Women's Six Nations, Week Three

Wales v England

This was not a battle between equals. This was the world number 1 vs the world number 8, and while the points difference on the rankings is of questionable utility and you really can’t compare across the men’s and women’s, if you did that, England's women would be 3 points clear of Ireland and Wales women would be in 14th place… that might be a better indicator of the gulf between them at the moment than first v eighth.

So, when for the first 20 minutes Wales dominated England in every aspect of the game, even leading on the scoreboard, that was notable. Wales continued to be competitive at the scrum and breakdown essentially throughout the game, and patches where the asserted their game plan in other areas too, although they were never really for long enough.

The difference between the two was mostly the backs, where England have a load of really experienced players, Wales have a few. However, over time, the extra years of professional experience all round showed through as England applied effort at the right times to stifle Welsh attacks.

The final score of 59-3 is not really reflective of the overall game. England deserved a comfortable victory but 40-10 or even 40-17 would have been much more reflective of how it seemed to play out.

England seem to be really that far ahead still, they can be hammered, not in the game for 20, and in many ways still facing a competitive defence for the remaining 60, but they still racked up 59 points and 9 tries. Wales are clearly improving and despite the gap this was a match that was fun to watch for large periods; that usually means there’s a lot of positives that might not show on the scoreboard but will be there in the video sessions.

Italy v Ireland

This was a game that only rarely felt like it burst into life. Honestly I lost count of the number of scrums in the game and while I used to play in the second and back row and I enjoy a good scrum, really this is an indication of just how scrappy the game was.

I don’t think we saw every way you can get a scrum awarded, I don’t remember the ball hitting the ref for example, but we dug around in the long grass a bit for some of the more unusual laws as well as the normal knocks on and forward passes.

Somehow Ireland managed to dominate possession and metres made, but also “dominate” missed tackles. Italy made almost double the number of tackles than Ireland (230 to 124) but missed exactly half the number (14 to 28).

You might think with that amount of ball, Ireland would have exerted a lot of pressure but, as I commented above they didn’t really look after the ball, they also got turned over far too easily and their penetration on each carry was poor, they often got pushed back by the Italian defence. It feels harsh to say that a penalty try for what would otherwise have been a pushover scrum try was against the run of play. But if you ran back more than a minute before that scrum was called I honestly doubt you’d expect to see even the scrum being called there, certainly not the try.

Italy, when they got the balance of passion, skill and power right looked great. Sadly all three of those waxed and waned, and at least on the passion scale it would go over the top leading to a massively over enthusiastic seven person skip pass - straight to touch - when simple passes, player to player, would have wrapped the winger around the edge easily.

It’s worth asking whether Ireland have improved and this is what caused the Italians such problems but a 77% tackle rate and really no territory or points with all that possession suggests that’s not the case. So maybe Italy are just shell shocked after that toughest of all starts, France then England. You’d hope a rest week then Ireland would be enough to get back on track but maybe that’s for another year of professional contracts?

France v Scotland

It’s even easier to look at this score than the Wales v England score and say France are still a league above Scotland and, to some extent that’s true. In fact, Trémoulière had an off day with the boot, both from the tee and from hand - France left I think 8 points from conversions behind and gave Scotland the ball and about 100m of territory from kicks out on the full. So France scored more tries and conceded fewer than England in the same fixture. A sign of a shift in power?

But, just like in the Wales game, Scotland played some quality rugby and as a neutral the score doesn’t really reflect their efforts. The Scot’s never came as close as the Welsh did to scoring against England, it’s hard to point your fingers and say “oh but, that held up there, that line break there…” as you could for Wales, but they had a lot of entries and time in the French 22, especially in the first quarter, just no reward.

That shouldn’t take anything away from what the French women did. I commented part way through that, although it’s not really fair to compare the two, I could see similarities between how the French women and the French men play. It’s more than playing off nine, kicking a lot and so on, although that’s undoubtedly part of it. It’s more than the aggressive defence and the way they choose to attack or stand off the breakdowns, although that’s part of it too. But there’s something in there, in all aspects of the game, that is super familiar. Let’s hope the match against England has a similar result to the men, although the England women are in a very different place.

Happy Coaches

• Mignot and Ortiz. However you slice this, France outperformed England in the equivalent match. Also, for the first time this year, France really put together a full 80 minute performance. Yes, Scotland looked good for periods, especially in the first quarter, but never really threatened the French try line, never really coped with the French counterattacks. There are details to work on, sure, but not much.
• Cunningham, Easson and Middleton. Perhaps this is my Welsh bias, but I think that first 20 and the way the scrum and breakdown went throughout will make him happy. Add the way the kicking game and the defensive line pressure generally worked and there is a lot there to be happy about for Cunningham. Negatives too, but a lot of positives. Easson has a slightly different list than Cunningham but, like him, has a lot of positives to take from a good opening 20 minutes. After that it was one way traffic and maybe he’s slightly less happy because the replacement front row got monstered again, which has to be a worry, but if Cunningham is here, so is Easson. For Middleton, read all those positives for Cunningham and they’re his negatives. England turned it on, especially in the second half, but for the first time this year we’ve seen England have to work. If I were an England fan, heaven forbid, I’d put England higher up but, for the first time since Eden Park, they’ve looked fallible, and France are improving.
• Raineri. Italy won, always good. Italy tackled at 94% which is freaking amazing - at the elite level you aim for 90% but 85%+ is really good. There’s a long list of things they need to work on which is why Raineri isn’t higher up, but it’s a good place to start from.
• McWilliams. Two weeks ago I said that Ireland had significantly improved. This week I’m not sure. They scored a try but never really looked like scoring, not even that one. They missed a load of tackles as well. Honestly, if Italy had been a bit more focused, a bit less battered, whatever it was, this could have been a lot messier. But the fact Ireland haven’t shown improvement against what is surely a weaker side must be bad.

Looking Ahead

Unlike the men’s tournament next week is not a rest week.

England v Ireland

Ouch. Wales have been consistently good in defence prior to this week. Ireland had the most missed tackles by some margin before starting this weekend and Wales only missed a few more tackles than them despite leaking nine tries. Will we see 100 points up? It’s a possibility. It’s really a question of how many England score and how many they concede.

Scotland v Italy

Scotland are at home and hurting. Italy are travelling but buoyant after a good win. I wouldn’t be shocked if Scotland won, but if I were a gambler, I’d put the price of a coffee on the Italians.

France v Wales

Is there any jeopardy in this match? Honestly I’m not sure. If France play like they did against Scotland, I think it’s more a case of how long the Welsh can contain them, how low they can keep the score. They demonstrated that they could contain England so they should be able to contain France for a while. If France are a bit off, Wales could score, as they almost did against England, build confidence on that, which could make it interesting. But although my heart believes, my head says France and I just hope it’s not too painful.