England on course for Grand Slam

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After a pulsating kick off to the RBS Six Nations of 2013, with rather two surprising outcomes on the first weekend, we assess how the teams have fared after three gruelling rounds. England are the only team left with any hope of winning the coveted ‘Grand Slam’, their first since 2003 should they achieve that feat. As the teams head for the ‘home straight’ let’s look at how the Northern hemisphere’s best have shaped up.

England

After seeing off a rather spirited Scotland outfit at Twickenham, Stuart Lancaster’s men travelled across to Dublin the next week to take on buoyed Ireland, fresh from conquering the Welsh at the Millennium stadium. With a constant drizzle persisting right throughout the game, the contest turned into one of attrition. There were no tries scored in the game with the final scoreline reading 12-6 to England with all their points coming off the boot of Owen Farrell. Though not pretty to watch, the manner in which England ground out the Irish impressed hardened rugby followers and more so their guru Lancaster. There were more than shades of the class of 2003 where the likes of Martin Johnson, Dellaglio, Hill, and Jonny Wilkinson were excellent and closing out games despite not playing to their best. 

A fortnight later it was the turn of the French to visit London. France were reeling from back to back defeats but were always going to put up a very formidable challenge. The game began at quite a frantic pace, with the returning Manu Tuilagi punching holes through the French midfield at will. After an early exchange of penalties, it was France who scored the first try of the game when Wesley Fofana broke through many a weak tackle to score by the left corner. However, from that point on England were clinical. They made sure that Mathieu Bastareaud was well looked after with three men on him each time he got the ball. England’s try could be deemed rather fortuitous, but they were outstanding at the set pieces and broken play, particularly in the second half. Tom Wood playing in the rather unaccustomed position of Number 8 was outstanding in the loose. Captain Chris Robshaw further enhanced his credentials as a leader, and now finds himself as a front runner to lead the Lions in the Summer. Owen Farrell, though looking a bit distracted at the start of the game was pivotal once again. Manu Tuilagi braved a torn ear to really be a thorn in the flesh of the French. With only Italy, and Wales away to come, few would bet against this impressive England side from achieving the coveted Grand Slam.At the moment, complacency appears to be their biggest challenge. However, Lancaster is blessed with riches of depth, which also includes the returning Tom Croft. 

France

Phillpe Saint Andre was a man under immense pressure after suffering back to back defeats against Italy and Wales. Much was expected of this French team prior to the competition considering the highs of the Autumn when they went through the all their tests undefeated, which included a thrashing of the No. 2 ranked Wallabies. After an error ridden display cost them dearly against Italy in Rome, they were simply unimaginative and flat against the Welsh not even coming close to breaching the opposition try line. Having been booed off by the partisan crowd in Paris, beating England at Twickenham presented an ideal opportunity for redemption. Thierry Dusautoir was back at the helm with Bastareaud brought into midfield to be used as a battering ram. The game started well for the French with the Les Bleus forwards getting the better of the English eight in the scrums. Wesley Fofana, back at centre was outstanding and scored a brilliant individualistic try, which left everyone more baffled as to why he was left loitering on the wing in the previous two games. Another outstanding talent who seems to get better each time he pulls on the French jersey is Toulouse No. 8 Luke Picamoles. The Toulouse star was a handful with ball in hand, breaking the gain line with every surge. 

After the dust settled, it could be said that the French contributed to their own downfall with making substitutions at some crucial stages that stalled the momentum. Frederic Michalak was one such, and his errors proved to be decisive in the end. That said, all in all, Les Bleus were much improved from the opening two games. With any ambitions of winning down the drain, we just might see that renown French flair return against the Irish and Scots.

Ireland

After a promising start where they upstaged the defending champions Wales in their own den, Declan Kidney is once again a man under serious pressure. At the start of the campaign, Kidney decided to relieve the mercurial Brian O’Driscoll of the captaincy, opting to hand over the reins to Jamie Heaslip. A big bigdecision. One could argue that with it was a far thinking and correct decision with a view to building up to the 2015 World Cup, where O’Driscoll by his own admission is unlikely to be around for. All seemed could augur well in Cardiff as the Irish raced to a commanding lead, which they did very well to defend, extinguishing wave after wave of assault on their try line. However, a week later in wet conditions,the Irish just could not get it together. They were hampered greatly by the loss of Simon Zebo and Jonathan Sexton early in the game and there on struggled to get any grip on the game. They were poor in handling the wet ball and were simply outthought and outsmarted by England. The game also saw some ugly incidents unfold –  Cian Healy’s stamp on Dan Cole’s ankle being the pick of the list.

