Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Six Nations

Oh my, but that was a fun weekend.

Ireland looked like they might have been in serious trouble and really need to up their game if they're actually going to be in contention for the title. Italy played their little socks off and are really starting to look like a top level rugby team. Granted they're still way off where they really need to be if tehy're going to ever challenge for the title but they don't look like the runt of the pack so much any more.

Scotland started pretty well in their game but I think at the end of the day they were just completely outclassed by France, who look pretty unstoppable this year. Clerc was superb and the rest of the team played a million times better than they did during the World Cup. It's their tournament to lose without a doubt.

And then there was the really fun game. he he he. Twenty years without a win at Twickenham for Wales and then they turn in that performance. Actually, to be fair, Wales weren't that brilliant. They were very good in the second half but I don't think they're good enough to be a serious threat for the title (although I have been hugely wrong before so you never know) but really it was England that lost the game not Wales that won it.

I almost turned off after the first half because it was such a mess. I was sure Wales were going to lose by twenty points easily, and then... Lord knows what happened. England just seemed to fall to pieces and let Wales play the kind of rugby that they're so good at. It was quick and nippy and the kind of game that England should easily have been able to defend against even with some fo their key players going out injured early on. The fact that Wales very nearly got another try at the end of the match says so much about the way that England played. I wouldn't count England out of the running but really if they play at the level they did during the second half then France are going to walk all over them and Ireland will take every chance they can get.

So it's shaping up to be a very fun tournament. I can easily see France getting the Grand Slam and they're pretty sure bets for winning even if they don't get that but you can never count out England or Ireland and Wales could build on their performance this week what with the next two games being Italy and Scotland and France being the last match so it could still all change.

I never got to see any of this weekend's stuff - which, when I heard about the England/Wales second half, I kinda regretted. I might watch that on the iPlayer later

I caught a glimpse of the France/Scotland game in a shop window on Sunday, near the end, however, and didn't regret missing that one...

The England/Wales match is worth watching if only to marvel at teh way that the two halfs appear to involve completely different teams. The first half was quite entertaining with some nice rugby in it but the second half is incredible. One of the most genuinely exciting rugby matches I've seen for a good long while. Rather than simply spending forty minutes booting the ball up and down the field (which was the game play for most of the World Cup from everyone apart from Argentina) you actually get a really good running game interspersed with some apallingly bad mistakes from England.

The France/Scotland game was also pretty good to watch as well. Scotland were outclasse but it's worth watching at least the highlights just for some of the moves the French made and the wonderful try from Clerc where he was almost at the line, fumbled the ball, skipped over one of the Scots and grabbed the ball back as it bounced up again. It was hadr to tell how much was fluke and how much was genius rugby playing but I suspect it was a bit of both.

!!!!

Another fun weekend all round.

Wales/Scotland was a very good game. I have to admit that the second Williams try wasn't actually a try. It looekd like it was at first but on the replay his foot is very clearly in touch before he goes across the line. How the video ref didn't spot it I don't know. I don't know if it'd have made much of a difference to the final result but it could ahve. Scotland got a bit stiffed ont hat one but at least they can take solace in the fact that they played very well and really pushed Wales.

Ireland/France was brilliant. If Ireland had managed to fight back a little earlier it could have been a very different result. They're clearly the two strongest teams this year by far and I can't see Wales beating either of them if I'm being honest (especially since we're playing Ireland at home) but it's going to be hard for England to ebat either of them as well. I think France were probably the desereved winners but it was a very close run thing.

England/Italy was also brilliant. I've never seen Italy push England (or anyone else actually) the way they did. England were bad but not as bad as they were against Wales last week and still they looked like they were in serious trouble. It would have been the shock of the tournament if they had lost in the last few minutes and Italy would probably have deserved to win. If they can play like that then they're going to push Wales to the limit and Scotland probably don't stand much of a chance either. Either way though England are going to have to serouisly up their game if they don't want to come away from this Six Nations looking very bad indeed.

Congrats to Bevis' team on the Triple Crown!

I'm doing the happy dance today. If by some bizarre twist of fate France lose tomorrow then I shall be doing an even bigger happy dance.

Scotland deserved their win today and Ireland played bloody well too. The fact that Wales are now pretty much guaranteed the title unless France can win their last two games by a huge margin astounds me at the same time as making me very happy. Consistent the teams may not have been this tournament but they've been nothing less than entertaining for the most part. Plus if you told me the table would look like it does now when it started I'd have laughed. I didn't think Wales stood a chance or that England wouldn;t finish at least second. Shows how wrong you can be...

Woo-hoo! I'm doing the happy dance now. Winning was good, winning by that much was brilliant. Wales really did look like the best team by a mile today and deserved their triumph all the way.

Commiserations to Scotland for today though. They played a good game and it could easily have gone either way. I suppose there's some little comfort that they avoided the wooden spoon just based on points and they did beat England, so...

England on the other hand played brilliantly today and have ended up second in the tournament. If they'd played like that the rest of the time then they could easily have won. Their inconsistency is shocking and really needs to be dealt with. Credit where it's due for today though, so congrats to them for that.