Usually on 6 Nations weekends, or big weekends of rugby in general I suppose, I treat events chronologically. Events yesterday don't let me do that.
The 6 Nations tournament is the second most prestigious tournament in Rugby. The level of play is high. The desire to win is unmatchable. The camaraderie surrounding every single game is phenomenal (there may be banter surrounding such entrenched rivalries as England and Scotland, but after the game, pints are shared over banter, and while friendship may be a strong word, acceptance of rival passions is par for the course). The Tournament Committee can not lose sight of this as time goes on, or we will end up with more situations like yesterday just outside Paris.
Playing games at 2100 in February in the Northern hemisphere is frankly ridiculous. You only have to think back to previous years where Gabby Logan, Keith Wood, Jonathan Davies and Andy Nicol amongst others spend 3 hours perched high in the Stade de France freezing their backsides off in relatively acceptable conditions to realise that any cold snap could be critical in terms of a game being cancelled or not. Well now a cancellation has happened. Now the uproar has started. Now the committee must react.
They tried Friday evening games. They were criticised. They should now revert to afternoon games only (certainly in February) when evening temperatures mean not only poor pitch conditions, but bitterly cold fingers leading to a lower quality game. With 2 games on a Saturday and 1 on a Sunday, there are more than enough kick-off times to go round without having one as late as 2100. 1400 and 1700 for example. Time to do your analysis, time to show brief highlights between, time to build up to the second game too. It really is a no-brainer (so expect it in 10 years time).
There was rugby yesterday though, and England took the field with Italy in an icy Rome with the Italians smelling victory. England started very well though, playing simple rugby on a snow covered pitch (though the sponsors had ensured that at least the part of the Stadio Olimpico which bore their name had the snow cleared. The pitch was not the only icy thing on show though, and Owen Farrell continued to prove that his veins have that same property, kicking perfectly for England, giving them a 6-0 lead as half-time aproached. Then, though, a mad ricochet from a grubber kick followed by a moment's madness from Ben Foden, and Italy had unbelievably scored 2 tries in 2 minutes and went into the dressing rooms with a 12-6 lead.
I'm pretty honest when it comes to this sort of thing and I have to say that I never feared losing. That may sound strange, but Italy had showed very little and had picked up two messy tries from poor defending and decision-making. With Farrell available to kick the points (Burton is far from an International kicker, and as to his replacement, no comment). The way England continued to capitalise on Italian errors was impressive. The biggest compliment you can pay Farrell is he appears to be like Jonny Wilkinson at his pomp. Wilkinson didn't used to just kick goals, he used to split the posts. Farrell does the same. Metronomic in his accuracy, he has a massive future ahead, especially when England find a centre who will allow him to move to fly half, which is so clearly his position. For the moment though, the incumbent fly half, Charlie Hodgson, is doing all that is asked. His defence is much better than it was, he kicks well and with intelligence, he stands deep and orchestrates his backs (when allowed to - see later) and he charges down kicks and scores tries. 2 in 2 games is a freak statistic, but England aren't complaining. England edged 19-15 ahead as a result of this pair, and with Botes kicking like a one-legged prop forward, gladly shut the game out to make it 2 wins out of 2, both away from home. A promising start but let's not get carried away.
There were negatives: Youngs looks a shadow of the player of 2 years ago, and when replaced by Dickson, England moved noticeably up through three gears. Dowson was better than last week at 8, but the instant pep and thrust provided by Morgan when he replaced him was evident to all. Foden made those mistakes at the end of the first half, Ashton was very quiet too, but on the whole the positives far outweighed the negatives:
Corbisiero - fast becoming the first name on the teamsheet
Hartley and Cole - cemented front row places with solid performances
Botha and Croft - solid
Parling - a much better option than Palmer currently
Robshaw- captain fantastic he isn't but he's not far off
Barritt - definitely a step up from last week
Strettle - good in everything he does
Finally, Italian TV may as well have given the Man of the Match award to Sergio Parisse before the game kicked off. He IS Italian rugby and performed manfully... most of the time. I have a gripe though. After being nudged in a line-out he stayed on the ground and milked the penalty, gingerly getting to his feet and limping like a lame horse. When England missed touch shortly afterwards though, he caught, put up a high ball himself and hared after it like a thoroughbred, before running into the back of an Englishman and going down like he was shot. You're bigger and better than that Sergio. Man-up.
Wales and Scotland today. Roof closed to keep the pitch from freezing, so guaranteed rugby. Happy days.
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