Wales 20-17 Scotland
These two teams reversed their fortunes from Round 1, with Wales bouncing back from a humbling defeat in Dublin and Scotland crashing back down to earth after their Calcutta Cup win. It was a nervy affair, with the boot of Dan Biggar eventually deciding which way the spoils went thanks to a simple drop goal at the end.
The grunt of the back-rowers was a key factor in the arm wrestle for the upper hand in the match. Wales had debutant Jac Morgan leading the way, and having been picked out by The Analyst pre-tournament as a player to watch, he didn’t let us down.
His opposite number Hamish Watson is some player to match though, and his phenomenal work rate was evident yet again as he extended his run of tackles without a miss in the Six Nations to an unbelievable 180. Morgan provided more threat with the ball in hand, but a missed tackle and a few discipline transgressions dropped his rating down ever so slightly.
Both players were selective at their attendance of defensive rucks, only ever being the first arrival (Morgan 10 times, Watson 9). On attacking rucks, Morgan’s rate (71%) of securing the ball was impressively superior to Watson’s (56%), although Watson did affect more clear outs (9 vs. 3). The pair have different styles, but both are undoubtedly effective.
Going back to the boot, it wasn’t all about aiming at the sticks. Wales decided to put boot to ball in open play more often than any other side (37) and they were rewarded with good chases and a round-high five retained kicks, as well as a successful 50:22. Biggar is undoubtedly one of the best tactical kickers in the game and his skill at putting the ball on a sixpence paired with strong chasers gives Wales a solid platform to progress the ball down the pitch effectively.
France 30-24 Ireland
Despite being just the second round of this year’s Six Nations, France’s clash with Ireland was billed as a potential Championship decider. After recording convincing wins in Round 1, along with England’s loss at Murrayfield and Scotland’s subsequent defeat in Saturday’s early kick-off, France and Ireland were the only sides left with Grand Slam hopes come 5:45pm in Paris.
Six minutes later it looked like Ireland’s Grand Slam hopes were over too. Dupont’s try after 67 seconds was the earliest they’d ever conceded in a Six Nations game and when Melvyn Jaminet slotted a penalty minutes later to take the score to 10-0 it seemed like the game was over before Ireland had fired a shot.
Although Mack Hansen responded for Ireland straight from the restart, the first half continued to be dominated by Les Bleus. It wasn’t until the second half that Ireland rallied. France in the first 40 minutes won the collisions, recording a 41% dominant carry rate and getting over the gainline from 69% of their gainline carries, a stark contrast to Ireland’s tallies of 21% and 43% respectively. This meant Ireland had to commit more than one tackler on 67% of France’s carries, leaving gaps for their elusive backs to exploit.
Andy Farrell’s side made amends in the second half, gaining the edge in terms of dominant carries, gainline success and post-contact metres, but the disparity wasn’t as great as in the first half and Fabien Galthié’s side held on to secure the all-important victory.
Italy 0-33 England
The final game of the weekend and there were few surprises in Rome as England claimed a comfortable bonus-point win against a toothless Italian side. It was ultimately a scrappy match with plenty of errors and points left on the pitch. England’s defence will have pleased Eddie Jones though, preventing the opposition from scoring even a single point for just the second time in their Six Nations history (also 20-0 vs. Scotland, 2014).
In attack, Marcus Smith pulled the strings and England did hit their stride moving forward but their conversion rate was still well below the standard they’ll need to challenge for the Championship. England made a round-high 12 incursions into the Italian 22, so to come away with ‘just’ the five tries will be a disappointment. Having said that, the disappointment will be far greater in the Italy camp, they made 11 entries (the second-most in Round 2) into England’s 22 and came away with nothing.
For England, handling errors were their downfall, 14 across the game really hit them hard. Italy also made 10 handling errors but compounded with 12 penalties conceded, any momentum they had was quickly stifled.
Across the tournament handling errors is a definite area the Azzurri will need to work on if they are to salvage a win somewhere along the way. England actually have quite a low rate, based on the quantity of ball they’ve had, so if they can start converting their chances then there is still hope they can make a challenge for the title.
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