Six Nations Week 4: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good

Brian O'Driscoll winning his 100th cap for Ireland.  A truly world class player, even though he had a pretty quiet game against Wales.

Paul O'Connell's fantastic performance in the line-out and the loose.  A superb game for the ginger giant.

Tomas O'Leary.  A brilliant try-scoring performance by the Ireland scrum half.  Man of the match O'Leary was instrumental in several key plays and set up Keith Earls for his second try.

Tomas O'Leary dives in for his try

The Scottish crowd singing 'Flower of Scotland' loudly and proudly before the Calcutta Cup game against England.  The atmosphere in Murrayfield was electric right from the opening blast of by the lone bagpiper.

Andy Robinson-cam.  Watching the Scotland coach flail his arms around in exasperation whilst yelling expletives provided a few rare moments of entertainment in an otherwise uninspiring game.

Saying that, Scotland number eight and man of the match Johnnie Beattie played a strong game in attack and defence, along with his fellow back row Killer Bs, Kelly Brown and John Barclay.

Ben Foden's impact from the bench.  A breath of fresh air mixed with a steamroller.  Come on Haskell, Deacon and chums: take note of how Foden smashed towering lock Alastair Kellock out of the way when he was running from deep.  Oh and well done Johnno for hauling Armitage off and giving Foden a run.  Ben has got to start against France.  In fact: Ding ding - all change.

France's pocket rocket wing Marc Andreu, who, at 5ft 5", flew under the Italians' radar and over the whitewash.

In fact, France totally demolished Italy in their 46-20 with a classy display.  The French backline was in dazzling and fluid form, and their forwards weren't half bad either.  Scrum-half Morgan Parra, full-back and man of the match Clement Poitreneud and Imanol Harinordoquy get special mentions for their excellent performances.  Again.


The Bad

Jonny Sexon's woeful scattergun approach to goal kicking.  The Ireland fly-half had about as much accuracy as a drunk bloke blasting his pee towards a urinal.

Lee Byrne's yellow card.  Wales conceded two tries when the full-back was warming the sin bin and Byrne was decidedly below par upon his return to the field.

Wales' set piece:  Line-out: Poor.  Scrum:  Poor.

England missing tackle after tackle after tackle after tackle (repeat to fade)...

Just when they thought they were getting a bit better, Nick Mallet's Italy found themselves 40 points behind France after being clinically taken apart.  At least Italy were able to restore a degree of respectibility in the last 20 minutes, when France had already switched off and were no doubt starting to plot England's demise next weekend...

The Ugly

Dan Parks' stupid sideburns.  Who does he think he is?  Zorro?

Fancy Dan

Scrum time between Scotland and England.  Zzzzzz.  Do you enjoy watching burly forwards in tight fitting tops flopping down onto the floor?  Yeah.  And so it seems did referee Marius Jonker.  The scrums were painfully tedious to watch and it often took more than two minutes just to restart the game.  Yawn.

Ugo Monye being stretchered off.  Apparently he's OK, but it's never a nice sight seeing anyone stretchered off the field.  Still, maybe you should have a rest next weekend Ugo, and let Northampton's Chris Ashton have a go?


So there's only one week left in this year's competition.

I can't wait until next weekend's finale: France v England at the Stade de France. 

Although I bet Johnno and pals will try to make it as tedious an affair as possible.  We will see.

Six Nations Top Trumps: Wales

"We need to get off to a good start. If you don’t get off to a winning start, there is that added pressure and you’re always chasing.”

I couldn't agree with you more, Warren Gatland. 

Beware Martin Johnson's England on 6 February when Wales arrive at Twickenham.  Wales' coach Gatland is certainly talking the talk.  Gatland has focused on the inexperience of the England scrum as a weakness that will be targeted by his British and Irish Lions filled pack.  But will Wales fire in 2010?  In last year's tournament they slipped to a disappointing 4th place after clinching the Grand Slam in 2008, and losses to Australia and South Africa at Cardiff in November wasn't the ideal preparation.  Wales have two tough games away from home: at Twickenham on the opening weekend and then across the Irish sea at Croke Park.  With key players sidelined due to injury and with pundits questioning Wales' mental toughness, the pressure to perform is on. 

