A Look Back and Forward after Three Rounds
A Surge of Interest
Coaching heroes
Some things never change
The Big One
A Surge of Interest
The Six Nations has really come of age this year. The shift to the March-April proved itself in its first post-lockdown showing. The arrival of TikTok gave the whole enterprise a huge boost, though some players had to remember to limit their time practising new dance routines.
The sharp rise in attendances was testimony to its pulling-power. And this despite the much increased television coverage on offer. Indeed it proves that TV helps to attract paying customers through the gates.
It means that the matches are coming under much wider scrutiny than even last year.
The third round was a strange weekend: only one game on Saturday starting in late afternoon; and two on Sunday; the two leading nations sticking to their identical policy of checking over the entire squad, safe in the knowledge that all would be well whoever played.
The BBC showed the England-Wales game in competition with ITV’s Grand National. Let’s hope the horses didn’t suffer too much.
With his usual omniscience John Birch (scrumqueens.com) offered us a wide span of national attendance records over the years:
France: 17,740 v England (Grenoble) 2018
England: 10,974 v Wales (The Stoop) 2020
Spain: 9,000 v Netherlands (Madrid) 2019
Ireland: 6,113 v Wales (Dublin) 2022
Wales: 4,875 v Scotland (Cardiff) 2022
Italy: 4,500 v Ireland (L’Aquila) 2017
Scotland: 3,988 v England (Edinburgh) 2022
Now that English record has bitten the dust, by a cool 3,715, and Musgrave Park Cork welcomed 5,039 spectators to the Italy match, its first ever international.
Coaches United
This year’s 6N has two new head coaches, Greg McWilliams (Ireland) and Ioan Cunningham (Wales). They had the extra burden of picking their squads up psychologically from the traumas they suffered over the preceding months. Both have achieved the first stages in rehabilitation; both have now gained first victories.
It was amusing to read of Simon Middleton’s reaction to Wayne Smith boarding the good ship Black Fern to help correct its stabilisers. He admitted his huge admiration for the New Zealander.
Back in January the Black Ferns had already taken on Mike Cron, another legendary Kiwi coach, to help sort out the scrummaging. Now even Sir Graham Henry may be adding his weight to the rescue operation.
Middleton is too modest to say one reason for these moves was the success he has had ever since the last World Cup final. England have registered their 21st victory on the run. Now they want to overtake their all-time record of 23, set up in the early 1990s.
In the process Middleton’s own coaching skills have also deepened, making these late calls in New Zealand so necessary.
Of course, we still await confirmation of the improvement when England travel to Bayonne at the end of the month. The French pack have mastered three opponents thus far, and they haven’t once had one of their soundest scrummagers available, Rose Bernadou. More on that later.
Some things never change
To be sure, the same old weaknesses in the 6N system remain. The gap in attainment between contracted and non-contracted teams is obvious. Rachel Malcolm, Scotland’s articulate captain, has called on the SRU to take urgent action to improve the lot of her team-mates, most of whom currently exist on personal help packages rather than full-blown contracts.
Even when contracts are in place there is no assurance of immediate improvement. Above all, the biggest discrepancy among the six countries is population size. That hasn’t prevented the men’s version of the 6N being highly competitive, but for the women the difference in player numbers must remain a dividing-line for some time yet.
Italy has recorded the most disappointing set of results. But now comes the excellent news of the award of 25 part-time contracts, including seven ‘scholarships’, daily for younger players. That will assure them of 80-130 days training per annum.
Admittedly they were given by far the toughest draw in the championship, facing both the big beasts first.
It will be fascinating to compare how Italy and Wales progress with their new contracts in place.
Fortunately a couple of results reveal really tight contests (see below), and only England have walked off with large-scale victories.
The Big One
Every succeeding England-France contest seems to increase anticipation. The Red Roses’ sequence of wins is a minor miracle, given the tightness of several recent results. ‘They must lose one day’, but will it be on 30 April in Bayonne?
I really thought les Bleues had an excellent chance of turning the tables this time round. But a glance at their results, especially in Round 3, which saw them fail to score in the second half against Scotland, raises doubts. They were deliberately short of some major players, but one of England’s greatest assets is the quality of the so-called back-up squad.
One central question focuses on the battle up front. The autumn internationals saw the England pack restore some of their lost renown in scrummaging. But they didn’t play France. If the French pack can repeat their dominance of recent encounters, then Laure Sansus, the outstanding player in the championship at present, will cause untold mischief. And she has players outside her – all restored to fitness, we hope – to exploit the weaknesses she exposes.
Results to date:
Round One
France 39 Italy 6
Ireland 19 Wales 27
Scotland 5 England 57
Round Two
France 40 Ireland 5
Italy 0 England 74
Wales 24 Scotland 19
Round Three
England 58 Wales 5
Scotland 5 France 28
Ireland 24 Italy 8
