Best of the Weekend: Scotland help England to 2016 Six Nations title

Scotland victory hands England Six Nations title

With one weekend left of Six Nations action, England were confirmed as tournament champions after their 25-21 victory over Wales, and Scotland’s spirited 29-18 defeat of France at Murrayfield.

As seems to be the norm with Eddie Jones in charge of England, the midweek hype train was full steam ahead coming into England’s clash with Wales and for 65 minutes England silenced their critics. Wales committed error after error allowing Owen Farrell to kick three penalties in the opening half hour, but England squandered multiple opportunities to claim a try. It took a half-break from the effervescent Maro Itoje to spark something; the lock broke two tackles and fed Mike Brown who put Anthony Watson in on the left hand side. Farrell added three more points for a 19-0 lead, which tided England over until the 54th minute where George Ford, suffering through a poor game, had a kick charged down by Dan Biggar who touched down under the posts to lift Welsh spirits.

With Farrell lentehning the lead with two more penalties, giving England a comfortable 25-7 lead, everything suddenly collapsed for Jones’ side. First their discipline went, which saw Dan Cole sin-binned after repeated infringement close to the line, and next the defence, as Wales inexplicably clicked into gear and put George North and Taulupe Faletau in for tries, reducing the previously unassailable England lead to just four points. The final thing to deteriorate was the refereeing, with Craig Joubert and the TMO bizarrely refusing to hand more than a penalty to Tomas Francis for clear contact with Dan Cole’s eyes (if it was a penalty then clearly he is guilty, so surely it’s worthy of a card?), and then blowing the final whistle despite the fact that George North had stayed in field.

Scotland showed their continued progression under Vern Cotter by beating France 29-18, the first time they have done so since 2006 and the first back-to-back victories for the Scots since 2013. After conceding a Guilhem Guirado try early in the match, Scotland worked their way to a healthy 18-5 lead after two Greig Laidlaw penalties and two tries from Stuart Hogg and Duncan Taylor. France provided the last thrust of a thrilling first half by sending Gael Fickou over in the corner, but after the break, Scotland continued to apply pressure and France repeatedly committed handling errors and infringed at the breakdown. It was the responsibility of Stuart Hogg to seal the deal for his team, thumping over a monstrous penalty and then providing an audacious assist for Tim Visser’s try in the 68th minute. By the time that Laidlaw kicked his third penalty of the game, to bring up the final scoreline of 29-18, the game and the Six Nations title were both beyond the reach of Guy Noves and France.

Ireland recorded their first win (seriously? their first win?!) of the tournament by embarrassing Italy 58-15. Despite flashing potential in the opening weekend against France, Italy have been a disappointment in this year’s Six Nations and this match represented their nadir as Ireland cut them to ribbons on their way to nine tries. Andrew Trimble and Jack McGrath scored within the first 15 minutes, and CJ Stander and Jamie Heaslip added further scores before the break, with Heaslip’s being a phenomenal 80 metre team effort involving nine different pairs of hands. Jonny Sexton was oddly wayward from the tee but did kick a first half penalty which was also all Italy could manage. After half-time and leading 25-3, Ireland scored with regularity through Jared Payne, Sean Cronin, Ian Madigan and Fergus McFadden. Although this is not a triumph that will have earned its place in the rugby history books, it offered a hapless Ireland side a chance to work out some frustration, at the expense of the wooden spoon wielding Azzurri.

Six Nations Star Man: Stuart Hogg

Wasps land killer play-off blow on Tigers

After the disappointment at Gloucester, Wasps stormed back into form with a 36-24 defeat of Leicester Tigers. Wasps were remarkable going forward, scoring five tries through Charles Piutau (2), Christian Wade, Frank Halai and Nathan Hughes. Leicester were gifted their first try for Peter Betham, by a terrible pass from Wade and scored twice in the second half with Telusa Veainu and Veriniki Goneva crossing. Wasps have leapfrogged Leicester with this win, and now sit in third place.

Nothing is going Bath’s way this season. They sit just three points above Worcester in the league table and lost their 10th game of the season this weekend, 35-28 against Harlequins. The London club scored all four of their tries within the first 45 minutes of the game and then decidedly took their foot off the gas, allowing Bath to mount an unlikely, but fruitless, comeback. Harry Sloan scored after just three minutes following an interception from Nick Easter before a costly yellow carding of Chris Cook allowed Charlie Walker to score twice in two minutes. James Horwill’s close-range try just after half-time gave Quins the bonus point, but Bath caught fire in the last quarter of the match, with Amanaki Mafi, Jeff Williams and Semesa Rokoduguni all scoring to give Bath something to be positive about.

