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IRELAND 2014: SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONS! |
ITALY 11 -
52 ENGLAND
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| Mike Brown scores 1st Try Pic: TheTelegraph |
As we came to the final
weekend of the Six Nations tournament it saw only England and Ireland having a
chance of taking the title home with them and we wouldn`t know the ending till
late Saturday night after the final match in the evening was played.
England travelled to
Rome to face the winless Italians at the Stadio Olimpico, upon where Stuart
Lancaster`s men knew that a victory was the most important aspect first and knew
if they did win then they would need to score a fairly large total to see them
try and eat into the points difference of Ireland, who had run up a mammoth margin.
It was the home side
that took the lead in the game when England`s pack stood up in the scrum and saw
French official Pascal Gauzere award the Italian`s a penalty and seen Luciano
Orquera kick through the uprights for the 3-0 lead.
England then responded to the host`s early
lead when they turned the game in a blink of an eye, first off through Owen
Farrell converting a penalty over that saw Italy concede and then that was followed
up with a try from arguably the player of the tournament in Mike Brown. England`s
attack saw them move the ball out wide before Luther Burrell pass towards the
touchline, saw Mike Brown take the pass and left the defender for dead as he
ran past him to touch down and then Farrell kicked over for the conversion for a
10-3 score.
Orquera then kicked
over another penalty for the Italians to see them close the gap to four points
not before England then hit back once more, as they charged towards the home
side line and saw Danny Care play a little ball off to Owen Farrell and the fly
half ran in from close range to make the score board say 17-6 with the kicked
extras.
Mike Brown then grabbed
his second try of the game for England, when good build up play by England from
their own line-out seen Owen Farrell`s pass to the speedy Brown then collect
and motor home through the gap in the home side defence to score another try
and make it 24-6 and looked to have victory wrapped up already.
In the second forty
Italy found themselves down to Fourteen-men, when Marco Bortolami grabbed a
loose ball from a Luther Burrell lunging effort as it was kicked away by
Leonardo Sarto and Bortolami fell on top of the ball in an offside position and
was shown a yellow card for the act and sat for 10 minutes in the sin bin.
England made the most
of their extra man advantage, as more good passing play by the visitor`s seen
Jack Nowell dive over for a try to see them lead 31-6 and it was a case now of
how many more points would get score. England then seemed to stifle their own
momentum with constant changes in the side and it took a while for them to
regain their play and momentum.
Mako Vunipola then
scored an easy try, after Billy Twlevetrees was brought down five metres from
the Italy try line and seen Vunipola take the pass and stroll over for to make
it 38-6 for the visitors at that point.
The Azzuri was visibly
tired with the constant defending that they were forced into making all game
and saw Manu Tuilagi swat off the home side tired tackling, to see England
score their Sixth try of the game for a 45-6 lead and pushing towards the 50 points
barrier.
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| Pic: therugbyblog.com |
Italy did get some
consolation in the game through their stand out player in this tournament in
Leonardo Sarto, with the Winger intercepting a pass by the England forwards and
ran it back for a try, to give the Italian fans something to cheer on what was
otherwise a miserable day for the home side.
With the last play of
the game, England pushed for one more try and seen Captain Chris Robshaw go
over to hit the Fifty points mark, after
George Ford put him through for a simple try and after the conversion it saw
the demolition of Italy complete with the final score 52-11 to England and saw them eat into the
Irish points difference too.
Match Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S_yZ_K4CAs
WALES 51- 3 SCOTLAND
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| Pic: BBCSPORTS |
This match was the dead
rubber of the games after Wales lost their chance to regain the title with
defeat to England the previous week at Twickenham, For Scotland it was a chance
to hand out debuts to new players ahead of their tour of American in the
Summer.
Greig Laidlaw put the
Scots 3-0 up with an early penalty conversion that was then cancelled out by Wales
as they hit right back with a short distance kick from the boot of Dan Biggar
as he put it over to draw level.
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| Pic: Msn.com |
Wales took the lead in
the game with the Welsh forwards having the ball virtually on the Scottish try
line, before then switching it out wide with Scarlets player Liam Williams diving
over for the try in the corner to see the home side move 10-3 in front with Dan
Biggar adding the extras.
Stuart Hogg then saw
his sides hopes of victory all but disappear, when the Full-back rushed at Dan
Biggar with very late and ugly hit with his shoulder after the Fly half cleared
the ball down field. It was a terrible and stupid move that resulting in Hogg
catching Biggar flush on the chin and sent him crashing to the deck much like a
boxer suffering a knockout punch does.
Originally the referee
Jerome Garces, had only shown the Scotland full back a yellow card, that before
the replays were shown on the big screen and the reaction of the crowd and the
sight of the incident, made the referee change his mind and send him off.
