France coach Marc Lievremont is caught on camera, France training session, Marcoussis, France, March 17, 2010. © Getty images.

As we head into the final round of this years 6 Nations Championship, the picture is pretty clear at this point. France is on course to take home the Grand Slam after a 6 year sabbatical and deservedly so. Wales aside, France have dominated every team they have faced, scoring the most tries than any other nation in the tournament. Ireland are on their way too seize their fifth Triple Crown in seven years, no small feat considering before 2004 when their impressive run began, they had only won five in the history of the entire tournament. They could still manage to win the Championship if England can defeat France and if Ireland can close the gap of a 50 point differential that France has. Unlikely, but possible. Ireland managed to bounce back from a humiliating defeat at the hands of France to absolutely stifle opposing teams with their stingy defence. It’s a shame that the powers that be don’t make France v. Ireland the final match in the tournament. Just imagine, Grand Slam and Championship on the line between clearly the two best teams in Europe.

On the bleaker side of things we have a potential wooden spoon match between Wales and Italy. If Scotland manage to spoil Ireland’s send off from the historic Croke Park, Wales could find themselves holding the wooden spoon should they lose to Italy, something that is very possible. Wales have been the tournament’s biggest disappointment this year after a lack of discipline, weak defense and careless errors cost them at least two victories. There is a wealth of talent on this team but Warren Gatland has to have a long, hard look at his side as there is some cause for concern with the Rugby World Cup just around the corner.

Italy took a small step forward in my opinion this year even though they are miles away from really competing in this tournament. Every team had a difficult time putting Italy away this year with the exception of France and even still, Italy fought hard right to the end. It was always, “this side wasn’t able to put Italy away” as if Italy is that dreadful and couldn’t of possibly just been a tough team. I give more credit to Italy for actually putting up a fight rather than teams faltering against them.

Scotland has shown loads of promise despite more than likely holding a second consecutive wooden spoon. They hung in with France, had an agonizing defeat against Wales and drew even with England despite being the better side. Scotland’s tight five is very solid and their backs showed a great deal of creativity with ball in hand and were never afraid to go after it. I think there’s a lot of room for improvement with this team and I expect them to be a strong side come the World Cup.

Then there is England, a close second to Wales as most disappointing team in the tournament. I never understood why this team was so hyped up by the media entering the tournament, something that was reinforced after a dramatic opening victory over Wales. Given what we know now, I think all would agree that victory was more indicative of Wales than it was England. Martin Johnson has drawn criticism week after week for not changing up his side and for being overly optimistic about his sides performance. It’s hard to think Johnson could lose his job after the tournament, but it wouldn’t surprise me. England are a proud nation and boast the largest number of rugby players in the world. One columnist has gone as far as calling England “the laughing stock of the tournament”. That’s hard for me to swallow personally, but it’s not far off. Lets have a look at this weeks action.

France v. England:

France head into this match up with their sights set on winning the Grand Slam, something French manager Marc Lievermont believes that without it, the tournament would be a failure. An added bonus would be exacting revenge against England after last year’s 34-14 drubbing at Twickenham. There no logical reason to believe that England have a prayer in this one after three consecutive pitiful performances. No team has been able to handle the French backs this year and if England has one glaring weakness, it’s the back defence. England have managed to defeat France two out of the last three test matches though, so don’t hand France the trophy yet. England could surprise everyone and steal this one away. If England can somehow manage to go up on France, it just might be enough to rattle the Frogs and throw them off their game.

Martin Johnson finally succumbed to the media’s criticism of his selections and has made some changes, albeit obvious ones to his side. The biggest change is Johnson dropping Johnny Wilkinson for Toby Flood, only the second time Wilko has been benched. Clearly Johnson is looking for a more attack minded fly half, as Johnny has provided nothing of the sort. What he sacrifices though is the reliable boot of Wilkinson. If you’re looking to shake things up and want a more attack minded approach to this match, why not throw caution into the wind and bring in Shane Geraghty? He’s young, raw and cocky enough to just maybe blow this match open. Most believe he’s not test-capable despite his success this year at the club level, but at this point what has Johnson got to lose? Johnson insists his side is improving and that things aren’t as bad as people make them out to be, but statistics and common sense among other things suggest otherwise. Ironically enough, Johnson faces a manager who in the past two years has drawn a load of criticism for constantly changing his side and removing popular, talented, yet aging players. Here we are now and after Lievermont going through over 80 different players in test matches over the past two years, he appears to have found his team and at no better a time. Johnson could benefit from taking a page out of Lievermont’s play book.

