England remove Welsh monkey from back
The Six Nations kicked off with a bang on Friday, the pyrotechnics not only limited to the slightly indulgent pre-match show. England put together an outstanding test match performance in the second half to beat a vastly more experienced Welsh side 21 – 16. England edged the set-piece, won the kicking battle and were clinical when they had opportunities. Wales, outside of Webb’s early try, offered almost nothing in attack resorting to one out runners attempting to bash the English door down.
However, they could not conspire to put themselves in the kind of field position where that might have been effective. The standout performers were Anthony Watson, combative in the air and took his try with real class, and James Haskell, who treated the Welsh players like a set of dumbbells, benching, deadlifting and generally manhandling anyone in his path. Wales may have had the last laugh however, with the Womens and U20s sides recording wins over their English counterparts.
Ireland power past Italians
Ireland stuttered to a 26-3 win over an Italian side lacking inspiration on the first of the two Saturday games. Ian Keatley grew into the fly-half role and after a fair amount of bludgeoning they finally unlocked the stubborn Italians in the second half with two tries in as many minutes tries for Connor Murray and Tommy O’Donnell.
Italy, impressive in defence, were unable to threaten the Irish at any stage and look short of any genuine pace throughout the side. Both teams will no doubt improve and will both need to be far more accurate if Ireland have designs on winning a title and Italy on registering more than an upset win.
Scotland still second best
France and Scotland also battered seven bells out of each other in Paris to little great joy. The French eventually prevailed 15 – 8, but there was an overwhelming sense of dissatisfaction for the home side, as they couldn’t quite click early on, and like Wales subsequently proceeded to become less and less inventive as their efforts to score became more desperate. Scotland played well although there is a sense with Vern Cotter’s new regime that plucky second best will no longer be enough.
Stuart Hogg looked the class of the Scots backs and the front five coped well with a ludicrously large French pack. It may not have been a vintage weekend of Six nations rugby, but it is nevertheless great to have rugby’s premier Northern Hemisphere tournament back.
LV= Cup semi-finalists confirmed
Saracens overcame a spirited Exeter Chiefs to book a place in the LV semi-finals, with the second half introduction of Alex Goode the catalyst that shifted Saracens into a higher gear. The tempo of the game quickened as Goode attacked the line with pace and Sarries lacerated Exeter to run away 35 -18 winners.
The Chiefs won’t be too downhearted though as they also ensured a place in the semi’s away to Leicester at Welford Road. Sarries will host Northampton Saints in March. Elsewhere, the Dragons got the better of London Welsh 17 -13 at Rodney Parade. The hapless Londoners couldn’t overcome tries from Richie Rees and the promising Tom Prydie.
NZ retain title in Wellington
New Zealand retained their Wellington Sevens title with an enthralling 27 – 21 win in the final over England. To get there they had to overcome World Series leaders South Africa in the semi-final. The win sees New Zealand close in on the Blitzbokke at the summit of the World Series standings with five rounds of the competition still to play. 17-year-old debutant Rieko Ioane shone throughout the tournament – the Kiwi superstar production line roles on.
Hero of the weekend: Scotland’s Stuart Hogg for probably the best bit of skill I’ve seen on a rugby pitch, a delightful through the legs pass while seemingly running at full tilt and taking contact at the same time.
Try of the weekend: Jonathan Joseph‘s ducking, spinning effort at the beginning of the second half was a sublime finish, although the Welsh will not be happy with their tackling.
Video credit: RBS 6 Nations
Villain of the weekend: the Welsh medical team have to take some flak for allowing George North to keep playing despite suffering what looked like two pretty serious head injuries. They claim he passed all the tests, but are now treating him as a concussion victim this week. Which one is it, then? Time for independent doctors to do these tests.
By Patrick Cheshire (@jpcheshire)
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
20 replies on “Best of the weekend: England and Ireland set early Six Nations pace”
I thought independent doctors should have been used, straight after the Florian Fritz debacle last season.
George North to me looked like he said “I’m not f*cking coming off” to the medical team after taking Attwood’s boot to the head.
Yes a great week end of Six Nations rugby. It is the best rugby competition in the world. The crowds,the atmosphere surpasses anything else,including the rugby championship! Looking forward to this week end!
Brilliant game from an English perspective – really strong performance.
Was marred significantly as a match by the George North incidents. Twice he was knocked clean out and finished the game. The Welsh management have access to the images of him falling to the ground unconscious in the second half without even putting his arms out and they should be ashamed of themselves. There are serious long term effects to regular head injuries, it’s such a serious topic. Many NFL retired NFL players have suffered early-onset dementia because of the issue.
I don’t know how you can be writing a summary on the match seeing as it can’t have finished because we’re still waiting for Webb to pass the ball out from the back of a ruck. England pulled us into an arm wrestle and we walked, nay danced under the lights of the disco ball, right into it. England’s impressive line speed coupled with Webb’s reluctance to get the ball out and his wayward box kicking (did he run it once?) put Biggar, who dealt well with what was happening but couldn’t fight it, under so much pressure. We ended up banging single runners up because of the poor zip around the ruck. Criminal. The backrow were doing their job well enough – ball was presented so I don’t know what Rhys was doing – trying to hard to look relaxed?
