Wales 22 – 30 Ireland
England 38 – 18 Scotland
Italy 23 – 18 France
Wales and Ireland opened proceedings with a strange game at the Millenium Stadium. Jonathan Davies believed Wales had ‘thought the game started at 2:30, not 1:30’ which was more or less spot on. The defending Grand Slam champions who endured a torrid time during the Autumn tests and went into this Six Nations off the back of seven straights losses, looked devoid of ideas and confidence. They started the first half poorly, and ended it diabolically. In contrast, Brian O’Driscoll who may have lost the captaincy for Ireland, showed no signs of aging, nor injury and produced a man-of-the-match performance to secure the win. It wasn’t easy for them in the end though; a combination of Irish lackadaisical play, and a spirited Welsh resistance helped them fight back from a 3-23 deficit at half-time to 22-30 by the end of the match. A loss is a loss though, and one wonders where the Howley-led Wales squad will go from here with tough games away at Italy and Scotland yet to come.
The England and Scotland game was rather a pleasant surprise for rugby fans with a high score being posted in a Scotland game. The away team have gathered a reputation for choking the life out of games and leeching off opponent’s mistakes, which would be effective if they managed to succeed regularly with this tactic. However, both teams played an open and expansive game, much to the pleasure of spectators. The score shows there was a large gulf between the teams, and whilst partly true, it was mainly a case of England being more clinical with their opportunities. Scotland showed promise of potentially having a very strong counter-attack game, one they should employ more often, scoring a try with runs from their own 22. England were almost surely going to score another try, before Scotland performed a magnificent break-away try, providing enough backs for the overlap, with Hogg, a forward chasing down the ball for a score. England however, were much more consistent, won more of the breakdowns at the ruck, and had far more clinical finishers in their arsenal, with Billy Twelvetrees having a magnificent debut capping it with a try.
Many thought the weekend’s drama was over, with a French domination of Italy sure to follow on Sunday. Despite this, it was arguably Sunday that produced the most breathtaking match in recent years, with Italy edging out strong favourites France 23-18 in a nail-biting final couple of minutes. France, who were welcoming back Michalak after 7 years away from the Six Nations, chose to play him at fly-half, despite him being a scrum-half. They also chose to play Fofana, a natural centre, on the wing. But it wasn’t this that lost them the game; Italy with a magnificent crowd behind them were stronger at the breakdowns, more efficient with their kicking and played a high line, preventing any French flair from being unleashed. In recent years, one could criticise the Italians for only playing a forward game, their backs usually letting them down with knock-ons, poor runs and the inability to tackle just to name a few issues, but this year they appear to have bought their game full-circle, with their backs providing (dare I say) a more dynamic game than the French backs. Scotland and Wales should be very worried.
Magnificent opening weekend and I hope we have more of this in the coming weeks.