Stuart Barnes's Six Nations verdict

Italy v Scotland

Italy received their just desserts with victory in Rome against Scotland. The appalling quality of the Calcutta Cup match was brought starkly into context as England’s conquerors succumbed to an inspired home pack. Had the Italians backs been anything other than we have known them to be for some seasons the margin of victory would have been vast and the failings of the Scottish team even more evident.

It has been a difficult season for Italy; had it not been for the moronic nature of England in Edinburgh it would have been a disastrous sporting one for Scotland. Take that solitary win out of the equation and there is little in the way of straw to clutch.

Certainly Scotland would love to have a pack with the technical ability of Italy’s. Once again the Italian front row were dominant and behind the other seven, Sergio Parisse’s status grew; he has reached the status of world class. He has been immense and his elevation to captaincy is a credit to the thought process of a former international Number Eight, now Italian coach, Nick Mallett.

Scotland has a bulky pack but not the ferocity and ability to make the weight count. It has a problem at fly half and a lack of penetration in the centre. In fact, the goal kicking of Chris Paterson apart it has very little; a pack row that can play, Nathan Hines and Mike Blair, the latter two both of whom had fine campaigns.

Italy has to find a pair of half backs; if it can discover a pair of gondoliers with a penchant for test match rugby they have the capacity to rise from the bottom of the Six Nations pile and quickly.

Man of the Match: Sergio Parisse – In was a second division test match but this was an elite performance by the Italian captain. An inspiration all season, his magnificent final eighty minutes drove Italy to the win their pack deserved.

England v Ireland

Danny Cipriani was not the official man of the match but this was HIS show. A new era may have dawned with the precocious Wasp at the helm. It was a debut of staggering proportions, one of the most memorable in living memory with the maturity of the performance more than any flash moments of skill standing out.

Had he played fly half against Wales and Scotland England would have won the Grand Slam. It makes the prevarication and conservatism of selection all the more galling for English supporters, still, better late than never.

The Wasps fly half brought the best out of Jamie Noon and used the pace and power of the back three to good effect but there were many remaining problems. The pack arm wrestled Ireland to exhaustion but refuse the option of quick ball. It is a culture that must change. If it does England will be a force.

The scenario is bleaker for Ireland. A decent twenty minutes apart, the men in green played with a lack of confidence and bravura. Even allowing for injury to Brian O’ Driscoll the side clearly appear to have lost their zest for the game under Eddie O’ Sullivan. Paul O’ Connell is nowhere near his peak which must concern Munster...but then again Munster and Ireland are two different teams.

Ronan O’ Gara faded but showed enough alongside Eoin Reddan to make Italy and Scotland green with envy while youngsters like Rob Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald and Tommy Bowe all are rich in talent. But to get the best from them Ireland has to rebuild in the front five with players like Tony Buckley now starting. Almost certainly the management needs rebuilding as well.

Man of the Match: Danny Cipriani – he ran the show, liberated the back line, kicked his goals without ever going anywhere near a ruck; the new age man is an old fashioned fly half with the rugby world at his fingertips.

Wales v France

And so to the final game of the campaign and the highlight of the season when the strongest  French team of the season failed to last eighty minutes with a Welsh team that defended for its Grand Slam before breaking out for glory. Shane and Martyn Williams score late tries, both of whom were inspired from the first to last in this tournament. But the defensive effort was the big differential between this and other Welsh teams. Wales can always attack but have long been loose in defence. Shaun Edwards has done a superb job both physically and psychologically. It has been a grand effort by management and team with Ryan Jones another Number Eight to have grown by the min ute with the responsibility of captaincy.

France has had a curious tournament. Until Saturday they have placed long term experimentation above results and maybe they have not quite achieved the right balance yet one suspects that Marc Lievremont and his selectors will not regard themselves as being far off course after the tournament. They have hard work to do to find the grunt in the front row but their back play is regathering momentum and youngsters like Francois Trinh Duc and Morgan Parra will have benefitted enormously.

Man of the Match: Martyn Williams – his organisational work in defence combined with his foraging attacking skills – beautifully emphasised by the try to seal the tournament. He will not be around forever but he has a huge role to if Wales are to build on a well deserved Grand Slam. Two Grand Slams in four years; it is time for French and English detractors to stop knocking Europe’s top team.

Comments

[steve thompsen]

James: Barnes put six scots in his team of the weekend when they beat the hopeless English.

But you're right about Cipriani. His mesmerising performance was against a poor,poor Ireland side who Wales controlled with ease at Croke Park. Cipriani has talent clearly, but he's a long way from being ready yet...as Richie McCaw may illustrate in a few months time.

Wales won the Grand Slam on the same weekend by the way. Anyone notice?

[Trevor Crocker]

Cipriani had a great game, certainly. However, this should not detract from what should be the main concern for followers of English rugby...namely, why is the English pack so inconsistent?

During the first half against Wales the English pack were excellent. Against France they were magnificent for the whole match. Against Ireland the forwards were mightily effective. So what happened in the second half against Wales? What happened against Italy? In particular, what took possession of the English forwards at Murrayfield?

Could it be that the problem with English rugby lies in the quality of its forward coaching? As is often said, "the forwards decide who wins, the backs decide by how many points." Who is calling the shots? What is Plan A? Does Plan B exist?

Forget who plays at fly half just for a moment. When the English pack perform, England win. When the English pack run out of ideas England lose. Wilkinson cannot play behind a beaten pack and neither can Cipriani.

I find the inconsistency of the English forwards totally baffling. I suspect that if English rugby is ever going to return to the top of the World rankings then the solution lies not in the hands of the latest `boy wonder` or at the feet of `King Johnny` but rather in the tactical awareness of the guys who are coaching the forwards.

