The Six Nations fallow week is here and for some sides it hasn’t come a moment too soon.
France are running away with the tournament with three-wins from three with their push for a grand slam very much alive.
England are one side who will welcome the break as they look to regroup following back-to-back defeats to Scotland and Ireland.
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Here are the main talking points after the third round of matches.
This must be a pivotal moment for England
There are moments in a World Cup cycle where a line is drawn in the sand and it’s England’s time to do that.
Across the defeats to Scotland and Wales, they have missed 53 tackles. There’s been poor decision-making across the pitch and confusion in defence. They’ve been dominated at the breakdown; the lineout has capitulated. They can get themselves into the opponent’s 22, but their points-conversion rate is fourth in the championship.
At the start of the Six Nations, they were being bracketed with France as favourites for the championship. They had won 11 matches on the bounce and were playing with wonderful confidence. They swatted aside Wales, and travelled north to Edinburgh looking for their first win on Scottish soil since 2020.
Scotland dominated them, and a week later, Ireland put in a carbon copy of a performance to secure a record win on Twickenham soil. Suddenly there were question marks over selection in just about every area of the pitch.
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Over the past fortnight, Steve Borthwick will have learnt a huge amount about his team. He talks about needing to maintain level emotion — not getting carried away when things are going well, or falling into a pit of doom when momentum shifts against them.
But these two matches will give him the greatest indication yet of which players he can trust heading forward, and those he might sideline. With Italy awaiting them in the next round, England cannot afford yet another slow start.
“We’ve got to get to the bottom of it. It’s clearly not good enough, and clearly in the first 15-20 minutes in a Test match you want to at least give yourselves a foothold in the game,” George Ford said afterwards of their first quarter struggles.
“When you have a couple of results like this, it’s time to front it up, take it head on and make sure that we actually properly get to some proper solutions where we can grow from it,” – Hamilton.
Talk of Ireland’s demise was premature
If you want a snapshot of why Ireland hammered England, then briefly glance away from the tries. It came in the 72nd minute, once Ireland had completed their 42-point haul.
England’s Marcus Smith snaffled up a loose pass from Jack Crowley just inside his own half, and sprinted away from the covering Ireland defence. Enter screen right Stuart McCloskey. The Ulsterman had already emptied the tank, but then came rampaging through to floor Smith just metres from the Irish try line.
The match was already done, Ireland the victors, but still there was urgency and desire. Andy Farrell responded by shouting his praise, punching the shattered Twickenham air.
Ireland started this championship with a chastening defeat against France, after which Farrell questioned his side’s intent.
A week later they edged past Italy despite a back-pedalling scrum. They went to Twickenham with questions: Are they too old? Do they have any strength-in-depth? Is this the start of Ireland’s decline? Well, we know the answers to all of that now. Ireland were masterful, their British & Irish Lions contingent stood up, and while Jamison Gibson-Park was player of the match after an outstanding performance, it could have easily gone to McCloskey.
For so long McCloskey was in the cold, watching on as Bundee Aki, Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw owned the centre spots … But no longer.
McCloskey has delivered, and at Twickenham, Ireland showed why they are still a formidable side, capable of record wins on English soil. Farrell is adamant his team will peak at next year’s World Cup, but in the here and now, they have a Triple Crown to win.
And with Wales and Scotland to come in Dublin, they still have an outside shot at the title if Scotland or England can do them a favour with France – Hamilton.
France should win the slam, but beware rocks-and-diamonds Scots
It still feels like France haven’t had to get past third gear this year, with commanding, comfortable wins over Ireland, Wales and Italy. They were expected to ease past the latter two, and the way with which they dismantled Ireland was in itself a statement. Having made a near flawless start to their title defence, the intention must be for France to win the slam this year.
This “golden generation” needs another title and grand slam to live up to the title the outside has bestowed on them and they’ll know this is is an incredible opportunity to do so. With no serious injuries (touch wood) and their stars in top form, the fallow week comes at a nice time for them to gather themselves before one final push.
However, perhaps the biggest banana skin will come in Edinburgh against an utterly unpredictable Scotland side. Having steamrolled England, they had to mount a mighty comeback against lowly Wales in Cardiff, and if it wasn’t for Finn Russell, they might have fallen to an embarrassing defeat.
But, if there’s one thing Gregor Townsend’s side is capable of, it’s rallying for a huge against-the-odds win with an emphatic performance out of seemingly nowhere. They will be expected to compete at Murrayfield but truthfully, nobody can say for sure which Scotland outfit will turn up.
That’s a scary prospect for Les Bleus and their slam hopes – Regan.
