Six Nations: wounded England will be eager to bounce back at Murrayfield

You won’t lose much money if you consistently bet on the home team in the Six Nations – except, sadly, in the case of Italy. All three home teams won on the opening weekend, and only the result in Paris was a bit surprising. Wales defeated Italy so easily that it’s hard to know how good they were. Ireland just deserved to beat Scotland because they took what was almost their only chance to score a try while Scotland failed to take two or three such opportunities. A fair judgement would be that Ireland won because their defence was very good and their experience and know-how told.

All the same, Scotland came closer to winning in Dublin than they have for years and their still young pack of forwards played with a fire and skill too often lacking when away from Murrayfield. Adam Hastings, making his first Six Nations start, had a competent game and kicked his goals. Nevertheless, Scotland missed Finn Russell, who was omitted on account of a misdemeanour in training. They spent a lot of time in the Irish 22 without being able to unlock the door. Finn, with his magician’s touch, might have produced the key.

Still, the nearest thing to a surprise was England’s loss in Paris to a young and inexperienced, if also very talented, French team. Eddie Jones had promised  or threatened a brutal assault which would bully and overwhelm the French, but for an hour the only sufferers were England’s loyal supporters. The only question was whether they were more angered than depressed by their team’s ineptitude as passes were fumbled or dropped in the Parisian drizzle. Even Owen Farrell knocked-on a couple of times when under very little pressure.

England did recover in the last quarter when they took control of the scrum after front-row replacements had come on for both sides. Then Johnny May scored two fine tries without needing any help from team-mates, and England finished the match battering vainly at the French line, just like Scotland in Dublin.

Statistics showed that England dominated both territory and possession, statistics which merely highlighted their incompetence in other respects. Nevertheless, they didn’t crumble as other teams might have, when they found themselves 24-0 down and in danger of humiliation. I guess this resolution owed something to Farrell’s leadership. He had a poor match in other respects, but you can’t fault his nerve and determination.

For France this was a very sweet victory, though one which wasn’t achieved in the way one might have hoped for. There was little sign of the longed-for French flair, for their potentially brilliant three-quarter line was scarcely used. Instead their young Toulouse halves Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack played the conditions with a skill and judgement that belied their inexperience. They kicked to put England under pressure and were assisted by a fast and predatory back-row.  Dupont is a marvellous player – how England could do with a scrum-half of his quality.

There was, of course, one English success in Paris – Shaun Edwards, who has been recruited to master-mind the French defence, which has so often been porous in recent years. His influence was already obvious. “Ils ne passeront pas”, as they said of the Germans at Verdun. Why the RFU didn’t make him the kind of offer nobody could refuse is a mystery.

What are the chances of three home wins again next week? Well, France should beat Italy in Paris, even if the Italians usually raise their game against their transalpine neighbours. Ireland  v Wales in Dublin is hard to call, though Ireland will surely have to play better than they did against Scotland if they are to win this one, while England head north to Murrayfield. Scots always see the Calcutta Cup as the Big Match of the season, while for England it is just another game they expect to win. We’ve been wondering this week whether it would be better to face a confident and perhaps complacent England or a wounded one. Well, now we know which it will be. There will be more on the subject in my Weekend column.