Inside rugby union's big showdown
Welcome to ±«Óãtv Sport's Six Nations blog where we'll bring you the inside track from this year's blockbuster event. Here are our tips on taking part & our house rules
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London - Thanks for reading and contributing to this blog during this year's RBS Six Nations.
Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. We're now closing the blog - but before we go if you have any feedback on how we did things or ideas for how we might do them in the future, let us know here.
We have plans to revive the blog during the Rugby World Cup this autumn so will try and incorporate good suggestions.
Thanks.
London - So after five weekends of thrilling action, the dust has settled on another Six Nations campaign.
Before the tournament started, our team of ±«Óãtv Six Nations bloggers sat down to select a combined team of the tournament and we did the same three games in.
Now hostilities have come to an end, the votes have been painstakingly counted and we can exclusively reveal what we think is our definitive starting XV.
Triple crown winners Ireland provide six of the team, with champions France and Italy having four players apiece.
Youngster David Strettle is England's only selection while Wales and Wooden Spoonists Scotland miss out altogether.
Six players from the original team have kept their places, and interestingly five of them are in the pack.
Let us know what you think of our selections, what we've got right, what we've got wrong, and let us know how your Six Nations XV would look.
Continue reading "Team of the Tournament"
I left Rome on Saturday night. There was a tentative plan to rearrange a flight and stay and experience this intriguing drink you call "Guinness" in the Italian capital with a big, bald former hooker. I'm glad I didn't.
Has a celebration ever fallen so flat?
The Six Nations may have been criticised for a lack of quality. Kiwis will be sleeping soundly in their nests. But I can't remember a more dramatic conclusion to the competition. In fact, it was one of the most dramatic afternoons I can remember in any sport.
Continue reading "Irish party falls flat"
London - The 2007 Six Nations ended in controversial, joyous, heartbreaking or infuriating fashion depending on the colour of your shirt.
But there's no doubt it's been a cracker - maybe not for the actual quality of rugby but for the drama and suspense right up until the final match.
France, Ireland and England were all tied at the top of the table going into Saturday's finale, meaning every point scored, for or against, would be crucial in deciding the eventual winners.
Continue reading "Six Nations - the final verdict"
Cardiff - James Hook's outstanding display against England has given new hope to a Wales team that had looked bereft of it for much of the Six Nations.
But it has also provided coach Gareth Jenkins with a rather tricky selection dilemma in the very near future.
Continue reading "Do believe the hype"
Millennium Stadium - Wales secured their first win of the Six Nations and avoided the Wooden Spoon with a hard-earned 27-18 win over England in Cardiff.
See what you think of my player ratings for both sides.
Continue reading "Wales v England player ratings"
London - France beat Scotland in an exciting match which all but clinched the Six Nations title for Les Bleus.
The Scots were clinging on at 20-14 down at half-time but were blitzed by a barrage of second-half scores, including Elvis Vermeulen's all-important last-gasp try.
See if you agree with my ratings of the Scotland team.
Continue reading "Scotland player ratings"
London - Ireland ran riot at Stadio Flaminio with a victory over Italy to leave France needing to beat Scotland by 24 points to win the Six Nations title.
See if you agree with my ratings of the Ireland team.
Continue reading "Ireland player ratings"
Cardiff - I took a fair bit of abuse in a previous blog as people seemed to think that my desire to see Wales beat England made me some sort of atavistic cave dweller.
With the big Cardiff showdown now looming large, I’m still clearly smarting as I’ve decided to revisit the touchy subject.
Now I don’t believe that a win over our oldest rivals should be Wales’ ultimate ambition, or that it would completely make up for a for Gareth Jenkins’ team. But it would set the world to rights, if only for a short while – and here’s why…
Continue reading "As long as Wales beat the English"
The penultimate round of Six Nations games has thrown up plenty of queries for my colleague Hugh Watkins and I.
This week we cover the controversial ending to the Wales v Italy game in Rome as well as issues surrounding Ireland's win over Scotland.
Continue reading "More laws questions answered"
Bath - England coach Brian Ashton may have only made to face Wales on Saturday.
But he certainly retains his reputation as a ruthless selector.
After starting all Six Nations matches so far, Josh Lewsey has been cast out of the entire squad following a disappointing performance against France.
His replacement by Sale winger Mark Cueto, who has never played at fullback for his country before and who has made only a handful of appearances in the position for his club, suddenly means his international future is looking a little uncertain.
Continue reading "Will Lewsey feature in Ashton's future plans?"
Cardiff - Ok, Stephen Jones has taken some pretty vociferous criticism on various blogs and message boards for his performances in this season's Six Nations, and now he's .
I think a lot of the flak has been pretty unfair to a player who is a great servant to Welsh rugby and I would have kept him at outside-half in Wales' first four games of the Championship.
But said that Jones should have been taken out of the firing line after his battering in Rome and I'm with him on that one (hey, it's not a bad opinion to share!), but let's throw it open for your thoughts - I'm sure there'll be a few as usual on the Welsh number 10 debate!
Continue reading "Jones loss a blessing in disguise?"
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