It was a tense round of 6-Nations Rugby with the wooden spoon battle, another attempted Welsh comeback and a match which showed English coach Martin Johnson, that his team, really is average at best.
The round kicked off though with the match between Wales and France from the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. I dunno what the Wales coach said at the start but the first 40 minutes were insipid from the Welsh as the French ran riot with tries from Alexis Palisson and François Trinh-Duc and a couple of penalties to lead 20-0 at half-time. At half-time, Wales copped another pasting from their coach and the comeback was on as a couple of Jones penalties and a try from Leigh Halfpenny to bring the margin to 1 converted try with plenty of time left. Sadly it wasn't to be as another couple of French penalties followed and then a late try from Welsh player Shane Williams completed the scoring with Wales 20 losing to France 26.
The Stadio Flamino saw the mandatory wooden spoon battle between Italy and Scotland and my, what a battle it was. The game for the first 65 minutes was the battle of the kickers as Scotland's Dan Parks and Italy's Mirco Bergamasco went head to head with a combination of penalty kicks and drop goals. It was 6-6 at half-time and with 15 minute remaining, Scotland led 12-9. In the 68th minute Pablo Canavosio scored a try for Italy and it was converted by Bergamasco and this proved to be the last score of the game as the final 10 minutes were dominated by Scotland looking for the try that would win them the game. Some wonderful Italian defense prevented this and at the end of the game, it was Italy 16 defeating Scotland 12.
In the Match of the Round between the English and the Irish from Twickenham, it was a thriller the whole game. England got off to the worst possible start conceding a try to Ireland's Tommy Bowe in the 4th minute. The rest of the half were penalty goals which saw the Irish go into half-time with an 8-6 lead. Ireland extended the lead to 13-6 through a try from Keith Earls only to see England level the scores with a try from Dan Cole. Ireland then had captain Brian O'Driscoll stretchered off after copping an accidental knee from a teammate and England then went in front following a Wilkinson drop goal. Sadly it crumbled for the English as Bowe scored a 2nd try and then the Irish were able to hold on in desperation with England 16 losing to Ireland 20.
The ladder at the end of Round 3 is:
France 6 38
England 4 14
Ireland 4 -1
Wales 2 -12
Italy 2 -19
Scotland 0 -20
The 4th round could sort out the championship with the following matches taking place
Ireland vs Wales
Scotland vs England
France vs Italy
Scott 5
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