At Last The Fireworks Are On The Pitch

The 2015 Six nations Rugby Championship exploded into life on the final day with three firecrackers of matches. Up until then it had been fiercely contested but defence had been the order of the day. It was OK if you were a partisan but for the impartial observer it had been pretty unappealing I am sure. As I settled down on the couch at 12.30pm, I certainly did not imagine the drama that was about to unfold.

As they kicked off in Italy, Wales were seemingly outsiders as their points difference was much inferior to the other contenders England and Ireland. The first half was about par for the course in the Six Nations with the main feature the dominance of the Italian scrum. Italy were probably marginally the better side as Wales made far too many errors and I think the away side were probably mighty glad to reach half time with a slender one point lead at 13-14. To add to the Welsh woe, Leigh Halfpenny had left the field with concussion. Wales looked a million miles from being championship contenders

During the half time interval someone must have lit the blue touch paper or given the Welsh team a rocket as they were totally transformed in the second half. From lethargy emerged a quite extraordinary high energy performance that quite simply blew the Italians away. Try followed try as Wales cast off the shackles of Warrenball and we began to dream that Wales could set a formidable target for the other championship contenders. They rattled up 61 points with no reply from Italy which would certainly give the others plenty to think about. As it turned out, the last few minutes severely damaged Welsh hopes. First Davies spilled the ball with the try line beckoning and then the Roman candle found one last burst and Italy scampered over for a try with the last move of the match. The upshot was a reduction of 14 to the points difference which was enough to give the other teams a realistic chance. Wales had done fantastically well and this was brilliant half of rugby that certainly ignited the next two matches.

So next it was the turn of the Irish who had to beat the Scots by more than 21 points at Murrayfield. A formidable task you would have thought. The power and drive of the Irish proved far too much for the hapless home team. It was soon abundantly clear that the Irish would overhaul the Welsh and but for some poor goal kicking by Sexton it would have happened quite early in the second half. Anyway Ireland eventually won 10-40 putting them in pole position and leaving a pretty dispirited Scotland with the wooden spoon. It was a really good purposeful performance from Ireland and left England having to beat France by 26 points at Twickenham.

There was just time to stretch my legs before returning to the couch for the final match. This was an extraordinary encounter with England going gung ho for the championship. The problem for them was the French were also happy to enter into the spirit of things and ran the ball at every opportunity. The French matched the English for most of the match in the running game and if they had possessed a reliable goal kicker the result would have been far closer. It was full of mistakes but that just served to make it more exhilarating as some of the running from deep was scintillating - it was almost as if two Barbarians teams were playing against each other. As we entered the last five minutes, the score was 55-35 with England scoring 7 tries to the French 5. England only needed a converted try to pinch the championship. Everyone held their breath and despite the French deciding to run the ball from behind their own line the score remained the same. Ireland were champions for the second year in a row and Wales had to settle for third place.

On reflection, I am not really sure what to think about the day. It was certainly a brilliant advert for rugby and wouldn’t it be nice if the RWC was played in the same way. Somehow I doubt if that will be the case and this was probably a one-off. The order of the matches fell just right with Wales setting a challenging target for the other teams which meant that they had to play attacking rugby. It would be interesting to know what would have happened if the matches had been played the other way round with England playing France first. Also you might think that the final games should have been played at the same time as they do in the European competitions - of course the TV companies would never allow that!

Should the bonus point system used widely in rugby be introduced into the Six Nations? I think it probably should as it might help to promote attacking rugby so that we have more days like this.

As for Wales, they were scuppered by the poor second half against England. From then on they got stronger and stronger. There were some outstanding individual performances - Alun Wyn Jones, Sam Warburton. Luke Charteris and the emergence of Rhys Webb to name but a few. The most worrying thing has been the attrition rate for our props. Wales took the field against Italy with their fourth choice loose head with Jenkins, James and Smith all injured. At tight head, the retirement of Adam Jones and the serious injury to Lee has left a gaping hole. The young lads who have stepped in have performed manfully but in that position there is no substitute for experience. This apart, the squad looks strong and in a good position for the RWC and the unenviable task of trying to emerge from the “pool of death”. The Italian game showed that we can still play some good attacking rugby if the team is given a bit of freedom. Of course there are far sterner tests ahead, but points difference may yet become a deciding factor in the RWC pool stages.

So are Ireland worthy champions? Well they won it didn’t they so they must be! Will I be able to buy a newspaper on Monday without having to read about how England are going to win the Rugby World Cup? - I certainly hope so but I fear that I might be disappointed.

Congratulations to Ireland now let’s get back to the travails of Pontypool.