Men's Six Nations 2024, Week One

As is always the case after a World Cup, there’s lots of talk about who has retired (Sexton, Lawes, Atonio - but he unretired, Halfpenny, Williams, Biggar and the list goes on). This year we have some extra fun, with Dupont defecting to 7’s for a year to try and win an Olympic medal, LRZ chasing his NFL dream, and Farrell withdrawing from international rugby to protect his family and then signing for Racing 92 (much to the surprise of most French fans who look at how he plays, how they play and think ‘never the twain shall meet’. Except next year they will.) Every team has it’s injury woes but Wales, in particular, seems extremely hard hit: Jac Morgan, the inspirational captain from the World Cup run is out, but you could put together an arguably better squad from injured players AND a squad from those unavailable for selection due to the ‘playing outside of Wales’ policy that Gatland introduced but now wants to abolish.

Match Reports

France v Ireland 

It’s very tempting to look at two events in this match as critical: Willemse was shown a yellow card after nine minutes, then a second after 32 minutes, which was instantly upgraded to red of course. The bunker, which we still have for 6N matches, would have made it red anyway, so he’d have been gone for just that hit. As a change to the process, the stadium crowd hear what the ref tells the captains about the bunker decision, which doesn’t affect me watching at home, but I think is still a good move for the fans who are there. Anyway, those two moments meant that for 48 minutes France played with 14 men. You can write a narrative that goes with this too, Ireland started fast, but one team usually starts better than the other, nothing unusual there, then got a boost because of the extra player, France started to work their way back in, when Willemse came back on, then Ireland took control with the extra player. 

While that narrative can be supported, it doesn’t tell the whole story. It’s important to remember that France under Galthié always start their Six Nations campaigns slowly. Last year they came from behind to squeak past Italy in their first match for example, the previous year they also came from behind, but it was more a game of two halves in terrible weather and Italy played bad weather rugby in both halves, France only adjusted in the second half. Ireland came out and played well, I don’t want to take anything away from them. France came out and played like a bunch of star players, but not like a team for large parts of the game. They did this against Italy, definitely last year, a bit the year before, but their moments, and their stars, were good enough to eke out wins. Against an organised side playing well, definitely not good enough. 

Did Ireland miss Sexton? Hard to say. The French defence was particularly disjointed and didn’t really pressurise Crowley that much. The match started with one of his kicks being charged down, Ireland switched to Lowe taking most of the clearing kicks thereafter. But Crowley pulled the strings so the Irish scored five tries and that is certainly a decent pass mark for him but against a disjointed defence. 

Did France miss Dupont? Equally hard to say. Lucu plays differently to Dupont but had some of this own moments of magic but the team overall were so poor that Dupont couldn’t have saved this performance. He might have altered it, but not saved it. For the last two years, in their poor opening matches against Italy, France had Dupont and still played badly after all. Willemse’s actions might have magnified the size of the defeat, but Ireland were always the better side. 

But can Galthié et al pick out the good pieces, correct the bad pieces and put together a good side for next week? They’ve done it in the past, it’s hard to bet against them doing it again. 

Italy v England 

To borrow that old cliché, this was very much a game of two halves. England were, if I try to be dispassionate, equally competent or lacking in attack as far as the scoreboard was concerned in both of them, 14 points in the first half, 13 in the second. Italy went from scoring 17 points in the first half to only 7 (and missing 3 that would have earned them a draw) in the second. The difference? England restructured their defence at half time and stopped Italy penetrating through Ford's channel with ease and also going wide at will. Really that was the difference and, although it was limited in scope, it was pretty impressive. 

But Italy have a new defensive system and they stuck to it. Only two tries despite their line being bent and broken far more often than that, a sign that they are working hard for each other and the team and a change from years gone by. With only five training sessions with the new coach, they’ll add depth and variety in attack but, despite the loss, they looked really good. 

Wales v Scotland 

Well that cliché gets another airing. In the first half, Scotland were all over Wales and looked comfortable for their 20-0 lead. Wales had a clear plan, kick from their half, play in Scotland’s half, but Scotland kicked better, chased better, their backs played more fluently and their forwards were dominating at lineouts. Although scrums were more even, that was really the only bright spot, overall it was a mess for the Welsh. 

After halftime, a loose kick to van der Merwe and Scotland went 27-0 up and surely that was game over? But Wales had come out with a number of changes in personnel and a new game plan and were racking up the tries, in fact they won the try count 4-3, although several were wide out and a missed conversion meant the final score was 27-26. That said, Scotland won a kickable penalty in the 79th minute and would have taken the points rather than looking for the bonus point try if they were a point behind. The stadium was almost dead in the first half, bouncing as Wales fought back. 

This was easily the best match of the weekend, and we might look back in a few weeks time and say it was the best of the championship. While Scotland won, they were supposed to win at the canter against a bunch of kiddies. Wales have proved, again, they can and will follow Gatland's lead and walk through fire for him. They won’t challenge Ireland, but England, Italy and France if they don’t improve are within the reach of the Wales of the second half.

Happy Coaches

Farrell will be happy his side performed, and performed well, straight out of the gate. Are there questions? The only question is really how out of sorts France were. Ireland looked great. There are doubtless odd little details, like that first charged down kick, but overall they were fine. 

Gatland will be happy with how his side responded to adversity and changed their plan as he asked to make this a game. That second half gave him a really solid base to build from and he’s demonstrated that he can do that. Even most of the players that didn’t do that well will be buoyed by the way things changed and bounce back to have better games in the weeks to come. 

Quesada will have seen a lot to please him, and not that much that’s a huge warning sign. The lineout needs work desperately, but the rest was good and needs tinkering rather than wholesale changes. I'm sure he’d have preferred a win, but he knows it was within touching distance, and that’s huge. 

Borthwick is under Quesada for me. He won’t he happy as much as relieved. In the first half 17-14 probably flattered England. However, 13-7 in the second half when England had all the ball, all the territory was a terrible return - 23-7 would have been a poor return for the dominance they had. The win might be all that matters, but if you’re only scoring 13 points against Italy in those conditions, you’ve got problems in attack. Compare how England shifted from losing the first half 17-14 to winning the second 13-7 to Wales who lost the first half 20-0 but won the second half 26-7 and you have a good idea why I think Borthwick is more relieved than happy with this performance. 

Townsend would be higher up if Scotland had scored a bonus point try, or hadn’t nearly thrown the game away. But they didn’t do the first and did do the second. I would love to have seen his blood pressure during the match, I bet it kept going up and up during the second half. He might be relieved by Monday but not happy, there’s a lot to work on. 

Galthié has a lot of things to think about. He will hope, and trust, the team can click from this and bounce back. They have before. But this was bad.

Looking Ahead

Scotland v France 

Honestly I don’t know what to think for this. Which Scotland will show up? Will the France of Friday night show up, or will Galthié work his normal magic and give us an actual team? I’m going to call a French win, but with little confidence. If they don’t come together and Scotland play like that first half against Wales, they could put a world of hurt on Les Bleus. 

England v Wales 

I think Borthwick will be happier with the performance than perhaps I’ve said he should be. He'll be looking for small improvements not a step change. He will see the win as the big thing after all, whereas I see the inability to score with a huge edge in possession and territory as a bad thing. Gatland will be looking to take the second half Wales and build on that. Add the Welsh desire to beat England and I’m tipping Wales, although not confidently. England should win on paper, but my head and heart say that the desire of the Welsh is stronger. 

Ireland v Italy 

This is the easiest one to call. While I hope Italy cause a huge upset, Ireland should win easily.