Six Nations

I’ve got my Ireland shirt, on Em’s in her Wales Womens shirt (maybe they ought to field the Womens side today against England). We’re off to the pub with friends shortly and it’s guaranteed to be a day out, with St. Patricks Day as well, Cheltenham this week - can the luck of the Irish really hold through 3 games, each knowing what they have to do to beat the previous. The table is almost guaranteed to change 3 times today!!!

Italy have a fighting chance still, at least my friend tells me so, but he is Italian and delusional! Another tells me England will sneak it, whilst the Welsh contingent will be happy to have a punt at the (now) in-form England side and avoid the Wooden spoon?

Ultimately I think the whole day revolves around the French, If they trounce Scotland by enough points, there’s nothing in the offing for anyone! Maybe this is the kick up the bum Ireland need in World Cup year!

Oh, and a very happy St. Patricks Day to all our readers!

France survived a late English fightback at the Stade de France to win the Grand Slam on Saturday.

The hosts led 21-3 at the break but England hit back through tries from Ben Cohen and Josh Lewsey.

It looked briefly as though the visitors would get out of jail, but the home side did enough to hang on.

Number eight Imanol Harinordoquy scored France’s first try, with scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili grabbing a second and adding 14 points with the boot.

Olly Barkley kicked 11 points for England, but it was not enough to prevent France claiming their fourth Grand Slam in the past eight years.

England had the first chance to get on the board but once Barkley’s long-range penalty had fallen short France began to take control.

Although it took them nearly 20 minutes to score they looked threatening, while all England had to show for their initial efforts was a massive Phil Vickery hit on Olivier Magne.

The hosts finally opened their account after 19 minutes when Yachvili slotted a penalty after England were penalised for standing up in the scrum.

And the scrum-half played a major role in France’s opening try four minutes later.

He spotted that the English defence had been sucked in and chipped a cross-kick into the wide open spaces.

French number eight Harinordoquy was lurking with intent and, once the bounce went in his favour, he dotted the ball down with ease.

When Yachvili added two more penalties to take France into a 14-0 lead things were looking ominous for the faltering world champions.

Barkley eventually got England on the board with a penalty but just before the break Yachvili scored France’s second try with a fine individual effort.

After the ball squirted out of a ruck on the French side Yachvili darted down the narrow blindside before chipping ahead and winning the race to the ball.

The Biarritz scrum-half’s conversion gave France a 21-3 lead and England were staring at humiliation.

Barkley and Yachvili exchanged penalties early in the second half before England finally crossed the French line when Mike Catt, on for the out-of-sorts Will Greenwood, looped a fine long pass to Cohen, who had a clear run to the line.

France soon added a fourth Yachvili penalty and they became increasingly dominant, pinning England back in their own half giving the English pack a torrid time.

It looked as though England were dead and buried but they came to life in the last 10 minutes and cut the gap to just three points as Barkley kicked a penalty and then converted after Lewsey sliced through the French defence for a fine try.

France began to look increasingly worried but time was against England and in the end their revival fell just short.

Teams

France
N Brusque (Biarritz); P Elhorga (Agen), Y Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), D Traille (Pau), C Dominici (Stade Francais); F Michalak (Stade Toulousain), D Yachvili (Biarritz); I Harinordoquy (Pau), O Magne (Montferrand), S Betsen (Biarritz), P Pape (Bourgoin), F Pelous (Stade Toulousain, capt), P De Villiers (Stade Francais), W Servat (Stade Toulousain), S Marconnet (Stade Francais).

Replacements
Y Bru (Stade Toulousain), JJ Crenca (Agen), D Auradou (Stade Francais), T Lievremont (Biarritz), P Mignoni (Montferrand), J Peyrelongue (Biarritz), C Poitrenaud (Biarritz).

England
J Robinson (Sale), J Lewsey (Wasps), W Greenwood (Quins), M Tindall (Bath), B Cohen (Saints), O Barkley (Bath), M Dawson (Saints), T Woodman (Gloucester), S Thompson (Saints), P Vickery (Gloucester), D Grewcock (Bath), B Kay (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps), R Hill (Saracens), L Dallaglio (Wasps, capt).

