SIX NATIONS : ENGLAND EXCEL, PERHAPS.

After months of drought the world has finally woken up - the 'Six Nations' has begun !

 

This is, of course, the competition between the top Rugby Union playing nations of the northern hemisphere and is part of the build-up to the next Rugby World Cup which will be held in Britain in 2015. For an intangible reason this year's contest has been even more awaited and is even more important than for many years.

 

In the autumn internationals, the northern hemisphere teams were generally outplayed by those from the south although there were bright spots, most notably England's demolition of New Zealand, the world champions and alwasy the best team around. England's success was rather tempered by the fact that they had lost previously to both Australia and South Africa, making their true ability a little difficult to judge.

 

Today's Six Nation's opener saw Ireland make mincemeat of Wales for about 35 minutes and then hold on in desperate style as the home side came back at them with a vengeance. In the end a 20 point half time advantage was reduced to a 30-22 win for Irealnd, though another 10 minutes may well have seen a complete turn-a-round. In the end, my money is probably on Wales to finish ahead of Ireland in the competion.

 

Taht match was followed by the 'Calcutta Cup' clash at Twickenham; for the unenlightened, the 'Calcutta Cup' is the trophy awarded to the winner of the England-Scotland match and is one of the oldest sporting trophies around. This year the match was at the home of English, and world, Rugby Union, Twickenham, and expectations from the English fan base were high; pre-match betting suggested that there was more chance of Elvis appearing than of Scotland winning.

 

The match began brightly for England with a converted penalty but a breakaway Scot's try threatened to upset the apple cart. Fortunately for England, Scotland were not quite up to the challenge and , despite another Scottish breakaway try, it was England who not only won the day but won it pretty well. England battered the Scottish line and played rather well; their ball handling was good and they gave away very few penalties, both serious improvements over recent performances.

 

38-18 was a good reflection of the play and also the biggest home victory over the Scots for some time. The best thing about it was that Scotland weren't that bad themselves, meaning that England's performance was all the better. Next week, England take on Ireland in Dublin -  a win there really will suggest that happy times are here again.