A poor opening weekend does not spell doom
After what was widely regarded as the most entertaining World Cup in history, big things were expected this Six Nations. Tries galore and attacking, incisive rugby would be the order of the day, most people reasoned, after the dominance of the Southern Hemisphere sides who played to exactly that formula at the global event.
There was palpable excitement going into the opening weekend, only for most of us to be brought back to ground with a sobering thud after a set of matches that largely underwhelmed. Nine tries across three games does not, on the face of it, seem terribly encouraging.
But all is not lost – last year’s opening weekend yielded just six tries. No-one really remembers that, though, because the final weekend saw the whitewash crossed a whopping 27 times. It was that astonishing Super Saturday that meant most fans entered the World Cup with such optimism.
That optimism turned out, of course, to be misguided – and perhaps this is where the issue lies. The Six Nations sides proved that, when they had to chase points and tries, they could play vibrant rugby as well as anyone. But at the World Cup, that crippling fear of losing crept back in, and so followed the conservatism that marked pretty much every one of the six sides’ campaigns.
Back to last weekend. Amongst some undoubtedly drab stuff, there were signs of encouragement. France lacked anything that resembled a structure or a gameplan, but there was definitely a willingness to attack, as evidenced in strong performances from new boys Jonathan Danty and Virimi Vakatawa.
Ireland were lambasted after their World Cup exit for playing one-dimensional rugby that came unstuck against a more attack-minded Argentina side. Against Wales on Sunday, they created seven line-breaks, more than Australia, South Africa or England managed at the World Cup, and equal to the Fijians – pioneers in flair. The Irish may have mostly failed to capitalise on these line-breaks, but they are bedding in some new combinations and that composure will come.
England were, for the most part, pretty one-dimensional and did just enough to win at Murrayfield – exactly as Jones said they would. It would be madness to judge the Australian’s regime on one game, although Mako Vunipola’s Conrad Smith-esque pass for Jack Nowell’s try perhaps hints at a wider game that Jones has promised against Italy this weekend.
And Italy themselves were mightily impressive in Paris. Crucially, in Carlo Canna they seem to have found a fly-half that can take the ball to line and bring his back-line into play. “Luciano Orquera”, I hear you cry – indeed, let’s judge him properly after a few more games.
And that is kind of the point, isn’t it. Yes, it wasn’t the most entertaining of opening weekend, but there’s no point in judgement just yet.
There is still plenty of time for this Six Nations to ignite; there is no need to pen the obituaries for Northern Hemisphere rugby just yet. It might not have the ‘big four’ in the Southern Hemisphere quaking in their boots, but let’s check back in at the end of the tournament and see how they’re feeling then.
If not now then when for Daly?
Eddie Jones has once again released Elliot Daly from England’s matchday squad ahead of the Italy game. Has he run over his cat or something? This seems like the perfect opportunity to hand Daly his debut – and as the form outside centre in England (certainly more so than Joseph) the Wasps man must be wondering what it is exactly that he has to do to force his way into the team.
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
9 replies on “No need to panic; the Six Nations will bounce back”
The fact that there were only 9 tries doesn’t mean that the games were not entertaining. For those of us who are or were hairy arsed forwards there was plenty to enjoy from the games. Billy Vunipola rampaging through Scotsmen, Faletau inspirational pick up and score, a great driving try for Parisse. Full blooded rucking in all three games. And even in the backs the immovable object of Ireland defence meeting the irresistible (albeit one dimensional) force of Jamie Roberts.
Look, at the end of the day conditions weren’t entirely conducive to throw it about rugby (except Paris, where tbf, there was ball chucked around) and won’t be that until the six nations are moved to the end of the domestic season.
But to say the games were not exciting enough is a bit of a disservice, after all we are not American with a need to see 89-94 scorelines…
Couldn’t agree more. Not a fan of the “more tries=better match”- mentality.
Understand your point, Jez, not everyone has the same take on what makes an entertaining game of rugby. My point was more that this kind of power/defence-based game, no matter how many people find it entertaining, isn’t likely to be enough to consistently worry the best teams in the world!
BUT, we’ve only had one weekend, so there’s plenty of time to put that right. I was actually trying to be positive in this article, but perhaps that’s not quite come across.
Ditto. Time we looked at the good things in a game rather than seeking something to moan about.
I think it is a fair analysis. Even away from entertainment, it is clear that NH teams have to start scoring 25 points a game, not 15. As an average, the SH matches seen considerably more points so the NH just can’t go on playing in the same way.
As well as that, the France Italy game has such a low level of skill involved, the error count was ridiculous. Englands game was same old. I appreciate a line out and hard carrying as much as the next fan, but surely we’d enjoy seeing something a bit more expansive at times?
However one of the reasons for lower points is weather conditions. We don’t have the faster dryer grounds of the SH which are conducive to attacking play and more points. Am not saying we shouldn’t be more expansive but until our season is in the summer we probably won’t be able to match their points record.
Personally think there is far more to the argument than just current form when it comes to Joseph and Daly. In international terms at least it was just a couple of games ago where Joseph was pretty much England’s most important player and best throughout 2015. He’s proven international quality and the upside of him finding form again is huge: he’s just as lethal as Daly going forward and you gain a more solid defender to boot (he’s positionally far better than Daly and Daly still falls off tackles too). There is of course a fine line between giving someone a fair chance to find form and giving them too long – Lancaster with Ashton springs to mind – but I always feel you should give a proven player like Joseph a little leeway. It’s too easy to chop and change for England as there’s always someone else around in any given position in form (I don’t think you’d see Wales or New Zealand, two nations with much smaller player pools, moving on so quickly for example) and that there’s an understandable lust for new faces and new blood after such a disappointing world cup comes into it too, even in parts of the team that aren’t broken, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a better quality player. Worth pointing out too that Joseph’s had little to work with since coming back from injury: he’s in a stuttering Bath side who’s forwards aren’t providing a platform and he was stuck outside a misfiring 10-12 combination against Scotland. He needs time. I can also understand Daly missing out this weekend as it seems fairly obvious Devoto is going to get some game time, whether from the start or off the bench, and Jones probably doesn’t like the idea of potentially having to pair up debutant centres at some point during the game. I’d have Daly on the bench for sure but that makes sense to me.
Have to agree with some many of the comments, if we have a constant picking players on form alone then most positions would be rotated so regularly that there would be no consistency.
Daly arguably has a better case for being on the bench rather than Devoto or Goode based on the current set up. Devoto covers 10 and 12 mostly but we have two fly halves on the pitch already. Goode is a 15 that can play 10 as well but how much cover do we really need at 10? With Watson very capable of taking over at full back if an injury occurs Ito only adds to the case for replacing goode with daly who can cover 13 through to 15.
Try, no pun intended, effective rugby then, if not entertaining rugby.
It’s as if the NH has ignored the WC & almost learned nothing from the exp.
You need to score more TRIES guys & not continue with the R1 Billy, MOTM, stuff. It’s simply ineffective v the SH.
This is not intended as criticism, it’s simply stating the obvious.