Here's my weekly round-up for the second round of the 2018 Six Nations tournament;
Hope you enjoy!
Ireland (28) 56
Tries: Henshaw x2, Murray, Aki, Earls, Best, Stockdale x2
Cons: Sexton x5, Carbery x3
Italy (0) 19
Tries: Allan, Gori, Minozzi
Cons: Allan x2
Coming into this game, I think the general consensus was that Italy had absolutely no chance in beating Ireland at the Aviva. Ireland ran in eight tries in total and secured their first bonus point of the Six Nations with a thrashing of Italy.
Ireland had a much stronger first half defensively, and after the break conceded three tries from Tommaso Allan, Eduardo Gori and Matteo Minozzi. No doubt Joe Schmidt will be more than satisfied with the overall performance of the Irish, but if they leak tries like that against England, Scotland or Wales, that will probably cost them the game.
Leinster youngster Jordan Larmour came on for Henshaw for his debut and gave us all a little showing of what he can bring to the Irish side - even if he was massively out-done by Ulster winger Jacob Stockdale.
Against France, Ireland used the brute force and ball-carrying ability of the front pack - making 193 carries throughout the game (50 more than any other nation last round); but, this performance was different. Ireland focused on hurting Italy through the pace and strength of their wingers, and it showed that they have depth in their squad, but also in their playstyle too. I'm getting a lot more pessimistic for the England vs Ireland game in the last round now.
England (12) 12
Tries: May x2
Cons: Farrell
Wales (3) 6
Pens: Patchell, Anscombe
Jonny May scored a brace in what was his first ever Six Nations tries as England marginally beat Wales, with a controversial TMO decision on a potential Wales tries being the main talking point of the otherwise low-scoring game. It also meant that England's unbeaten home run stretched to 15 games.
Eddie Jones will no doubt be very happy with the win, in what was hard wintry conditions at Twickenham. Farrell and May linked flawlessly to provide English fans with two tries to celebrated and then dogged resilience and a top defensive shift from all every English player on the field gave England victory, albeit not by a large scoreline.
The TMO decision has been hailed by most as what cost the Welsh the game - but that conclusion is unfair. Yes, Gareth Anscombe got his fingers on the ball and a try should have been awarded based on the question asked - "Any reason I cannot award a try?" However, in the build-up to that phase, Steff Evans fingers touched the ball and knocked it forwards - so ultimately even though the actual TMO decision wasn't right, the outcome was.
England showed good discipline and didn't make as many silly errors & handling errors as the Welsh - and that's where the game was won I'd say.
Scotland (14) 32
Tries: Maitland, Jones
Cons: Laidlaw x2
Pens: Laidlaw x6
France (20) 26
Tries: Thomas x2
Cons: Machenaud x2
Pens: Machenaud x2, Serin x2
Scotland seemed to have revived their Six Nations campaign and produced a stunning display to beat a very strong France in what was probably the most exciting match of the tournament so far.
Teddy Thomas scored a try early on to give France a rather comfortable 10-0 lead (combined with a Machenaud penalty), albeit not really a deserved one. Sean Maitland crossed for Scotland before Teddy Thomas added another by gathering a lucky bounce. Huw Jones then scored a magnificent try to make it 17-4, before Machenaud added another penalty before the half.
Laidlaw produced an amazing and truly deserved man-of-the-match performance, kicking six penalties that ultimately won Scotland the game. Scotland played well and matched up to the physicality of France very well - something that all the pundits basically ruled out before the game; defensively they were top-notch too. The scrum underperformed more so than last week, and in my opinion starting Berghan was a big mistake. I'd also like to see Finn Russell sidelined against England, as even though I am a big fan of him, his attitude about the continuous mistakes he made screamed that he didn't care.
Scotland face England in two weeks at Murrayfield, and I'm quite hopeful that they'll end up getting something from the game. They'll need to step up once again, but they're definitely still not playing at their very best yet.
Give me your thoughts below!