Rome (if you want to)

A little homage to the B52s there to indicate that this past Friday to Sunday were spent in the gloriously sunny surroundings of Rome. Why was an Englishman, along with 17 others, predominately Frenchmen, in Rome I hear you ask. Well, 2011's first Rome trip was such a good one, watching France get beaten, that we decided to go and see the Scottish in the final weekend of the 6 Nations, and to soak up the culture once more (ahem).

A Friday lunchtime arrival, allowed time to sit in the calm of a piazza with a couple of ice cold beers, before the chaos of the arriving hordes from Gaulle (sorry France) and the registering at the hotel. (TheEggChaser travel tip number 1: Always make sure you get to the hotel before everyone else and claim the best room). Salutations were made, and in typical Furieux style (Les Furieux is the name of the band of merry travelers - which caused much confusion 2 years ago on arrival at Leeds-Bradford arport when the bus driver asked in a broad Hull accent "Which one's Les?") we headed to Burger King. Yes, Burger King. The French, for all their culinary know-how/snobbishness (delete as appropriate) love nothing more than going to Burger King when they can; the chain having left Paris a decade ago.

A Whopper/Double Whopper/Cheeseburger meal later, and time for tourism. Colisseum, Forum, Irish Pub. That was about the size of it. 3 kitty rounds of Guinness/Cider/Lager later, and the restaurant Carbonara awaited us. 8 courses later and it was Irish bar time again, but only till closing, as there was a 1330 kick off the next day, and I had a rendez-vous at the ground at 1100 to collect tickets and sample the delights of the Peroni village.

Nestled in amongst the stadia and halls built for the Rome Olympics, with statues everywhere, the Peroni village (other over-priced gassy lagers do exist) was placed amidst the old Olympic stadium warm-up track and under sunny skies. The atmosphere was fantastic. Home and away fans mingle as only rugby fans can, and after a few drinks and a sandwich, off we toddled to the ground, anticipating a quality game.

The less said about the actual game the better. Scotland looked lethargic, disinterested and heartless, which are the three things you least expect to see from a side wearing a thistle. Italy were scarcely better, and to the general opinion of all, this was the worst game of international rugby we had seen. Considering it was my 42nd game going back 21 years, that's some statement, but I stick by it. For the record, Italy won 13-6, scoring the only try of the game. That about says that.

The walk back to Central Rome for drinks and the remaining games was next and after a brief drama in the Highlander bar, where they ran out of glasses (I kid you not!) we watched the Welsh celebrate a Grand Slam, before England wiped out Ireland in a one-way second half. Food called, followed by a smallish bar crawl, and a reasonable night at 0100, as there was the Pope to visit the next day.

The Pope greeted us from his balcony (well it could have been a cardboard cut-out really) and after he explained to us in Latin what he had got up to on St Patrick's Day, how he had a hangover and what a crap game it was the day before) we toddled off for more pizza before heading back to the airport to round off another successsful trip. Les Furieux have now done 10 trips of varying magnitude (Rome twice, Dublin, Marseilles 6 times and Hull - don't ask - with a reduced group of 4 to Edinburgh arguably making an 11th). Our eyes are firmly set on Hong Kong next year.

Team of the Tournament
So congratulations go to Wales on a deserved Grand Slam. They benefitted, it could be argued, from key decisions going their way at key times, but they were still the best side in the tournament by a distance. England made steady progress and got 1 more win than most thought they could achieve. France and Ireland disappointed, while Scotland and Italy really disappointed, though you could argue that good foundations have been set for next year.

Here is my Team of the Tournament, as published at the excellent http://www.therugbyblog.co.uk/ but with their Deputies here too.

