Women's Six Nations, Round Three

England v Wales

This was an odd match, divided be events into more sections than the normal two. Roughly quarter of the way through, with the score 0-0, there was a long break as a player was taken from the pitch with a serious injury. Hopefully she’ll be OK for New Zealand but honestly I have my doubts.

Straight after that England kept their focus, Wales didn’t, so the English scored two quick tries and ground one out later on. Wales became the first of the lesser nations not to have given up four tries, and a bonus point by half time.

Even in the second half, Wales were keeping things close until a yellow card was brandished and against 15 fitter women the floodgates opened and stayed open for the remainder of the match.

However, all is not rosy for the Red Roses. Wales disrupted their lineout repeatedly, even though the lineout and maul was their best weapon. Equally the backs only got b on the action after the yellow card when fatigue was playing a huge role on the Welsh defence. The template for how to deny England has been shown. After three months of professional women's rugby Wales weren’t fit enough to carry out the plan. Will France be?

Scotland v France

This was a game of three sections, just without the obvious dividers like the Saturday game.

For the first 20 minutes or so, Scotland were all over France, who gave away penalties like candy, but between their defence and Scotland’s poor attack, they only conceded three points. Then France seemed to wake up and scored four tries by half time. Somewhere in that half, Scotland also scored a try, so 28-8 at the half.

In the second half, I think triggered by very early substitutions for Fall and Sansus, France fell asleep again. However, their defence remained resolute and their discipline was much better and it wound up 28-8.

If France play this poorly against England they’ll be soundly beaten. Heck, if they play this poorly next weekend against Wales they should lose. Hopefully they’ve got it out of their system now.

Ireland v Italy

I seriously expected Italy to win this at the canter. The opposite turned out to be true. Judging from his reaction after the match, the Italian coach had the same opinion as me.

It’s really hard to say much more. Ireland just outplayed Italy in every aspect of the game. It’s hard to say whether they’ve just improved that much, that fast (seems unlikely) or if Italy have just had a terrible game. Of perhaps they’re just that bad and it’s been disguised because they played against England and France, so it wasn’t a surprise that they lost.

Happy Coaches

McWilliams first. It might be “only” Italy and we don’t really know what the state of Italian women's rugby is right now, but Ireland looked good today. McWilliams still has a long way to go but he has clear positives to work from.

I’m tempted to say that’s it!

Wales were good for chunks, which will please Cunningham, but lost focus after the injury break and lost their way with the yellow card. But there are positives for him to take and build on.

Then there’s a real mess. Clearly in last place is Di Giandomenico. But where do we rank Hayraud, Middleton and Easson above him? England scored because Wales lost focus and then ran up the score because of a YC and superior fitness after Wales defended with 14. Hardly the mark of a dominant side. France defended well throughout but only played well offensively for about 20 minutes, Hayraud must he tearing her hair out. On the other side of that match Easson must be frustrated that his side couldn’t score more than one try and one penalty against a side that hadn’t shown up…

I think Hayraud maybe for the relief of a bonus point win when they played so badly, then Middleton for much the same, then Easson and finally Di Giandomenico.

Fearless Predictions

Next week is a rest week but in two weeks time we have

Wales v France

This ought to be easy, but if France play like they did against Scotland and Wales play like they did before that injury stoppage against England, this could be much closer, or even an unlikely Welsh victory. My heart believes, my head not so much.

Italy v Scotland

Two teams with inept offences meet… this could be one to miss! Honestly I don’t know but if Italy play like did against Ireland, they’re going to lose again. However, Scotland haven’t made me believe they can attack either… 5-3 final score maybe?

England v Ireland

Despite Ireland's impressive result this weekend, they have a brutal back-to-Earth with a bump encounter to come. While I have my doubts about England, and I think Ireland have improved, I think there’s still a vast gulf between them. It’s just a question of how many…