Replacements
M Regan (Leeds), J White (Leicester), S Borthwick (Bath), M Corry (Leicester), A Gomarsall (Gloucester), M Catt (Bath), J Simpson-Daniel ( Gloucester).

France will head for a Grand Slam clash with England in Paris after comfortably disposing of Scotland.

The favourites made light work of their limited opponents as Olivier Magne and Yannick Jauzion, twice, crossed for tries at a subdued Murrayfield.

Dimitri Yachvili converted two and added four penalties to finish with a 16-point haul.

Scotland barely threatened the French line as they finished scoreless at home for the first time in 26 years.

The hosts started brightly but their fragile defence was swiftly undone in France’s first real attack.

Jauzion glided unopposed through the home midfield and fed the marauding Magne, who beat Chris Paterson’s weak tackle to score in the left corner.

Yachvili narrowly missed the conversion, but was on target with a penalty in the 14th minute after Chris Cusiter put his own side under pressure with a wild pass.

The Scots further handicapped themselves when full-back Derrick Lee, on his return to the side, was sin-binned for tackling Yachvili in mid-air.

But they somehow survived his 10-minute absence with some desperate defence, Thomas Lievremont held up inches from the Scottish line.

France should have scored again when Pepito Elhorga fumbled a try under pressure from Simon Webster, who held back the wing as he dived for Nicolas Brusque’s kick.

But their only other score before the interval was a second Yachvili penalty, as Magne knocked on after intercepting a pass from Scotland prop Bruce Douglas.

Scotland’s spirits lifted briefly with a charge from flanker Jason White as the half drew to a close, but were soon deflated again on the resumption.

Yachvili banged over two more penalties to make it 17-0, and thereafter Scotland were restricted to counter attacks from deep inside their own territory.

On one occasion Lee inexplicably threw a forward pass under no pressure and was swiftly replaced, Paterson moving to full-back with Dan Parks coming on at stand-off.

It made little difference however as France stepped up a gear and put the outcome beyond doubt.

Jauzion grabbed his first try after 64 minutes after Damien Traille stood up the Scottish midfield and sent his centre partner over.

His second arrived 10 minutes later as he collected a pass from replacement Julien Bonnaire after Serge Betsen’s initial burst had pierced the Scots’ defence.

Yachvili converted both to complete a 16-point haul and send France on their way to next week’s showdown in Paris in fine fettle.

Teams

Scotland
D Lee, S Danielli, T Philip, A Henderson, S Webster, C Paterson (capt), C Cusiter; A Jacobsen, G Bulloch, B Douglas, S Murray, S Grimes, J White, C Mather, S Taylor.
Replacements
R Russell, G Kerr, N Hines, A Hogg, M Blair, B Laney, D Parks.

France
N Brusque, P Elhorga, Y Jauzion, D Traille, C Dominici, F Michalak, D Yachvili, S Marconnet, W Servat, P de Villiers, F Pelous (capt), P Pape, S Betsen, O Magne, T Lievremont.

Replacements
Y Bru, J-J Crenca, D Auradou, S Bonnaire, J Peyrelongue, C Poitrenaud, V Clerc.

Ireland maintained their challenge for the RBS Six Nations title with a comfortable victory over Italy.

Both sides struggled in the very windy conditions but Ireland’s superior class saw them home.

They ran in three tries through Malcolm O’Kelly, Brian O’Driscoll and Shane Horgan, while Italy’s only points came from a Roland de Marigny penalty.

Ireland could still win the title, but they have a much worse points difference than England or France.

O’Driscoll’s try was his 24th for Ireland and saw him reclaim the Irish try-scoring record from Denis Hickie.

The match started in unusual fashion as Italy deliberately failed to send the kick-off the required 10 yards.

That gave Ireland, who had the wind at their backs in the first half, the put-in at the scrum, and when Italy collapsed O’Gara tried his luck with a penalty from halfway.

The ball drifted wide in the blustery conditions and it set the tone for a frustrating 20 minutes for the Irish.

