Eloise's Thoughts and Fancies

With no Grand Slam this year I’m not constrained to think of reasons not to pick a XV from a single country. Normally I pick by units, front row, second row etc, but in some places combinations of injuries, suspensions and tactical changes are making that frankly impossible. For the most part I’m sticking to picking units from a single country still, but not always. Rather than picking 1-23, I’m going to pick in sections, and give honourable mentions in each section. Front Row Gros Mauvaka Atonio L'équipe de bombe, that is the French Bomb Squad, Baille, Marchand and Aldegheri all deserve a mention. I don’t think Sheehan is as good an all-round player as Mauvaka and Marchand, particularly in defence, but he is very good at what he does. Shoeman and Fagerson would make my Lions squad and round out this section. Porter would probably make a lot of teams but, for me, he was a) shown up by WillGriff John, and b) he still draws too many stupid penalties. I’m sure many people would ...

Super Saturday and everyone, except Scotland, has something more than pride to play for. Wales and Italy are scraping to avoid the wooden spoon. Although France are in pole position, in theory any of Ireland, England or France can win the tournament. That’s the order in which they play, so they each know what they have to do as they take the field. The Matches Italy v Ireland This was a frustrating match to watch, certainly as a neutral, I suspect even more if you support one of these teams. Ireland, for most of the game, were poor. They made a lot of handling errors, gave up a lot of penalties and were generally out of sorts. They did click, from time to time, and scored, but they often made hard work of it. That’s despite a red card and two yellow cards given up by Italy that had an impact, and a card right at the end of the game that’s probably going to be red. The resulting penalty was kicked up and then out to end the game, so it didn’t affect anything. But Italian ill-disciplin...

This weekend starts with the match that every pundit had marked as the championship decider: Ireland v France. France dropping a million tries in Twickenham didn’t stop that, but it means if they win they almost certainly stop Ireland not only racking up a record breaking three in a row, but another Grand Slam. Then we have Wales v Scotland and questions are swirling around both sides. Are Wales really starting to surge in form under Sherratt or was it a dead cat bounce? Scotland have turned out to be nearly men again, can they actually put it together this week? Finally we have England v Italy. On paper, England should continue their unbeaten streak, but the team selection seems odd, and the English wide defence is not their strength while it’s the mainstay of the Italian attack. Reversing that, who knows what the English attacking strength is? England have to start as favourites but Italy have to be in with a real chance. The Matches Ireland v France This match really has a few big ...

In Wales the news is that Gatland has walked away, head high, and we have a temporary coach (Matt Sherratt, from Cardiff, but going back) for the rest of the 6N. He’s torn chunks out of Gatland's teamsheets and we’re hoping for brighter things while facing the Irish. Ouch. In England, the media seem to believe that beating the French was due to English brilliance rather than poor French handling and a second Hammering of the Scots is due. I’m doubtful. France are out for redemption in Italy. Match Reviews Wales v Ireland If I told you before the match that Wales would dominate at scrum time, virtually milking penalties at will, and would be winning the lineout battle too I would have doubted my own sanity. Add to that Hymns and Arias ringing around the Principality Stadium as Wales looked to secure a halftime lead and you could have sectioned me. But when Morgan grounded it by the posts with the clock red at the end of the first half, the roof lifted, both there and here, as Wale...

Some big matches this week: the likely wooden spoon decider, an always nervy trip for France to London and a test of Scotland’s ambition at home against the Irish. Italy v Wales This match was played in the pouring rain and that certainly affected things. Adams missed two chances and, whilst you couldn’t say either of them were gold-plated, if it were dry you’d have expected him to get both of them. Equally Adams charged up, put a lot of pressure on Brex who gave Capuozzo a terrible pass. The Italian winger might have caught it despite the wet ball, but his feet went out from under him on the slippery surface and there was no chance. If he’d caught it, he would probably have scored. Both sides made mistakes down to the weather. That’s forgivable. Setting those aside, the battle up front was pretty close. Italy edged scrum penalties but overall the scrums were very close, edge to Italy. Lineouts, and mauls after lineout were definitely advantage Wales. Breakdowns were close, defensive...

