Another RBS Six Nations draws to a close with Englishmen up and down the country still not sure whether things are on the way up or down. The last weekend throws up some mouth-watering ties and possibilities. Firstly Ireland Vs Wales; Last year’s Grand Slam Heroes, beaten well by what seemed to be a resurgent French team, until they turned up (or should that read didn’t turn up) at Twickenham last weekend, taking on this year’s Grand Slam hopefuls. Will the Welsh surrender the honour of being the last team to realise such a momentous achievement on their own patch without a fight? The Irish fully deserving of the opportunity that awaits them at the Millennium Stadium, in a similar position as the last English side to win all 5 games (a very experienced but ageing side who had blown paths to greatness in previous years and were starting to worry about how many more chances they would get.) For that England side the last hurdle was Ireland at their beloved Lansdowne Road. In 2009, Ireland have to go to one of the noisiest and most passionate coliseums on earth and defeat a team with nearly everything still to play for. One thing’s for sure, It won’t be all about the Craic this weekend as the winner takes all the Championship’s spoils.
The French have to travel to Rome to face an ever improving Italian side who almost pulled off the biggest shock in six nations history last weekend by beating the Welsh. This on the back of their most embarrassing performance in living memory, humiliated by a English side written off as any sort of Force by many. But fear not ‘les gens de la France’; your team are renowned for the odd bout of self-combustion, but whereas us English after a loss tend to Wallow in our crushed confidence for an age, the French seem to put such a performance behind them with a typical Gallic shrug and a horsey blow of the lips! Beware the Italians everything should suggest a close game, which means the French will probably blow you away.
And finally the Auld enemy back at HQ… Last year the Jocks deployed one of their notorious ambushes which are saved only for the English invaders at Murrayfield’s Edinburgh gates. Whether or not Steve Borthwick’s recollection of Scottish gloating is 100% accurate, they were never going to let us quietly slip back over the border were they? And so to Calcutta Cup 2009, the Scots have never been much of an invading force. They last had a successful trip south of the border in 1983 before the likes of Armitage, Flood and Care were even born. But this is a different Scottish team, quietly gaining respect while the column inches have been filled with other Nations woes and triumphs. Surely after a such a barn storming performance last week the men in white won’t regress yet again and allow the unthinkable to happen, If England lose on Saturday no-one will remember one of their tries from last week and the English public won’t forgive them. A win however would leave us with a long period to enjoy back to back wins and with the danger of sounding like an over optimistic politician in these troubled times perhaps the first ‘green shoots’ of a recovery.
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