The second day of the Six Nations concluded on Sunday afternoon at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, which provided the stage for an even more convincing Scotland than last week. However, the public factor was not enough for the Clubs of Scotland to defeat the Welsh Red Army, who suffered, fought and eventually won 26–23. England, on the other hand, makes its temple tremble for almost a quarter of an hour under the attacks of an unprecedented Italy. However, the spell did not last long and the match ended 46-17 for the red roses. The most balanced match was the one between Ireland and France in Dublin, where the green goblins forced the roosters from across the Channel to six fouls, all of which could be placed by the rediscovered foot of a Jonathan Sexton, infallible even if heavily marked in the face by the ogre Bastardeau. It ends 18–11 for the hosts, who finish in defense crushed by the French waves which, however, only break Ireland's line once.
England–Italy
Just over ten minutes of Italian paradise and a night of darkness for the English before the match returns to what is expected. The English entered the field asleep, missed passes and positioning, nearly ten missed tackles in just twelve minutes, one try conceded and one player out with a head injury. Precisely from that blow, the masters of rugby awaken and begin to put the game back on track, finishing the first half ahead. From the sixtieth onwards they take off. Italy watches, together with coach Brunel who is inexplicably late in inserting the grafts from the bench – while the English change half their team within the 65th minute. The three goals scored in the temple of rugby are useless if not a few newspaper headlines.
The only good thing about the Italian squad are the young and new players, who are rarely used in the second instance. The media acclaimed the rookie Bisegni, who in just seven minutes manages to collect the hole that favors the second goal of the excellent Morisi – and also, it must be said, some mistakes in his hand. Perfect, as we said, the center Luca Morisi, author of two goals and a flawless match, which in a game lost by almost thirty points means a lot. Not for nothing, Morisi was inserted, together with the excellent second line Biagi and the usual Parisse, by the BBC in the ideal XV of the second day of the Six Nations. In short, some parts were good, the whole was bad, the direction in the grandstand was terrible.
Ireland–France
Ireland is back to what it always was, especially in the squad. Jonathan Sexton returns after a long absence due to injury, and he makes himself heard by signing all the Irish points – even collecting some French points on his face (thanks to the center Bastardeau, who was also severely hit in at least one of the numerous clashes with the Irish 10) . The back rows Sean O'Brien and Jamie Heaslip are also back, fundamental in the Irish game architecture.
In the final, Heaslip is hit by a senseless and voluntary knee from the French Pape, who will probably be severely sanctioned by the International Board. The match took place in balance for its entire duration, with France failing only in conceding free kicks to Ireland, all punctually converted into points by Sexton. Only the cockerels reach the goal in the final, without moving the score much, which stops at 18-11 for the hosts.
Scotland–Wales
Scotland confirms itself as the revelation of the tournament, imposing pace and scoring for a good part of the match. It is not heresy to say that the 23–26 defeat is largely the result of gross refereeing errors. That's right, even in rugby you can speak ill of refereeing, especially when it upsets the balance of the match that it is supposed to direct. Twice, for example, Scotland reached the goal and it was not immediately clear whether or not the player had managed to crush the oval on the ground as per the regulation.
Well, in both situations, the referee didn't request the intervention of the TMO (television match officer) establishing a priori, away from the action, that the Scotsman hadn't reached his destination. If we add to this that, especially in the final, every time the Scots faced the Welsh 5 meters, they systematically made some fouls – from offside, to hands in the ruck, to lateral entries. In short, Wales wins, but Scotland were wronged and deserved the victory for one of their best teams ever.
