6 Nations Saturday Wrap-Up
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6 Nations Saturday Wrap-Up
France 21-31 England
England won their first Grandslam in 13 years with a hard fought win over France in Paris.
Eddie Jones side claimed a 31-21 win over France thanks to tries from Danny Care, Dan Cole and Anthony Watson.
Care's try a thing of class, as he spotted a gap in the French defence and darted 45 metres to get England rolling.
Dan Cole added a try from short range in controversial style. Cole seemed to collide with teammate Mako Vunipola, however Nigel Owens saw nothing wrong and awarded the try much to the anguish of the French crowd.
The change of Care for Ben Youngs was proved inspired, after a break from MOTM Billy Vunipola. Youngs broke through the French defence and chipped through to the chasing Anthony Watson, who claimed his 3rd try in 3 matches.
England had to go through some tough phases during the game and absorb some pressure but they showed why they were Grandslam worthy with a 10 point victory.
England boss Eddie Jones was ecstatic with his players.
"I'm very proud of the boys," Jones told BBC Sport afterwards. "It's a great achievement by the team. I always had confidence in them.
"Dylan Hartley has been fantastic and he has done a very good job. Billy Vunipola, Mike Brown and Owen Farrell have done very well assisting him along with James Haskell and Chris Robshaw. That nucleus has been very strong.
"The great thing is the best is ahead of us. We're looking forward to [the summer tour to] Australia and we're only going to get better."
Ireland 35-25 Scotland
Ireland finished their 6 Nations campaign off on a high with a win over Scotland.
In a fiesty game, Ireland scored 4 tries through Conor Murray, Keith Earls, CJ Stander and lock Devin Toner.
Scotland lead early on after a good finish by Stuart Hogg but dropped off the pace as Ireland grew into the game.
Richie Gray grabbed one to make the game interesting later one as the Irish defence stretched and then with 2 minutes to go Alex Dunbar reduced the deficet to 10 points.
Ireland captain Rory Best was left to rue his sides mistakes in the competition, but was happy with the way the men in green finished.
“Look, it has been frustrating,” the Ulster hooker told RTE.
“It was a good start in terms of performance, not the result, the draw [against Wales], that we wanted.
“I think when we look back the France game will be very, very frustrating for us. That was the one game where we lost it, we very much feel we lost that one.
“Against England, I think there were [positive] moments we could pick out.
“But all in all, to finish with two wins when we were under pressure, backs against the wall and the way we went about finishing the tournament off, you’ve got to be pleased.
“Obviously, we don’t settle for mid-table, we don’t settle for [being] also-rans but with where we were after the England game, I think the boys showed a lot of character and courage to stand up and play with the confidence and conviction that we did in the last two games.”
Wales 67-14 Italy
Wales thumped Italy scoring 9 tries to finish 2nd in the 6 Nations.
It was a record points total in a championship game for Wales as they put on a show for the Welsh crowd in Cardiff.
Warren Gatland's side were ruthless going forward and lead 27-0 at half time thanks to tries from Rhys Webb, Dan Biggar and Jonathan Davies.
The Welsh then ran riot against a poor Italian side, adding a further 6 tries through Jamie Roberts, George North, Liam Williams, Gareth Davies and 2 from substitute Ross Moriarty.
Warren Gatland was content with his sides win.
"We know sometimes we've been slow starters in campaigns but we've just got to keep working hard on that and today was a good response by the players.
"We conceded a couple of tries which was disappointing, but I thought we scored some outstanding tries and put the ball through the hands and some players put up some pretty big performances."
