6 Nations 2015 Part 5: Hyperbole justified

Since Italy joined the tournament the final day has become a big deal, three matches and often with the championship still to be decided. As is the way of things nowadays, branding is important and soSuper Saturday was born.

To me it feels a bit hyperbolic and flashy, not really what rugby’s about, but this year at least it proved a well deserved name as the Six Nations 2015 came to a magnificent close.

With four teams still potential victors, although the French were a longshot and required some upsets, every game played out with great drama to ensure that right up until the end it was still all to play for.

Kicking it off was Wales’ visit to Rome, and if they could win, and win well, they could pull off a championship win. The Italians were coming off a thumping from the French and despite improvements in their play, are still viewed as an easy win.

However, they played impressively in the first half, or rather, they played well enough to capitalize on a shoddy Welsh opening. Scoring a penalty in the first minute they kept Wales restrained and at the break the men in red had a slender 14-13 lead.

Why did Wales struggle? Had they gone in too cocky, or were the Italians stinging from the French game and seeking redemption? Was this karma screwing me over after my delight of getting two Welsh predictions wrong in recent weeks? Had a French wizard put a curse on the Welsh side in order to give his nation a chance at the prize, and would Ireland similarly be hexed?

I Googled “French wizard” and this is by far my favourite result

The curse idea didn’t seem too ridiculous as Wales major points scorer, Leigh Halfpenny, had to leave the pitch with an injury. In the pub I was in you could feel the blow this dealt to fans’ confidence, Halfpenny’s kicking has been almost mechanically perfect this year, when he stands over the ball points are almost guaranteed, Wales were already struggling, how would we cope without this reliable source of points?

Leigh Halfpenny- How would Wales cope without their reliable kicking machine?

Just fine, it would turn out.

Perhaps Warren Gatland gave one hell of a team talk at the break, or the French wizard was distracted and the hex broken, or maybe Wales just drank that special potion that gifts them 40 minutes of decent play, but the second half was a very different story.

Wales came out all guns blazing, Liam Williams bagged a try to extend the lead and then in a ten minute blitz George North scored a hat trick of tries, each converted by Dan Biggar and suddenly Wales were comfortably ahead and buzzing.

North bags his second of the game, during a frantic ten minute spell

I roared at the TV and more followed, with Rhys Webb, Sam Warburton and Scott Williams all getting over for Wales, and with 7 minutes remaining Wales were 61-13 up and top of the table. The Italians would bag a last minute try, but Wales were still ahead and the result meant that both Ireland and England needed substantial victories to become champions.

This left the Welsh fans of having to rely on the Scottish team winning, or at least holding Ireland back from bounding ahead. Of course, if we’d asked any Scottish fan they’d have told us we were in for a long afternoon.

In what was the scrappiest game of the day, the Scottish resistance at Murrayfield lasted all of 30 minutes. The opening half hour saw them get ten points on the scoreboard, half of which came from Greig Laidlaw, taking over from Chris Pattinson as the Scottish kicker who does his best only to be let down by the 14 muppets he plays alongside.

Laidlaw kicks for goal

This left them within touching distance of the Irish at 17-10, but this closeness lasted all of 3 minutes before Jonathan Sexton kicked a penalty and Scotland needed two scores to catch them.

This was far too big an ask of the Scots, as for the last 50 minutes they added nothing to the board, while the Irish powered over them, building an impressive 30 point lead and passing Wales’ points difference to go top. It was an abysmal game at times, Ireland were deserved winners but against a faltering Scottish team this wasn’t saying much. The defeat completed a whitewash for the home team, and it’s hard to argue it was undeserved.

The Irish had done enough to go top, and left England having to defeat France by 26 points to claim the title. The BBC’s pundits may have been confident, talking of how England should cruise to victory, but I was skeptical, 26 points is a hell of a margin, and the French were unlikely to just roll over for them.

As it turns out, both of us were wrong in a way.

In what was a fascinating, dramatic game the English fought magnificently but were hampered by a French team who just didn’t seem to accept they were beat.

