Men's Six Nations 2026, Week Three

We have some questions to answer this week. Can England bounce back or can Ireland continue to sneak their improvements and win another one? Scotland, historically, are awful after beating England, can Wales improve enough to beat them or can Scotland find some consistency? Are Italy the best scrummaging side in this championship? Galthié has bulked up his tight five to compete with them, how will that work?

The Games

England v Ireland

This game started very slowly. Both lineouts were bad, England worse than Ireland, and both scrums barely any better. Neither side really had any fluidity in attack and it was a bit hard to tell why at first. As the game developed, it started to become a bit clearer though. Ireland had, mostly, abandoned their attacking structure of the last seven years, with three fairly close carriers in a line and one in the boot, trusting first Murray, then JGP to pick out the right player. But generally they were playing with Crowley flat and players arranged outside him in a formation more reminiscent of the rugby from the 70’s. They weren’t completely comfortable with that, at first, but settled in to it. England’s woes were a mixture of lost confidence and strong defence. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference of course, but England were making errors without obvious pressure as well as, at times, getting to the 5m line and then making errors under defensive pressure. It seems that they were guilty of plenty of unforced errors as well as Ireland having a great defence.

As Ireland settled down, they kept putting McCloskey through the seam in the English defensive line, which rapidly put them out to a 17-0 lead. Another try made it 22-0 and had Borthwick scrambling to make changes. LCD was hooked, it didn’t really improve the lineout much, but did strengthen the scrum. Mitchell and Steward were also sacrificed in the hope of changing the game. Smith seemed to make a difference, leading England to score a try just before halftime.

But that was really a false glimmer of hope in English hearts that Irish boots stamped on thoroughly. The green line kept the white attack to just three tries, and again showed there’s no Plan B. Although England managed a couple of tries in the second half, the game was over before they got their last one, and Ireland scored two tries and two penalties to stretch their winning margin. At 42-21 it was the highest total and biggest margin for Ireland in Twickenham.

Losing to Italy next week feels like a real possibility for England. Ireland seem likely to win a triple crown now, facing Scotland at home. If France slip up, they could win the championship too.

Wales v Scotland

Before the game, there were two questions floating around in my mind. Would Wales continue to improve and would Scotland back up their performance from last week? If you’d asked me before the match if I’d be happy with a losing bonus point, I’d have said “yes” very enthusiastically. But as I write this, at least the first draft, immediately after the match, I’m disappointed that we didn’t win. In time I’ll have more perspective I’m sure, but right now I’m disappointed.

Wales should have won this match. But for five minutes of dropped concentration and a moment of magic from Russell and Graham they would have done. But given Scotland were given odds to win this by 20+ points and snuck into the lead with five minutes to go, then clung on for dear life, that shows what the match was like. Wales were not perfect, of course not, against Ireland the French only managed perfection for slightly over a half, and they’re in a far better place than Wales. But when they made an error in attack, they moved smoothly into defence. When they made an error in defence, for most of the game, they were switched on, worked hard, and recovered from it without giving up points.

There was far less kicking than last week, and it was far better executed. Some of that is due to a different opposition. Scotland harried the Welsh attack far, far less than the French defence did. But some is an improvement in the Welsh attack too. There were better lines, better coordination of runners and a good system. Was that Costelow running things better or an extra week together and learning the systems? I’m not sure, but Wales didn’t really lose their attacking shape when Costelow went off injured, so I’m thinking it’s got more to do with time.

Now that I’ve calmed down a bit, Wales scored first, Scotland hit back, then Wales scored again and whilst that was all their tries they kept stretching their lead with penalties. They came five minutes of madness. Scotland scored a try after 27 phases, that was ok, almost everyone concedes after that amount of pressure, if they can’t force an error. From the restart, the Welsh didn’t set up quickly, Russell kicked to the corner, Graham ran, collected it and scored. You don’t really see that in schoolboy rugby, you really shouldn’t in test rugby. That’s why I’m frustrated.

After that, Scotland scored a try from a driving maul, the one of the few times their lineout and maul worked well. This put them 26-23 ahead, a lead that they clung to.

In all the other big stats, Wales won the game, fewer penalties, better tackle percentage, more turnovers etc. Scotland may have had the self-belief and focus to pull this out in the end, but everyone could see that Wales can play and that with a bit of luck, they would have won this game. In previous weeks there have been nuggets of good to work on. This week its more a case of things to tinker with. Scotland are still up for the triple crown, but are unlikely to challenge France, unless injuries ravage les Bleus. Wales will not be scared of Ireland, but might not beat them, and will hope to beat Italy.

France v Italy

With the injury to Jalibert really there were three or four questions going into this game. How will the French attack adapt to a new 10? We know Dupont and Ramos can play well together, they do it at Toulouse, but that system is not the French attack. Likewise, how will the back three adjust? Attisogbe is used to playing 15 at Pau, but their system is different to France's, and he’s new to test rugby, Dearn, who replaced him on the wing is playing his first test. It’s not all about France! How good is the Italian scrum? How good are Italy really, up against the best side in the tournament?

