Guest edition by Paddy Boyland
The
Six Nations roared back into action last weekend, with the opening round of
2015/16 fixtures proving one of the most dramatic and thrilling in recent
memory.
Much
of the talk in the build-up to the highly anticipated championship centred on England and France after the pair’s disappointing World Cup campaigns- the sleeping giants of northern hemisphere
rugby flattered to deceive over the summer and came into Saturday’s
curtain-raiser under new management, with enigmatic Australian Eddie Jones replacing Stuart Lancaster
and trophy-laden former Toulouse boss Guy
Novès
tasked with rebuilding a France side
that had seemed to stray from its traditional strengths.
There
were occasional green shoots of recovery evident for both, yet, in truth, the
quality of rugby on display was often lacklustre, with basic handling errors
commonplace and progressive, attacking rugby eschewed in favour of attritional,
predominantly pack-based blood and thunder. If this was the Northern
Hemisphere’s response to the generally abject World Cup performances of the
summer, then it was a pretty underwhelming one.
Sure,
mitigating factors can be found at every corner. Jones and Novès need time
to implement fundamentally different styles of play to those witnessed by their
predecessors, while Ireland and Wales are still counting the cost of
debilitating injury lists. Poor conditions also played a part, particularly at
wet and windy Murrayfield, however the expectation must be that the standard
can and will improve over the course of the next month.
Here,
then, are the key things we learned from the opening round of fixtures.
Hosts
France secured a narrow win in Paris thanks, in part, to fly half Jules
Plisson’s controversial late penalty from range. Defeat was tough on an Italy
side who had shown a pleasing versatility in their play; the away side
dominated the scrum and threatened from deep, with Exeter centre Michele
Campagnaro (4 defenders beaten) and veteran Sergio Parisse (91m made from 19
carries) key in taking the game to Guy Novès’ men.
France
and their new coach will be no doubt happy enough with their opening gambit.
Not only did they secure a precious opening day win, but they did so with a new
team still very much in its infancy.
Novès’ rhetoric
beforehand suggested that he wanted to see Les
Bleus return to a style of rugby more in keeping with their renowned Gallic
flair, and the initial signs from debutant backs Jonathan Danty and Virimi
Vakata were promising. The former, named best centre in the Top 14 last season,
provided constant menace with ball in hand, while the latter, plucked from
Sevens rugby, crowned an impressive debut with an opportunistic try.
Elsewhere,
the novice half-back partnership of Sébastien Bezy and Plisson ultimately failed
to set the pulses racing. Bezy has been the standout scrum half in France for
over a year now, helping Stade Toulousain to first place in the Top 14
standings, but he fluffed his lines here in missing three important penalties.
He was eventually bailed out by his partner’s late kick, and Plisson will
surely take up the place kicking mantle for the remainder of the tournament.
Perhaps debut nerves got the better of the Toulouse 9, who in time should
cement his place as the attacking metronome of Novès’ side.
Clearly,
the ex-Toulouse boss has his work cut out in marrying short-term results with
transforming his team’s modus operandi- France had turned into something of an
England lite in recent years, using the considerable bulk of back row forwards
Louis Picamoles and former captain Thierry Dusautoir to bludgeon their way over
the gain-line- yet the performances of Danty, Plisson and prodigiously gifted
21-year-old flanker Yacouba Camara offer a glimmer of hope for the new coach in
what is otherwise an uphill struggle to return France to the top of world
rugby.
Scotland 9 England 15
England’s
new era, meanwhile, started in much the same vain as the last, as Eddie Jones’
charges kicked off the championship with a narrow, yet fairly convincing win
over Vern Cotter’s Scotland.
The
Scots came into the opening round of fixtures off the back of a decent World
Cup, and hopes were high that they could spring a surprise in the Calcutta Cup
game against the Auld Enemy. Once again, however, they were to fall short, with
a superb performance from Man of the Match Billy Vunipola (51m made from a
staggering 22 carries) and tries from Saracens lock George Kruis and Exeter
winger Jack Nowell ultimately proving the difference.
As
expected, there was no seismic shift in game-plan from new coach Eddie Jones,
although the coach spoke of a desire to improve the pack and correct England’s
misfiring scrum. In general, the set piece was indeed a strength for the
visitors, with the driving lineout used to good effect throughout. At the
breakdown- another area of weakness during the World Cup- Robshaw and Haskell
again failed to pilfer the ball in the manner befitting a Hooper or Pocock, but
did manage to slow down Scottish ball thanks to the help of backs such as
Nowell and Joseph. Haskell, who it must be said is not a 7, made a substantial
contribution defensively (completing 18 out of 18 tackles) and may retain his
place despite competition from traditional opensides like Matt Kvesic of
Gloucester and Will Fraser of Sarries.
In
the backs, Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson did not succeed in living up to
their pre-tournament billing, while the Ford-Farrell 10/12 axis was solid if
unspectacular. Jones will cling to the promise evidenced by his side’s second
try- a well-crafted move that culminated in a wonderful offload from Mako
Vunipola and Farrell releasing Nowell for a simple finish in the corner. More
of the same, please, if you’re an England fan.
For
Scotland, positives came in the form of star performers Stuart Hogg, John
Hardie and Jonny Gray- the latter grows in stature by the week and must now be
a real Lions contender in the absence of stalwarts such as Paul O’Connell.
There is considerable talent in Cotter’s team and they may surprise a few-
don’t yet rule out a third place finish if one the more fancied sides falters.
Ireland 16 Wales 16
Sunday
afternoon’s final installment of the weekend was a pulsating, tightly contested
clash between the two Celtic nations. This was a ding-dong affair which swayed
to and fro and ended with a result that neither side really wanted, however the
final score was a fair reflection of a game in which both had spells of real
dominance.
Wales
were pre-tournament favourites, and for good reason given their solid World Cup
and relatively settled side. Here, they combined brain and brawns, with Jamie
Roberts and Taulupe Faletau battering over the gain-line and half-back pairing
Yet
Ireland, shorn of established stars Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien and Rob
Kearney as well as retired captain Paul O’Connell, raced into a 13-0 lead with
newly qualified South African debutant CJ Stander (23 carries, 12 tackles) of
Munster exceptional in the back row. If the World Cup showed us anything,
though, it’s that Wales are made of stern stuff, and Gatland’s men fought back
for a valiant point despite Dan Biggar’s early injury.
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