Saracens and Exeter ensured that it remains tight at the top by winning their respective games; Saracens made history, not by beating London Irish 26-16, but by doing so in New York, while Exeter earned a bonus point in their 32-17 defeat of Newcastle. Northampton recovered from an early deficit to beat Sale 26-11, and Worcester provided another upset, this time denying Gloucester a bonus point by winning 28-20. The Warriors are now five points clear of fellow strugglers Newcastle, and 13 points clear of the almost-certainly-doomed London Irish.

Aviva Premiership Star Man: Charles Piutau

Brumbies continue to set Super Rugby pace

The Brumbies remain unbeaten in Super Rugby, after defeating the Force 31-14 at NIB Stadium. Stephen Larkham’s team got a healthy contribution from their Wallabies, with Stephen Moore and Matt Toomua scoring in the first half before the Force even woke up, with Luke Morahan eventually getting his team on the board with a 33rd minute try. After the break, Joe Tomane showed good strength to finish off his second try of the season and Josh Mann-Rea scored the fourth for the Brumbies in the 80th minute, after Ben Tapuai had grabbed a late score for the Force. Christian Leali’ifano added 11 points from the tee.

Also on Friday, the Blues were upset by the Hurricanes as the Wellington side earned their first win of the season, 23-19. The Blues were first to score, through human highlight-reel Rene Ranger but the Hurricanes were quick to reply, driving Victor Vito over from a metre out. Acting captain TJ Perenara was next on the scoresheet as he finished off a wonderful ‘Canes move, but it was not long before the Blues answered back, with George Moala the man at the centre of a driving pod. Clearly keen to keep the Blues on the back foot, Perenara flew in for a try in the right-hand corner to give the Hurricanes a narrow lead, but it was then the job of his team’s defence to secure the win. The Hurricanes absorbed wave after wave of pressure from their opponents, including a lethal run from Tevita Li that led to a disallowed try, but were able to cling on for a valuable victory.

The remainder of the Super Rugby action saw the Sharks become the second side to retain unbeaten form as a late Joe Pietersen try secured them an 18-13 win over the Stormers. The Highlanders and Chiefs also notched up wins, 34-15 over the Lions and 58-24 over the Southern Kings respectively, with the Cheetahs beating the Sunwolves 32-31 in Singapore. The Melbourne Rebels ensured that the Reds remain winless so far, with a 25-23 victory at AAMI Park.

Super Rugby Star Man: Akihito Yamada

Toulon, Racing & Clermont keep it tight at the top

Toulouse showed an impressive degree of consistency in recording their second consecutive draw (?!) as their match against Bordeaux Begles ended 13-13. This draw was not the result of a botched conversion, however, but a hard-fought and equal game of rugby. Paul Perez scored Toulouse’s try after half an hour, with Metuisela Talebula providing Bordeaux’s solitary score after half-time. Pierre Bernard kicked the remaining eight points for Bordeaux while Jean-Marc Doussain and Luke McAlister split the kicking duties.

All three horses in the race for top spot won this weekend with Racing 92 staying in first place, with a 34-16 victory over a depleted Stade Francais side. Contrary to expectations, Stade raced out to a 10-0 lead within 7 minutes of kick-off, with Morne Steyn kicking a penalty and converting Waisea Nayacalevu’s try. Steyn kicked two more penalties in the first half, but by that point, Racing had already began to gather momentum with Dan Carter scoring a try, converting and kicking a penalty. In the second half there was no contest as Mike Phillips, Brice Dulin and Johan Goosen all crossed the whitewash, to stay atop the standings.

Toulon scored six tries en route to a 38-8 thrashing of Grenoble, and second place Clermont Auvergne dismissed Brive 25-6. There were sizeable victories for Castres (50-6 over Agen), La Rochelle (35-16 over Pau) and Montpellier (31-10 over Oyonnax) as the wretched season for the Top 14 strugglers continues.

Top 14 Star Man: Dan Carter

Try of the Week: Hands down, Ireland’s team effort finished by Jamie Heaslip. Honourable mentions to all of Wasps’ tries and Stuart Hogg’s inspired assist of Tim Visser.

Video credit: RBS 6 Nations

Hero of the Week: Scotland’s victory over France got me all misty-eyed, purely because it caused Greig Laidlaw to contort his face into a rare smile! The delight of the Scottish team at their win was infectious and you can’t help but feel happy for Laidlaw as the long-suffering captain. Ditto for Stuart Hogg. Honourable mention to Luke Charteris for his stoicism when faced with a finger dislocation that had me leaping behind the sofa in fright.

Villain of the Week: England are strong contenders for falling apart in the final quarter of the Wales game, and taking about a decade off their fans’ lives in the process. It goes, however, to the Japanese Super Rugby franchise the Sunwolves, for managing to blow a 31-13 lead and thus missing out on their first Super Rugby win!

By Fraser Kay (@fraserkay)

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images