Wales Finish on a High

Wales duly demolished Italy to bring their 2016 Six Nations campaign to an end. With the shackles off, both sides played high tempo attacking rugby and there was only ever going to be one winner. Wales played some breath-taking rugby at times to rack up sixty seven points against the hapless Italians. They now have to consider the style they need to adopt if they are to trouble the All Blacks in the summer.

For Wales, it has been a frustrating Six Nations campaign in which they have rarely fired on all cylinders. The low point was a muted first half display against England that cost them the title but there were also some impressive try scoring bursts against Scotland and England and of course against Italy yesterday. They finish the competition in second place and have scored the most tries and the most points.

Faletau was probably the stand out player for Wales with the return to form of North and the return of Webb after injury real positives. The young props, Evans and Lee, have also battled hard and are improving all the time. It is certainly not all doom and gloom but I think that it is clear that we need to evolve the way that we play.

It is sad to see the decline in Italy’s fortunes. From missing out narrowly against France in probably the most exciting finish in the championship, they have declined horrendously with two fifty point plus drubbings in the last two games. Their lack of depth in such an attritional game really finds them out as the injury toll mounts.

I guess we need to congratulate England on seizing their opportunity and winning the Grand Slam. With personnel not that different from the team that crashed out of the RWC, Eddie Jones has managed to make a formidable unit. Their standout players were Billy Vunipola for the first few matches and then the rising star Itoje for the final games. Once Jones gets to grips with the fantastic resources at his disposal, England must surely become a force in world rugby.

Ireland had a disappointing campaign as they rebuilt their team and wrestled with a long injury list while Scotland improved as the tournament progressed. Ireland made home advantage count and came out on top in their clash yesterday despite a cracking try for Scotland by Hogg.

France remain the real underachievers. They promise so much but fail to deliver so often. The massive influx of foreign players into their league surely cannot be helping and success in European club rugby seems to consume their interest more than the Six Nations. France could so easily have ended up with the wooden spoon as they only just scraped two narrow victories in Paris. For a country with their resources that would have been unthinkable.

So there we have it, a rather lack lustre Six Nations Championship which will have given the observers from the Southern Hemisphere few palpitations. The standout players have been forwards rather than backs with most having Southern Hemisphere connections. We still seem to have an obsession with scrummaging with the whole team indulging in backslapping when yet another scrum collapses and they win a penalty. They will also note that England probably have the most potential to trouble them. Wales will always be difficult to break down but still seem unable to score tries against the better organised teams.

So really nothing has changed since the RWC.