A first minute try from Ben Youngs brought some premature “Swing low” singing after only five minutes (yes, I was annoyed), which was choked off as France came back to take the lead after Sebastien Tillous-Borde added a try to an early penalty. Things got even worse for England when France added a second try shortly before the 20 minute mark.

England to their credit got back into it, Anthony Watson scoring on the half hour before Youngs added his second five minutes later, both converted by George Ford, who was kicking superbly.

At half time even Jeremy Guscott’s confidence looked shaken as England left the field 27-15 up, two converted tries short of what they needed for a championship win.

France came out and made the situation worse, scoring a try two minutes after the restart, but Ford’s try a few minutes later restored their lead and a Jack Nowell try increased it.

France, however, weren’t done and came back again, closing the gap once more. Billy Vunipola got over for England, but two minutes later France scored their fifth try of the afternoon. It was crazy stuff, with a ridiculously high number of tries and France frustrating England. With quarter of an hour left it was 48-35 to England, which would be an impressive victory, but not enough.

Frustration was showing, tempers flared and England were getting rattled. Luckily to keep the peace was Welsh referee Nigel Owens, who had a great game and is one of the best things to come from the refs having microphones. Nige was on top form, stern and no nonsense in enforcing the rules and issuing warnings to both sides to sort out their issues, remaining incredibly polite throughout.

He had to cope with frustration on both sides, a little bit of handbags after a vicious looking Courtney Lawes tackle and, possibly most challenging, English captain Chris Robshaw constantly pestering him after every decision. To his credit, he handled this well enough and was caught saying “There’s no further discussion, Chris” and later on issuing a stern “Christopher!” in much the same way as my mother did when I misbehaved.

Nige debates with Robshaw

England were now in second place, having passed Wales on points. I was willing France to get one more score, and this drew ire from English friends. It wasn’t that I wanted England to lose, it’s just I wanted Wales to do the best they could, and for that, England couldn’t win too well.

And, if I’m being honest, I’d much rather see Ireland win, as they’d been the tournament’s best team consistently and their fans are less d**kish in victory. It was for this reason that after Jack Nowell got his second try with mere minutes to go, and Ford kicked the conversion I almost lost my mind with the French players.

England were now six points away from winning the whole thing, and France as the clock went red and they gained possession on their own try line tried to run it out. I yelled at the “stupid French idiot” to kick for touch, they couldn’t win and the chances of going the length of the pitch to score were considerably slimmer than them messing up and England snatching a last minute try.

Luckily reason did kick in and ball was put out, finishing the match 55-35. A twenty point victory is a notable achievement but in this instance it clearly felt more like a defeat to the English players, as they finished second for the fourth consecutive year.

Ben Youngs, to his credit, showed some class, congratulating Ireland in his post match interview and the party could finally start for Ireland some two hours after they finished their match as they claimed the title for the second year in the row.

Well done to Ireland, who probably deserved the title as they’d been consistently the best team, wobble against Wales aside.

For Wales it was a frustrating tournament, a shaky start against England could have derailed us and the second match against Scotland was a tense affair. While the squad’s comeback after these two games was to be admired and we impressed against France, Ireland and Italy, there are still big questions to be answered before the World Cup in the autumn- we need to keep the intensity up for a full match and we can’t afford to make so many errors.

Ireland and England go into the World Cup in a similar position, they’ve done well, but neither has been perfect and against the big guns of the Southern Hemisphere they may be made to pay the price of their weak spots.

For France it was just another year of uneven performances, and they need more consistency. Italy struggled repeatedly and despite some improvement still leak points, with the worst points difference of the tournament, but at least they have one win to soothe their wounds, Scotland must be looking forward to the World Cup with dread, South Africa will likely destroy them and given their performances here even the smaller countries could trip them up.

In essence, the six nations all need to improve or the trophy looks set to go below the equator.

My predictions final score: 11/15.

Any thoughts? You know what to do. BETEO.