I really don’t see this one being close. I think England’s pack is way over matched in this one as are their backs. I see France hanging 30+ points on England and Imanol Harinordiquy having a field day against the English flankers and earning man of the match honors.

Ireland v. Scotland:

Another match up for Ireland, another back story. It seems as though there is always something extra to Ireland’s matches lately doesn’t it? Four weeks ago was John Hayes 100th cap, last week was Brian O’Driscoll’s 100th cap and now against Scotland, Ireland will play it’s last match at the storied Croke Park before christening the new Lansdowne Road Aviva Stadium (I just can’t bring myself to call it Aviva Stadium, it’s a sin). Ireland have been very impressive lately with their backs finding gaps and opportunities to score. Ireland don’t seem to get a lot of possession, but when they do, they make the most of it. Their defence has been masterful as of late, putting sides in a choke hold when they pressure to score. Declan Kidney has decided to stick with his winning side, with only Gordon D’Arcy maybe missing the clash pending his fitness test. Kidney and O’Driscoll have been doing an excellent job of keeping the focus on the importance of winning the Triple Crown and I expect them to show the Croke Park crowd a wonderful display of rugby.

Scotland have been known to spoil Irish parties and their tight five are key to that happening. Their backs pose a bit of a threat as well as they are not afraid to run with the ball. Most of Scotland’s attack though is forced and ill-advised and the way Ireland have been playing defence, Scotland are going to have to be a little more cautious. Scotland though have no choice but to go for broke in this one. They’ve yet to secure a win in the tournament and more so than any other side, have nothing to lose. Despite Scotland having a formidable back line, I don’t think there is the experience there to stop Ireland. I think Ireland will have some problems at the breakdowns but once the ball gets in the hands of the Irish backs, it’s going to be off to the races.

Italy v. Wales:

“Johnson wields the axe” was the title of an article regarding Martin Johnson’s changes to his side, but it pales in comparison to the guilotine Warren Gatland has wielded. The two most surprising changes come at the expense of Martyn Williams, who only a week ago was leading his side against Ireland and Leigh Halfpenny, who was dropped from the 22 altogether. In place of Martyn Williams comes Sam Warburton, the Cardiff Blues flanker who many in the Welsh media have called for to replace an aging Williams. For Leigh Hlafpenny, Gatland has handed Tom Prydie his first cap at the age of 18 years old, a new Welsh record. It hasn’t been a secret as to what has troubled Wales in this tournament. Yet week after week, it’s the same story. Gatland, unlike his counterpart Johnson, is using this opportunity to answer some questions about his side with the World Cup right around the corner. I would expect Wales to really go after Italy in this one and after watching the French backs have their way with Italy, Wales have the same tools to do the same. I think this one will be a high scoring affair with Wales putting close to 40 points on the Azzurri.

At that time in Canada, I remember a 2-hour show that came on once a week (sometimes, at least) with a few highlights from the semi-pro teams and one test match shown on tape delay (usually a week or more old).

The only way to watch live rugby on TV was to find a local pub with a satellite feed. When I moved from the East coast to the Canadian Rockies, Oscar’s Pub was very close to our rugby club (Druids RFC) and would broadcast the Five Nations Championship (now the Six Nations, the premier tournament in the Northern hemisphere) at 7AM along with a good English fry-up and a few pints.

In 2002 I emigrated to the US. Even in down-state New York, where rugby is very popular, watching live rugby remained limited to pubs with satellite feeds and expensive admissions fees. It was essentially ignored by both network and cable TV.

With the growth of the internet and the wide bandwidth offered by most high-speed ISPs, online services such are RugbyZone are excellent options for seeing live rugby. But getting it on a TV is not trivial, and the quality is not appropriate for anything other than a small computer screen.

So after a wait of nearly 15 years, it seems that myself and many other rugby union fans here in the ‘New World’ can finally get some live-rugby broadcast satisfaction. Yesterday, BBC America announced that they will be broadcasting five matches from the 2010 Six Nations Championship.

