After a simply remarkable super Saturday in which 27 tries and 221 points were scored, the final day of the 2015 6 Nations was a joy to watch. Not in any way reflecting the previous four rounds, you could have been forgiven for thinking that different teams were involved on Saturday.
Analysis of the fifth and final round of the tournament could go one of two ways – it could have given us more of an insight into each team than the rest of the tournament put together or it could be written off as a Saturday afternoon touch tournament where tries were the only commodity that mattered – I’ll sit somewhere in between.
1. Northern Hemisphere sides can score tries
We’ve seen the NH teams score tries but we haven’t seen anything from them like the rugby we saw on Saturday. Granted that all teams were practically given a licence to throw the ball around and the conditions were conducive to running rugby (which to be fair, is pretty rare in itself). But there’s having a licence to do it and there’s actually affecting it which some of the teams were great at.
They showed that they can play the rugby we’re used to seeing from the Southern Hemisphere teams and that they can match them in terms of fire-power come the Rugby World Cup in 2015.
2. There is argument for a return to a 5 Nations tournament
Throughout the tournament barring their miraculous win against Scotland in Round 3 (which to be honest says more about Scotland than Italy), Italy varied between poor and dreadful and I think their place in the 6 Nations tournament needs to be scrutinized by the powers that be. While they bring a valuable cultural element to the game, they have one maybe two players that are world class and they inhibit the quality of the tournament. From a fans perspective, it’s good to see them give it a go but International rugby tournaments aren’t for teams to give it a go, it’s to see the best of the best play the best.
I believe the Italian team would benefit more from a return to tier 2 where they can develop their International players and grow their confidence by getting some wins under their belt – and maybe in 3 or 4 years World Rugby could re-evaluate their place.
3. Schmidt has the Irish team humming
There are still a number of clouds hanging over the Irish team but on Saturday, as far as their results were concerned, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Two 6 Nations titles in the two years that Joe Schmidt has been involved in and you can’t hide from the fact the Ireland’s results prove that they are genuine World Cup contenders. There have been shades of it in the past but with Joe Schmidt at the helm, the Irish team is looking irresistible. In defeating Australia and South Africa in the Autumn as well as a near-miss against New Zealand in Dublin in 2013, Schmidt has by far and away proved his worth to the team.
As far as the whole team is concerned, Irish success very much hinges on Schmidt’s performance come September.
4. England have some work to do over the off-season
England are a fairly tight unit and are capable of challenging the best, the rest of the world is quite aware of this. But we were afforded a glimpse of how they performed under pressure on Saturday and they need some work before September. Not so much in their attack but in the way they defend. They seem to panic and lose control of their defensive system. Granted the game became very helter skelter but they lost their cool and because of that, they lost the 6 Nations trophy by conceding easy points.
5. France appear even more lost than they have in the past
As sure as the sun will rise, the French will be unpredictable – and in unimportant times, look as impossibly mediocre as possible.
Nonetheless, at this year’s 6 Nations, France looked even worse than they have in recent years – especially on their tour to Australia in the Summer last year. They are the definition of a coach killing team and the reason why Philippe Saint-Andre is all-but bald is fairly clear. The issue with this French team is despite their arguably valiant performance on Saturday, Saint-Andre appears no closer to knowing who his best XV is than he was before the 6 Nations started. With only three matches before the World Cup kicks off, they’re leaving it very late.
In saying that, knowing the French team they’ll likely blitz their World Cup pool on their way to a semi final or finals appearance.
6. The refereeing standard is still not near where it needs to be come RWC 2015
The sad reality of the game coming into the European off-season is that the refereeing standard is still poor. The gulf in difference between some referees interpretation of rules is hurting teams, losing fans and has the ability to lose a team the World Cup. There are instances where you can take particular examples of play over the weekend which, when compared with each other are very similar but had completely different outcomes and frankly this is unacceptable. It’s not rocket science and it needs to be fixed.