    Alex Corbisiero (Eng) 1. Gethin Jenkins (Wal)

            Rory Best (Ire) 2. Dylan Hartley (Eng)

          Dan Cole (Eng) 3. Adam Jones (Wal)

        Richie Gray (Sco) 4. Geoff Parling (Eng)

Mauritz Botha (Eng) 5. Ian Evans (Wal)

        Dan Lydiate (Wal) 6. Stephen Ferris (Ire)

Sam Warburton (Wal) 7. Ross Rennie (Sco)

       Ben Morgan (Eng) 8. Toby Faletau (Wal)

     Mike Phillips (Wal) 9. Lee Dickson (Eng)

          Owen Farrell (Eng) 10. Jonathan Sexton (Ire)

   George North (Wal) 11. Stuart Hogg (Sco)

       Wesley Fofana (Fra) 12. Jamie Roberts (Wal)

Jonathan Davies (Wal) 13. Manu Tuilagi (Eng)

     Alex Cuthbert (Wal) 14. Tommy Bowe (Ire)

              Rob Kearney (Ire) 15. Leigh Halfpenny (Wal)

Yes I know Hogg is out of position, but he did play wing, and the dearth of top class wing play was a major low point of this Championship. I'd love to see those teams go head -to-head. I'd also love to hear your thoughts below as ever.

My International "Career Stats"
I put these together on the flight back to Rome. Sides are ordered by percentage wins, with the tie break factor being games played in case of level pegging. Some surprising stats here! Any Italians want to pay my way to Rome any time, or Scots want to pay me not to go to Murrayfield, email me to discuss!!

Team; Played; Won; Drawn; Lost; Percentage

Italy                3 - 3 - 0 - 0 - 100

South Africa    2 - 2 - 0 - 0 - 100

New Zealand  6 - 5 - 0 - 1 - 83.3

England        16 - 12 - 0 - 4 - 75

France          23 - 13 - 1 - 9 - 58.7

Australia        4 - 2 - 0 - 2 - 50

Wales            8 - 3 - 0 - 5 - 37.5

Ireland           4 - 1 - 0 - 3 - 25

Argentina       3 - 0 - 1 - 2 - 16.67

Fiji                  1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0

Tonga             1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0

Japan              1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0

USA                 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0

Canada           1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0

Scotland       10 - 0 - 0 - 10 - 0

Will leave it at that for this week. Back as ever next week with some views on something or other..... Follow me on Twitter if you don't already @theeggchaser

Venimus, Vidimus, Vicimus

Such would have been the words of Julius Caesar had he been slighly less egotistical, or those of Stuart Lancaster were he to address the media masses in Latin: We came, we saw, we conquered.

My odyssey started on Friday lunchtime, when a three course meal in the French sunshine started what was to be a cracking weekend off. Those who know me will know I spent many years in Paris, and going back is always a pleasure, if a strain on the belt come the end of it. This year's trip was no exception. I'll spare absolutely every detail, but Friday's dinner had started with 4 pints of Guinness, then went on to include pate while waiting for the table, 2 starters, 1 main course and a dessert, washed down by bucketloads of Morgon, before returning to Bastille, my Parisian base, for more Guinness.

Saturday kicked off with a full English breakfast, and continued at Bastille where the tv showed us early victories for Toulouse and Clermont in the Top 14, a comfortable Welsh win against Italy and a straightforward Irish win against Scotland. Tickets were distributed and paid for, banter was evident with the French very confident, and rendez-vous were made for the next day's game. Midnight saw me trek, uncertainly, home, realising that not a crumb had passed my lip since the midday breakfast.

Sunday dawned and started with a traditional Twickers car park picnic (or as the French would say 'un picnic parking') with friends old and new, in the shadow of the stadium. The Volvo easily identifiable with a complete leg of Spanish ham, on its stand, on the roof next to a magnum of Bordeuax. Bread, cheese, meat, pate, cake, beer, wine, coffee (with rum of course) all went down the hatch before the stroll round to our seats. It was at this point that I realised that, having missed the 2010 defeat, I had seen England win 2 in a row at the Stade de France (RWC07 semi final and 2008 6 Nations) and I had had a nagging feeling of confidence all week, to such an extent that I had tipped us to win by a point on the sportguru prediction website.

New this year at the Stade de France was an atmosphere. I've experienced many a 6 Nations game there, and they are usually flat, soul-less affairs, but the anthems set the stall this time around and they were sung with much gusto by both visiting hoards and hosts.

The game itself was not one of stunning quality, with errors as passes were forced by both sides. France started reasonably, and had a 3 on 1 overlap on 12 minutes, until Chris Ashton made his first telling contribution since he threw a dwarf in Queenstown and clobbered Szarzewski, allowing Farrell to pounce on the loose ball and send Manu Tuilagi haring past Rougerie and into the corner, where Farrell slotted a great conversion.

