by Paul Cook –

Week three of the 2013 Six Nations saw England remain on course for their first Grand Slam in 10 years with a hard fought, 23-13 victory over a feisty French outfit at Twickenham. Wales backed up their crucial win in Paris the week before with a comprehensive defeat of Italy while Scotland defied the bookmakers, the critics and the post match statistics to record their first back-to-back wins in the tournament since 2001, defeating Ireland in Edinburgh.

If the form guide at least, predicted an English win, history and French unpredictability dictated otherwise when the two nations met in their 84th Five/Six Nations clash. And even though England would have expected, and prepared for, some kind of backlash from their cross channel neighbours given their lacklustre start to this year’s tournament, they were largely unable to prevent it for the first 50 minutes of this encounter.

Where France had been devoid of invention and desire against both Italy and Wales, they began at Twickenham with a renewed vigour, physicality and attacking intent. The main reason for this was the presence of halves pairing Morgan Parra and Francois Trinh-Duc, Parra in particular invigorating Les Bleus by mixing his point and manner of attack and keeping a slow starting England on the backfoot.

It was some surprise then that coach Philip Saint-Andre – himself a player of attacking renown in his pomp – chose to withdraw the combo fairly early on in the second half in favour of Maxime Machenaud and Frédéric Michalak, the incumbent duo on duty for those previous losses. Up to that point, France had held the upper hand, Parra’s boot and Wesley Fofana’s individual brilliance putting them a point ahead at the break and while Owen Farrell’s fourth penalty of the day in the 46th minute did edge the Championship leaders ahead, it was the subsequent replacements of numbers nine and ten in blue that handed the initiative back to their opponents.

England didn’t pass up the opportunity, slowly seizing control by ramping up their desire and execution at the set-piece, turning the tide of power at the breakdown and through the combative surges of their midfield – Manu Tuilagi again the architect of destruction. Their own replacements had a far more positive impact, James Haskell, Mako Vunipola and Tom Youngs making a strong case for inclusion from the start with their efforts and illustrating the current strength in depth at England’s disposal.

Once Tuilagi had benefited from a fortuitous ricochet to streak to the corner in the 54th minute, France simply couldn’t hold their hosts and the last half hour was a case of how much pain England could further inflict on their beleaguered rivals. In Louis Picamoles, Les Bleus did have rightful claims to the man of the match award (it went to English skipper Chris Robshaw), but the no.8’s tireless efforts were all in vain. Their worst start to a Championship in 30 years will need some explaining.

Scotland captain Kelly Brown holds the Centenary Quiach amongst his joyous team mates

‘Lies, damned lies and statistics’ is not a phrase that can be used to describe Scotland’s 12-8 win over Ireland at a blustery Murrayfield. Boasting 71% possession and having spent 78% of the match in Scotland’s half, there was no questioning Ireland’s dominance and their inability to convert that ascendancy into points will be a big concern for Declan Kidney and his coaching staff.

They should have been out of sight by half-time with three nailed on tries blown by a combination of indecision and execution. New boys Luke Marshall and Paddy Jackson – in for the injured Gordon D’Arcy and the ineffective Ronan O’Gara – blazed a trail early on but as much as their youthful exuberance forged opportunities, their naivety in making the crucial play at the vital moment in a test match cauldron cost them any reward.

Jackson stymied a fluid attack with only 5 metres to the line through painfully slow, recycled ball while Marshall undid his fine work in breaking the Scottish line with a forward pass to his overlapping winger. Keith Earls then blotted his burgeoning copybook by flying solo into a blue shirted dead end, ignoring the trademark run on his inside of the ubiquitous Brian O’Driscoll. Such profligacy invariably comes back to haunt the perpetrators.

Scotland could claim to have made some headway in the set-piece, tight head Geoff Cross enjoying an early advantage over Irish loosie, Tom Court in the scrum, while the combined efforts of Richie Gray, Jim Hamilton and Kelly Brown at the line out, upset Ireland’s rhythm to the extent that they lost four on their own throw in the first half hour. However, any ball the Scots did win, they were finding hard to make any significant use of and they could consider themselves fortunate indeed to only trail by Jackson’s 35th minute penalty at the break.

When Ireland did make their territory count with a try to Craig Gilroy 5 minutes into the second half which forged an 8-0 lead, you feared for the home side’s situation but it proved to be the spark that ignited Scotland’s fire. Greig Laidlaw slotted two penalties to narrow the gap and the introduction of energetic fly-half Duncan Weir seemed to bring a further injection of belief that saw the hosts build up a head of steam and finally get some front foot ball.

Laidlaw stroked them ahead by a point from another penalty and with a frenzied Murrayfield crowd roaring them on, Scotland forced a now bemused Ireland into conceding another shot at the posts. Laidlaw duly stepped up to seal a remarkable win that defied the stats and left Irish eyes anything but smiling.

Full-back Leigh Halfpenny strengthened his claims for a starting spot for the British & Irish Lions with another impressive display in Rome

Three weeks ago, Welsh rugby was in a tailspin. A first up loss in Cardiff to Ireland had taken their test match losing streak to eight in a row, and the knives were already out for coach Rob Howley, standing in for the British & Irish Lions bound, Warren Gatland. Captain Sam Warburton was out of form, the defence was coming for criticism – they were conceding an average of 25pts per game – and the tries had dried up, only nine in the same period.

It was backs to the wall time and despite being involved in probably the least exciting game in this year’s competition a week later in Paris against France, an improved defensive effort, dominant set-piece and the mercurial talents of full-back Leigh Halfpenny, combined to procure that breakthrough win.

It was much the same story in Rome at the weekend where Wales drew the early sting from their opponents before taking a choke hold on the game that should have seen them well clear by half-time. Despite the lion’s share of possession and territory and the obliteration of their hosts’ scrum, only Halfpenny’s boot had worried the scoreboard, leaving the Italians a mere 3pts adrift.

But on a day where the Azzurri returned to the ‘play-it-safe’ pragmatism of old, you always felt that one five pointer for the visitors would open the floodgates and so it was when Jonathan Davies profited from the vagaries of a bouncing rugby ball to stroll over. Another scrum penalty in the 54^th minute – I can’t remember the last time the Italians were driven backwards so often – gave Halfpenny the chance to extend the lead before Alex Cuthbert added the icing to the cake when he ran onto a Dan Biggar pass at pace and raced to the corner.

Two wins in a row and second place on the Championship ladder leaves Wales with a genuine shot at defending their title but their renaissance will be severely tested at Murrayfield in week four. Having promised so much with week one’s win over France, Italy have retreated into their shell and reverted to type. Ten man rugby is not the way forward, they must get back on the bike, back themselves with ball in hand and accept that they will lose many battles before they can win the war.

Saturday 9th March

Scotland v Wales – Murrayfield – 2.30pm (1.30am Sun AEDT)

Ireland v France – Aviva Stadium – 5pm (4am Sun AEDT)

Sunday 10th March

England v Italy – Twickenham – 2pm (1am Mon AEDT)