[Sport] 6 Nations 2013 - week 3

After a week off to rest their weary bodies, the rugby players of the home nations, Italy, and France were back in action this weekend for round 3 of the 2013 Six Nations. And what a weekend it was!

(Credit: rbs6nations.com)

(Warning - this is going to be a long post!)

I’ll start with the result closest to my heart.  On Sunday Scotland played Ireland at home. There was a lot of optimism around the Scottish side after their dominant performance over Italy, but the reality was that it was going to be a tough game. Ireland seem to be one of the top two teams this year, and although they’ve been under fire for the aging nature of their side, this match saw them bring in some rookies to gain their first caps. I think that that by itself says a lot; they were confident enough to try something new, rather than rely on the experience of their elder statesmen.

Next week is the second rest week, then we’re into the final pair of weekends. Sadly I’ll have to catch up with the rest of the matches on iPlayer, or via the highlights, as I’m rather busy over the coming weeks.

This man was a goal-kicking machine all match. (Credit: sport-magazine.co.uk)

The first half saw unrelenting pressure from Ireland, and stalwart defence from Scotland. The new Irish players were certainly making their mark, creating new looks and a fresh dynamic that kept the Scottish players on their toes. However they just couldn’t make the decisive move, even when Scotland went down to 14 men for 10 minutes, and lost points scoring opportunities to silly handling errors when approaching the try line. The new Scrum-half also missed several kicks at goal, and you couldn’t help feeling that Ronan O’Gara (more on him later) would have put them further ahead. As it was, Scotland were lucky to be only 3 points down at halftime after getting a penalty kick opportunity just before the break. The prevailing mood though was that it was just a matter of time before the dam broke.

Then the second half happened. I’m still not entirely sure what happened to be honest, but it was glorious. The dam bent, with Scotland allowing an Irish try (missed conversion), but didn’t break entirely. Then it started to push back. Small forays into the Irish half saw the players in green making silly errors in defence, allowing Scotland to creep ahead through a reliable kicking game. They were leading, but could they hold on?

I don't think I've ever witnessed someone have complete brain fade before. (Credit:RBS6Nations on youtube)

Then I witnessed Ronan O'Gara have brain meltdown in the middle of the pitch. He played a little chip kick across the field to try and spread the ball wide; I can see what he was trying, as there was no way of passing it that far and he's not quick enough to run it any more. But it was never going to work, and a Scottish player met the ball, kicked it on, and a scramble around by the Irish players took them back to their 5 metre line under pressure.

That remarkable moment led to a Scottish penalty which extended their lead. Then they kicked another so that only a try for Ireland would win the match. Five minutes to go, and the Irish were camped on the 5 metre line. Then an error, and a scrum, Premature celebrations followed, before Scotland gave away a penalty, but Ireland just couldn’t get it done. Final score: 12-8 to Scotland. The crowd went wild.

I’m still in shock. In years past, including last year and some of this year if we’re honest, such sustained pressure would have seen Scotland collapse. Something is different this year. Maybe it’s some new players coming through, with greater belief, and stronger desire to win. Maybe it’s the interim coach. Maybe it’s better support. But whatever it is, it’s working. Ireland had 75% of the possession, ran twice as far with the ball as Scotland, and had to make a mere 1/3 of the number of tackles. But the only statistic that really matters is the final score. Scotland’s first back-to-back 6 nations wins in 12 years!

Ok, now you're allowed to celebrate. What a performance from the Scottish team. (Credit: bbc.co.uk)

I suppose I should talk about the other matches as well.

Wales-Italy was rather a rather disappointing, stop-start affair in treacherous conditions that wasn’t particularly inspiring. Italy looked better than they had against Scotland, but nowhere close to the heights of their performance against France. Wales looked tentative to start with, but grew more confident as the game went on.

England-France went pretty much according to the formbook, with England winning convincingly in the end. France put up a good fight, and were even leading at half time after a well worked, quintessentially French try. But once again they seemed to lose interest in the second half, and sunk without a trace. I wonder what sort of odds that you could have got at the start of the tournament that France would have no wins after three games?

No, we can't believe it either Mr Michalak. (Credit: telegraph.co.uk)