They dominated territory and possession but could not get any points on the board as a combination of gritty Italian defence and Irish mistakes kept them at bay.

But just as Ireland began to grow frustrated Italy handed them the first score.

Replacement hooker Carlo Festuccia took a low throw-in at a line-out when his fellow forwards were not expecting it.

Unfortunately for Italy O’Kelly was and he pounced to open the Irish account after 26 minutes.

Seven minutes later O’Driscoll edged Ireland further ahead with his 24th try for Ireland.

When he received the ball there looked to be little on but the Irish captain cut back to the blind side and dummied his way over for a fine score.

O’Gara kicked an excellent conversion to make it 12-0 but before half-time the fly-half missed a very kickable penalty.

However, O’Gara redeemed himself 10 minutes into the second half, firing a flat pass across the Italy defence to send Horgan over by the posts. O’Gara’s conversion made it 19-0.

Italy spurned a glorious chance to hit back after 56 minutes when Denis Dallan dropped a pass a couple of yards from the tryline.

But with the wind at their backs Italy were looking more threatening and their hopes were boosted when O’Driscoll was sin-binned for a high tackle.

They finally got on the scoreboard after 67 minutes when Roland De Marigny slotted a penalty but that was that for the visitors.

They pounded away but could not break the Irish line, and it was the hosts who looked more incisive when they had the ball.

They launched a couple of long-range attacks but the strong wind meant they rarely got close enough to the Italian line to add to their tally.

Teams

Ireland
Dempsey, Horgan, D’Arcy, O’Driscoll (capt), Murphy, O’Gara, Stringer; Corrigan, Byrne, Hayes, O’Kelly, O’Callaghan, Easterby, Gleeson, Foley.
Replacements
Sheahan, Horan, Longwell, Costello, Humphreys, Easterby, Maggs.

Italy

Canale, Mazzucato, Stoica, Barbini, D Dallan; de Marigny, Griffen; Lo Cicero, Ongaro, Castrogiovanni, Checchinato, Bortolami, de Rossi (capt), Persico, Palmer.

Replacements
Festuccia, Perugini, Dellape, Mandelli, Picone, Masi, Mi Bergamasco.

England revived hopes of retaining their RBS Six Nations title with a gripping victory at Twickenham.

But the world champions were given a major scare by a resurgent Welsh outfit which fought back from 16-9 down to take a 21-16 lead.

Ben Cohen’s second try levelled matters and Joe Worsley’s late score sealed victory, Olly Barkley adding 16 points.

Gareth Thomas and Mark Taylor both crossed for Wales and Stephen Jones kicked 11 points but it was not enough.

While the visitors are left with a final home fixture against Italy, England will travel to Paris knowing victory should see them crowned champions.

The line-out woes that cost them dearly against Ireland were duly rectified, but the margin of victory was agonisingly close given their welter of possession.

Tom Shanklin, a late call-up to the Welsh midfield after Iestyn Harris was forced to pull out injured, started impressively with a slashing break inside Barkley.

But England swiftly countered to open the scoring in the sixth minute.

Cohen had plenty to do when he received Will Greenwood’s pass 25m out, but he bounced out of Gareth Thomas’ tackle and held off Jonathan Thomas to dot down.

Barkley converted superbly from wide out, but Wales hit back with two Jones penalties, the first thumped over from a metre inside his own half.

Wales conceded penalties at regular intervals however, Barkley punishing them twice in quick succession to make it 13-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Jones’ third penalty - after Dafydd Jones and Colin Charvis did well to salvage a retreating scrum - kept Wales in touch.

But England, despite gaining the ascendancy up front, wasted two opportunities when Cohen failed to find any support after a Barkley break, and Chris Jones’ offload eluded Greenwood.

Wales lock Brent Cockbain limped off before the half-hour, allowing the veteran Gareth Llewellyn a record-breaking 12th appearance against England in his 86th Test.

Barkley’s third penalty extended England’s half-time lead to 16-9, but Wales responded with a superb try on the resumption to level the scores.