Strong leadership and imaginative work on the training paddock will bring their own rewards. Is the time right to re-introduce Martin Johnson to the English set up?

[Pedro]

Did you actually watch the Scotland match? Clearly not so please tell your editor that when asked to make a final comment on the games next year, be honest about it, and say you missed it while mugging up on hyperboic superlatives for the Cipriani show.

[Pedro]

Did you, Barnes, actually watch the Italy v Scotland match? The 'margin of vitory would have been vast'? What on earth are you on about? Take away Parks (who contributed 7 of Scotland's 19 errors, 2 of which led directly to 14 of Italy's 23 points) and yes, the margin of victory would have been vast - in Scotland's favour. No mention of Strokosh? No mention of the fact that the Italian front 5, while dominant for 20 minutes, did their usual and hibernated for the rest of the game? Rose tinted specs as per usual.

Agree with one thing though - Parisse is immense.

[John]

So England would have won the grand slam with Cipriani at outside half! Stuart Barnes not only conatradicts his other articles re defence winning matches but also conveniently forgets that had Cipriani been at outside half for a few more miutes against Ialy, England would have lost that match also.

[Gwyn Vaughan]

Delusional Barnesy, to imply that the one thing missing from the England team against Wales was a cool head at 10 is ridiculous. England had Wilkinson, who in the past you have described as coolness personified and let’s face it, he threw one bad pass that he was then hanged for. Cipriani played against an atrocious Ireland team whose back row still hadn’t recovered from getting taken to the cleaners a week early against Ryan Jones et al. He will be an outstanding fly half for England, but lest you forget the same player which you imply would have won the Grand Slam for England came on against a limited Italian side and almost handed a win to them. If that had gone the other way maybe England would have been fighting for the Wooden Spoon in their final game thanks to Mr Cipriani instead of the sure thing of a Grand Slam.

[Mike]

James Smith states:

"I cannot, cannot, cannot believe the extent of English delusions about the state of their game."

Please remember that the Welsh game was lost after the disintegration of the English back row, when we were very comfortably ahead. The Scotland game was lost due to inept tactical kicking. After the Ireland game, I cannot believe that Cipriani would have let either happen, so saying that England would have won a Grand Slam with him at no 10 is very plausible. It was not Welsh brilliance that won them the Grand Slam, but merely the fact that they were semi-competent in an appallingly poor championship.

[Stuart Goodwin]

James Smith: I think perhaps it is your analytical skills that need to be sharpened up (or, at least, your reading comprehension). Barnes's team of the tournament contained just one Scot (Nathan Hines) not six - http://timesonline.typepad.com/rugby/2008/03/six-nations-t-1.html

[Matt Dalton]

er......

Mr Tomlinson, Wales won a grand slam. That means every game. So pray tell, how could England have won the six nations with a win against Scotland??

Stuart, I disagree about Cipriani. He has all the talent in the world, but it was easy to look good against Ireland and England have some much deeper issues than having a decent fly-half. You still need an inside centre and a decent scrum-half before they can even dream of reaching the heights again.

[phil pinnington]

Barnes is not the only person who believs that Cipriani has all the attributes to become a great player.He is the only man who thinks one very good performance, against lamentable opposition, makes him a demi-God.By the way Mr Barnes, Cipriani's tackling was barely adequate and he didn't actually make one break.The fact that Noon, deservedly, won the Man of the Match award tells you a great deal about the opposition.The greatest problem for Cipriani is that, at the age of 20, he'll start to believe the Media hyperbole and fail to reach his potential.Fortunately we have two games against new Zealand which will tell us a great deal more.One final point Mr Barnes,the best Rugby played by England this season was the first half against Wales.

[David Tate]

James Smith, as much as I don't always agree with what Barnes has to say, I think you should check the team of the tournament again - one Scot, Nathan Hines, whose inclusion many would not disagree with.

[Bob Bruce]

His assessment of Italy Scotland is way off. Scotland dominated the Italians and errors by their Fly Half prevented them from walking away comfortable victors, whilst allowing the Italians back in when they were all but buried.

[JD]

James Smith,

Barnes's team of the tournament has one Scotsman in: Nathan Hines.

And as for the Cipriani comment, he is probably right.

[Ben Jones]

typical, I suppose England will never lose another game now that Cipriani is there instead of Wilkinson. Dont make me laugh, England are rubbish and have been since they won the world cup. And I would put some money on it continuing for a good few years to come unless they stop seeing themselves as world champs.

[Chris Kingham]

Er James, what are you talking about? As far as I can see, Barnes has only included one scot (Nathan Hines), which I think is probably justified. Lots of Welshmen, rightly so - and this from an England supporter - although Parisse, for me, just nicks the Number 8 jersey from Jones.

[Jim Tomlinson]

Same old story with English selections.
a) Give Beckham his 100th cap.
b) Give Harmison & Hoggard ANOTHER chance.
C) Suspend Cipriani against Scotland.
Results:
A) Wasteful to go backwards.
B) Would have won series 2 - 0.
C) Would have won 6 nations with win against Scotland.
Look forward English selectors!!!

[adrian]

Stuart, I absolutely agree Cipriani had a very good game, but let's remember it was at Twickenham and Ireland were dreadfully inept. I think I will reserve judgement until he has gone up against McCaw & Carter et al in the summer and then we'll see how good he is.

[James Smith]

"Had Cipriani played fly-half against Wales and Scotland England would have won the Grand Slam," says Barnes. I cannot, cannot, cannot believe the extent of English delusions about the state of their game. For evidence of Barnes's analytical skills, please see his team of the tournament. Six Scots? Even they would agree that can't be the case.