And so the Six Nations comes to an end for another year. It’s a great tournament and I really enjoy watching it. This year, highlights for me were Scotland beating Ireland and Wales. Their appetite and attacking play has really changed in the last two years or so, and it is a joy to watch. The way they physically threw themselves into the game against Wales had me worried / looking forward to the match against England. Eventually though, that fixture turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, meaning that England dominated the match from the start, and the end result was never in doubt. Scotland’s final game against Italy yesterday saw them keep a clean sheet against Italy, but there were points where the old style of game play surfaced again, where they passed back and weren’t able to go forward. Maybe that was due to Italy’s forwards, but it was a bit concerning.
The game between Wales and Ireland last week was a brilliant, breath-taking game, quite literally. TW was holding her breath, she was so excited…! I could have done with a lie-down in a dark room to calm down afterwards.
There were two outstanding games which I think will be talked about for years to come; the first is of course the England - Italy game, or “ruckgate” as it will be forever known. Basically, Italy didn’t want to come to Twickenham and get beaten by England on England’s terms, and so they refused to commit men to the ruck area. This completely confounded England, because they had their routine all sorted: take the ball in, get tackled, go to ground, ruck over, recycle, take the ball in… How could England progress without a vital phase of their game? Unfortunately it took England much longer than it should have done to adapt to the game Italy were trying to play, but they still won through.
There have been rumblings that the laws of the game need to change to prevent teams playing like that in future, but I think it was a high-risk ploy, and if you play like that you risk losing massively; so it is self-managing. It was a fascinating match to watch though.
The other match which stretched the bounds of the game was the France-Wales match, which took 20 minutes of extra time to play a scrum. So the game took 100 minutes to play. Unfortunately at 80 minutes Wales were ahead, and by the time the clock showed 100 minutes, France had taken that lead. I think Wales should have won, so it was a pity, from my point of view, that the scrum had to be reset so many times.
It was though an exhilarating competition all round, with some brilliant moments and some awesome contests, and I can’t wait until next February comes around…
Showing posts with label Six Nations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Six Nations. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Saturday 16-03-19 A Short Trip to Morrisons
Today is the finale of the Six Nations, and as a result we have three matched lined up this afternoon / evening. I'm hoping that Scotland will put on a good show against Ireland, and of course, England complete the Grand Slam against France in Paris tonight. That would be the icing on the cake.
So, in order to get some air, and some cereal, I took the girls to Morrisons for a bit of ad hoc shopping. We bought some chips and dips for this afternoon, as well as some olives for me. The eldest chose classic houmous as her dip, so I went for a soured cream and chive dip as a palate-clearing counterpoint. We also plumped for cool Doritos, since they were on offer. We also hunted down some pork products for breakfast in the morning: the classic trio of bacon, sausages and black pudding. We've got mushrooms and baked beans in the house to complement those delicacies. And of course, with a salty breakfast you need fruit juice, so we went for the classic orange juice "with bits". We did go slightly *off piste* and bought some clementine juice, which I'm looking forward to trying,
So that's it for this weekend, I reckon. Apart from revisiting the shops to maybe buy a beer, I think I'll probably be sitting in this chair for the best part of it.
So, in order to get some air, and some cereal, I took the girls to Morrisons for a bit of ad hoc shopping. We bought some chips and dips for this afternoon, as well as some olives for me. The eldest chose classic houmous as her dip, so I went for a soured cream and chive dip as a palate-clearing counterpoint. We also plumped for cool Doritos, since they were on offer. We also hunted down some pork products for breakfast in the morning: the classic trio of bacon, sausages and black pudding. We've got mushrooms and baked beans in the house to complement those delicacies. And of course, with a salty breakfast you need fruit juice, so we went for the classic orange juice "with bits". We did go slightly *off piste* and bought some clementine juice, which I'm looking forward to trying,
So that's it for this weekend, I reckon. Apart from revisiting the shops to maybe buy a beer, I think I'll probably be sitting in this chair for the best part of it.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Sunday 15-03-22 Six Nations 2015 - The Final Round
And so it came down to the final set of games to decide the overall winner of the Six Nations 2015. England, Wales and Ireland had all lost only one game, and so they were the three teams in contention. Although, to be fair, Wales's points difference was atrocious, and they would have to put on at least 40 points against Italy to even draw level with England and Ireland.