Ecstasy amongst the English fans, which became whatever the next step up from ecstasy is (sorry  but it's been a long time) when Ben Morgan showed why he was so coveted by Wales and England, barging past Bonnaire and excellently handing off to Foden, who clobbered his way over by the posts allowing Farrell a somewhat easier conversion. 14-3, France having slotted a penalty in between. To be fair, France didn't go away, and helped by one of the more eccentric performances of his eccentric refereeing career from Alain Rolland, whose scrum and breakdown interpretations at times led you to wonder..... they came back into it.

14-3 became 14-9, became 17-9 as Farrell slotted a penalty, became 17-12 as the tenacious French clung on and became 17-15 as English hearts started to flutter. In the midst of this Monsieur Rolland compounded his eccentricity by yellow carding Sharples for a deliberate knock-on 5 minutes after he had merely given England a penalty after Fofana did the same thing (Note: he even had to be convinced that this was a penalty by his touch judge having initially given merely a knock-on.

England managed the shorthandedness well though, having learned from the way the Welsh controlled the ball and wound the clock down against them 2 weeks previously. With 8 minutes to go, another swift attack saw the ball recycled to Farrell, who quickly shipped on and we had the joy of a 3rd English try, as Croft rampaged past Poitrenaud and popped the ball down, near enough to the posts for a vital 2 points to be added by the ice cool Farrell.

There was still time to almost lose the game though, as first Fofana almost scored before being denied by incredible sacrificial defence by Dowson who was barely with it before Croft stood on his head, and totally away with the fairies after it. Fofana then did dive in the corner for a 4th try in 4 games, converted by Parra, to bring France back to a 2 point deficit. France had momentum now, and Trinh-Duc took position in the "seat" ready to drop a winning goal that would have been cruel on England, England resisted in defence though, meaning the kick would be a long range one, and he came up inches short and afterwards England managed the ball, territory and the clock well enough to clobber the ball into the crowd for a famous win, which was greeted with loud roars from the numerous English fans.

Parling, Morgan, Croft, Robshaw, Tuilagi and Foden were all immense, but this was a total team effort, with everyone contributing. Farrell was calmness personified again, even if some of his tactical kicking left a lot to be desired. His defence, with Barritt once more, was fantastic, and his presence of mind also set up the first and third tries to some degree. It was a performance of guts and no little bravery from England, and one which will remain with me for a while I am sure.

Wine, ham and cheese followed back at the car, before adjourning to Bastille once more to analyse the game in detail over a few more pints of the black stuff.

A marvellous Parisian weekend, with the right result and a successful mix of different groups of friends. England go on to Twickenham and the Irish, hoping that France will have done them a big favour by smashing Wales in Cardiff. I move on to Rome, as 18 of us will be taking our annual 6 Nations trip to sample everything the Italian capital has to offer.

You will of course read about it here!

Team of Week 4:

1. Cian Healy (Ire) - really performing well at the moment
2. Rory Best (Ire) - back to something like his best after two poor weeks
3. Dan Coles (Eng)/Adam Jones (Wal) - can't split these two this week
4. Geoff Parling (Eng) - fast becoming one of the first names on the sheet
5. Richie Gray (Sco) - unfortunate to be on the losing side, awesome sight rampaging to his try
6. Tom Croft (Eng) - try capped off an immense performance
7. Justin Tipuric (Wal) - another great effort from a man destined to play out his international career in the shadow of Sam Warburton
8. Ben Morgan (Eng) - a rampant performance particularly around the second England try
9. Mike Phillips (Wal) - set the stall out for a controlled Welsh win
10. Owen Farrell (Eng) - tactical kicking aside, a very cool performance
11. George North (Wal) - set the standard for the Welsh backs
12. Manu Tuilagi (Eng) - his try set the English chariot in motion
13. Jon Davies (Wal) - in a very rich vein of form and bossed the midfield once more
14. Alex Cuthbert (Wal) - a deadly double act forming with North
15. Clement Poitrenaud (Fra) - I'm his biggest critic, but I thought he performed very well on Sunday

So that's Wales 5.5, England 5.5, Ireland 2, Scotland 1 and France 1 this week.

