The third day of the Six Nations ends once again with the victory of the teams that have played better. The first game of the weekend is in the Edinburgh temple, which is desecrated by a deserved - albeit painful - victory of the blue XV in the final forty seconds. Immediately after that, the unexpected happened: France let themselves be beaten by a Wales that didn't appear irresistible and escaped from San Denis under a very heavy blanket of boos from the home crowd, bored and angry at their roosters. Finally, on Sunday afternoon what could be defined as the final of the Tournament was played without too many superstitions. Ireland-England means above all the challenge between the two best teams in the Northern hemisphere, but also the match in which the Grand Slam is played (5 wins out of 5) and the Triple Crown (the trophy up for grabs between Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England). In short, whoever wins places an almost irremovable mortgage on the Six Nations. Ireland deservedly won, knowing how to attack the English on their strengths (scrum and meeting points) by conducting a perfect aerial game.
Scotland vs Italy
Confusing game, technically poor, but surprising nonetheless. Scotland was expected to give a resounding lesson – yet another – to the blue XV, given the revelation performances of the tournament that the highlanders had shown first against France and then Wales. If we add the total distrust in the means of the Italian national team due to the deserved defeats against England and Ireland, this match shouldn't have said anything more about the balance of power between the two teams. Instead the eighty minutes flow differently, between very high and very low by both teams.
The first quarter of an hour sees the Scots pierce the Italian defensive line four or five times, guilty of an unusual desire to attack in defense on the part of the Italians - a strategy to which, however, they are not at all used to. However, the heavy capitalization did not arrive, only free kicks, up to an unfortunate pass of 10 Haimona intercepted by the Scottish center who flew into the goal without even pushing too hard on the accelerator. From this moment on, Italy goes back to being Italy, waiting in defense and not creating in attack, closing itself in the game between the forwards, while Scotland seems unrecognizable. The Italian offensives carried out by the first eight suffer throughout the game without ever being able to resolve the issue. Then comes the first blue goal through a drive and brought from a touchline on 5 meters.
The last ten minutes seem like the exact copy of a test match some time ago at San Siro against the legendary All Blacks who risked losing due to continuous scrums on 5 meters earned by Italy, all spoiled by showy New Zealand fouls never punished with due technical goal. The last five minutes against Scotland last Saturday the film was repeated, with the referee who did not feel like awarding the free-kick try immediately when we deserved it, but waited for the Scots to commit yet another foul in order not to get the Italian forwards across the line.
With a technical goal, in fact, the Italians close the match by deservedly winning 22–19. The next matches against France and Wales will certainly be more demanding, but you can rely on the always well-stocked home crowd.
France vs Wales
A game, this, on which there is very little to say. Big physical impacts, as is the tradition of the two formations, but technical and tactical choices that have not rewarded either team. In the end Wales wins, more square and cynical in the opportunities that have presented themselves, all or almost all capitalized by the infallible foot of the extreme Halfpenny. For his part, in France he didn't pay for the choice to revolutionize the team, leaving a sacred monster like Matieu Bastardeau on the bench and proposing a newfound Morgan Parra from the first minute. The French roosters come out of the Stade De France with their heads down, amidst a whirlwind of whistles from the stands of San Denis, never soft with his XV when he doesn't show good rugby. It closes 13 to 20 for the red dragons, full of cockerels across the Channel.
Ireland vs England
Ireland won the Six Nations, Triple Crown on Sunday and don't appear to have too many obstacles in the way of the Grand Slam. What's more, she let out a loud and clear cry that will clearly reach at least the world quarter-finals next October, if not beyond. Against a team in form, young and well-oiled like England, the Irish goblins were able in a short time to find those two or three weak points that gave them the keys to the tournament.
The English seem to be weak on match points from the start, so O'Connel and his teammates insist on cleaning the rucks very precisely and soiling every possible ball, forcing little or no room for maneuver on the opponents. Furthermore, the Irish midfielder – probably the strongest in the world to date – put the English deep defense under enormous pressure, leading an impeccable foot game for the entire eighty minutes. Conversely, the English side suffered from the worst performance from half-back Young for some time, who was unable to resolve the questions posed by his Irish counterpart Murray.
Well deserved victory for the Irish 19-9, even if the doubt remains regarding the last try of the English that if on the one hand it would not have changed the fate of the match, on the other hand it would have given a different weight to the defeat. In fact, the forward on the last pass does not appear clear, while the referee did not even want to go and check with the TMO, immediately assigning the victory to the hosts.
