The Sync Magazine

The Rugby Continues (all around the world)

So the Six Nations is purring along nicely, back after an off weekend which saw some rather dull and under strength club rugby in the Northern Hemisphere as well as the start of the rather awkwardly named, though thankfully exciting, SupeRugby down South. The story of last weekend in colder climates was that Matt Banahan is really rather good, at least at a level where defenders can’t prevent him from releasing his arms for the offload and defences that fail to punish his tugboat-esque acceleration, and on the other side of the world the headlines were dominated (at least until the horrific natural disaster in Christchurch for which we send out sympathies) by the whitewash of the new Melbourne Rebels, the capitulation of the Hurricanes and a great match in Auckland that went back and forth faster than a heavily medicated kid trying to do a full 360 loop on a swing.

The key to Super Rugby this year will first be trying to work at what on earth the new ‘conference system’ actually entails, the logistics of which seem as complex as the credit default swaps market, and if any players can come from relative obscurity to push for Rugby World Cup places. Robbie Coleman the young Brumbies centre was electric against the Chiefs (can I please get lottery numbers off of anyone who expected to see Tana Umaga playing first class rugby again) and if he maintains that level of performance then Giteau and Barnes could be under serious pressure for the 12 jersey, Tawera Kerr-Barlow the former ‘Baby Black’ looked really promising at 9 for those same Chiefs when he replaced Leonard and in Africa, Patrick Lambie looks set to make the Boks 10 shirt his own in the coming months. In terms of overall strength it seems relatively as you were, the best sides again look to be the Crusaders, Bulls and Tahs.

Going back to test rugby, it is a pivotal weekend in Europe. Only one team, at most, will still be battling for a grand slam come Monday, Italy will have probably their best chance of avoiding their sixth winless tournament in their twelfth Championship, and either Ireland or Scotland could see campaigns that promised so much turn disastrous. ‘The Crunch’ (none of this Francophile pandering please) is very intriguing. Since the last round much of the focus has been on Chris Ashton’s scoring record and his subsequent ‘celebrations’, but England’s success is actually a consequence not of daring back-play but a change of ethos up front. This is best exemplified by a few recent ‘replacements’ to the team. In the past, under Johnson and Wells there was a preference for static solidity over enthusiasm and dynamism, something which saw Joe Worsley consistently selected in match-day 22s and Tim Payne the second choice loosehead behind Andrew Sheridan. With Tom Croft’s long term injury and Sheridan’s niggle it would have been very easy for the England management team to take a safety first approach and muddle through, but in giving first caps to Tom Wood and Alex Corbisiero, they reaffirmed the intentions of the autumn. This was a side that was going to be big, as all England teams are, but also one that was athletic, which would carry over the gainline and ruck beyond it, an area where Corbisiero shone unlike any English prop for quite some time. Admittedly someone like Louis Deacon does not fit that blueprint perfectly, but with Lawes and Attwood out, and Shaw having aged exponentially in the last 18 months, the options were limited. It is that generation of quicker ball and the willingness to change the point of attack that has created such a great platform for the half-backs and allowed England to thrive. To see the efficacy of this tactical shift you only have to contrast them with Welsh struggles as they have been delivering slow ball with a heavily prescribed approach to the direction of attack. The half-backs have made excellent use of the platform afforded them, though, for all the talk about how well Toby Flood is playing, and he is performing admirably, making accurate decisions and kicking impeccably, it is Youngs who is pulling the strings. Flood is finding holes and capitalising on them, but the scrum-half is creating those openings by causing havoc to defences. Against Wales and, particularly, Italy, every time he took a few steps away from the contact area, the opposition’s defensive discipline flew out of the window faster than a Denzel Washington manned freight train, especially when forwards were lined up after multi-phase attacks.

