And it is over. A mere eight and a bit months after it began on 1st February in Cardiff, the Six Nations has reached its conclusion. England took the title on points difference from France, closing their campaign with a bonus-point victory over Italy. The top spot was secured despite an opening day defeat to France many moons ago –only the second time a team has bounced back from a loss in their first game to claim the trophy in the past decade.
England’s title win was defined by many moments, one of the most consequential of which came 82 minutes into their loss to France. Ten points down with no chance of victory, Owen Farrell opted to kick for goal, bringing England within seven points and securing them a losing bonus point. That decision, and the point it obtained, proved crucial in coming on top in the final standings.
This weekend their task appeared simpler – beat a thus-far winless Italian side, scoring four tries for a five-point win in the process and hope that Ireland could not match that against France, who themselves had an outside chance of winning the championship by beating Ireland by a greater margin than that of England against Italy.
On his 100th international cap, Ben Youngs opened the scoring for England, but Italy showed resistance with England-born No 8 Jake Polledri crossing over for a 10– 5 score at half time. England pulled away in the second half, scoring 24 unanswered points for a 34–5 win.
This scoreline left Ireland with the hefty challenge of securing victory with four tries and a margin of six or more points in order to snatch the title, whilst France needed a victory by an even more unlikely 32 points.
With victory achieved, England had simply to wait for news from Paris. After a closely contestedfirst half, a penalty try for France took them into the break up four points at 17-13. The second half was less evenly matched, with Ireland trailing deservedly by 14 points until a late Jacob Stockdale try brought the difference down to seven with two minutes left on the clock.
The French side showed clear promise ahead of the Autumn Nations Cup with Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack impressing in the half-back positions. The 21 yearold Ntamack showed great promise with the influence he exerted on the game, scoring 18 points and setting up Virimi Vakatawa for France’s final try.
The headline story from the final weekend’s other match was Scotland’s first victory on Welsh soil since 2002, winning 14-10 to secur their first ever Doddie Weir Cup, named in honour of the former Scotland lock who now runs a charity combatting motor neurone disease after being diagnosed in 2016.
The impressive performance could come at a high cost for Scotland with both starting fly-half, Finn Russell, and his replacement, Adam Hastings, coming off with serious injuries. Stuart Hogg filled in as a makeshift No. 10 in the closing stages, but these injuries leave Scotland without their top two performers in arguably the most important position in the XV ahead of the Autumn Nations Cup and potentially even the 2021 Six Nations.
The plans for the next Six Nations tournament are up in the air. With fans unlikely to be allowed back into stadiums by the scheduled start date of 6th February 2021, there are rumours that it could be postponed. The impact this could have is unclear, as the hard-line taken by clubs regarding scheduling means it appears uncertain when international fixture windows would allow for the tournament to be rescheduled.
With the Lions tour to world champions South Africa currently scheduled for June 2021, a Six Nations tournament in the spring would be a crucial chance for players to stake a final claim for selection by Warren Gatland, although the Lions tour itself may come under threat without a significant improvement in the global pandemic. For now, all we can be (fairly) certain of is that the new Autumn Nations Cup, contested between the regular Six Nations sides with the addition of Georgia and Fiji, begins next weekend.
Image: cmglee via Wikimedia Commons