Here are their ratings:

Scrum: 85/100.
Wales have an excellent tight 5 including an all Lions front row in Adam Jones, Matthew Rees and Gethin Jenkins.  Alun Wynn Jones and either Ian Gough or Luke Charteris will add power in the boiler room.  Wales' opening game is against England at Twickenham, who with the absence of Sheridan and Vickery, are likely to field an internationally inexperienced front row.  Games are won and lost based on what happens up front, and the scrum is where Wales will look to dominate.  And I think they will.

Line-Out: 70/100.
With Alun Wynn Jones, Gough/Charteris and Ryan Jones as the jumpers, and Matthew Rees as the hooker, this is another set piece where Wales should excel.

Attacking Flair:  71/100.
Shane Williams is fit and will play on the wing, as will fellow Lion Leigh Halfpenny.  It's a shame that scrum-halves Mike Phillips and Dwayne Peel both miss the competition due to injury, as both are classy playmakers who snipe around the fringes of the scrum.  Richie Rees has been in fine form for the Cardiff Blues at this position though and is one to watch.  World class full back Lee Byrne will play against England after having his ban for being the Ospreys' 16th man in the Heineken Sup game against Leicester overturned.  Stephen Jones might not be a flamboyant fly-half but his magic point scoring boot more than makes up it.  And then there's Lion and Baa-Baa, Jamie Roberts, who is yet another world class player in the Wales team.  All in all, there is attacking flair oozing from this team, but can they string it together?

Defence:  45/100.
Wales' defence was well and truly dismantled in the 33-12 defeat by Australia in November.  The Wallabies ran in four tries which almost made Wales' defence coach, Shaun Edwards, implode with anger.  With such an array of attacking backs, Wales will have to tighten up on their defence to avoid leaving gaping holes on the counter attack.

Stadium: 73/100.
Millennium Stadium.  Capacity 74,500.

Snore Factor: 35/100.
It all depends if the Wales squad of 2010 will emulate their inconsistent performances of last year or their Grand Slam campaign of 2008.  I think it's likely to be somewhere in between based on their opposition, with flashes of brilliance balanced with a certain lack of incision.

Phwoargh Factor: 55/100
Lee "Tango Tan" Byrne, James "I'll play anywhere" Hook and Jonathan "No, not the pundit" Davies are the main attractions in this category.  Mike Phillips is a big loss in this department, and some might argue that the lesser spotted Gavin Henson will be missed.  On the whole it's slim pickings though, unless you like big hair that is.  If that's the case, then Adam Jones is the man for you.

Scandal Potential: 34/100.
Medium.  Nothing too controversial, but I'd suggest that Wales' opposition keep taking a quick headcount during the game, just to make sure that Lee Byrne hasn't sneaked on from the sidelines.

As for the final standings:
Last season: 4th.
Prediction for this season: 4th.

And the IRB Try of the Year is...

...going to be decided by a public vote.

After the IRB Player of the Year debacle (where good old BOD was robbed) it's nice that the IRB are gifting the great unwashed of the rugby world the chance to have their say on this relatively meaningless award.  Whether this will descend into a purely partisan vote-fest with everyone voting for the player(s) from their own country I don't know, but as there are no Englishmen shortlisted at least some of us will be able to remain objective.  Like me for example.

The runners and riders

As an admirer of Rob Kearney (and as an admirer of his skills with a rugby ball) I was so very tempted to vote for the brilliant try he scored for the Lions this summer.  However when I saw Cedric Heyman's scintillating try against the All Blacks, the rugby lover in me looked beyond the wonder that is Rob Kearney and I realised that in my opinion there could only be one winner.

If you can't be bothered to click through to the IRB site then you can view Heyman's brilliant try here:

Winner winner chicken dinner

So do you agree that Heymans scored the try of the year?  Not that it's really that important.

The closing date for entries is the 31st December and you can click here to visit the IRB site to view the tries and find out how to vote.