Eloise's Thoughts and Fancies

 Rather than traditional reviews, since I didn’t get the chance to watch all the matches, I’m going to comment on the impact of each result for each team. This will be kind of a “Happy Coaches” thing but with a broader context than just one week, and influenced by the standings in the North and South tables.  Wales  Tandy  et al  will be delighted with their excellent win over Fiji. This was a tough match on paper, Fiji are more highly rated than Wales, and despite a healthy points margin, it was a tough match on the day. The team made and took their chances, in tight play and out wider, and defended well against a free-flowing Fiji. They have continued to build on what they were doing in the M6N. There may be sterner tests ahead, but a great start. Scotland  Likewise Townsend. This was close until the last few minutes when the Scots pulled away and could finally relax a little. But Argentina away was a tough ask, doubly so without Russell. If I were a gamb...

Every game this week has questions on the line. Can Wales finally win a game? Will Ireland rue their performance against France and have to settle for third or can Scotland upset them too? Can France finally defeat England? Wales v Italy In the first half this match was very much tit-for-tat. Italy would score and Wales would hit back. The difference between them was marginal, in all aspects of the game, Italy edged turnovers, Wales edged territory and set pieces, and thanks to slightly better kicking, the scoreboard 19-17. Then came the second half. It wasn’t quite one-way traffic, but Italy scored four tries before the Welsh replied. They scored one and were a bit unlucky not to score a second. Brian Moore always says you don’t deserve to score, but seven tries to five feels to me, as a biased Welsh fan, like a fairer reflection of the balance of the match. Italy were markedly better, but not that much better. Wales seem to have a weird problem. Overall their second halves have b...

Really there probably aren’t any interesting matches this week. England should sweep aside Italy in Parma, even on the road France should beat Scotland and whilst Wales are improving, Ireland at home are probably still a step too far. England v Italy England tried to make it interesting, with multiple changes to their tight five. Some were forced through injury, some were selection choices. In most aspects of the game it really didn’t seem to affect them. Italy scored a try from a driving maul, it’s debatable whether a more experienced group of forwards, familiar with each other could have stopped it or not. Italy also scored a penalty try when Kildunne deliberately knocked the ball on out on the wing and 5m from the try line, absolutely killing an overlap. The former Red Rose commentator was outraged, saying “but there was cover there,” which might have mattered if they were 15m out, but given the cover tacklers were pretty much on the 15m line and the person who should have received...

This week feels like the week that is probably the most predictable, at least going into it, in terms of results. England are going to beat Wales, the only real question is, can we continue to see signs of Welsh improvement, even against the Red Roses? Italy have been poor, Scotland mid, but mid beats poor, even away. And whilst Ireland are trying to challenge for second place, doing so in France, and with Ratier keen to have a big improvement after last week’s terrible first 25 minutes feels like a bridge too far. The Games England v Wales So one side of the ledger you have England scoring 10 tries in a comfortable victory. That should be measured against the 12 they scored last week against Scotland as a benchmark, and the four missed conversions are an indication of how wide many of those tries were dotted down which, in turn, is a reflection of hard the Welsh defence kept working, kept making the English make another pass, and another one. Most of the time they were good enough to...

There were questions after last week. Were England just rusty or disjointed with all their changes? How good are France with their new systems? How good are Ireland? After a result against Scotland that was very similar to the men's although at a different point in the championship, will Wales' women have a similar journey? The Matches Scotland v England One of the oldest adages in rugby is that the forwards decide who wins, the backs decide by how much. England’s forwards dominated their Scottish opponents in every aspect of the game, almost completely. Scotland won odd lineouts and scrums, but it was usually bad ball, and England stole a lot of it or won penalties on Scottish put ins. English rucks averaged under two seconds across the game, which doesn’t always lead to winning, in the M6N Wales then England has the fastest rucks across all the games but finished sixth and fifth, with one win each. France had the slowest average ruck speed, but won. But for the Red Roses it ...

As the first Six Nations after a World Cup, there are changes galore. Ratier has replaced Mignot and Ortiz in charge of France, Fukofuka is in charge of Scotland, and although Mitchell, Bemand, Roselli and Lynn remain the men in charge for England, Ireland, Italy and Wales, I know at least England and Wales have had pretty major shifts in their assistant coaches as well. Players have, inevitably, retired. This seems to have mostly affected England, but everyone has probably lost a few. The English squad has also been hit by a rash of post-world cup pregnancies, I’m not sure I’ve got them all, and I’ve got four on my list. Most teams have injuries as well, I’m not sure it makes much difference to the squad if they’re RWC winners or not, but the British media certainly reports it that way. The Games France v Italy In the early part of this game both sides looked better than last year. Some of that was little things, Italy have shifted Dinka in to 13 to replace Rigoni (of the yellow scru...