'Six Nations > Rugby Championship' and other talking points from Round Two
Is it time for a Six Nations playoff, what the heck was up with that Finn Russell conversion and more from another breathless weekend of test rugby.
Yes, the Six Nations is better than the Rugby Championship
England have now won 16 in a row and are second in World Rugby’s rankings. Ireland are fourth; Wales fifth. Eighth-placed France and Wales probably should have beaten England, who are second, remember; Scotland, ranked seventh, could have beaten France, and did beat Ireland. Four of the six games in this tournament so far have gone to the wire, with only Italy letting the tournament side down. England entertain Conor O’Shea’s battered Azzurri next, but after that face Scotland and Ireland in matches that promise to be at least as tough as the two games that have already gone. Even now, with England two-for-two and no other team unbeaten, the outcome of the tournament is far from a forgone conclusion, with just three points separating first from fifth. Meanwhile, New Zealand will win this year’s Rugby Championship – the only question is by how much.
Flankers!
Much of the Lions talk coming into the Six Nations focused on the second row options at Warren Gatland’s disposal – with the Gray brothers, Maro Itoje, Alun Wyn Jones, Devin Toner and the injured George Kruis among the names regularly bandied about for the boiler room positions. Forget that. Gatland’s back row options have literally multiplied from basically the Irish loose forwards before the tournament started, to the Irish plus the Welsh, plus a couple from England and Scotland – including Itoje, who is learning fast at six – plus the back-from-injury Taulupe Faletau and Billy Vunipola. It’s probably a good job for the Lions selectors that the French can’t play, because you would then have to include Louis Picamoles and Kevin Gourdon too.
Is it time for a Six Nations play-off?
Italian newspapers were savage in their opinion of the Azzurri’s performance against Ireland. “We don’t deserve to be in the Six Nations,” wrote Corriere dello Sport’s rugby writer Francesco Volpe in a scathing editorial, while La Gazetta dello Sport described Saturday’s encounter as, “the worst waste of a home game in the history of the Six Nations.” So, maybe, despite pre-tournament optimism, the time has actually, finally, come for the winners of the Rugby Europe International Championship – usually Georgia – to face the wooden-spoon winners of the Six Nations, whoever they may be, in a two-leg match for the right to take part in the following season’s competition?
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That Finn Russell conversion
It’s too easy to mock Scotland’s fly-half for that fluffed conversion attempt from right in front of the posts at Stade de France on Sunday. Some say a bad call from the coaches, some say nerves, some just laugh and turn it into a gif. Many ignore the fact that referee Jaco Peyper may have been talking to the TMO about whether to review the try that led to the conversion attempt – concerned there may have been a reason to discount the try, Russell took the conversion quickly to take the decision out of the referee’s hands. The only question that remains is whether he should have attempted a drop goal, rather than setting the ball on a tee, for it to bobble off as he was shaping to kick. In the end, it didn’t really matter, as Scotland lost by six. Or maybe it did matter, as it would have put Scotland in the lead early in the second half and may have changed France’s game plan…
Jackson or Sexton – that is Schmidt’s question
Paddy Jackson, who has barely put a boot wrong in this Six Nations, faces a training ground head-to-head with Johnny Sexton for the right to wear Ireland’s number 10 shirt against France at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium in two weeks. The latter has played barely two hours of rugby since November, but will not be released to Leinster for some much-needed game time this week, with coach Joe Schmidt instead determined to keep him at a three-day training camp in Monaghan. The coach was tight-lipped about Jackson’s chances of keeping his place, but admitted that he had ensured Sexton’s return to fitness does not now necessarily mean a return to the starting line-up. A nice headache for the coach to have … and a perfect two-pint topic for bar-room rugby fans.
Aw, Referee! Part Two
French referees do not always get the best press, but Romain Poite and Jerome Garces have officiated over the two best games in this year’s Six Nations. Poite took charge of the tournament opener between Scotland and Ireland, where he barely blew a whistle out of place, while Garces officiated over the thriller in Cardiff at the weekend. Fans of either side could point to a number of perceived mistakes – repeated England offsides; Haskell’s ball-killing in front of the posts; Moriarty’s late hit on Owen Farrell; Scott Williams’ swinging arm on Jack Nowell – but the fact is Garces let a difficult game flow, while remaining in complete control. And the game became an epic as a result. His warning to Rhys Webb to “stop trying to buy penalties” could have come straight from Nigel Owens’ book of one-liners.
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments