Week Three!

In the week off, there have been many changes. The Scots suffered many injuries, Jerry Flannery was banned and Ronan O'Gara was dropped. There were also many threats to drop Jonny Wilkinson, but none of those threats came from sources that mattered. The only opinion that mattered was Martin Johnson, who didn't drop him.

Wales v. France

Ireland and England will be hoping for a Welsh victory, but they will be hard-pressed. Wales played very well two weekends ago, but only in the final ten minutes. Scotland dominated the majority of the game. France dominated the entire game against Ireland, especially the scrums. James Hook has been very good in the outside center slot so Wales will have a good center pairing along with Roberts.

The French team has been anything but guaranteed for the past few seasons, but the lack of consistency hasn't seemed to affect them. France should be able to win this one, although Wales will have home field advantage.

Italy v. Scotland

Italy has played relatively well this tournament so far, and Scotland just lost three key players. Chris Paterson is a needed player, but Dan Parks did extremely well against Wales, who only came into the game after he exited. The problem with both of these teams is their severe lack of offensive abilities. Italy has relied on Mirco Bergamasco's boot, who was not a kicker to my knowledge, but has stepped up well enough. Scotland normally relies on Paterson or Parks, and this game should be no different.

Given how well Scotland played last time out, they should be able to win.

England v. Ireland

This is the biggest game of the weekend. The loser of this game may well enough be out of contention all together. Except for 2008, Ireland has wont his game every year since 2004, regardless of whether the host city was Dublin or London. Ireland is still on a high from the past year's success, and I was hoping that Jonathan Sexton would get a chance at fly half. And I am extremely happy that he did. He has proven himself and maybe a change of pace is what the Irish need. In addition, the English have not seen Sexton very much and he could catch them off guard. His kicking has been very good all season and his attacking ability is also very good. Whether or not he is as good as O'Gara is yet to be determined, but he could be the spark that the Irish need after the loss to France.

England on the other hand just came off a sluggish win over Italy and will want to prove themselves. Wilkinson and the rest of the team will retain their spots, which will either work well or very poorly for the English. Overall, Ireland looks like the better team, despite the poor showing against France.

~Tyler