The 2014 Six Nations Championship got underway last weekend with some teams having points to prove after a disastrous 2013 championship last year.
WALES 23 - 15 ITALY
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| Pic: BBCSports |
Wales got their campaign
underway with an unconvincing win over the Italians at the Millenium Stadium in
Cardiff. Things started great for the defending champions, when Rhys Priestland
dabbed through a kick which was then misjudged by Angelo Esposito and seen Alex
Cuthbert grab the ball to go over for a try in the 4th minute, with Leigh
Halfpenny kicking the extras.
Italy`s young kicker
Tomasso Allan, he kicked a penalty over for the Azzurri as they cut into the
Welsh lead with a player who represented Scotland U20, but decided to play for
the country of his birth instead.
Wales then capitalised on a Sergio Parisse penalty at the line out and seen the Halfpenny kick the resulting penalty over for a 10-3 score line. Scott Williams then scored a second try for the home side coming just before the break to make it 17-3. Italy though was still in the contest despite the score though.
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| PIC: BBC sports |
In
the opening minutes of the Second half, Italy went over for a try after
Campagnaro chased a loose ball up field. Campagnaro looked to be half hearted
in his celebrations as he didn`t it would count and it went upstairs the
referee wanted the Video ref to look at it. It looked to be a forward pass from
replays, but too much amazement, he gave the try and the Italians were right
back in the contest now.
Allan
missed the conversation for the Italians and saw Halfpenny become human as he
missed a penalty for the Welsh. Allan saw his next penalty strike the uprights,
as Italy failed to claw back points on the champions. Halfpenny made up for his
missed kicked earlier, as this time his kick sailed through the posts for a
20-8 lead.
Wales
then saw Campagnaro intercept a pass by Halfpenny and he ran it back unchallenged
to score his second try of the game and make it 20-15 with Allan converting.
Italy
then conceded a late penalty in the final ten minutes, which gave the Welsh a
chance to put the game to bed and Halfpenny sealed the win 23-15..FRANCE 26-24 ENGLAND
France
was looking for a much better year this time around, with Les Bleus picking up
the Wooden spoon in the championship last year and they hoped to erase the
memory of the 2013 competition and they went some way to go about it too. A
kick towards the corner by Jules Plisson saw Yoann Huget claim the ball and put
it down for a try after 30 seconds into give France a great start to the game.
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| Pic: BBCSports |
Owen
Farrell then kicked over a penalty for England mintues later to see them cut it
to down to a two point game, till Doussain restored the five point lead for the
French with a penalty for 8-3. France then grabbed a second try in the game,
when Brice Dulin dinked a ball over the back line and saw the bounce catch out the
English defence and seen it fall perfectly for Huget who was hand to collect it
and go over in the corner again for a 13-3 score.
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| Pic: TheGuardian |
Doussain
missed the conversation, but kicked over a penalty later for the French to go
16-3 ahead and that looked to have put England down and out at that point, with
the French building up a 13 points lead. England got a massive try before half
time, when Mike Brown went over the line, after Danny Care had cut through the
French defences. The Video ref confirmed the try and them back in it at 16-8
with Farrell failing on the conversion.
Owen Farrell then converted a penalty in the early moments of the second half for a 16-11 score. England then took a dramatic lead in the game after Vunipola had galloped into the space and then passed to Luther Burrell, who proceeded to run under the posts and level it at 16-16, with Farrell then adding the extras for an18-16 lead to the visitors..
Maxime Machenaud then kicked over a penalty for France as they brought it back to a two point game, Andy Goode then kicked a long range penalty that was middle of the field and he make it 24-19 to England with them looking in full control of the game now.
England
looked to have completed a fabulous comeback in the game with France never looking
like getting back into it in the game second half. Then with less than three
minutes of the game left to play, France launched one last attack. Play switched
to the left and used dummy runners and had more blue shirts on the far side
waiting for the ball, seen the French steal the game. When Gael Fickou took the
pass and evaded the last line of defence to run it round behind the posts and finish
the game off, with the home side winning 26-24 in an enthralling game of rugby
at the Stade de France.
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| Pic: Yahoosports |
IRELAND 28 - 6 SCOTLAND
Ireland
in their opener to the Six Nations Championship, seen the home side eventually
managed to overpower a dogged Scottish side at the Aviva Stadium. Scotland had the
early share of the ball at the start of the match with the Irish defence tested
by the Scottish forwards in the opening quarter of the game, but the Green wall
withstood the early possession that the Scots had.
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| Pic: Yahoo Sports |
Scotland
Captain Greg Laidlaw then had the perfect chance to give his side the lead, but
his kick struck the uprights and it bounced wide to let Ireland off. Ireland`s
driving maul caused the visitors problems with their power all game and it was
evident that the Scots couldn`t deal with it at all, which then saw Ireland given a penalty, to which
Johnny Sexton kicked over for a 3-0 lead.
Ireland
then conceded themselves for not rolling away from the tackles and seen Laidlaw
make no mistake this time around, as he levelled the game at 3-3.
Johnny Sexton was then dumped to the ground and drew a collective "Oooohhh" by the Lansdowne Road crowd and seen Sexton himself dust himself down and drill a penalty over which came prior to the hit on him as he made it 6-3 for the hosts. Ireland thought they had a got try just before half time, as good play by the Irish seen go over the line, however cheers turned to jeers, when the try was ruled out for Jamie Heaslip foot stepping out of bounce prior to the grounding.
The
home side thought did managed to grab a try right on the stroke of half time, when
they stole a Scottish line out and drove towards the Scots try line and seen Andrew
Trimble make it 11-3 with the hosts in charge of the game after the opening 10
minutes of play.
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| Pic: Daily mail |
The
second Irish try came once again from a driving maul, as Scotland was unable to
stop it and Heaslip managed to get the ball down to make it a 16-6 game, with
Sexton adding the two points for a 18-6 lead and saw Ireland pulling away. Johnny Sexton then added three more points with
the boot, to see the Hosts go 21-6 up and with Scotland losing their
concentration, Chris Henry then dashed forward on a break for the Irish before
handing off to Rob Kearney. He then managed to fend off the tackle, while his
shirt was getting tugged back as he put it down for a try to Ireland and seen
Sexton convert to see a winning start to their campaign and move top of the
championship in the opening week.
TABLE: PLD W L D PTS
1. IRELAND 1 1 0 0 2
2. Wales 1 1 0 0 2
3. France 1 1 0 0 2
4. England 1 0 1 0 0
5. Italy 1 0 1 0 0
6. Scotland 1 0 1 0 0
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