – They have something to prove but they will be feeling crushed after failing to get a single win this year.
The bias side of me says; Wales finish 6nation strong and they are against a poor Italy side 30+; could rack up a big scoreline. Ireland will get the win but by 10pts at the most; England will get the win but 3-5pt’s.
Final table 1st Wales, 2nd Ireland, 3rd England – although the realist reckon’s Ireland will clinche it – depending on what condition players are in after that big game.
“Brilliant Wales set up thrilling 6 Nations finale”
In the interests of balance, can’t we also recognise the role of frustrating England in setting up the exciting finale by missing a hatful of try opportunities!
If Ireland had beaten Wales I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Jonathan Davies as villain of the week. He would’ve recieved a lump of the blame due to that silly yellow card. On the subject of silly yellow cards, Dan Cole was lucky to escape one…
I’d love to know what was going through Cole’s head there, my guess being absolutely nothing.
I imagine that it was something like “oh look there’s the ball, mustn’t, mustn’t, SL said don’t do it, oh look there’s the ball, the ref won’t see me, the ball, the ball, I’ve got the ball, oh bugger the refs seen me, maybe I can pretend he told me it was alright – I know I’ll look innocent, oh bugger!”
So… Basically like a disobedient dog?
Well he is a prop!
Haha, every prop just longs for the ball deep inside. If Cole hadn’t infringed the. Scotland may well have scored again though. If he was yellow carded, then Scotland have even more momentum. Not that we were ever going to win that game, but for me it was quite a pivotal point in the match
For all those saying twelvetrees would have passed or grubbered that I would advise you to watch this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvxUMqmoKQE
Had forgotten about that. Dear God it was bad. Far, far worse than Burrell
My prediction for the final weekend of what, overall has been a good six nations. Wales set the early target for Ireland and England with a 40 to 9 demolision of Italy, with North scoring a hat trick, two in the last 10 minutes. Scotland with nowt but pride to play for upset Ireland by leading for most of the match, only to end up sharing the points in an entertaining draw, 21- 21. England start well but as this week, squander chance after chance and are behind at half time by 9 points. The second half sees England put away the chances they create and are leading by 2 with 90 seconds on the clock only for Cole to give away a penalty which gives France the game. Wales’s Championship. ????. By the way I have only just woke up.
My prediction for the final weekend of what, overall has been a good six nations. Wales set the early target for Ireland and England with a 40 to 9 demolision of Italy, with North scoring a hat trick, two in the last 10 minutes. Scotland with nowt but pride to play for upset Ireland by leading for most of the match, only to end up sharing the points in an entertaining draw, 21- 21. England start well but as this week, squander chance after chance and are behind at half time by 9 points. The second half sees England put away the chances they create and are leading by 2 with 90 seconds on the clock only for Cole to give away a penalty which gives France the game. Wales’s Championship. ????. By the way I have only just woke up.