The last day of the Six Nations opens as one could not imagine. Ireland, Wales, England and France can still win the title. Everything is played on points difference. The easiest round goes to Wales and Ireland who on paper have the easiest game compared to the other two, as they challenge Italy and Scotland respectively. On paper, therefore, they will only have to worry about scoring as much as possible while minimizing the points collected. England has the advantage of playing last, thus being able to know the results of the two previous matches. Also, Queen Elizabeth's Red Roses can count on friendly audiences, playing at their home in Twickenam. At the start of the last round, the English have the best points difference, +36, immediately followed by Ireland at +33, and Wales at +12.
Italy vs Wales
The game doesn't seem to have anything to say, but you always have to take the field and play. Wales seem to have forgotten this basic rule for any sport and believe they deserve a forfeit victory, without trying too hard. In fact, the first half reveals a balanced match which, despite the result at the stroke of 40', should have ended with the Azzurri in front. Instead, a showy foul not assigned to Ghilardini and his teammates first, and a free-kick converted by the dragons then, mean that the first fraction ends on a still honest 13-14 for the guests of the Olimpico.
The match restarts on the notes of the nervousness of a Wales that sees the possibility of getting their hands on the title increasingly distant, while Italy tries to manage a certain superiority, at least on a psychological level. However, it is not enough to stop a quick play on a free-kick that leads Liam Williams diving between the posts. Plus eight for the dragoons, who are starting to believe in their means again. Not even three minutes and North crosses the left wing of the green rectangle and crushes in goal. Another game begins which will see the Welsh secure an excellent points difference, very useful in putting pressure on Ireland who take the field shortly after at Murrayfield.
The eighty minutes close with a good ride from Sarto who crushes the flag and takes away a few points from the Welsh abacus. However, it ends with a merciless 20-61. Namely a large mortgage on the British Dragoon Cup. As far as the Azzurri are concerned, this very heavy defeat makes the transition to the quarterfinals of the World Cup in October seem more and more like a utopia. To convey the seriousness of the situation, Castrogiovanni asks for a psychologist for the blue team – “You can't make these shitty figures anymore” – he says verbatim.
Scotland vs Ireland
After the usual, exciting, a capella singing of the wonderful Flowers of Scotland sung by over 70 thousand in Edinburgh, the second challenge begins. Even here on paper there should be no story. Yet we are still at Murrayfield, and Scotland have shown, at least in the first two matches of the tournament, that they know how to do things as a great team. If they do find that shape again, it might not be cakewalk for the Dublin leprechauns. The field, at least at the beginning, proves the theory right and after just four minutes the eternal captain O'Connell crushes over the line after a great choral action from his XV.
The Irish, to overcome the Welsh performance against the blues, must win in Edinburgh with more than twenty points difference, and immediately begin to grind meters and tries to leave nothing to chance. After ten minutes, the greens are already halfway through the game: the scorecard already shows 0-10 for Ireland. Even for the leprechauns, however, the first half questions some certainties. In the 30th minute, in fact, Scotland scored after a good action, and the result remained in the balance at 10-17, even if always with Ireland in the lead. The first portion of the game ends with the leprechauns ahead by ten points for 10-20, halfway to do better than Wales, but Scotland doesn't play along and right at the end of the first half begins to show that beautiful rugby they had used to the start of the tournament.
As at the Olimpico, the second half game begins in a diametrically different way from the first one and the favorite begins to dot the "i", making her feel superior. In the 50th minute Ireland reached 20 points with a splendid try from their centre. It finished 10-40, thus Wales being cut out of the title race, as Ireland recorded a better points difference. Now it's up to England to do even better, overcoming the 26 points gap needed to beat Ireland in the title race.
England vs France
Twenty-six points is a lot. History, however, is made up of feats that until a moment before seemed insurmountable. It should be added that today, for England, it is not even such an impossible undertaking, because on paper France is clearly inferior. The problem, it would seem, lies only in beating her by more than 26 points.
Less than three minutes and the midfielder Young – who will then be crowned, rightly, man of the match – ends up flying in goal after an interception by the English center. The rule of 'well begun is half done' seems to apply to Twickenam as well. Yet after ten minutes a rooster's run cuts the field in half until he crushes in the goal for the 7-8 which sanctions the French overtaking and extinguishes the English enthusiasm. Shortly after another ride by the wing of Fijian origins naturalized French Nakaitagi brings France to +8, on 7-15. England is in the ball, defends frayed and suffers the attacks, not too well coordinated, by the Rooster guests. However, England are not used to giving up at home, and before the end of the first half they took the lead again 27-15 after scoring two more tries and a free kick.
It seems made for England, but instead the second half opens with a splendid goal from France that closes the gap. The answer from the hosts came immediately, however, with yet another splendid break from the midfielder Young, for the finalization of the twenty-year-old Ford opening. After less than ten minutes of play the result stands at 34-22 for the English, still far away, but from the 26 difference needed to reach Ireland. A try from the Nowell wing after a long siege on the French five meters gives hope to the English who take it up 41-25, sixteen points behind. A marvelous French restart from 22m, however, brings the Debaty prop to the try on the other side of the field after two commendable individual performances by Mermose first and then by Nakaitagi: 41-30, back to 11 points behind. Immediately afterwards, with one less player out due to a yellow card, the English returned to the goal, bringing the difference on points to 18. Blow for blow, France reached the goal with the whole pack. England responded in the 74th minute, again with Nowell: 55-35, twenty points difference. In 4 and a half minutes the English have to score six points, without taking a single one.
The feat fails for the English, who leave the Six Nations trophy to Ireland, waiting in Edinburgh. One thing is certain, you couldn't ask for a more beautiful championship finale than the one just passed.