Three great games lined up next week, with all 6 sides thinking they can win. While I want the French to win to give England a chance at the title, I can;t see it happening any more. Wales are not particularly brilliant (I maintain they are hugely over-rated in an average tournament) but France are all over the shop, seem to have little direction and look tired. So a Welsh Grand Slam, with England edging out Ireland and Italy and Scotland fighting out a very close one, which I will call nearer the time.

Thanks for reading. Look forward to hearing your comments as ever.

17

3 weeks on, after the frozen farce in France, a second attempt to decide who would join Wales as likely winners of this year's 6 Nations Championship failed to reach a positive conclusion, but for the right reasons, not the wrong this time.

Ireland had clearly read my tactical appraisal on www.therugbyblog.co.uk where I preview and review Ireland internationals, as they satrted strongly and seemed determined to hit high balls for Poitrenaud to make a mess of. However, the Toulouse full back had clearly not read the script and looked solid as a rock under his first two balls, making a positive start. There was much grunt in the first half, with only the occasional bit of class, usually coming from France, but Ireland are redoubtable opposition and with Tommy Bowe haring out of defence on every single occasion, they scored the first try as Rougerie was caught in two minds... Laurel and Hardy's (or Coluche and Jacques Tati for our French readers) as he handed an awful pass straight to Bowe who strolled under the posts to the undisguised mirth of his teammates. Sexton converted, redeeming in part an awful miss of earlier to give the Irish a 7 point lead.

2 Parra penalties sandwiched a successful one from Sexton and as the half continued in a sort of uneasy lack of atmosphere at the Stade de France, Ireland led 10-6, until Best turned the ball over and Earls fed Bowe, who eschewed a simple inside pass to Kearney in favour of a kick and chase, which aided by a friendly bounce resulted in his second try, also converted by Sexton, as Ireland led 17-6 after the first half.

It would be fair to assume that Philippe Saint-Andre read the riot act to the French side at half time, as he sent them out 5 minutes early for the second half. Ireland conceded a penalty after 7 second half minutes, as the French took control for a spell. Fofana scampered home for an unconverted try 3 minutes later, and Parra kicked a 4th penalty to bring the scores level after 57 minutes. France's game for the taking then.... except it wasn't. Ireland bossed the next ten minutes or so, but when in position to press and take a drop goal, silly decisions or handling errors cost them dearly. Lionel Beauxis it was who had the two drop goal attempts to win the game for the French. The first never got above knee height and the second was blocked after a poor pass from Parra.

And that was that. A 17-17 draw, which to be honest never reached the absolute heights. Yes it was tense, yes there were good moments, but rather than those frequent quotes after drawn games where "neither side deserved to lose" I actually had this down as a game that "nobody deserved to win".

There were good performances. Wesley Fofana has a try in each of his first three Internationals. He runs like Sella or Blanco and has a massive future. Tommy Bowe continued his poaching and now has 5 tries in 3 games: 1 more to tie the record. Cian Healy, one cynical offside apart, had what I consider to be his best game in an Ireland shirt. And then there was Rob Kearney. 3 years ago, he was brilliant in a Lions shirt. Injuries have cruelly reduced his time on the field in recent years, but I cannot remember a better performance from a full back in a long time. He tackled well. He kicked to touch with length and accuracy. He broke the line, when required, with ease, and his running style looked so easy. He kicked and chased with accuracy and vigour. Most of all though, his poise and success under the high ball both in defence and attack is beyond belief. I cannot recall another player who takes such difficult balls with such ease. As I said during the game, I get the feeling he could catch a ping pong ball, dropped from a helicopter in a force 9 gale. He is so solid under the high ball. Man of the Match and I almost gave him 10 out of 10.

France still have their destiny in their hands. A win against England and then similar in Cardiff could still see them crowned champions, but without a Grand Slam. Ireland's chances are all but extinguished (they need a couple of wind and every other game to go their way, including Italy to beat Wales). An England win in France and against Ireland, while France beat Wales, could see England win the tournament too, but you would have to suggest that it is Wales short favourites followed by France.

