Quick Tap: Six Nations Round 5 Round Up

Super Saturday never fails to disappoint, does it? It started with Italy somehow losing against France in a game filled with endless basic errors, before heading to Cardiff for the Grand Slam decider. Wales strolled to the title, keeping an out of sorts Ireland from ever looking comfortable. Then it ended with the most ridiculous game of the season, Scotland almost yanking victory for the jaws of defeat, only to have England find the necessary score to draw. It was an unbelievable day of rugby, which some memorable headlines, but what other notes were there from the matches?

Wales claimed their fourth Six Nations Grand Slam, Warren Gatland's third, setting a new record.

Italian Gladiator Backrow

It hasn't been the most enjoyable tournament for Italian fans, seeing their team go through another year without a victory, failing to even obtain a losing bonus point this season. In a world where victories mean everything, there are only so many stories of improvement that you can read. I'm here to say that Italy may have a few issues to fix, but one thing that should remain cemented in stone is the back row that played against France. With the return of Jake Polledri alongside Steyn and Parisse,  Italy's pack upped their output with immense work ethic.

Polledri is a product of Hartbury College and
Gloucester, and dominating international rugby.

Italy originally set themselves out as a team which would win the scrum, well now they've got a back row which will allow them to consistently win the collisions at the gain line. With a combination of raw strength, and clever guile they are able to get on the front foot and allow their halfbacks a smooth ride. It showed consistently against France that when Steyn and Polledri got the ball, Italy looked incredibly threatening. The fact that Italy failed to win the game does not rest on the shoulders of the warriors in the backrow.

Crucially there is also the fact that on the bench sits Sebastian Negri, another ferocious ball carrier, and Mbanda who frustrated Ireland at the breakdown, so the Italian back row cupboard looks well stocked. It's taken a while but they have finally reached a point that they can survive with Parisse, important for the short turnarounds at the World Cup.

Wales Adapt Calmly

In a game where the build-up was focused on the weather and the roof, it was surprising to see how poorly one team coped with the deluge that battered down from the Welsh skies. Ireland struggled under the poor conditions, making a lot of mistakes got into their heads, leading to further errors. In a game where calm heads were required Ireland left theirs in Dublin, seeing the likes of Murray and Sexton getting flustered and making the simple skills look complicated is a rarity. One I doubt they'll let happen again, but they will be worried about how much the pressure got to them heading into the World Cup.

Anscombe is marshaling the Welsh attack with
confidence now, he is in control of the 10 jersey.

As for Wales, they proved time and again, all tournament, their ability to adapt to the game and finish strongest. In Cardiff, within four minutes they had to enact a significant backline restructure, as George North left the field with a nasty looking wrist injury, with Liam Williams forced on to the wing. Many fans would have been nervous, shifting their aerial king away from fullback against a team famed for their kicking attack. Were Wales rattled? Absolutely not, the calmness never wavered, as Biggar and Anscombe shared responsibility throughout the game. Biggar controlling the necessary exits and territory game, Anscombe directing the attack in the red zone. Even in defence the shift around caused no fractures in the infamous Edwards structure, testament to the work that the coach has put in over the years.

Wales look like a team who are composed no matter the nature of the game, confident that they will find a way to turn things around and win in the end. Wales may not score a lot of tries, but they don't need to when they deny the opposition the chance, and force the opponents into mistakes.

Missed Tackle Malaise

Mitchell probably had a similar expression on Saturday.

In a game which will go down in history as one of miraculous attacking play, the real story was the inability of defences. International rugby expects a minimum tackle completion of 90%, defences are supposed to be nigh on impossible to break down because everybody makes the tackles they have to. So when you look up the statistics from the game at Twickenham and see Scotland only got 77%, while England slumped to an awful 70% tackle completion, you can understand how each team was able to score 38 points.

Numerous tries came from players inability to complete one-on-one tackles, that you would expect them to make. In particular Sam Johnstone's try - which appeared to give Scotland the victory - saw him batter his way through four would be tacklers in white shirts. Johnstone isn't a huge man, and yet he looked like the Incredible Hulk on his way underneath the posts. Scotland weren't much better, Jack Nowell's try saw him scamper past a trio of defenders. Both teams need to take a look at their defensive basics if they want to put this game behind them. England's defensive system looked wonderful against Ireland, but when it came time to deal with line breaks and clever passing, players fell off tackles all too easily. Scotland don't have a defining structure, and in the first half it bit them in the ass, as the England counter attacking ripped them apart.

The message both Eddie Jones and Gregor Townsend will need to take from this game is "Offence wins you games, but Defence wins you championships", just ask Wales.

Johnson's try was a microcosm of the defensive problems which plagued both teams, blasting through four tacklers.

So there it is, the final Quick Tap of the 2019 Six Nations. Let me know what you thought of the events on Super Saturday, any other minor points I missed?