3 missed tackles on the 2nd try and that was that, game over. Hopefully Gats will have a dose of the SLs and injury will force his hand into picking a better team for next Sunday. Scotland played extremely well in Paris so that now looks like it will hopefully be a cracker. In fact result/intensity/meaning of Fri night aside (which usually means it won’t be a classic in terms of play but will be 100% enough for the winners to enjoy) it was clear that there was only one really good game of rugby on the weekend and that was Fra v Sco. Brilliant match.
Pre-match — oh dear Rog, please just go back to ITV or something. Cringe inducing small minded tricks and then a hen night disco. An army band. A man at the front with a stick. A goat. A choir. This is how you start a rugby match. Never been quite so glad I didn’t spend 300 quid on a night out at the game. From all accounts it was a bit messy there – combining rugby with Fri night meltdown in Cardiff centre will always be a bad idea. Good job we’re the only union who have agreed to Fri night games for the next 2 years then.
Good to see the U20s win with some style and play. This week will be a real test for Gats and some of the players. Also be interesting to see what happens from the investigation into the ridiculous farce around North. Should have gone off after the 1st let alone the 2nd knock out. Even a boxing match would have been stopped earlier.
interesting view on Webb. Being somewhat one-eyed, I focused primarily on English player performances. I felt that a key change for us was the speed at which Youngs started getting the ball away from the breakdown. In the first half I thought he paused at each breakdown before passing. Interesting that we both spotted the same thing but in opposing teams.
Interesting looking at the match stats. Wales were not dominated in the statistics, but they did not look much like scoring after the fists 15 minutes. As you say, much like England have found over the last 2 years, single runners, and slow ball mean defences are not overly troubled.
Slightly depressing that despite the chat pre match a lot of England supporters are harking on about injuries and the endless significance of our “greatest ever victory”.
With the injuries we have been forced to play a backline that may not have been chosen if all players were fit. I have no idea where SL was on selection, but suspect that given the form of the other England centres (manu aside) SL may have only been forced to play Burrell instead of Barritt (aka “Roberts stopper”). The inportant thing is whether this backline is left to play a few, as I see it as the most promising centre combination of the last few years. The only other change would be Lawes in over Kruis.
For Wales… Webb has to stay. He is still fairly inexperienced, so this is a learning experience. Phillips is notoriously slow at getting the ball away. Do you bring in Scott Williams over Roberts? Think Liam Williams should and will start. either fro Cuthbert, or given the “concussion” for North.
Completely agree that we persist with Webb. He is still relatively new (only 1 full season really disregarding the odd caps he accumulated before that) and has definitely got something. That was what was so frustrating about his performance – out of character.
Agree with the rest of your assessment – in the cold light of day it was an arm wrestle that England won. Despite us being woeful we lost by 5 pts and none of the 3 trys were inevitably great scores from attacking play, they were all opportunistic (Wales lose a scrum, wrongfoots England – England throw a pass to nowhere – wrongfoot Wales defence so no cover for the clever kick, Wales screw up 3 tackles…) so there is no reason, I feel, for us to throw the baby out with the bathwater (despite the usual “oh, Wales are destroyed, where can they go from here? They’re a busted flush” hilarity). We were humbled in the 1st game in 2013, at home to Ireland, and then went on well enough. It’s not a lost cause.
Scott Williams in for JD2 (who was clearly not match sharp), Liam Williams to start over North (unfortunate as I would rather he replaced Cuthbert). Elis Jenkins to replace Cuthbert (not in the squad but has been showing Cuthbert up all season for The Blues). A phone call to Adam so we give the young, impressive but not finished Samson Lee a chance to work his way into it. A rocket up the backside to Webb to play his usual fast game, not the cold porridge he served up on Friday. A ticking off for Jenks for not adapting to what Garces wanted early enough. He did eventually (and credit Sam for some masterful ref chatting again) but too many early pens. Wouldn’t drop Jenks though. We’ll know a lot more about Wales 2 or 3 games in.
Haskell tackled by a post – sorry, but given we’d lost by then I had to laugh. A fantastic physical performance by the man but it kinda sums up why he is a bit Marmite – there is a belief that all that time in the gym has come at the expense of any sense.
A bit harsh on Haskell there. Watch it again and you’ll see he is heading between the posts and Cuthbert’s tackle spins him off line, forcing him into the post.
I can see that Dazza but if there was one guy on the pitch who’s rep as a lunk headed gym monkey precedes him then it is Haskell so unfortunately for them that incident has reinforced the joke – regardless of whether it was his fault or not.
He played brilliantly – tackling, ripping, holding up, etc. It’s the rep that precedes him, the big-brand naked-calendar one, that was further fuelled by the pics of him bouncing off the post.
Mike, depressingly, Gatland will name the exact same line up for Sunday (barring injuries). He’s not too dissimilar to Bomber in that respect – if his faves are available they’re in. I remember Gatland being lauded.. probably around the time of the last WC about him blooding youngsters, but it was forced through injury – he has since proven himself, in my eyes at least to not be a form coach, but a favourites coach.
