I’m Keeping Everything Crossed

The day of reckoning is upon us. Wales are in Paris hoping against hope to clinch what seemed a most unlikely grand slam only a few weeks ago. They have earned this with no little skill, excellent discipline and a little bit of luck along the way. The French were favoured by many to win the Six Nations Championship while Wales were expected to be battling for fourth or fifth place. France of course is still in position to win the Championship but their loss to England has eliminated their chances of a Grand Slam. Scotland’s narrow loss against Ireland last Sunday has meant that their outside chance of pipping Wales and France to the post has disappeared.

The table looks like this for the two main protagonists:

                        P          W        D         L          PD       Pts

Wales              4          4          0          0          63        19

France             3          2          0          1          39        10

France needs to win their last two games against Wales and Scotland with bonus points to get to 20 points. If Wales fails to get anything from today’s game then France would be champions.

A losing bonus point for Wales and a try bonus point victory for France would mean that France would need to win with a bonus point against Scotland and have a superior points difference to Wales to be champions.

Any other result would mean that Wales would be champions. A win for Wales would of course mean that Wales be the Grand Slam champions.

What are the prospects?

France have been absolutely brilliant at times and have looked unstoppable. They could/should have beaten England in a close encounter but rather ran out of steam towards the end of the match. Their campaign has been disrupted by the postponement of their match against Scotland due to Covid 19 in their camp which surely affected their performance last week. They did all look mighty dejected when they trooped off the field in defeat last week. Can they bounce back?

Wales on the other hand are riding on the crest of a wave as they have stunned everyone by putting together their winning run. Confidence in the squad is building and, although on paper the French man for man look stronger and also have home advantage, Wales will fancy their chances. The game is not played on paper and this will be about will to win and Wales should have that aplenty.

I never like making predictions. The bookies make France clear favourites to win by 6-9 points but they have been wrong before. Let us hope they are wrong again!

I shall be on the couch at 20.00hrs with a glass in my hand hoping fervently for Wales to win. Not sure whether you can cross your fingers and hold a glass but I will be trying.

Come on Wales!