Flowering Scotland
Scotland have not only never won the Six Nations, they have never threatened to. They may be celebrating a first victory at Twickenham since Margaret Thatcher was in her first term at 10 Downing Street, but Saturday’s match against Wales at Murrayfield is when they will be judged. They will be expected to win, a rare occurrence when Italy are not the opposition, and it will and be a test of their growing maturity. An impressive feature of Saturday was the way they started the second half with 14 men, using their forwards to take the game to England and dominating the eight minutes until Finn Russell returned to kick a penalty. Scotland in recent years have struggled to arm their attacking backs, but they now have a pack that competes in all areas and in the likes of Rory Sutherland, Jonny Gray and Hamish Watson have Lions in waiting. They have gone two games without defeat at Twickenham for the first time, but they are aiming higher. PR
Limited England
England ground their way to success in the Autumn Nations Cup, rarely doing more than they had to as they wore down opponents and minimised risk by putting boot to ball. Eddie Jones did not apologise for the heavily criticised tactics, but it was not so much the style of play that was questioned as a constant lack of ambition when they were in possession. They had a robotic nature that was enough as long as they were supreme physically, but when Scotland dominated possession and controlled the tackle area, England carried on regardless and lacked improvisation. There were external factors, such as the weather and a lack of match practice, but Scotland had the variety that England, with a back division that includes Henry Slade, Elliot Daly, Jonny May and Anthony Watson, can adopt – but won’t. PR
Warren’s call
Warren Gatland was at Twickenham to gauge his options for what will be his fourth Lions tour and third as head coach, assuming the summer series against South Africa goes ahead. His previous squads have contained only a sprinkling of Scots and none of them started any of the nine Tests. This year could be different, and not just because Scotland followed up their victory in Wales at the end of last year’s tournament with their first success at Twickenham since 1983. Defence was a significant factor in South Africa’s 2019 World Cup success, as they showed when suffocating England in the final, and the ability of the Scotland outside-half Finn Russell to find space against the best defence in the tournament will have been noted. PR
Heads you lose
Four of the five Six Nations matches played behind closed doors had resulted in away victories. Ireland may well have made it five but for the dismissal of their experienced flanker Peter O’Mahony for planting his left elbow in the face of the Wales prop Tomas Francis at a ruck. Players have had 18 months to come to terms with the directive that challenges that involve contact with an opponent’s head will result in a red card unless there are mitigating circumstances. Francis’s head was not far from the ground: had he been standing the tackle would have been below waist height, but taking him out gave Ireland no advantage because the ball was elsewhere and O’Mahony had been pumped up from the start. That Ireland were in the contest until the end said a lot about their spirit, but they need to beat France in Dublin on Sunday to keep their championship alive. PR
Italy lack punch
Hardly a lesson we need to resit, but we have learned that, though they change virtually all personnel, Italy still struggle to land a punch. They throw plenty of them, to give them their due, but the punches register, when they do, as little more than stings. It is not clear exactly why this continues to be the case. They have more than enough running in them and now a half-back pairing of genuine promise. When Ignacio Brex broke in only the fifth minute, Italy were looking great. France, though, who had yet to throw a punch at that point, were the ones who opened the scoring a few seconds later. Frustrating, but what can you do? Keep trying… MA
French fancied
There was only ever going to be so much we could learn about France from this, but they performed their routines with as much aplomb as we could have expected. And then they watched the pre-tournament favourites fall at the first hurdle, catapulting the French to the top of the bookies’ charts. Last time they were favourites to win the Six Nations they lost to Scotland. No trip to Murrayfield this year, but next up is Dublin, which is no less dangerous a place when France expects. Then again, what does it matter when there are no crowds to get under your skin? MA