What I’d like to see:
Lydiate dropped – he offers nothing but a tackle. I’d take the odd miss tackle from Tips for what else he’d bring to the team, and move warbs to 6.
Cuthbert dropped, Williams in at FB and 1/2p to the wing.
I’d probably leave it at that. Perhaps James for Jenkins, but I don’t think that would see significant improvement – we have problems in the front row.
Problem with those players in Gatlands eyes though is that they can’t be trusted. They can be off the cuff and try different things outside of Warrenball.
The most worrying aspect for me though, was that neither Tips or Williams got on to the pitch on Friday night (ignoring Williams little cameo for North). So when things were plainly not going to plan and needed changing, what did we do? We brought on Phillips… the mind boggles.
Wasn’t expecting to find an ally in Vickery in the “Wales are not dead” argument. Excellent piece that sums it up well.
http://www.espn.co.uk/six-nations-2015/rugby/story/255605.html
Yeah, I was impressed by that article.
Goode’s introduction to the Sarries game was quite something. He came on at fly half, and fizzed passes out left right and centre to create havoc in Exeter’s defence. One pass in particular which stood out, was from the base of a ruck almost in the middle of the field which went straight from the floor to the left wing to score.
Also couldn’t believe the pace of 18 stone Thretton Palamo when retreating to collect a clever kick up the line by Exeter. Unbelievable for such a big guy.
Positives for Wales? I think there is definitely some from this game. Webb looked like a good player having a bad game – it happens. But there’s plenty of evidence from the autumn and for some of this match that Webb/Biggar is a very solid potential combination in an area where Wales have been weak for some time. Ok, Biggar couldn’t control the game in the second half, but his pack and field position were so compromised I don’t know how he could have managed.
I did think that it was England’s tactics to target Warburton to make the tackle and then deal with Lydiate & co in rucking, rather than let Warburton do the jackaling.
Faletau looked back to being his dynamic self and was better all round than Vunipola. However, the biggest concern was the front row. I know England are a good scrummaging side, but Jenkins is not going well, and with a new face on the other side this is worrying. AJ was such a rock for such a long time. I don’t know about TH, but Paul James surely deserves a shot.
England have scary depth these days. Open side aside, the pack is 3 deep in most positions.
McMurphy. Have to agree about 7. We now pretty much have a clear 3 players in every position, even centre although which order you put them in is another matter!, except 7. What is plan B if Robshaw is injured. I have a feeling that it is Haskell, with Kvesic lurking in the background, but I’m not sure.
I don’t think 7 is a worry. Haskell is actually a 7 and Wood covers there too. When you consider Croft is also in the mix with Clarke too – I don’t worry about that position.
However – really hope Robshaw stays fit. He is absolutely vital to this England side.
Much like Gats this week could be a defining week for SL (defining for Gats as he needs to shake things up and, crucially, win away next Sunday). For SL if he reverts to type and puts in Barrit, Farrel, etc. then he’s out of his depth. So he needs to show that he can handle that depth McMurphy as too often it has seemed to be a block which creates muddled thinking from him.
Only player I’d change from that team on Fri is Launchbury in for Kruis and even that is a choice between two excellent, excellent options. Attwood > Lawes in my opinion. Lawes is a big man until you need one.
For Gats … I mean, are we really training for the WC? Is that even possible this far out? I just don’t buy it – he looked unhappy enough to have lost on Friday, didn’t look like a man who’d lost a training match. He needs to grab it by the scruff and drop Cuthbert …BUT with North out already *(surely) perhaps he doesn’t have the luxury of doing that. Regardless of any lack of “blooding”, who else in Wales is a top-level winger right now? Dirksen and Walker have had so many injuries. Perhaps time to see what Hallam Amos can do?
Staggy,
In McGeechan’s article about Haskell, he mentioned Tom Rees. I had such high hopes for him. such bad luck with injury. Poor guy.
But I would also imagine Wood would come into play at 7 if there’s injury. He and Robshaw are very similar in a lot of ways. Flanker is a little one note, and it’s fingers crossed time over Robshaw. The guy just keeps working on his weaknesses. Every season I’ve thought, well, he’s good at this, but his leg drive/jackaling/leadership are lacking, he comes back having worked on it. I’m deeply impressed at how a moderate talent appears to be forging himself into a well above average player who is always at that level and never appears to dip. That is no mean feat, when you consider how in and out Warburton and O’Brien are.
Anyone know why Faletau has not been cited for his deliberate kneeing of Joseph after the score? Every replay shows it clearly!
Just looked it up.. oh my goodness! What do you want next? citing for dirty looks?
I imagine the reason he hasn’t been cited is because there is nothing in that, at all, that warrants citing.
No you are probably right, doesn’t deserve citing. In the all the excitement of the game I saw more in it but nonetheless, a wayward knee on a prone player can turn nasty. Guess we should be glad Hartley didn’t do anything like that though, he would have been marched for it.