Hello readers apologise to you all for not posting recently i have been enjoying a holiday with the family.
It has given me the chance to catch up on some Rugby news from around the game.
So lets get started with the big one.
Last week we saw the return of the Six Nations after the teams had a break the week earlier.
So what did we see on the return. England's head coach Eddie Jones stuck to his guns and kept Tom Curry at number 8 and in a shock move selected Jonathan Joseph on the wing. These selections of course raised the voices of the pundits and many pundits and ex players voiced there opinions on this, at the time you would have to say that Jones was not thinking clearly and has not learnt from the past couple of weeks. However we where again proved wrong as Eddie Jones England side put in their best performance of the tournament and smashed the Irish at Twickenham.
The English looked like a team on a mission for the whole 80 minutes, smashing the Irish back in defence and exposing them all over the park in attack. The forwards where unstoppable, in open field play you saw some great skill and hands from the likes of Kyle Sinckler tipping the ball on in close contact and changing the point of attack. Some brilliant physical ball carrying from the likes of Lawes and Marler helped England break he gain line throughout the game, giving good quick ball for the Youngs to move out to the back line, this allowed England to bring the likes of Tuilagi and Daly into the game on some dangerous lines, putting more pressure on the Irish defence. Ford, Farrell and Daly expertly directed the pack around the park with their kicking, probing the corners and turning the Irish defence a forcing them to play out from their own 22.
Some brilliant performances of the bench from the Cowen-Dickie and Genge only strengthened the pack and England's scrum started to role over the Irish, making the Irish look like age group players at times.
The Irish did look good in some areas of the game and looked to be coming back into the game when Henshaw went over in the corner to get Ireland on the score board. However this was to be the only part of the game you really saw Ireland play, they struggled to get parity up front against a far superior English pack and where quiet frankly bullied up front by the English.
Sexton had a poor game, from the boot he was the worse i have ever seen him, normally so constant in this area he was way off target and striking the ball poorly, his overall game play was poor and often made very basic errors. I have to say that although Sexton is Ireland's number one option at Fly half I do feel that they need to be starting the other options they have their sooner rather than later as Ireland need to replace Sexton before he steps down from the game at International level, I also think that although he has captained teams in the past i do not think he has the temperament to captain at International level, he needs to be able to be free to think about his game and manage the game on the field, with the added pressure of being captain and as a already very vocal player on the field and not always in a good way, it would appear that being captain does not help his game. I think that Andy Farrell needs to be looking at some other options in this area, CJ Stander would be a good option or Even young lock James Ryan, Ryan would make a good captain, playing in the pack so close to the action and the ref at all times, is quickly becoming a must have player in the Irish team, also he has so many experienced players around him to support him. The quicker he is made captain the better it would be for Irish rugby.
Overall the game was a brilliant performance by a English team who needed to perform. They Dominated a poor Irish team that need to go back to the drawing board and work out how they want to play and then follow the game plan.
We also saw Wales play France in a game that could turn the result of the competition. Wales coming off the back of a lose to the Irish wanting to prove they could still challenge for the Six Nations title. And the French who are now the favourites to win the grand slam.
It was a good start for Wales they looked dangerous in attack and put a good lot of pressure on the French defence, but as the Welsh know Shaun Edwards defensive structures are tough to break down and the French defended well and put a good deal of pressure on the Welsh attack forcing mistakes and turnovers.
Eventually all the pressure told and the French again broke the game by getting a interception break away try. This was the turning point of the game and even though the Welsh played well and created a number of the chances they where not able to stop the French from running away with the result.
Can anyone beat the French? You have to say that a mark of a good team is to win ugly and the French have certainly learnt to win both ugly and in style.
Scotland Played Italy and although the score line is not as big as others Scotland dominated the Italians from start to finish, Hogg scored outstanding individual try off the back of constant pressure from the Scottish team, The Scottish performance was good but was littered with errors which showed in the score as they failed to take all their chances to score. This seems to be a typical problem for the Scottish in this years Six Nations, in all of their games so far they have been in positions to win games but have failed to take the points when they are on offer.
Italy again showed the game they want to play but like all games this year they failed to match up to their opposition across the park.
When you look at the Italian side you have to say that with the exception of Polledri there is no players on the team that would make the other Six Nation sides, they simple are not good enough to challenge the other teams and with all the other Nations making improvements every season it is only going to get harder for Italy unless they find a way of investing in player development. Players like Polledri unfortunately have wasted their international opportunities by being selected for Italy. I feel that Polledri who is also English and Welsh qualified would of been selected by one of those squads if he had waited a bit longer. Unfortunately he will not reach his international potential in the Italian squad.
Other news around the game.
We have seen the announcement that Chris Robshaw ex England and Harlequins captain is on the move, he has made a surprise move over to Major League Rugby in America. Robshaw will be running out for New York next Season, he joins the likes of Ben Foden and Mathieu Bastareaud next season.
The game in the US seems to be growing quickly and if it can pull in a few more spectators and some other big name signings it will boost the game in the country and we may see a USA team that can compete in some international competitions.
George Kruis currently playing for Saracens but is out of contract at the end of session could move over to Japan on a very lucrative deal according to some sources around the troubled club.
Saracens who earlier this season got into hot water with breaking the Salary cap, this got them relegated mid way through the season. Although they where allowed to finish this season in the Premiership they are going to be playing there rugby in the Championship next season, they are also being watched closely to make sure they do not break the salary cap again, this means that a number of their current players who are out of the contract at the end of the session will not get offered a deal to stay. So the likes of Kruis are expected to leave and with not to many Premiership clubs having room to take on a top level player it is likely that many other players will be heading to Japan or France to play their club rugby and therefor taking them out of selection for England.
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