Time Warner Cable in Wisconsin broadcasts BBC America on channel 225 (Regular Definition) and 1225 (High Definition), and the following matches are scheduled:

• Wales @ England (London) – 6-Feb, 12:00 PM (EST)
• Ireland @ France (Paris) – 13-Feb, 11:30 AM (EST)
• Ireland @ England (London) – 27-Feb, 11:00 AM (EST)
• Wales @ Ireland (Dublin) – 13-March, 9:30 AM (EST)
• England @ France (Paris) – 20-Mar, 9:00 AM (EST)

Interestingly, matches involving Italy or Scotland are visibly absent from the schedule. Its not clear wether this is due contractual restrictions with the Scottish and Italian Rugby Unions and/or venues.

One possibility is that BBC America made a strategic decision to showcase only the most exciting matches to gauge interest for this type of programming here in America. Since Scotland and Italy consistently finish at the bottom of the Six Nations tables, it makes sense to omit these teams. In addition, the matches chosen for broadcast are historically exciting contests.

Whatever the reason for the limited-yet-live coverage of the Six Nations, us colonials should feel quite content with this welcome development of increased rugby coverage. I challenge all our readers to contact both BBC America and your local TV provider and ask for more!

In addition, I’ve started this online petition to forward to BBC America and BBC Canada once all of the matches above have been aired.

http://bit.ly/rugbyontv

If enough people send their support, maybe we’ll get more rugby internationals and maybe even some domestic rugby on TV.

For starters, the annual USA Sevens tournament (Feb 13 & 14, 2010 in Las Vegas) deserves full, live coverage in the coming years. At least then I can watch two full days of live international rugby from my living room and won’t have to leave my wife back in Badgerland on Valentines Day

Ronan O’Gara who often draws criticism for not showing up in big games laid all doubters to rest (for now) after he came back in the second half with some brilliant kicking. O’Gara began the match a little shaky not being able to direct his kicks and missing a penalty kick early. In the second half though he made up for it ten fold with a perfectly executed chip ahead to Tommy Bowe at full pace for Ireland’s second try. O’Gara converted both tries and saved the best for last when he slotted a drop goal at roughly the 78th minute of the match to give Ireland the lead.

As good as O’Gara was though, there is no other player on the Ireland squad that came close to matching what Brian O’Driscoll did for this team. O’Driscoll scored four tries in the tournament, hit a drop goal and put his team on his back in the England match and led them to victory, a true mark of a captain. More so than his scoring in the tournament, what really defined O’Driscoll in the tournament was his stout defense, which has always been his strong point. O’Driscoll continually made big tackles, stole ball and physically imposed himself on teams, never backing down and setting the tone for his side. Perhaps the highlight of the tournament for O’Driscoll was not any one of his four tries, but a potentially game saving tackle that was made in the match against Scotland. It’s efforts like these put a smile on my face to see O’Driscoll regain his form and put all doubters to rest that called into question his claim to the Irish captaincy. In my mind there is no question who the player of the tournament is and who should be leading the Lions in South Africa in May.

For the sake of not sounding completely biased, I feel obligated to at least appear to be partial. Ireland conceded 15 penalties in this match which kept me on the edge of my seat. One penalty after another it seemed, Ireland allowing Wales to stay in the match despite them not being able to muster any sort of attack. If you were to ask me who won a match where one team conceded 15 penalties and the other 5. I wouldn’t have hesitated to say the team that conceded 5. Donncha O’Callaghan provided one of the stupidest penalties of the match and showed a severe lack of discipline throughout, something that may hurt his chances come selection time for the Lions.

Overall the 6 Nations didn’t provide too many thrilling matches. But the finale to decide who would win it all more than made up for what I thought was a rather dull 6 Nations (with the exception of Ireland v. France). I’m extremely happy for Brian O’Driscoll, a player I’ve looked up to for many years and I’m even more satisfied with Warren Gatland’s arrogance being thrown back in his face. Ireland have finally delivered the 6 Nations championship and Grand Slam after many missed opportunities and now sit at #4 in the IRB world rankings leaving many to wonder, including myself, what other feats they can achieve under the tutelage of Declan Kidney.