After a week to lick their wounds, a win against Scotland in Edinburgh was a must to keep their title ambitions alive.  The impressive Luke Marshall, playing in place of injured Gordon Darcy, punched holes through the Scottish midfield at will. Unfortunately, Ireland failed to finish off any of these line breaks, and went in for lemons only 3-0 ahead. Winger Craig Gilroy crossed early to give them an 8-0 advantage. However, Paddy Jackson, playing ahead of Ronan O’Gara was off the mark with the boot. His three missed kicks at goal ultimately cost the Irish the game. Greig Laidlaw made them pay each time for their indiscretions as Scotland emerged eventual winners 12 to 8.

O’Gara coming on as a late replacement was woefully out of form with ball in hand, but had he been on to kick the goals from the start, the result could well have been different. What’s worse, they now lie in wait for a wounded French brigade.

Wales

The defending champions are finally back to winning ways, having upstaged France in Paris in what was a topsyturvy affair for most part. However, George North found the bounce kind to him off a cross field kick and went over to kill off the game and wrap up a historic victory. This win seems to have exorcised the demons of the recent past – an opening weekend loss to Ireland being the latest of a dose of bitter pills to swallow.

The Welsh scrum has started to come together, and they are looking more fluid in open play. Quick ball at the breakdown is resulting in more opportunities for their backs to be put into space. Their much debated ‘rush defence’ was also executed to perfection against France and Italy. There were no tries scored against them in either game which speaks for itself. Mike Phillips has been their general with the evergreen Ryan Jones taking on the captaincy in Warburton’s absence. 

They travel to Murrayfield next to take on the resurgence Scots, and will be happy to have Warburton back amongst their ranks. The open side has struggled in recent times for form, but this could well be the game that sees him turn the corner. Centre Jamie Roberts, and winger Alex Cuthbert and George North give the Welsh a physical edge and firepower and could well spoil England’s Grand Slam hopes on the concluding weekend.

Scotland

As I said at the start of the tournament, with Scott Johnsons taking over from Andy Robinson, there was only one direction Scotland could go – up. Under Kelly Brown’s able leadership that is precisely how their fortunes have been. Playing England away was always going to be tough christening. Though going down in defeat, they came away with their pride intact with new kilted Kiwi Sean Maitland and full back StuartHogg both getting over the England line. They played host to the Azzuri the following week, a team on a high having scalped France on the opening weekend. In what started off as a tight contest, the Scottish eight dominated the breakdowns and set pieces which gave the Italians little ball. Under Johnson, they have adopted a more expansive game which has lifted the tempo in open play. They outscored the Italians four tries to one with Visser, Scott, Hogg, and Lamont all getting on the scoreboard. Just the result needed to settle things down for Brown and Co. The battled and bruised Irish were next up, and though going behind 8-0 early in the second half, the men in Blue put on a truly brave heart display to claw themselves back into the game. After taking the lead through Laidlaw’s boot they managed the game exceptionally well from there on to keep the Irish at bay. Jim Hamilton and Blind side flanker Rob Harley were solid in defence and were a constant annoyance at the breakdown.

From being perennial underachievers the Scottish now hold a genuine chance of finishing high up on the table with two games to go.

Italy

Playing in a new strip and an enterprising brand of Rugby, Sergio Parisse’s Italy thoroughly deserved their win against France in the opening weekend. However, the bubble seems to have burst since then as they were blown away in Murrayfield by the vastly improved Scots. Next up was the visit of Wales – a game coach Frank Brunnel would have marked out on his calendar. Preparations were not helped with Skipper Parisse being suspended due to his indiscretions while playing for Stade in the top 14. Things started going from bad to worse form the outset in the game. First their scrum capitulated as Gethin Jenkins and the Welsh eight proved too hot to handle for them. They were then down to 14 when stand-in captain Castrogiovanni saw yellow for continuous offending t scrum time. The success against France has fast become a distant memory and Italy have gone back to running cross field and kicking away possession cheaply. 

Unfortunately for the Azzuri, the schedule does them no favours as a visit to the fortress Twickenham against the supreme English is next up. The wooden spoon already seems to have their name on it.