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| PIC: BBCSPORTS |
Once Biggar had restored
his faculties and dusted himself down he then slotted his kick to see Wales move
13-3 ahead. Wales then score their second try of the game after a great counter
attack by Liam Williams down the left flank, saw him evade a couple of Scottish
players before handing to Mike Philips and from their he passed it onto George
North who ran it home for a try to led 20-3.
Jamie Roberts then went
over for another try to the home side, when play down the left flank saw North
and Jonathan Davies run towards the Scottish 22 metre line before a pass by
Davies went to Roberts and touched down to make it 27-3 at half time.
George North then took
a pass from Davies by the wing and after Dougie Fife last gasp tackle couldn`t
see the maundering Winger stopped, he opened the scoring the second half. Wales
then scored a superb team try that saw them play it out from a ruck that
occurred from a losing Scottish line out, from that point the Scots paid the
penalty for not winning their lineout with the ball going wide and seen half
the Welsh side touch the ball at some point in the build up, till Faletau
finally dished the ball to Roberts and he went over.
Faletau then made it
44-3 for the outgoing Six Nations champions, as they simply stampeded over a
poor Scotland side that due to the Hogg red card in the opening half, it seen
them hopelessly outplayed at the Millennium Stadium with James Hook rounding
off the misery for Scotland, with the late substitute stretching out for the
try line and made it 51-3 to see them finish with a flourish.
highlights:
FRANCE 20-22 IRELAND
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| Johnny Sexton celebrates try Pic via: rbs6nations.com |
The remaining match in
this year’s tournament saw Brian O Driscoll swansong as his Ireland side was just
80 minutes away from lifting the Six Nations crown, needing only a win to take
the crown. Ireland`s only worry was that there last victory in France or Paris
was that back in 2000, when a certain Mr O` Driscoll scored a Hat-trick that
day to seal victory.
It saw the French take
the lead in the contest as Maxime Machenaud kicked over two penalties to see
the hosts lead 6-0.
Johnny Sexton then went
over from close range after Chris Henry flipped a pass out backwards and saw
Ireland go over for a try and had Sexton miss a rare kick at goal to trail 6-5.
More Ireland pressure caught
out the France defence horribly as they had more holes in their defence than a
block of Swiss cheese, Andrew Trimble then exchanged passes with Connor Murray
and he went behind the post for the 12-6 lead as Sexton added the two points.
France then grabbed a
try to put them back in it, when Brice Dulin collected from a clever bit of
play by the French when Remi Tales put a cross field kick over to the far side
and saw France`s player of the tournament in the statuesque Yohan Hugent and he
pushed the ball backwards into the path of Dulin with the Full Back getting it
down, to see French back in front at 13-12.
Half time came and saw France
led by a single point in what was a thrilling finale to the Six Nations tournament
with the result still in the balance.
Second half saw Ireland
strike back as Johnny Sexton picked up his second brace of tries in as many
games, which helped see Ireland move ahead of the home team. Brian O Driscoll
must have thought he was on for a try when he got ahead of his man, but he was tackled
short and saw Ireland quick play the ball from the ruck and seen the incoming
Sexton take the pass to dashed through the gap to score the try.
Sexton soon after made
sure his kicking returned to normality, after the fly half had seen two kicks
missed in the opening half and he made sure this time round as the score moved
to 22-13 to the Irish.
Cian Healy was then lucky
not getting a yellow card or penalty against his side, when the Irish Prop coming
from the side with his head, knocking Louis Picamoles flying backwards and
staying down as Picamoles stood over the ruck near the Irish line.
Dimitri Szarzewki then
was awarded a try for France when he played it up against the posts which is
counted as the try line, however replays shows he lost control of the ball when
putting it down and seen France escaped with the try and after Machenaud kicked
the conversion, it saw Ireland lead by a slim margin of two points with still
quarter of an hour left to play.
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| Brian O` Driscoll hold the title aloft: Pic bleacherreport.net |
Drama
then came right in the dying minutes of this great contest, when a pass out
wide by the home side looked to gone forwards by Pascal Pape and had Damien
Chouly looking like he picked it up in front of him and not behind him. Referee
Steve Walsh then went upstairs for the TMO and the crucial decision came and
saw no try awarded and a forward pass by the French as the cause.
France
had less than a minute to score in the game and with them pushing hard and
gaining in drop goal range, Ireland won a penalty and seen Walsh blow for full
time to see a mixture of emotion on the Ireland side, with players celebrate
and fall to their knees in joy and some exhausted and crying over their
historic win by 22-20 in Paris.
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