Props Gethin Jenkins and Duncan Jones were both involved, the latter’s pass sending Thomas in at the right corner for his 33rd Test try, equalling the Welsh record of Ieuan Evans.

Jones then missed an opportunity to put Wales in front with a sliced penalty attempt, but the visitors stunned England with a second try in the 50th minute.

A poor kick from Barkley allowed Wales to counter, and a brilliant reverse pass from Dafydd Jones saw Shane Williams draw Jason Robinson to put Taylor over in the left corner.

Jones narrowly missed the conversion, but the spectre of a third Welsh try loomed as Llewellyn threw Greenwood a dummy as he loped through the England midfield.

But the match entered the final quarter with England laying siege to the Welsh line, Cohen and Josh Lewsey both denied by superb last-ditch defence.

The barricades were finally breached when Cohen scored his second try from close range after Phil Vickery and Matt Dawson were both held up short.

Barkley’s conversion regained the lead at 23-21 and he added a further penalty before Worsley’s late try sealed Wales’ fate.

Teams

England
Robinson, Lewsey, Greenwood, Tindall, Cohen, Barkley, Dawson; Woodman, Thompson, Vickery, Grewcock, Kay, Jones, Hill, Dallaglio.
Replacements
Regan, White, Borthwick, Worsley, Gomarsall, Catt, Simpson-Daniel.

Wales
G Thomas, R Williams, Taylor, Shanklin, S Williams, S Jones, Cooper; Du Jones, McBryde, Jenkins, Cockbain, Owen, J Thomas, Charvis, Da Jones.

Replacements
Davies, Evans, Llewellyn, Williams, Peel, Sweeney, Robinson.

France continued on the Grand Slam trail with a hard-fought win over Wales at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

Imanol Harinordoquy’s try on the stroke of half-time gave the visitors control, and scrum-half Jean Baptiste Elissalde stole the show with 24 points.

Wales’ weakness at the scrum proved their Achilles heel, with a lost ball in the 56th minute coming to Elissalde who raced in for the clinching 60m try.

Martyn Williams got a late consolation try for Wales, but it was not enough.

There were early signs of adventure from both sides as Wales started with far more fire than in their last outing in Dublin.

But all there was to show for the opening quarter were two penalties apiece for Elissalde and Stephen Jones, one of the latter’s a 50m monster.

With Michael Owen and Colin Charvis leading the Welsh forward effort the pressure on the visitors increased, as did the penalty count.

Jones took advantage to land two more shots at goal, the second taking him clear of Paul Thorburn as Wales’ second-highest points scorer of all time.

With the line-outs proving a lottery, France began to get the upper hand at the scrum, helping them to gain field position in the Welsh half.

The home defence held firm until the last move of the first half when Frederic Michalak made his first telling contribution.

The fly-half cleverly switched a France attack to the blindside, feeding Vincent Clerc who stepped Gareth Cooper before delivering the scoring pass to Harinordoquy wide on the right.

Elissalde’s fine conversion gave the visitors a one-point lead at the break and they continued the assault early in the second period, profiting from two more penalties by the scrum-half.

Wales weathered the storm and Jones’ fifth penalty edged them back into contention, but their scrum weakness led to disaster.

Welsh attacking ball was disrupted, Serge Betsen pounced on the loose possession and fed Elissalde with a suspiciously forward pass for the scrum-half to sprint home.

The home side had one chance to get back in the game with a penalty under the posts, from which they chose to scrummage.

Another out-of-control scrum gave Elissalde the chance to steal the ball from makeshift-flanker Gareth Thomas and clear comfortably.

The French had their afternoon somewhat spoiled by seeing Elissalde limp off with a hamstring strain, and witnessing a late Welsh fightback.

With three minutes to go, Jones and Ceri Sweeney linked well to send replacement flanker Williams under the posts.

The conversion brought Wales to within seven points, but a furious late attack was held out by Les Bleus.

Teams

Wales
Thomas (Warriors), Williams (Blues), Taylor (Scarlets), Harris (Blues), Williams (Ospreys), Jones (Scarlets), Cooper (Warriors), Thomas (Scarlets), Davies (Warriors), Jenkins (Warriors), Cockbain (Warriors), Owen (Dragons), Thomas (Ospreys), Charvis (Tarbes, capt), Jones (Scarlets).
Replacements
Bennett (Ospreys), Evans (Blues), Llewellyn (Ospreys), Williams (Blues), Peel (Scarlets), Sweeney (Warriors), Shanklin (Blues).

France
Brusque (Biarritz), Clerc (Stade Toulousain), Traille (Pau), Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), Dominici (Stade Francais), Michalak (Stade Toulousain), Elissalde (Stade Toulousain); Marconnet (Stade Francais), Servat (Stade Toulousain), Villiers (Stade Francais), Pelous (Stade Toulousain, capt), Pape (Bourgoin), Betsen (Biarritz), Harinordoquy (Pau), Lievremont (Biarritz).

Replacements

Bru (Stade Toulousain), Crenca (Agen), Auradou (Stade Francais), Magne (Montferrand), Yachvili (Biarritz), Rougerie (Montferrand), Heymans (Stade Toulousain).

England suffered their first home loss since 1999 as Ireland stunned the world champions at Twickenham.

The home side scored the only try of the first half through Matt Dawson but four penalties from Ronan O’Gara gave Ireland a 12-10 lead at the break.

Full-back Girvan Dempsey crossed in the corner to put Ireland further in front although Paul Grayson kept England in the match with a 66th-minute penalty.

England pressurised late on but could not come back despite a frantic finish.

The tension of the occasion was felt by both sides as they walked out at Twickenham, and the opening exchanges were nervy and scrappy.

England, playing their first competitive game at home since winning the World Cup, were under pressure at the set pieces from the off and were therefore unable to get their backs in play.

The line-out was the biggest problem and it allowed the visitors to dominate much of the opening period.

reland should have taken the lead after just five minutes but fly-half Ronan O’Gara missed a simple penalty from in front of the posts although he made up for his error with four penalties before the break.

England, whose attacking force was blunted by Ireland’s forwards, got on the scoreboard after superb work at an Ireland scrum.

Munster scrum-half Peter Stringer was hassled and with the ball loose, the impressive Paul Grayson fed to Matt Dawson, who touched down under the posts.

After what was probably a dressing down from coach Sir Clive Woodward at the break, England came out firing in the second half and Ben Cohen went over only for the video referee to rule out the try for a double movement.

The let-off seemed to inspire Ireland and Brian O’Driscoll made a superb break, the ball was spread wide and Leinster full-back Girvan Dempsey crossed over in the corner.

Although England’s line-out remained poor, they never gave up and substitute Mark Regan thought he crossed but he was pushed out of bounds before he could ground the ball.

Grayson added a penalty to make the score 19-13 and despite some late pressure, England could not break down the stubborn Irish.

Teams

England
Balshaw (Bath), Lewsey (Wasps), Robinson (Sale), Greenwood (Harlequins), Cohen (Northampton), Grayson (Northampton), Dawson (Northampton); Woodman (Gloucester), Steve Thompson (Northampton), Vickery (Gloucester), Borthwick (Bath ), Kay (Leicester), Worsley (Wasps), Hill (Saracens), Dallaglio (Wasps, capt).
Replacements

Regan (Leeds Tykes), Stevens (Bath), Jones (Sale), Back (Leicester), Gomarsall (Gloucester), Barkley (Bath), Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester).

Ireland
Dempsey (Leinster), Horgan (Leinster), D’Arcy (Leinster), O’Driscoll (Leinster, capt), Howe (Ulster), O’Gara (Munster), Stringer (Munster); Corrigan (Leinster), Byrne (Leinster), Hayes (Munster), O’Kelly (Leinster), O’Connell (Munster), Easterby (Llanelli), Gleeson (Leinster), Foley (Munster).

Replacements
Sheahan (Munster), Best (Ulster), Longwell (Ulster), Costello (Leinster), Humphreys (Ulster), Easterby (Rotherham), Maggs (Bath).