Men's Six Nations 2025, Week 2

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, defensively both sides will feel, probably accurately, that they were on top.

In the backs, Italy were much more experienced and it showed. In the 10, 12, 13 shirts Italy had a trio who have played around 50, 50 and 20 times and I think all of Meloncello's caps are with Brex and Garbisi. In the same positions Wales have 3, 1 and 38 caps, and obviously no time together. Add a new fullback and so on… and the fact that the Italian backs just looked better than the Welsh in every aspect is not surprising.

It’s not fair to compare either group to Ireland or France, but some of Ireland’s structures and deception or France's spontaneity and genius would help them both. Italy are closer to touches of both, Wales have neither.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Wales restricted Italy to one try and three more points than Scotland. They scored two tries of their own, eventually. They were unlucky on two more and made a couple of other half chances too. They are not yet a good side, not by any stretch of the imagination but there are positives to build on. Meanwhile Italy continues to improve. Getting out of the pool stages in Australia might not be their official target but it’s what I want for them and I think they could be on track.

Congratulations Italy!

England v France

On paper this was an easy win for France. Even with the rain, it should have been.

On the day, it was question of making and taking opportunities. France created far more than England. There are people lauding the English defensive effort who seem to ignore all the times, particularly in the first half, that France created gilt-edged opportunities only to blow them with dropped ball - whether that was a hard pass that needed to be softer, a wet ball that would normally stick not quite sticking or just a stone cold drop. I made it five tries that France blew, not “oh we had pressure and something went wrong” but “the try line was wide open and the ball didn’t stick” chances. Ramos also missed a sitter of a penalty (and a much harder conversion) but that’s cancelled out by Marcus Smith missing two kicks. I was never a kicker but, honestly, I’d have fancied my chances with the penalty Smith missed.

It was interesting to note that England adopted a completely different defensive system. It lasted throughout the match but didn’t contain the French. Their own lapses and inability to pass/catch at critical moments did that. The French defence stood resolute for large parts of the game, but the English attack created a few good chances, and they were good enough to take them. The English press is, like their misplaced praise for the defensive effort, proclaiming the rise of the attacking effort. Forget the 30+ points the French didn’t take that would have made it embarrassing. England’s attack was a little better but they were not all that effective. France denied them close to the line on multiple occasions and the English lineout was a joke, giving as much ball to the French as it did to the English.

This was a match of making and taking chances. France created far more than England but were far more profligate. England will tell you it’s a glorious victory. But they beat a stumbling giant. It may prove to be a turning point for them, but it was luck, not skill that produced this.

Scotland v Ireland

Scotland were up for this before the game but when the match started, Ireland took control. They weren’t as efficient as last week against England but they weren’t as profligate as the French yesterday. Then Finn Russell and Darcy Graham took each other out, while defending, after about 25 minutes. Russell walked off but failed an HIA (apparently he actually passed but the Scottish team at some level decided he shouldn’t return after the severity of the clash, despite passing the HIA), Graham was eventually taken off on a stretcher and will hopefully be ok (no serious injuries other than a concussion). This felt like game over for Scotland but in the final few minutes of the first they suddenly woke up and scored a nice try. This continued for the first ten minutes of the second half and Scotland pulled themselves to within seven. But then Scotland fluffed receiving a kickoff, Ireland scored a try, a few minutes later they scored again and that as game over, at least as a contest. Scotland scored late, which will give them something to work on for their next game.

However, that late hope denies the fact that, apart from 15 minutes, Ireland outplayed Scotland in basically every part of the game. There were moments, sure, where Scotland stemmed the Irish flow, won a lineout, got a turnover or similar, but they were momentary. Ireland were not excellent but Scotland, even before the loss of Russell and Graham, were worse than them in every part of the game.

More worrying, for me at least, more positive if you’re an Ireland fan, Prendergast looked good. He won POTM. Unlike Fin Smith yesterday (I’d have been inclined to award it to the rain), Prendergast feels fair to me. He pulled the strings for the backs, kicked the penalties to put the forwards into good positions and only missed one kick at goal. It’s early days and this might have been a really good game for him, rather than his true level, but he did look the part.

Happy Coaches

1. Quesada. This was a big match for both Italy and Wales. Despite giving up two late tries and only scoring one, Italy won, and that was the main thing.
2. Easterby. A bonus point win over Scotland. Job done.
3. Borthwick. Happy with finally getting a win in a close match. But he should, and I will, look at the number of chances France created and blew and know that isn’t going to happen again in a century or two. The defensive system was broken to pieces, almost at will, certainly in the first half, and for that try in the second half, and the lineout was broken too. England might build from this but there is still a lot of work to do.
4. Galthié. The French systems worked. All their star players made once per year errors in the same game and if any one of them hadn’t, France would have won. There are definitely things to work on, but (despite the French public's understandable dismay) it’s not actually all doom and gloom.
5. Gatland. Wales lost and are almost certainly going to lose their next three, prolonging the agony. The attack is too naïve but a load of the players in it have fewer than five caps. But the pack is working pretty well. Breakdowns are a contest. And when they fired the backs could produce. It’s going to take time but there are green shoots.
6. Townsend. Scotland got pwned after talking a good game. At home. Any ambition for this year is up in smoke.

Looking Ahead

Next week is a rest week. In two weeks time we have

1. Wales v Ireland. Ireland win
2. England v Scotland. This just got interesting but Scotland to bounce back
3. Italy v France. France to bounce back.