It’s Sixmas! At the top of the table the heavyweights of France and Ireland are favourites at the bookies. Personally I lean towards France, expecting Ireland to continue their decline, but we shall see. Scotland are, as has become pretty normal for them, lurking as dark horses. Lower down, everyone is wondering whether Italy can build on last year’s successes, whether (and when) Wales will break their record losing streak and exactly what the new look England will produce. We’ve been promised a reworked defence and a freer attack, so who knows? Before I Start On The Matches I just want to begin by saying I thought the referees in all three matches were excellent. Odd little decisions that I’m not going to highlight that I thought could have been different but none that I thought were dramatically, clearly wrong. I know that will not be popular with a body of Welsh online trolls and probably others - I’ve seen an England fan’s YouTube review and he wasn’t happy about several decisio...

Super Saturday is here, and as we go into it all the matches could matter. Even if Ireland sew up the title in the second game, France v England always matters, even if it can’t really affect the title. The Matches Wales v Italy First I want to say congratulations to Italy. They’ve built from their draw that should have been a win against France, then their home win against Scotland and come to Wales and backed it up with a win and their best points total ever in the M6N. For most of the game they were firmly in control and while the Welsh defence managed to keep Italy to 11-0 at halftime and only 24 points at full time, with only two tries, for most of the game that was the only bright spot from a Welsh perspective. Until about the 60th minute, more specifically the arrival of Grady and Rowlands, the Italian defence swallowed up almost all the Welsh attack easily. They came forward quickly, and every attack was pushed back, phase after phase, until they had to kick. This was helped b...

This weekend could see Ireland win the championship, if they win with a bonus point Scotland can’t catch them next week although they can deny them the back-to-back Grand Slams and Triple Crown. If England somehow win, those dreams are over. Thanks to injury and suspension we have a new look French back line too. Will it click against Wales? Italy v Scotland is surely almost as predictable as England v Ireland this year? So what actually happened? The Matches Italy v Scotland If you look at the scoring profiles of these teams - not something I put much stock in, particularly over so few games - you might not be too surprised at the pattern of scoring in this match. Scotland tend to score in the first half, and can’t score in the last 20, whilst Italy score the bulk of their points in that last quarter. It was a bit more even for Italy in this match, which helped them stay relatively close at halftime, which probably helped their morale. But once they pulled ahead, then pulled more than...

The middle weekend, and this time the weekend when all the home nations play each other, leaving those pesky foreigners to play. A nice bit of xenophobia in the scheduling put the two home nations matches on the same day and left France v Italy to the Sunday. Match Reports Ireland v Wales There is no doubt that Ireland are the class team of this tournament, and they’re going to win at a canter unless there’s a huge upset. Wales, by contrast, are not really in rebuilding so much as building phase. Loads of their players are on fewer than 10 caps. Some on less than 10 senior appearances! Last week, I suggested that it would be a success for Wales if they kept Ireland from scoring a bonus point try, scored some nice tries of their own and kept their penalty count under five. Sadly none of those came to pass. However, Ireland’s bonus point try came with the clock turned red, Wales mounted a number of good attacks, and although they got pinged off the park in the first few minutes, they a...

After last week when, arguably, only Ireland put in an 80 minute performance - I’d argue that Italy didn’t so much decline as they were shut down, defensively they kept England in check, but England suddenly stopped their attack - there are lots of questions this week about how each of the others will react. The Matches Scotland v France Last week Scotland showed up for the first half, and the last few minutes. France only showed up for about five minutes. This week, thankfully, both teams turned up, more or less, for most of the 80 minutes. Scotland were probably the better side. Certainly at lineouts they were, but they appeared to make fewer errors and give away fewer penalties as well (the stats support this but it’s not quite as one-sided as I felt it was from watching it. I think the French back row snaffled a lot of turnovers and penalties that didn’t have the same feel but brought the count close). I also wonder just how annoyed the French coaches will be about what seemed to ...