What is Rugby?

© Getty Images

Here we are in round two of this years 6 Nations Championship with a few more very intriguing and very important match-ups.

The featured match this week is Ireland v. France in Paris, a venue where Ireland hasn’t tasted victory since 2000 when some 21 year old, up-and-coming player (who’s name I can’t remember for the life of me), scored a hat trick of tries to lead Ireland to victory. Over the years, this match has provided some of the most thrilling rugby the Northern Hemisphere has to offer. It’s almost a shame that it is being played in round two of the championship as some have suggested that it’s the match to decide the championship champion.

All of that aside, lets not forget about the other matches. England visits Rome where they match up against Italy. After Italy’s clueless performance against Ireland in round one, there’s not much else to say about this match.

The last of the three matches, features Wales against Scotland in Cardiff, a match that at the beginning of the championship, I wouldn’t have thought much of. After watching Scotland hang in against a tough French side that dominated them in every facet of the game, I’m actually thinking Scotland can pull off the upset. Of course Wales woeful display against England, where they did everything they could to hand England a victory, contributes to me my new found faith in the Scots.

Without further adieu, lets have a close look at this weeks matches.

Ireland v. France:

This is the match everyone has been waiting for and what a match it’s going to be. While I disagree with Bryn Palmer’s opinion that this match will decide the champion, I do think it’s going to answer a lot of questions about both teams. Ireland put on a less than inspiring performance against Italy last week in Dublin, causing many fans to have doubts about the Irish side. I’m not so inclined to agree with that because Ireland had victory well in hand within the first 20 minutes of the match.

While point differential could come into play if there is a tie, when all is said and done what really is gained by running the score up against the Italians? Perhaps Ireland didn’t want to show their full hand when playing a game of aerial tennis that allowed them to cruise to victory.

Ireland’s overall success rate against France is not that good, we all know that. The biggest question that is raised from this match-up is ‘can they perform and pull through on the big stage under the toughest conditions?’. Ireland received a boost on Thursday when the previously injured Stephen Ferris, who has been in top form since joining the Lions was cleared to play this weekend. The physical presence of the blind-side flanker will no doubt be an important one as France are by far the most physical team in the championship.

For all the pressure that’s on Ireland, there is an equal amount of pressure on France to win this one. They’re one of the toughest teams in the world to beat at home and it has almost become a given that France will always beat Ireland at home. Some have suggested that France are in control of their own destiny at this point after absolutely dominating Scotland last week. I agree that France looked very good last week, but why was it that Scotland was in this match for the entire 80 minutes? France were not able to put away a Scottish side still searching for its identity, throwing away numerous opportunities to score tries. So while they were able to dominate in the forwards and pretty much in the backs, they couldn’t finish. That will not cut it when facing Ireland.

There are not many people giving Ireland a chance to win this one, but that’s not going to stop me from backing the Irish. I think you’re going to see a much more cohesive side against France and Ireland are hungry for the win. Other than Richie McCaw, there is no other player on the international stage that inspires his team like Brian O’Driscoll. I think the key here is France’s blitz defence that they appear to be utilizing. It worked well against an inexperienced Scottish back line, but I think Ireland with their talented back line will use that type of defence against France by making them pay for coming up too quickly, and as a result pull out a historic win against Les Bleus.

Either way, it’s going to give us a strong indication of who’s going to win the championship. As Brian O’Driscoll has said, “You can’t win a Six Nations in the first game but you can lose it in the first game.”

Scotland v. Wales:

This is a do or die match for Wales after a crushing defeat against England last week. Wales had every chance to beat England if not for a few careless mistakes. If they don’t clean things up this week, they will not defeat the Scots.

When I bring up the word mistakes, I’m hardly referring to Alun Wyn-Jones sin binning for a mindless trip on Dylan Hartley. Far too much has been made about this, as many have attributed England’s 17 point outburst to Jones’s absence. Wales will warmly welcome the return of Gethin Jenkins and surely Alun Wyn-Jones will look to make amends for his careless error in last weeks match. Wales need to score when the opportunity presents itself. Too many times Wales were in a position to score tries but walked away empty handed. Wales must also exhibit a better kicking game both out of hand and off the tee as they left 9 points on the pitch from missed penalties. Look for Wales to come back strong in this one as they are by no means out of contention for the championship.

I was impressed with Scotland’s performance against France last week. They hung in the entire match and despite being manhandled, they never quit and were always in contention to take the match. This is a young, inexperienced side with some kinks to work out. I was very impressed with the play of Max Evans and Chris Cusiter, two players who I think can reclaim some of the lost Scottish glory. Losing Nathan Hines to injury is no doubt a huge loss as Hines is their most physically domineering figure on the pitch.

Where they lose one though, they gain one with the return of Euan Murray from his Sabbath sabatical. Scotland are going to have it tough against a desperate Welsh side this weekend and need to win this one to stay in the championship.

I’m going to stick with my upset trend and tip Scotland in this one. I thought they showed some great attacking lines last week, something Wales were very vulnerable to. Wales are reeling right now and they look completely God smacked at the moment.

I think Scotland are going to have the same nightmare at the scrum and line-out as they did against France, with world class props Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins leading he way. I think Scotland will get a few breaks from the backs and with the reliable boot of Chris Patterson, I like Scotland in a low scoring kick-fest.

England v. Italy

Last and certainly the least, we have the Italian match. What is there to say about Italy? Their normally powerful scrum was pedestrian at best as Cian Healy got the better of Martin Castrogiovanni several times and their line-out was non-existent. Craig Gower received terrible passes from the base of the scrum and the backs looked like they didn’t know there was a match being played.

England are riding high right now and I don’t see much hope for the Azzurri. As Lewis Moody so coldly quoted, “There have not been too many classic Six Nations matches over the last decade involving the Azzurri.”

Despite England playing a feeble opponent this weekend, it’ll be interesting to see how they’ll handle this one. While many were impressed with England’s performance against Wales last week, Gareth Edwards took pleasure in picking apart the English side that made numerous mistakes. I tend to agree with Edwards as I saw a good number of sloppy kicks and poor decisions being made throughout the match. If not for Stephen Jones’s untimely pass to Delon Armitage, I think we would have seen Wales storm back to snatch victory from England. Martin Johnson looked a bit uneasy in the stands during the match, maybe not so happy as others with England’s win?

Nonetheless, I think England will sail comfortably to victory in this one. Italy are in a pitiful state right now and I don’t see England letting up one inch until they reclaim the 6 Nations championship.