Six Nations 2022: The State of Play After Round Two
This year’s edition of the Six Nations has already lived up to the anticipation placed upon it. The return of fans, after their painfully prolonged absence, has brought colour, sound, and life back into the stadiums. Last year teams played with their voices echoing round the empty seats; now they are drowned out by rippling, roaring noise.
On the field, France have emphasised their title credentials. Back-to-back victories against Italy and Ireland have set the standard, placing them firmly at the top of the table. The home nations have each won and lost a game, vying for position beneath the leaders. Italy, meanwhile, are dutifully fulfilling their role in propping up the rest of the table.
As the teams take a two-week break ahead of the next round of games, and fans are left to ponder what to do with their empty, rugby-less expanse of a weekend, it’s the perfect time to assess the performance of each nation so far.
France’s match versus Italy in the opening weekend was an ideal way for them to ease into the tournament. Though Italy started well, the quality present throughout the French team inevitably shone through; Gabin Villiere’s hat-trick was particularly pleasing.
Yet this game in Paris was merely a precursor to the sterner contest Ireland would provide. Under the floodlights at the Stade du France, a brutally- fought contest between the two tournament favourites ended with the hosts as eventual victors. Having seen off an Irish team that many regarded as their closest competitors, for the BBC’s Matt Dawson, “the Six Nations is France’s to lose.” If they can maintain consistent performances over the next three games, it is hard to argue with his assessment.
Ireland are one of the in-form teams coming into this year’s tournament after beating New Zealand in the Autumn. And despite losing in Paris, they have reinforced this expectation. Though conceding a 15-point lead, Ireland then scored 14 unanswered points in return before eventually falling short. It was telling that even in defeat Ireland head coach Andy Farrell – a man not predisposed to handing out compliments – described his side’s effort as a “fighting, spirited performance.” On another day they could well have beaten their opponents, matching them as they did for skill and physicality.
Their capabilities were shown in their demolition of Wales in Dublin on the opening weekend, dismantling them with ease. It is clear that they have sufficient quality across the pitch to mount a title challenge – they just need it to click into place.
One nation that looks increasingly unlikely to be claiming the trophy in March is Wales. The defence of the title they unexpectedly won in 2021 is in disarray, started by injuries to key players such as Alun Wyn Jones and Taulupe Faletau (to select just a few), and then compounded by a shambolic display against Ireland. This first game was a catalogue of individual errors and mistakes with little positives – Taine Basham’s industrious performance was perhaps the solitary bright point.
Bolstered by the formidable home crowd in the Millennium Stadium a week later, however, Wales looked a far more competent and assured team, deservedly beating Scotland. Captain Dan Biggar, earning his 100th cap, orchestrated the win by scoring 75% of his team’s points. And yet even with this improvement from Wales any optimism for the rest of the tournament is reserved: with their injuries, both the starting team and bench are noticeably weaker than the other tier one teams. A trip to Twickenham to play England is a worrying prospect.
In turn, it is hard to gauge where England stand after two games. Like Wales, their team is blighted with injuries, and the loss to Scotland in the opening game set the alarm bells ringing. Despite holding the majority of possession and territory, they failed to score the points their dominance warranted due to sloppy errors and poor decision making.
They did coast past Italy in their second game, but then so do most teams. Eddie Jones even then wasn’t entirely satisfied with his team’s performance: “we felt our attack was better than against Scotland but we have some room to go.” Marcus Smith has arguably been England’s biggest plus of the tournament so far, earning torrents of praise from both fans and pundits. He is a first-class fly-half, and looks to be the long-term successor to this position that has been long monopolised by George Ford and Owen Farrell.
North of the border, Scotland’s celebrations after beating England for the third time in five years were swiftly silenced. Any hope that this year they could mount a challenge for the Six Nations title – they haven’t won since 1999 – ground to a halt in Cardiff. Though Wales deserved to win, Scotland played into their hands with a surprisingly dispirited performance, all the more troublesome when considering their stellar victory the previous week.
Speaking to BBC Sport Scotland, Tom English spared no blushes: “they played no rugby” and “the negativity in their play was arresting…wasting a fantastic opportunity to go two wins from two.” The pieces in Scotland’s team are there, and they have built a strong squad capable of competing at the highest level. But on this evidence, they have a way to go before they can produce strong performances week in, week out.
It is difficult to talk about Italy in the same article as the other five teams. Such is the gulf between them, it is hard to know where to start in terms of assessing their position. They gave France a good game in week one, even leading up until the 30th minute before throwing it away. Understandable, when you remember how unused as they are to winning. An Italian lead at half time must have been a terrifying proposition for everyone involved.
The game against England, where they failed to score a single point, was a return to the usual routine. With this, their wait for a win goes on – Italy’s losing streak is now thirty-two games. It is no wonder that fly-half Paolo Garbisi said he would cry if his team were to finally win a game.
Image Credit: Guiness Six Nations Twitter
