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'Six Nations > Rugby Championship' and other talking points from Round Two
Is it time for a Six Nations playoff, what the heck was up with that Finn Russell conversion and more from another breathless weekend of test rugby.
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Yes, the Six Nations is better than the Rugby Championship
England have now won 16 in a row and are second in World Rugby’s rankings. Ireland are fourth; Wales fifth. Eighth-placed France and Wales probably should have beaten England, who are second, remember; Scotland, ranked seventh, could have beaten France, and did beat Ireland. Four of the six games in this tournament so far have gone to the wire, with only Italy letting the tournament side down. England entertain Conor O’Shea’s battered Azzurri next, but after that face Scotland and Ireland in matches that promise to be at least as tough as the two games that have already gone. Even now, with England two-for-two and no other team unbeaten, the outcome of the tournament is far from a forgone conclusion, with just three points separating first from fifth. Meanwhile, New Zealand will win this year’s Rugby Championship – the only question is by how much.
Flankers!
Much of the Lions talk coming into the Six Nations focused on the second row options at Warren Gatland’s disposal – with the Gray brothers, Maro Itoje, Alun Wyn Jones, Devin Toner and the injured George Kruis among the names regularly bandied about for the boiler room positions. Forget that. Gatland’s back row options have literally multiplied from basically the Irish loose forwards before the tournament started, to the Irish plus the Welsh, plus a couple from England and Scotland – including Itoje, who is learning fast at six – plus the back-from-injury Taulupe Faletau and Billy Vunipola. It’s probably a good job for the Lions selectors that the French can’t play, because you would then have to include Louis Picamoles and Kevin Gourdon too.
Is it time for a Six Nations play-off?
Italian newspapers were savage in their opinion of the Azzurri’s performance against Ireland. “We don’t deserve to be in the Six Nations,” wrote Corriere dello Sport’s rugby writer Francesco Volpe in a scathing editorial, while La Gazetta dello Sport described Saturday’s encounter as, “the worst waste of a home game in the history of the Six Nations.” So, maybe, despite pre-tournament optimism, the time has actually, finally, come for the winners of the Rugby Europe International Championship – usually Georgia – to face the wooden-spoon winners of the Six Nations, whoever they may be, in a two-leg match for the right to take part in the following season’s competition?
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That Finn Russell conversion
It’s too easy to mock Scotland’s fly-half for that fluffed conversion attempt from right in front of the posts at Stade de France on Sunday. Some say a bad call from the coaches, some say nerves, some just laugh and turn it into a gif. Many ignore the fact that referee Jaco Peyper may have been talking to the TMO about whether to review the try that led to the conversion attempt – concerned there may have been a reason to discount the try, Russell took the conversion quickly to take the decision out of the referee’s hands. The only question that remains is whether he should have attempted a drop goal, rather than setting the ball on a tee, for it to bobble off as he was shaping to kick. In the end, it didn’t really matter, as Scotland lost by six. Or maybe it did matter, as it would have put Scotland in the lead early in the second half and may have changed France’s game plan…
Jackson or Sexton – that is Schmidt’s question
Paddy Jackson, who has barely put a boot wrong in this Six Nations, faces a training ground head-to-head with Johnny Sexton for the right to wear Ireland’s number 10 shirt against France at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium in two weeks. The latter has played barely two hours of rugby since November, but will not be released to Leinster for some much-needed game time this week, with coach Joe Schmidt instead determined to keep him at a three-day training camp in Monaghan. The coach was tight-lipped about Jackson’s chances of keeping his place, but admitted that he had ensured Sexton’s return to fitness does not now necessarily mean a return to the starting line-up. A nice headache for the coach to have … and a perfect two-pint topic for bar-room rugby fans.
Aw, Referee! Part Two
French referees do not always get the best press, but Romain Poite and Jerome Garces have officiated over the two best games in this year’s Six Nations. Poite took charge of the tournament opener between Scotland and Ireland, where he barely blew a whistle out of place, while Garces officiated over the thriller in Cardiff at the weekend. Fans of either side could point to a number of perceived mistakes – repeated England offsides; Haskell’s ball-killing in front of the posts; Moriarty’s late hit on Owen Farrell; Scott Williams’ swinging arm on Jack Nowell – but the fact is Garces let a difficult game flow, while remaining in complete control. And the game became an epic as a result. His warning to Rhys Webb to “stop trying to buy penalties” could have come straight from Nigel Owens’ book of one-liners.
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