Six Nations Rugby - Some Interesting Observations

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After the 2023 Rugby World Cup who many expected to see France and Ireland fight it out for the top honors there has been many change since then. If we had to access a teams performance over the last 5 months from then until now Italy are the only team who have performed above expectations. Having watched most of the fixtures it does seem the teams have gone backwards rather than forwards and are struggling.

Italy have played 4 matches so far having lost 2, won 1 and drew 1. They were comfortably beaten by Ireland 36 - 0 but all the matches after that they could have and should have won. Italy lost to England by 3 points then drew with France which they should have won and the officials messed up when the penalty kick should have been retaken as the rules state the opposing team stands still and you do not charge penalty kicks. Italy then beat Scotland this weekend which was richly deserved. The Italian under 20 team will evolve into the senior squad and they have defeated France and Scotland comfortably and lost to Ireland by a singe point.

The biggest disappointment has been the French team who were well beaten by Ireland beat Scotland when it was clearly wrong and Scotland were robbed with the last try being clearly scored because you could see the grounding. The French thrashed Wales yesterday and is some consolation for what has to be seen as a sub par performance in this competition. The French have been awarded 5 more log points than they should have and this does not tell the true story. The French are probably the most frustrating team to watch because they have all the qualities to do far better and fail more often than not. I think this could be a downer from not winning a World Cup they thought they should have won.

Ireland have performed well, but again have failed to dominate the tournament with a loss to England yesterday which should never have happened. Ireland are better than that so they have not moved on from the World Cup and this could be a mental block now. The team on paper is decent, but they are still lacking the depth required to win a tournament like the World Cup. Losing to an England team that is average at best highlights their short comings and the players must have thought the game was already in the bag.

Scotland have performed well and were robbed of a win against France which would have set up a humdinger of a match next weekend against Ireland. The loss yesterday to Italy was not part of their script and is more about how Italy have improved as a team.

Wales are possibly going to end up as the wooden spoonists this year as they play Italy next week having lost all 4 fixtures thus far. The team looks desperate and is playing like they have no confidence and lack proper leadership and a game plan.

England are still average with one or two new players that have offered more attacking flair. The basics problem is the overall quality the team has and even though they are sitting 2nd on the table they have conceded more points than they have scored which sums up where they are currently. This is a rebuild that is required and if done correctly they have another couple of years to get stronger.

There is one round of the Six Nations to play next weekend with the top game being the Scotland vs Ireland encounter the one to watch.

The summer internationals will be more telling where teams really are with England heading to New Zealand and they must be expecting a hammering. Ireland travel to South Africa and this will be a tough two tests for them with their current squad excluding Johnny Sexton. Wales travel to Australia and they are both is a bad spot and should be a close series. France travel to Argentina and France need to find their form as they are heading backwards. Italy unfortunately are not touring anyone and their next game will be when the Autumn internationals come around later in the year.

If the Northern Hemisphere wants to win the Rugby World Cup anytime soon then they need to remain consistent and improve and not head backwards which they seem to have all done besides Italy. You start to wonder if Italy have improved or have all the other teams just become weaker. I think it is a mixture of both and the summer internationals will be interesting.

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