quentin6 Nations Rugby (A summary from Week 1 and Week 2)
February 16th 2010 02:09
Well Sport Talk is finally back in action. Suffering from a motivation problem and knowing
I've still several blogs to type concerning events of January or early Feb, it's going to
be hard work to catch up with everything. Anyway, today I'd like to blog about the start
of the Six Nations Championship tournament.
For those who may not know, Six Nations Rugby is contested between England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy. For a long time before that it was known as the Home Nations (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland) or the 5 Nations (Home Nations and France). Over the years prior to the Six Nations, England were the most successful winning numerous trophies but ever since Italy joined to make it a Six Nations Tournament, things have changed with France, Wales and Ireland having their go at dominating.
As part of the 6 Nations, there are also many other trophies that teams play for. Besides the Championship Trophy (team that finishes on top) there's the:
- Triple Crown Trophy (Awarded to England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland when they beat all 3 other teams)
- Calcutta Cup (England vs Scotland)
- Centenary Quaich (Scotland vs Ireland)
- Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy (France vs Italy)
- Millennium Trophy (England vs Ireland)
There's also the Grand Slam (when one team beats everyone) however no trophy is awarded and I believe that it should be.
Anyway the 2010 Six Nations Championship has gotten under way and we're currently 2 rounds in
Round 1
Round 1 kicked off with defending champions Ireland, hosting Italy at Croke Park. The Italians are the worst team ever in terms of Six Nations so this promised to be an expected win for the Irish. That's exactly how it panned out as tries from Jamie Heaslip and Tomas O'Leary helped Ireland to a virtually unassailable 23-8 half-time lead. The second half was a rather drab encounter as penalty goals was the order of the day. At the end of the day it was Ireland 29 defeating Italy 11.
Twickenham saw a classice between England and Wales. Martin Johnson's team (England) have been criticised for disjointed displays and frankly average rugby. In this game, they took advantage of the sin-binning of Welsh lock Alun-Wyn Jones to rack up a 20-3 lead with tries from Haskall and Care. Things changed when the man came back on as Wales threatened another fightback similar to the one 2 years ago at the same stadium which led to a win. Despite reducing the margin to 20-17 with tries from Hook and Rhys Jones, Wales couldn't complete the fairytale and a second try for Haskall allowed England to seal the deal. It was England 30 defeating Wales 17.
Meanwhile at Murryfield, a superb first half by France's Mathieu Bastareaud was the catalyst for a French win over Scotland. Bastereaud was the only try-scorer in the match, scoring 2 tries (both in the first half) to give France a 15-6 lead at half-time. Sadly the second-half was tense but utter shite as both teams only landed a penalty each with the final score ending up Scotland 9 losing to France 18.
Round 2
Round 2 kicked off with the greatest ever comeback in the Six Nations between Wales and Scotland at the Millenium Stadium. Scotland were on top and led 18-9 at half-time with tries from Barclay and Evans. Despite Byrne getting a try for Wales, Scotland extended their lead to 24-14 and they were 4 minutes away from a famous win before the game turned viciously. Lawson got sin-binned in the 77th minute for Scotland and Halfpenny scored a try in the 79th minute which brought it back to 24-21. It got worse as Scotland were reduced to 13 men with the sin-bin of Godman and Wales equalised to make it 24-24. Don't ask me how but there was still time for Wales to score a try through Williams and complete the fairytale. Wales 31 defeated Scotland 24.
Over in France, the Irish hopes of retaining their Six Nations Championship title took what could prove to be a fatal blow as the French took them apart. Servat and Jauzio scored tries in a 5 minute patch and pretty well decided the game as the French took a 17-3 lead into half-time. Both sides scored a try a piece in the second half, Poitrenaud for the French and Wallace for the Irish, but the French extended their lead further. France 33 defeated Ireland 10.
In Italy, England scrapped and scragged their way to a victory in a game that really wasn't impressive at all. Half-time saw the score at 6-6 and really the difference for England was the try to Tait in the 45th minute. Castrogeovanni was sinbinned for the Italians in the 61st minute but amazingly Italy brought the margin to 2 points before finally being sunk by a Johnny Wilkinson drop goal (where have I heard this before?). A brave Italy 12 lost to a scrappy England 17.
At the end of the first 2 rounds, the ladder is as follows
France 2-0 ( 32)
England 2-0 ( 18)
Ireland 1-1 (-5)
Wales 1-1 (-6)
Scotland 0-2 (-16)
Italy 0-2 (-23)
With points difference seperating all positions, it could be considered as too hard to call but in all honesty, I think France could be considered favourites because of performances thus far. England just don't impress me enough to challenge the French and Round 3 on the 26th/27th Feb will potentially start to sort out teams with Wales taking on France, England playing Ireland and Italy playing Scotland in the wooden spoon decider.
