Week two's games told one story: France is the favorite to win. The French played a fantastic game all around, with very few mistakes outside of their lineout. Paul O'Connell was all over the French lineout ball, stealing heaps of ball seemingly at will. Unfortunately, Ireland could not do much else. O'Gara did not get much chance with the boot, and while he did not knock the ball on or turn it over with much frequency, he got caught too often with the ball and lost territory. His kicking game was good, as always. Brian O'Driscoll played well and did very well in his final pass for David Wallace's try, but didn't stamp his authority over the game. The normally fierce player of Rob Kearney was pulled off early with an injury, and Paddy Wallace was nothing in replacement. Cian Healy was awful, as was the scrum. Healy's side did even worse than Hayes' side, but both sides performed poorly. France dominated the scrum every single time, even more so when the Irish were down to 14 men.
Overall, only O'Connell's lineout skills and Tommy Bowe's amazing chases after a high kick proved well. Bowe hammered the receiver on numerous occasions and I am not quite sure where he picked up that physicality. Some of the time, he was appearing to play with skills similar to Doug Howlett! Nonetheless, Ireland was very poor in the scrums, poor on defense, decent on attack, but very poor on finishing. France was incredible in the scrums, good on attack, very good on finishing, and absolutely terrible in the lineouts.
Italy v. England
Jonny Wilkinson, where are you? The man is so fantastic and so consistent with his kicks, that it is hard to believe that he is even capable of missing a kick from time to time. But, he missed three. Fortunately for England, the five points via a Mathew Tait try proved the margin of victory. Now, I've been waving Tait's flag for a very long time, to no avail. Tait was fantastic for England at fullback during the World Cup in 2007, far better than Armitage has been (save his kicking game). Yet, Tait had not been in the squad for a few seasons. I'm glad to see him back, regardless of being put in a different position.
Anyway, England was able to scrape away a victory in this game. They were lucky, but Italy didn't really put up a huge fight when it came to tries. Italy is not known for their fancy footwork or long runs, but they need tries if they want to beat the top nations. Overall, Italy relied on their defense and Mirco Bergamasco's boot, while England would like to rely on Wilkinson's boot again in the future. It is very unlikely that Wilkinson would have another poor game with the boot, given his determination.
Wales v. Scotland
One of the truly great comebacks. Yet, it must be said that this was not a game won by the Welsh. Instead, it was thrown away by the Scots. Two yellow cards in the final ten minutes, and injuries to Tom Evans, Rory Lamont and Chris Paterson spelled defeat for them. The yellow cards were totally unnecessary. When Paterson was taken off, the Scots were ahead but looked worried without their key player. Yet, Dan Parks proved his critics wrong by taking ahold of the game and dominating in every facet of his game. He kicked magnificently. He tried his best to get the offense moving, but could not be awarded with a try. He was taken off the field with a knock and replaced by Phil Godman, who immediately committed a critical error and was given a yellow. I was worried when Godman was put on and am, apparently, the only non-fan of his. Edinburgh fans seem to worship the man, but I have never been overly impressed by him. Parks cannot be blamed at all for the loss. He was Man of the Match.
Wales, however, were slightly lazy for most of the game. Until the final ten minutes. A try from Lee Byrne jump started the team and Halfpenny crossed with a few minutes to go. Shane Williams eventually scored under the posts to win the game on full time.
Wales proved that they can beat any team on any day, yet they needed the boost of two yellow carded Scots before they got rolling. Scotland self destructed when they needed to hold together the most. The heavy injuries to the Scots will hurt them for the rest of the tournament, possibly even threatening their chances of beating Italy.
~Verdicts~
The way it looks right now, Italy has their best chance of recent years when it comes to beating Scotland in two weeks. France looks to defeat the Welsh at home and Ireland's ability to defeat England for a sixth time in seven years is shrinking. Dan Parks needs to be solid again for Scotland, Wales needs to play like they at the end for the entire 80 and Ireland should start Jonny Sexton.
~Tyler
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