Eloise's Thoughts and Fancies

The biggest question, the perennial question of recent times, is can anyone beat England? But, that’s not the only question. At last year’s WXV Ireland were the surprise package. Did they flatter to deceive as other teams blooded new combinations before the World Cup later this year or was it a real improvement? Whilst I have a lot of sympathy for Cunningham, who paid the price for some terrible off-field behaviour by the WRU and the uncertainty that sewed throughout the squad, we have a new Welsh coach, literally hot off last week's PWR victory, and a fresh team. How will the Welsh Women go? The Italians also have a new coach, although not quite as minty fresh as Sean Lynn. The Matches Ireland v France This was a game with a lot of effort and good moments, but a lot of inaccuracies. France will rue the penalties, and particularly the red card, that they gave away. These conspired to keep the Irish close for longer than they probably deserved. Equally, the Irish will look at the...

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 ...