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Wales were crowned Guinness Six Nations champions for the second time in three years but were denied another Grand Slam following a classic encounter against runners-up France.
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Here, the PA news agency looks back at the standout matches of the tournament.
February 6: England 6 Scotland 11
Scotland celebrated the 150th anniversary of the oldest rivalry in rugby by stunning England to claim their first Twickenham victory since 1983.
The 38-year wait for success at the home of the reigning champions finally came to an end as Finn Russell inspired the underdogs to a magnificent win.
Stuart Hogg on why Scotland beat England in the #GuinnessSixNations ? pic.twitter.com/pDJpKbzwng
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 7, 2021
Russell directed play masterfully, Cameron Redpath enjoyed an influential debut and Stuart Hogg was world class at full-back.
A solitary try from Duhan Van Der Merwe was scant reward for the Scots’ domination given they put England into a straitjacket but sufficient for Gregor Townsend’s men to deservedly reclaim the Calcutta Cup.
February 13: Scotland 24 Wales 25
Scotland came crashing back down to earth following their Twickenham triumph after blowing a 14-advantage during a pulsating Murrayfield encounter.
Impressive Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit settled proceedings with a delightful solo try, impishly chipping the ball over Hogg’s head before racing clear to touch down his second of a fruitful evening.
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“There are loads of these people with names like Gary126946432 on Twitter who think they have got the right opinion all the time, they just go out abusing people. It’s a red card…”
– @TheRugbyPod on the Fagerson sending off#SCOvWAL #SixNationshttps://t.co/SxJb1JwIhQ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 16, 2021
Zander Fagerson’s costly red card came during a frantic 17 minutes either side of half-time in which the hosts also had a score disallowed and conceded tries to Rees-Zammit, Liam Williams and Wyn Jones.
Scotland skipper Hogg, who along with Darcy Graham crossed in the opening period to help put Gregor Townsend’s men 17-3 in front, restored the lead with his second of the game before being left powerless to prevent the sensational match-winning moment.
February 27: Wales 40 England 24
While not a conventional classic, Wales claimed the Triple Crown by reducing England’s title hopes to ruins in a contest shrouded in controversy.
Referee Pascal Gauzere later admitted to making mistakes in permitting the hosts’ opening two tries in Cardiff.
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Wayne Pivac on Maro Itoje and the amount of penalties he gave away in #WALvENG ? pic.twitter.com/Uf0Cn9aBGG
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 28, 2021
Having told England captain Owen Farrell to speak to his team regarding their discipline, the French official quickly restarted play, allowing Josh Adams to punish the unsuspecting visitors , before missing an apparent Rees-Zammit knock-on in the build up to Liam Williams’ score.
Frustrated England boss Eddie Jones, who refused to condemn Gauzere, saw his side recover to level at 24-24, before the boot of Callum Sheedy and a late Cory Hill try gave Wales their highest Test score against their fierce rivals.
March 13: England 23 France 20
Maro Itoje crashed over for a late try as defending champions England seized a dramatic victory to rescue their Championship from disaster.
Les Blues led 20-16 until the 76th minute when Itoje bulldozed over and Owen Farrell rifled the conversion to edge the tournament favourites.
What went down during that extra time coin flip fiasco. ? #ENGvFRA pic.twitter.com/HEHDFEWkPn
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 7, 2020
A fortnight after conceding the title in Wales, it was England’s best performance of the tournament by a distance, full of endeavour and flashes of clinical execution.
Some of France’s play was also irresistible, especially for tries from Antoine Dupont and Damian Penaud, but they could not hold on in Le Crunch as scores from man-of-the-match Anthony Watson and Itoje, plus 13 points from the boot of captain Farrell, helped England restore some pride.
March 20: France 32 Wales 30
France inflicted Grand Slam heartbreak on Wales to keep alive their own title hopes at the end of a breathless encounter in Paris.
The Welsh looked certain to seal a shock tournament clean sweep after establishing a 10-point lead and seeing Fabien Galthie’s hosts reduced to 14 men following Paul Willemse’s dismissal just 13 minutes from time.
This was the first time in the tournament's history that a Wales' side with four wins going into the final game hadn't completed a #sixnations Grand Slam
Credit: @SixNationsRugby #FRAvWAL pic.twitter.com/ywu3Q7ma2s
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 20, 2021
But Wayne Pivac’s men capitulated in the closing stages at Stade de France and paid a hefty price for their indiscipline and time-wasting tactics.
After Taulupe Faletau and Liam Williams were sin-binned in quick succession, a converted Charles Ollivon score put France back in contention, before Brice Dulin finished a flowing move two minutes into added time to clinch an epic bonus-point win and ensure the title would be decided during Les Bleus’ rearranged clash with Scotland.
Comments on RugbyPass
Should'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.
19 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.
19 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 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to comments