By Jonathan Bowen
Ireland kicked off their Six Nations campaign with a big bonus point win against Wales 34-10. Ireland needed to start the competition with a bang and after Jamison Gibson-Park and Tadgh Furlong were ruled out of the game through injury, there were doubts that the Irish team would be up for the job.
We had our answer within the first two minutes when Caelan Doris crossed over the line to score the first try of the night after a dominant start to the game by Ireland. They continued to dominate the rest of the first half scoring two tries through James Ryan and James Lowe and leading at the half time break by 27-8. The belief was that Ireland would kick on in the second half and put up a cricket score against what was looking like a weak and lost Welsh team.
Wales however had different ideas and came out in the second a different side. When Liam Williams crossed the try line for Wales four minutes into the second half the score line become 27-10. Suddenly there was a sniff that Wales could get back into the game.
Wales continued this possession rugby but handling issues and a lack of cohesion within the team started to show when simple errors crept into their game.
Ireland finally scored the fourth try through World Rugby Player Josh Van Der Flier in the 72nd minute and secured the win.
It was a solid performance by Ireland and a good start to the tournament; sure there were elements within their second half performance that I have no doubt Andy Farrell will address during the video and training session this week, but I don’t think too much should be read into their lapse in play during the second half.
Ireland will be facing France next weekend at home in Dublin. They will be optimistic of a result against the Le Blues after Italy pushed them all the way in their game, France defeating Italy 29-24 with both sides securing a bonus from the game.
I am optimistic that Ireland will be ready for whatever France throw at them this weekend. France will be looking to extend their unbeaten streak to 15 wins in a row, however one thing that impressed me with Ireland’s win over Wales was the quality in the depth of talent Ireland had on the bench. Having this quality of depth will be the difference in the game this weekend.
Scotland made a statement with their 29-23 win at Twickenham against England. The win was against expectations however, as I mentioned in my Six Nations preview last week Gregor Townsend is trying to build a team to shake things up and they certainly got the neutral rugby fans’ attention with this win.
The highlight of the game was the 60 meter try scored by Duhan van der Merwe. Duhan got his hands on the ball 10 meters on Scotland’s side of the halfway line and ran through the weak English defensive line into space and sprinted for the line. Many have asked the question, is it the greatest try ever scored by a Scottish player?
Scotland by no means dominated the game, however they took their chances, where you could see that the English team were still adapting to their new coach Steve Borthwick’s game plan. He was quoted after the loss as saying that some of the responsibility for England’s loss sits with their previous coach Eddie Jones as he did not blood enough quality players for the selection committee to choose from.
This was another point that worried me about Steve Borthwick’s appointment as English head coach: did he have enough experience to select the best squad of players from across the English Premiership to defeat Scotland? Now I expect England to learn and improve off the back of this result, however with games against France away, Ireland away and an improved Italian side at home I am not sure that England will show the improvement needed to challenge for the Six Nations title.
The Under 20s Six Nations championship also kicked last weekend. Ireland started their title defense with a big win over Wales, 44-27. Wales pushed Ireland for a major part of the match and it was only in the last 15 minutes or so that Ireland took control of the game, scoring two converted tries to secure the bonus point win.
The shock of the weekend was Italy only losing to the French team by a point. The Italians will be disappointed by the result by will be looking to bounce back when they face England this weekend. Italy seems to be improving the depth of the teams both at the senior and U20 levels which can only be good for the long-term prospects of Italian rugby.
In the other game of the weekend England defeated Scotland by 41-36. Next weekend’s games will be interesting viewing with Ireland vs France at home in Cork and England playing an improving Italy side while Wales will line up against Scotland in Glasgow.
The Celtic Challenge Women’s rugby trophy kicked off a fortnight ago, with the Irish Combined Provinces XV defeating WRU Development XV, 27-26, in Cardiff Arms Park and then backing that up with a big with against the Scottish Thistles, 45-12, last weekend.
The Irish Combined Provinces XV will have a break this weekend before facing the WRU Development side in Belfast the following weekend. If you haven’t yet seen the Irish Provinces XV’s new jersey it is worth checking out, I personally hope it gets adapted as the Irish away jersey in the future!
If you want to keep up to date with all the latest rugby news you can find me on Instagram @jb052006 or and at twitter@Jonatha25906847