The 6 Nations Rugby Union tournament got underway on Friday night with Wales and England getting it off to a cracking start.
The opening weekend’s results
Wales 19 England 26
Italy 11 Ireland 13
France 34 Scotland 21
So what did we learn?
Wales are in desperate need of a win, England were far from perfect on Friday and yet Wales failed to punish them. Wales next match is against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday and they have much to improve on before playing Ireland and then France at the end of the tournament.
England, as I said were far from perfect but they got the job done. There is still room for improvement but England have got the tricky away fixture out of the way, the next three matches are all at Twickenham and then it’s all eyes on England’s final match against Ireland at The Aviva Stadium. England play Italy on Saturday.
Italy were extremely unlucky not to have got their first win over Ireland in the Six Nations when with just six minutes full-back Luke McLean dived over with six minutes remaining to give Italy a 11-10 lead. A missed conversion later by Italy and then Ireland punished them with O’Gara’s drop goal. Italy need to start as they did for this match and not give away costly errors for their match against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
Ireland were lucky to get a win against Italy as it seemed they were going to be surrendering the points but O’Gara’s drop goal saved their blushes. Ireland will need to be more cut-throat against France at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
France were as always mesmerising, some fantastic passages of play going forward but they were lacking defensive capabilities which let Scotland back into the match. France face Ireland away in their next match on Sunday which is set to be a fantastic match already.
Scotland put up a great fight against a tough France display. Scotland host Wales at Murrayfield on Saturday, Scotland will be confident of a win at home but you never can tell.
Much to look forward to next weekend and I’ll leave you with this picture from England’s match on Friday against Wales. Do you think Chris Ashton was showboating?