How England perform against a more capably opponent this weekend will be fascinating. Yes Wales are poor and Italy flat out capitulated (their defensive realignment and work-rate was embarrassing), but England are playing well and have the makings of a very good side indeed. France on the other hand have looked particularly laboured in most facets of play and got out of jail against Ireland, thanks to a brilliant piece of defending by Jauzion in the dying seconds and woeful Irish discipline. Thankfully Traille and Poitrenaud have been dumped for Clerc and the aforementioned Jauzion (with Medard to 15), and Yachvilli should offer them the control at half-back they have been lacking, but as is Marc Lievremont’s wont, he both gives and receives, somehow rewarding Sebastian Chabal with a starting berth despite almost throwing the game at the Aviva away and retaining Yoann Huget for the fifth successive game after four performances that at best reached the lofty heights of ineffective. France also have to contend with the fact they are away from home and the cliché won’t die till they bury it in the grounds of South West London (though to their credit they are one of the few sides who have excelled away in New Zealand). France have the set-piece to win that battle but additionally they must be far less lateral and more direct in their attacking play.

Turning attentions to Murrayfield you have a tie that could really go either way. Last year Kellock caused the Irish lineout all sorts of problems and a repeat of that would seriously limit Ireland’s ability to maintain field position and get time with ball, but at the same time Scotland need to actually create something with the dominance in territory and possession that any set-piece advantage might afford. The selection of a Ruaridh Jackson at 10 and Sean Lamont at 12 is striking, Dan Parks has not been playing well but he effectively won the reverse fixture last year with his accurate goal kicking and excellent field-position game. Jackson’s presence indicates that Andy Robinson’s side will try and do more with the ball, but with Lamont shoehorned into 12 in what will likely be a ‘crash-centre’ role, it would seem unlikely much ball will be going wide anyway. Scotland have to improve from last time out, but to win their forwards will need to dominate and provide the inexperienced fly-half a very stable platform. Ireland have not played particularly badly but have really let themselves down with indiscipline and inopportune inaccuracy. The mantra from the coaching team since the French defeat was that they had to play more intelligently, something that has seen Ronan O’Gara find his way back into the side to play the percentages. The return of Tommy Bowe will be a huge boost, providing much needed incision and size into the Irish back-division. That said, the fight, and it will be a fight, between the backrows, is worth the price of admission alone. Probably the two best units in the tournament going at it hammer and tongs, it is just a shame Stephen Ferris is still injured and Johnnie Beattie is yet to find full fitness.

Finally we look to Rome. With France still to come to the Stadio Flamino and an ominous final week trip to Murrayfield, a loss on Saturday would leave Italy on the precipice of another defeated championship. Italy’s 22 is likely to be unchanged, but they will need a much better performance than last time out. Against England their work-rate and discipline in defence was awful, and though Wales will not offer the same kind of threat, both physically and psychologically, they will have to be much more switched on, finding their way back to what was generally an upwards curve in performance on the way to New Zealand. Put simply they need to dominate at the set-piece. Aainst England they had no possession or territory largely because their lineout was abysmal. Against Ireland they showed they could be accurate in that facet, if they fail in a similar way this weekend they will have no chance. Wales are simply hard to fathom, against England they barely used their primary weapons, their two excellent ball-carrying centres, and against Scotland they didn’t really do much of anything bar defend well against an impotent Scottish attack and exploit two of the very few opportunities they created. Everyone knows they way they want to play rugby and they only seem to spark off those rare occasions when someone does something different off of turnover ball. James Hook received a level of undue credit for his performance, which was basically one line-break, contrasted to Stephen Jones being scapegoated for an average performance from the tight five and one of the worst displays in Mike Phillips’ career against England. With Jonathan Davies out injured Jones will come back into the team at 10 with Hook at 13, in effect restoring the backline that played in the tournament last year. Davies will be missed, he and Jamie Roberts are very similar players, but with Roberts misfiring Davies had been the focal point of the attack. One positive for Wales is the emergence of what looks to be an effective and young back five of the pack. For some time now Wales have had the worst back-row of any tier one nation, but with the emergence of Warburton, Lydiate and others they are finding athletic and skilful players for those key positions and in Alun Wynn-Jones and Bradley Davies they have an international class lock pairing that could be together for at least another six or seven years. Once they get their props back and find a ball-carrying 8 to replace the lumbering Ryan Jones, with Toby Faletau and, the soon to be qualified, Ben Morgan the likeliest candidates,  they will have their best pack for at least a generation.

Predictions:

England 32 – France 24

Italy 12 – Wales 19

Ireland 24 – Scotland 15

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