If you want to check out my ratings of the Irish side, as well as those of my counterpart who analyses France, then check out www.therugbyblog.co.uk tomorrow. There are all manner of articles there for perusal.

Next weekend sees Ireland take on Scotland, Wales continue their serene progress (probably) against Italy and then the piece de resistance, France hosting England on Sunday. I'll be there for that one, so expect some sort of summary..... but not until Monday morning, better make that Monday afternoon!

Share the link with anyone you think may enjoy it as ever, and see you next week.

Take 2

You can take your pick as to the meaning of that. It could be what it says in the packet of anti-flu tablets I seem to have been traipsing round Europe with for the last month (I've tried British, Polish and now Spanish remedies, none seem to be working really). It could also be the director's call ahead of the re-scheduled France vs Ireland game this Sunday.

An extra Sunday of 6 Nations rugby is a blessing of course, unless you are an Irish or French player, when there will be 4 consecutive games. Ireland should in theory be slightly fresher, having had a relatively comfortable win against Italy last weekend, while the French were buffeted by the plucky Scots in Edinburgh. (Note, after years of it not being the case, it now appears that the word plucky is a required adjective when referring to the Scots, replacing disappointing).

Both sides will believe they have a chance at the title. France's is obvious: keep winning and the Grand Slam is theirs. Ireland's is a bit more unlikely (win all their games, hope France beat Wales and cross fingers that their points difference is sufficient). They will be regretting ever more that late penalty 'conceded' against Wales.

France should have too much for Ireland, but speaking as an Englishman, I hope Ireland make it as hard a game as is physically possible, given England's arrival via the Eurostar next week. France's end of tournament is the toughest I can remember to a 6 Nations, with Ireland, England and Wales in consecutive weeks. Philippe St Andre seems to either be searching for his best pack, or cunningly rotating key elements. Bonnaire returns in place of Picamoles this week, while Poitrenaud replaces the unfortunately injured 'muttonchops' Medard.

Ireland have stuck with the same fifteen as beat Italy, surprising given the inadequacies of Conor Murray last week and the pep provided by Eoan Reddan. Ireland's pack have to try to dominate their opposite numbers, which given the recent form of Dusautoir, Poux and Harinordoquy in particular, and the recent struggles of O'Callaghan and O'Brien, is no small task.

I'm plumping for France by 10-12 points.

In other news, England edged a step closer to appointing their new Nick Mallett this week. Let me rephrase that. In other news, England edged a step closer to appointing their new coach this week. The John Kirwan publicity machine clicked into full gear when he didn't get an interview, which outside of the Kirwan family not many thought he would get. The choice would appear to be Mallett, Eddie O'Sullivan (why?) and Stuart Lancaster.

Leaving aside all rugby decision making, there is only one option for me and that is Stuart Lancaster. I am a great believer that a coach is an integral part of a team's success and should therefore be from that country. Lancaster is the only one who fulfils that criteria. However, it would appear that many other major nations disagree with that premise (Australia, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Italy have all had foreign coaches) and I am not one to cut my nose off to spite my face, so if Mallett arrives, then so be it. But O'Sullivan? Please no. I can't see a single positive that could be drawn from his appointment.

The thing I don't understand about this is why we (the RFU) are paying such a large sum of money (5 figures) to Odgers Bernstein to manage this recruitment. They are essentially in charge of creating a shortlist from the applicants. Well I'm sorry, but I could have done that of an evening after work. Have a chat with the RFU and decide what their criteria are, apply those criteria to the applicants, provide a shortlist. Not rocket science, more money for old rope. Same old RFU in this case unfortunately.

The 6 Nations continues to throw the Premiership into chaos. Newcastle (12th) hosted Harlequins (1st) last night, and only a late late penalty from Nick Evans salvaged a draw for the leaders. Newcastle have the wind in their sails at the moment, and their lack of departures for international duty is helping them. Wasps, on a serious downturn, are urgently looking over their shoulder and have a must-win game against London irish this weekend. It is shaping up to be a fine season once more.

I'll be back tomorrow with a detailed review of the Ireland game for you. Hell, it may even be bilingual if I'm in the right mood.