I was looking forward to the afternoon, but I was dreading it as well; I've watched three rugby matches in a row before, and I got rugbied out - I was hoping that wasn't going to happen again. And I would have to pause the matches to take TW into town to watch Hairspray at the end of the first match...
So the Italian-Welsh game kicked off at 12:30 in Rome, and it seemed to be a bit of a slow burner. Italy took the lead with a penalty, and then kept inching slowly ahead of Wales until at half-time Wales were one point up, and the score was 13-14. In the second half, Wales came out and scored two quick tries, to start taking the game away from Italy. And then they increased the pace, in a truly dazzling display, to add 47 points in total in the second half. Italy scored a consolation try at the end to take their tally to 20, and the final score was 20-61. The Welsh gave it their all and confirmed their brilliance in execution, and Italy fell apart, it has to be said.
In scoring their 61 points, Wales had gone past both Ireland and England, so both teams had to perform in order to win on points difference. Ireland beat Scotland, which frankly wasn't a surprise, but Scotland played some good rugby. The final score was 10-40, and so that left England having to beat France by 26 points.
England played well, and scored early, but then gave away a few penalties and the initiative. France came back and took the lead, before England reasserted themselves. They came close, and there were a lot of points scored, but unfortunately England were a converted try short. They beat France by 20 points and the final score was 55-35. That meant that Ireland were crowned Six Nations winners. England left the field dejected, but I think that the Six Nations result obscured the fact that we beat France by 20 points, and properly dominated the game for the most part.
It was an exhilarating afternoon of rugby and an excellent advert for the game. I shouted myself hoarse during the England match, and drank a number of beers as well. My nerves were shredded, and we ended up going to bed early.
A great day.
I was looking forward to the afternoon, but I was dreading it as well; I've watched three rugby matches in a row before, and I got rugbied out - I was hoping that wasn't going to happen again. And I would have to pause the matches to take TW into town to watch Hairspray at the end of the first match...
So the Italian-Welsh game kicked off at 12:30 in Rome, and it seemed to be a bit of a slow burner. Italy took the lead with a penalty, and then kept inching slowly ahead of Wales until at half-time Wales were one point up, and the score was 13-14. In the second half, Wales came out and scored two quick tries, to start taking the game away from Italy. And then they increased the pace, in a truly dazzling display, to add 47 points in total in the second half. Italy scored a consolation try at the end to take their tally to 20, and the final score was 20-61. The Welsh gave it their all and confirmed their brilliance in execution, and Italy fell apart, it has to be said.
In scoring their 61 points, Wales had gone past both Ireland and England, so both teams had to perform in order to win on points difference. Ireland beat Scotland, which frankly wasn't a surprise, but Scotland played some good rugby. The final score was 10-40, and so that left England having to beat France by 26 points.
England played well, and scored early, but then gave away a few penalties and the initiative. France came back and took the lead, before England reasserted themselves. They came close, and there were a lot of points scored, but unfortunately England were a converted try short. They beat France by 20 points and the final score was 55-35. That meant that Ireland were crowned Six Nations winners. England left the field dejected, but I think that the Six Nations result obscured the fact that we beat France by 20 points, and properly dominated the game for the most part.
It was an exhilarating afternoon of rugby and an excellent advert for the game. I shouted myself hoarse during the England match, and drank a number of beers as well. My nerves were shredded, and we ended up going to bed early.
A great day.
Saturday, February 07, 2015
...and the Six Nations Rolls Around Again
So last night was the start of the Six Nations 2015, and the opening match was Wales vs. England at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The kids were up in bed, TW was out for the evening, and I was ensconced in the living room with a bottle of red wine. Work was done for the day, I had taken off my suit (we had had visitors) and I was relaxed.
The build-up to the match was sensational; they turned off the lights in the stadium and had a brilliant light show. England refused to come out on to the pitch because they thought that Wales would keep them waiting, and as it turned out there were more fireworks and build-up before the Welsh team emerged. The match started, eventually, and things went Wales's way, they were very quickly ten points up. England scored a try to pull back five points, Mike Brown put in a lovely little grubber kick which was picked up by Watson for the try.
The rest of the half was enthralling, they played hard and fast, Wales put on another two penalties, and England took one, so that the score was 13-8 as half-time approached. Wales were pushing hard, and on the last play before half-time they dropped a goal to go 16-8 up. What a threatening way to finish the half, and I was gutted.
