Eloise's Thoughts and Fancies

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...