Six Nations Final Round – France win Grand Slam

As predicted, France has won the Six Nations tournament. Many fans and pundits seen this coming but what was astonishing was the five words uttered by fans this weekend.

‘Didn’t think that would happen’ were those five words as Italy actually won a game dropping their thirty-seven-match losing streak. In what was a climatic finale to the competition. There were some highs in the final round and some lows.

France (25) – England (13)

France this weekend played their way to a grand slam, something that they had not achieved for twelve years this weekend. By defeating England.

England gave all they had in this game playing as hard as they could. However it was again the French defence that dominated- having already been the deciding factor against rugby teams this year. This allowed France to attack from deep in their half and if not for a few fumbles the score would have been higher for ‘les bleus’.

Around the 17th minute was when it all fell apart from England, Antoine Dupont had surged irresistibly clear to put France clear at 25-13. England played their best but any take away from the game is that France are a solid bet for the World cup next year.

Wales (21) – Italy (22)

The game that every fan wouldn’t have been able to predict the result for. Italy getting a last minute try to win a game. Alun Wyn Jones and Dan Biggar earned their 150th and 100th Test caps for Wales, but it wasn’t a day to savour for the Welsh side when Edoardo Padovani ran under the sticks in the seventy ninth minute.

Wayne Pivac, the Wales coach, said: “For a lot of us this is our worst experience in a Welsh jersey. The players put in an unacceptable performance”.

Wales looked to have it won with a try in the seventieth minute, with a Josh Adams solo try and it made the score 21 – 15, but their ill discipline and the tried and tested method of easing up came back to haunt them, with the final try and conversion making the score 22 –21 in Italy’s favour

Ireland (26) - Scotland (5)

Ireland claimed victory this weekend along with the Triple crown, as they hammered Scotland. Scotland used this game to test out a few new ideas, but had a ‘devil may care’ attitude. Scotland treated this game as a friendly and payed the price for their attitude.

Ireland knew how to break Scotland’s defence while keeping theirs together; Ireland broke it many times again and again to have a 14-0 lead. However, a try by Scotland managed to fire up the side, before missing their conversion.

In the second half Scotland fared no better, with fumbles, missed opportunities and multiple penalties.