Really the talking points are:

• The Italian defence, which ended up yielding five tries, is still better than anyone else we’ve seen, except France, and for a large part of the second half stopped the French from scoring. It wasn’t like Les Bleus were not pressing, and there was no sleepy spell from France in this game, but the Azzurri defence was up to the challenge, at least until Lynagh was sin binned.
• In the first half, most of the tries came from pouncing on Italian errors and producing a bit of magic to turn it into points. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, and for a number of years the ABs worked that angle. But this is the first time we’ve seen France only score that way for a half - in the second half, their attacking system finally clicked into gear as well. I don’t think this is a real problem, given the last minute changes they were forced to make, but it’s something for defence coaches to look at around the world, and Galthié et al to work on.
• The French defence, which despite the disruption, was immense. However, it also gifted the Italians their only try. But the Italians did attack, and put them under pressure and they forced turnovers, knocks on and the like and held out wave after wave of attack. I’m sure Edwards will forgive them the blip in light of the overall success.
• The scrums. For most of the first half they were very balanced. When Neti first came on it seemed to swing in favour of the Italians, but it soon evened up, although with far more penalties than we’d had in the first half. It’s not clear which of these scrums is the stronger, but these two are definitely at the top in scrummaging terms. Over the rest of the forwards jobs, France were pretty clearly on top.
• The Italian lineout, which operated at about 60% over the game. It was awful, made so by their opponents in the main. All too often when France conceded a penalty, they conceded territory, sure, but Italy effectively gave the ball straight back to them. And although not operating at peak efficiency, 30-40m of territory is not a problem for this French with ball in hand.

Despite that, this was a fun match to watch. The final score, 33-8, doesn’t reflect how back and forth it felt, much more even and engaging. It probably helped that all the tries were pretty special. Italy are, like Wales, not up to challenging a top four team but they’re probably up for a quarterfinal spot next year for the first time. And this looked like that kind of match.

Happy Coaches

1. Tandy. Although I’m sure he’ll be frustrated with that mad five minutes, this was a very good Wales performance, at last. Not enough to challenge a top four side maybe, but to look at the next group of teams and start winning against them.
2. Farrell. I still think his team has issues, but highest score at Twickenham, highest margin against England, and a pretty all round performance from the Irish is something to be proud of, and happy about, particularly after the amount of crap they’ve have legitimately hurled at them for their performances and illegitimately hurled at one of their players in racist abuse.
3. Galthié. Being here is not a suggestion Galthié is at all unhappy. He is undoubtedly happy with a job well done, especially given the disruption to the team with Jalibert's injury. I think he’s probably quite happy with the little bits that are there to work on too, to avoid complacency.
4. Quesada. I thought long and hard about this. But, although Italy were better beaten than last week, they stood up for long periods and measured themselves, successfully in many ways despite the score, against the best team in Europe. There’s a lot of progress and a lot of pride in this team, a lot to be happy about.
5. Townsend. Although he’s a long way down this list, I think Townsend is still at least somewhat happy. Perhaps relieved is a better word. Scotland escaped with a victory and that’s probably enough to save his job. If they can beat Ireland in the final weekend, a Triple Crown is not the result the fans hoped for, but it’s not a bad return. However, from the two teams we saw over the weekend, Ireland win that match comfortably.
6. Borthwick. Are there any positives to take from that match? England played some rugby that wouldn’t look bad at premiership level for a few minutes. The rest wasn’t up to schoolboy level. You might argue that they edged Ireland at the scrum, but this is the same Ireland that Italy destroyed last week. England had a great run, yes, at the wrong time, and now good teams have worked out how to take that away from them. There isn’t a plan B that the players can deliver. It remains to be seen whether the coaches can concoct and instil one in time for Italy. I have my doubts. Apart from France - who have added an extra element rather than rebuilding their entire plan - building entire new plans tends to take about a year. Look back at Rassie’s first year in charge and how up and down the Boks were. Or Borthwick’s for that matter.

Looking Ahead

Next week is the only rest week. In two weeks time the matches are as follows:

• Ireland v Wales. Whilst I have hope for this one, Ireland are hard to beat at home and will be full of confidence. However, the Welsh will have confidence too, and something to prove. They were, traditionally, good in Dublin and this would be a good time to restart that. My head says Ireland though.
• Scotland v France. Was Scotland’s poor performance just their post-England slump and their performance against England what they’re truly capable of at home? France need a bonus point victory to wrap this year’s championship up with a match to go. If Scotland raise their game as they did against England they might deny them that, but I can’t see it.
• Italy v England. I don’t know how to call this. Italy are a decent side in that fifth to twelfth place position, probably aiming for a top eight finish at the RWC and that’s about where they’re playing. The England of last year, and that played Wales, looked like a good semifinals side, with a chance of making the final next year. The England of yesterday would struggle to get out of the pools. Which England will turn up? In Italy, with England rebuilding, forza Italia!