Quick Tap: 6 Nations Week 2 Round Up

Ireland regained some semblance of form, Wales made hard work of it in Rome, and the England juggernaut steamrolled into a second weekend. But away from the results what were the main takeaways from the games last weekend?

Farrell is captain of a behemoth right now, as England rampaged through the headless French roosters.

Scotland's Worst Enemy

Russell is a magician and a maverick, and also tipifies
Scotland's rollercoaster performances.

In case you haven't been watching Scotland in recent years, Scotland's worst enemy are themselves, and so it proved once again against Ireland. Scotland are a team that - on their day - can light the pitch on fire. Weaving mesmerising backs moves across the pitch which slice the opponent open with beautiful ease. With players like Stuart Hogg, Finn Russell, and Huw Jones it's not surprising they're capable of it. Then there's the rough gem of Blair Kinghorn, another player who can break the game open. Gregor Townsend really  has built something fantastic north of the border. 

Yet despite all this Scotland's winning percentage is still woefully disappointing for a team of such class. And more often than not they are the architects of their own downfall, making questionable decisions, executing with poor technique, and giving away dumb penalties. All of which combines to utterly ruin any sort of momentum they've managed to build up. It's almost like they don't actually believe they deserve to win these games, relishing in their "close but not close enough" tag. 

Scotland are a team that does have the talent to win the Six Nations, I truly believe that, but they won't until they believe it too.

Welsh Lineout Failures

It was a rather uninteresting game really, filled with errors and simplistic gameplay. Wales' went into Rome set on controlling the early game and hoping to open it up in the second half. However, Italy had other plans and kept the game an arm wrestle right until the end. But as frustrating as the Azzuri were, the biggest spanner to the Welsh plan was the lineout. Time and time again Elliot Dee and his jumpers seemed worryingly out of sync for a team with eyes on the trophy. It was the lack of a stable set piece which meant when Wales did get possession near the Italian line it invariably was ruined, turned over and the game returned to its state of perpetual tedium. 

Wales are struggling in a number of areas but that one which will worry Warren Gatland the most, ahead of the biggest game of the tournament, is the line-out. If Wales have any hope of stopping the English steamroller coming across the Seven, they need to have a steel grip around their own ball.

Wales' lineout has often been a concern through the years, it is once again becoming an issue.

French Faux Pas

We could talk about the tactical kicking masterclass executed by Farrell, Youngs, and Slade, but that'll get covered in all your major news publications. Instead, let's talk about the rotten core at the heart of the France national team, the selection policy. The issue is two-fold: One the inexplicable reasoning for playing players out of position; two the endless rotation at critical positions.

French logic: Pick the player who can't defend kicks
at fullback, against a team that kicks to attack.

Watching France take to the field with two centres at wing, and a wing at fullback, against an England team which exploited the back-three with abandon a week earlier, was baffling to say the least. It's almost as if the French coaching staff don't go and watch their players in the league to find out their actual position. Ireland proved that not playing a fullback was a costly error, and yet France decided against all logic and picked a known maverick (who a week earlier had failed to deal with a poor kick through) at fullback. And let's not go down the discussion of picking locks in the back row, cause that's a different discussion altogether.

The other issue is the great systematic issue, which has permeated the French national team for nigh on a decade. Despite a consistent 8, 9, 10 so far this Six Nations, that is a rarity. France has lacked direction and stability for years and it shows. They don't know what to do in important situations, there is no game plan, there's no structure. Long story short, the French coaches have no faith, no consistency, and seemingly no real plan other than throw a random assortment of players on the pitch and hope for the best.


Did you notice anything else this weekend that is worth discussing, let me know your thoughts.