So ends the first 2 weeks of the Six Nations. The Rugby has generally been good but there's still plenty more to go
I've still several blogs to type concerning events of January or early Feb, it's going to
be hard work to catch up with everything. Anyway, today I'd like to blog about the start
of the Six Nations Championship tournament.
For those who may not know, Six Nations Rugby is contested between England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy. For a long time before that it was known as the Home Nations (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland) or the 5 Nations (Home Nations and France). Over the years prior to the Six Nations, England were the most successful winning numerous trophies but ever since Italy joined to make it a Six Nations Tournament, things have changed with France, Wales and Ireland having their go at dominating.
As part of the 6 Nations, there are also many other trophies that teams play for. Besides the Championship Trophy (team that finishes on top) there's the:
- Triple Crown Trophy (Awarded to England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland when they beat all 3 other teams)
- Calcutta Cup (England vs Scotland)
- Centenary Quaich (Scotland vs Ireland)
- Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy (France vs Italy)
- Millennium Trophy (England vs Ireland)
There's also the Grand Slam (when one team beats everyone) however no trophy is awarded and I believe that it should be.
Anyway the 2010 Six Nations Championship has gotten under way and we're currently 2 rounds in
Round 1
Round 1 kicked off with defending champions Ireland, hosting Italy at Croke Park. The Italians are the worst team ever in terms of Six Nations so this promised to be an expected win for the Irish. That's exactly how it panned out as tries from Jamie Heaslip and Tomas O'Leary helped Ireland to a virtually unassailable 23-8 half-time lead. The second half was a rather drab encounter as penalty goals was the order of the day. At the end of the day it was Ireland 29 defeating Italy 11.
Twickenham saw a classice between England and Wales. Martin Johnson's team (England) have been criticised for disjointed displays and frankly average rugby. In this game, they took advantage of the sin-binning of Welsh lock Alun-Wyn Jones to rack up a 20-3 lead with tries from Haskall and Care. Things changed when the man came back on as Wales threatened another fightback similar to the one 2 years ago at the same stadium which led to a win. Despite reducing the margin to 20-17 with tries from Hook and Rhys Jones, Wales couldn't complete the fairytale and a second try for Haskall allowed England to seal the deal. It was England 30 defeating Wales 17.
Meanwhile at Murryfield, a superb first half by France's Mathieu Bastareaud was the catalyst for a French win over Scotland. Bastereaud was the only try-scorer in the match, scoring 2 tries (both in the first half) to give France a 15-6 lead at half-time. Sadly the second-half was tense but utter shite as both teams only landed a penalty each with the final score ending up Scotland 9 losing to France 18.
Round 2
Round 2 kicked off with the greatest ever comeback in the Six Nations between Wales and Scotland at the Millenium Stadium. Scotland were on top and led 18-9 at half-time with tries from Barclay and Evans. Despite Byrne getting a try for Wales, Scotland extended their lead to 24-14 and they were 4 minutes away from a famous win before the game turned viciously. Lawson got sin-binned in the 77th minute for Scotland and Halfpenny scored a try in the 79th minute which brought it back to 24-21. It got worse as Scotland were reduced to 13 men with the sin-bin of Godman and Wales equalised to make it 24-24. Don't ask me how but there was still time for Wales to score a try through Williams and complete the fairytale. Wales 31 defeated Scotland 24.
Over in France, the Irish hopes of retaining their Six Nations Championship title took what could prove to be a fatal blow as the French took them apart. Servat and Jauzio scored tries in a 5 minute patch and pretty well decided the game as the French took a 17-3 lead into half-time. Both sides scored a try a piece in the second half, Poitrenaud for the French and Wallace for the Irish, but the French extended their lead further. France 33 defeated Ireland 10.
In Italy, England scrapped and scragged their way to a victory in a game that really wasn't impressive at all. Half-time saw the score at 6-6 and really the difference for England was the try to Tait in the 45th minute. Castrogeovanni was sinbinned for the Italians in the 61st minute but amazingly Italy brought the margin to 2 points before finally being sunk by a Johnny Wilkinson drop goal (where have I heard this before?). A brave Italy 12 lost to a scrappy England 17.
At the end of the first 2 rounds, the ladder is as follows
France 2-0 ( 32)
England 2-0 ( 18)
Ireland 1-1 (-5)
Wales 1-1 (-6)
Scotland 0-2 (-16)
Italy 0-2 (-23)
With points difference seperating all positions, it could be considered as too hard to call but in all honesty, I think France could be considered favourites because of performances thus far. England just don't impress me enough to challenge the French and Round 3 on the 26th/27th Feb will potentially start to sort out teams with Wales taking on France, England playing Ireland and Italy playing Scotland in the wooden spoon decider.
So ends the first 2 weeks of the Six Nations. The Rugby has generally been good but there's still plenty more to go
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