However, it seemed that a different England team came out of the changing room after half-time. They upped the tempo, and Wales were on the back foot, scrambling to get back and defend in an organised manner. Within five minutes of the restart, England had another try, Joseph slipped a tackle and was clear, he crossed the line and ran it back to almost under the posts, making the conversion simple for Ford. England were in touching distance, at 16-15.
It was a tense twenty minutes before there was another score, England took a penalty to go 16-18 up; it was a start, but the match was nowhere near won, and there was still fifteen minutes to go. If I had any nails, I would have been biting them, and I was hugging myself and gently rocking, hoping against hope that England might hold out against Wales. I was worried that they would suddenly get a second wind and take the game away from England. As it was, England scored again, which broke the tension, but then it was disallowed because Easter had over-run the ball, and obstructed the game. Gutted! The score was back to 16-18. Haskell as well, made it as far as the line, but was prevented from scoring by the goalposts. He tried to deposit the ball at the base of the posts, which would have been a try, but it didn't work out. England were in the ascendancy, but they just couldn't turn their advantage into points on the board. It could still have gone Wales' way; all they needed was a quick break and they could have been home free.
In the last minute of the game, Ford took another three points and England were 16-21 up. It wasn't possible for Wales to win from there, but they played out the game. It was a tense game, I was tense for the full 80 minutes, and it was as though we were on a tightrope, teetering high and liable to crash out at any point. What a great game, both sides gave it their all, I thought, and it was a great way to start the tournament. The icing on the cake was the win for England.
With the wine drained, and the excitement levels slowly returning to normal, I headed off to bed. I am looking forward to seeing today's matches, although I think TW might have something to say about that...
The build-up to the match was sensational; they turned off the lights in the stadium and had a brilliant light show. England refused to come out on to the pitch because they thought that Wales would keep them waiting, and as it turned out there were more fireworks and build-up before the Welsh team emerged. The match started, eventually, and things went Wales's way, they were very quickly ten points up. England scored a try to pull back five points, Mike Brown put in a lovely little grubber kick which was picked up by Watson for the try.
The rest of the half was enthralling, they played hard and fast, Wales put on another two penalties, and England took one, so that the score was 13-8 as half-time approached. Wales were pushing hard, and on the last play before half-time they dropped a goal to go 16-8 up. What a threatening way to finish the half, and I was gutted.
However, it seemed that a different England team came out of the changing room after half-time. They upped the tempo, and Wales were on the back foot, scrambling to get back and defend in an organised manner. Within five minutes of the restart, England had another try, Joseph slipped a tackle and was clear, he crossed the line and ran it back to almost under the posts, making the conversion simple for Ford. England were in touching distance, at 16-15.
It was a tense twenty minutes before there was another score, England took a penalty to go 16-18 up; it was a start, but the match was nowhere near won, and there was still fifteen minutes to go. If I had any nails, I would have been biting them, and I was hugging myself and gently rocking, hoping against hope that England might hold out against Wales. I was worried that they would suddenly get a second wind and take the game away from England. As it was, England scored again, which broke the tension, but then it was disallowed because Easter had over-run the ball, and obstructed the game. Gutted! The score was back to 16-18. Haskell as well, made it as far as the line, but was prevented from scoring by the goalposts. He tried to deposit the ball at the base of the posts, which would have been a try, but it didn't work out. England were in the ascendancy, but they just couldn't turn their advantage into points on the board. It could still have gone Wales' way; all they needed was a quick break and they could have been home free.
In the last minute of the game, Ford took another three points and England were 16-21 up. It wasn't possible for Wales to win from there, but they played out the game. It was a tense game, I was tense for the full 80 minutes, and it was as though we were on a tightrope, teetering high and liable to crash out at any point. What a great game, both sides gave it their all, I thought, and it was a great way to start the tournament. The icing on the cake was the win for England.
With the wine drained, and the excitement levels slowly returning to normal, I headed off to bed. I am looking forward to seeing today's matches, although I think TW might have something to say about that...
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Swimming
Ah, Sunday brings the weekly trip to the swimming pool in Worthing, the Aquarena.
Today was one of the better sessions; the youngest kept the general populace entertained by throwing herself with gusto into the pool at any and every opportunity.
Lulu went down the big slide, with me. It was the first time for both of us! Amy was trying to persuade me to take Hattie down, but I refused - she's too young.
And this afternoon has brought some entertaining Six Nations rugby, as I expected. Ireland vs. France was always going to be good. Let's see how it ends...
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