Outside of the World Cup which was sort of successful with England getting top 3, this is currently one of the most exciting times to be a rugby fan from the UK. We’re deep into the Six Nations now with England having played 3 games so far. Today we’re going to look at their results so far and take some positives and negatives from their performances.
At the time of writing England has played Italy, Wales and Scotland, with Ireland and France to come.
Six Nations results so far
Saturday 3rd February
Italy 24 – 27 England
Saturday 10th February
England 16 – 14 Wales
Saturday 24th February
Scotland 30 – 21 England
Remaining fixtures
Saturday 9th March
England Vs Ireland
Saturday 16th March
France Vs England
How has England’s Six Nations campaign been so far?
First things first, this is a pretty mixed bag of results so far in the Six Nations tournament. Two wins but both of them were tight followed by a loss to Scotland. We’ll break it down game by game. Starting with the Italy game.
Italy surprised England with a strong first half playing some good rugby, scoring two tries through Alessandro Garbisi and Tommaso Allan and taking a 17-14 lead into the break. England managed to stay in touch through a try by Elliot Daly and three penalties from George Ford.
However, England came out stronger in the second half and took control of the game. A try by Alex Mitchell and additional points from Ford secured their comeback victory. This match showcased Italy’s growing potential under their new coach, while also highlighting England’s ability to fight back under pressure. Which sets things up nicely for a clash a little closer to home.
For the game against Wales, it was a similar story, England came back from a 14-5 half-time deficit to narrowly defeat Wales 16-14 in a tense encounter. Wales took the early lead through a penalty try and an Alex Mann score, but England responded with a try from Ben Earl just before halftime.
The second half saw England gain momentum, with a try from Fraser Dingwall and two penalties from George Ford securing a hard-fought victory. This is yet another game where England have had to come from behind to get the win. If nothing else it shows that there is true grit and resilience in this England lineup right now.
England has got a pretty rough record against Scotland in recent history, losing their last THREE, this loss was their fourth consecutive Calcutta Cup loss, a feat not achieved since the 1890s and with the last two games being so close, everybody knew this wasn’t going to be an easy game.
But maybe things weren’t going to be so difficult after all? George Furbank scored an early try after just 5 minutes putting England in the driving seat, but Duhan van der Merwe stole the show after that, scoring a hat-trick of tries within the first half, giving Scotland a 17-13 lead.
England would continue to be hounded by van der Merwe as he continued his impressive performance in the second half and Scotland extended their lead with two penalties from fly-half Finn Russell. However it wasn’t over yet, Feyi-Waboso grabbed himself a try but it wasn’t enough. The result was 30-21 to Scotland which was our fourth consecutive loss to them in the Calcutta Cup.
Does England still have a chance of winning the Six Nations?
So how does that leave things looking? Well, there are some positives to take, firstly they won their first two matches against Italy and Wales, and after their loss to Scotland they currently sit 2nd in the Six Nations table and they’re also showing good signs of adapting to their new, more expansive playing style.
But, they suffered a pretty heavy defeat to Scotland, they’re struggling a lot in the scrum which has traditionally been a strong area for us and they’re still getting used to their new defensive system. Overall we’re still up there, performing well enough, but they really do need to address their inconsistencies and improve the scrum and they’ll absolutely remain competitive in the hunt for a Six Nations title.
wo more big games, hopefully, we can pick up two more wins! That should be enough to secure the Six Nations, but it won’t be easygoing.
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