[Sport] 6 Nations 2014 - week 3

The middle week of the 6 Nations has been and gone. It's always a bit of an odd one, week 3. There's a week's break either side of it, so the players are generally well rested and the matches are high quality. Plus it gives the managers a chance to step back, assess the progress that they may or may not have made, evaluate their performances, and maybe mess around with the squad lineups a bit. This year it was all that and even more; there were the two matches on Saturday, as is normal, but the third match was played on the Friday night, on prime time television, which I think is a great thing for the sport of rugby union.

From a Scottish perspective, week 3 was also potentially where the wooden spoon was 'won' or 'lost', so to speak. That's right, it was Scotland against Italy, the fixture that has over the last five or six years often been the one that decides who props up the table at the end of the tournament. It's always a tough fixture for Scotland; Italy are often underestimated as a side by observers, but they're usually strong up front and if the match turns into a forwards game can generally grind the Scots down. On the other hand Scotland usually have the advantage in the backs, but that wasn't so much the case this year, as there was a defector on the Italian team in the shape of a former Scotland under-20 player. Booooo, traitor!

It was close, and it was tense. The first half saw Italy on top 13-3, with a converted try and a couple of well taken penalties. But Scotland came out fighting, and scored a pair of tries in quick succession to take the lead, although it wasn't as strong as it could be (one of the conversions was missed). Then the Italians scored another converted try to put them one point in the lead. Scotland were piling on the pressure with time running out, and it looked like a close loss was on the cards. Then, out of nowhere, Duncan Weir pulled off a fabulous drop-goal from way back near the Italian 10m line to win the game by a single point, with 15s left on the clock. Amazing, particularly when you the coach said he hadn't managed one in training for two weeks! 

Duncan Weir sends the winning drop goal on its way. What a finish to the match! (Credit: telegraph.co.uk)

Apart from the obvious there was a lot to like about this game. All four tries were well executed, and well taken, and there was some very exciting rugby going. It's a positive for Scotland, but no reason to get carried away. We may have avoided the wooden spoon this year (probably), but there's still a lot to work on for the future. On the other side of the ball, the Italians looked good again, as they have done all tournament, and have found a star for the future in Tommaso Allan I think. 

In the other games:

• France failed to turn up against Wales on Friday night, being comprehensively destroyed 27-6 by their hosts. Wales looked rejuvenated by the week off, and France looked all at sea.
• Ireland narrowly lost out to England 13-10 in a fascinating match that didn't really have much of note going on.

The next round is on the 8th and 9th of March. Scotland are playing France at home, and I've actually got a free weekend so will be able to watch live for once! Here's hoping that the France of this week show up to Murrayfield, and that Scotland can carry some momentum forward. I'm not expecting a win, but at least let it be close please!