England’s great escape

For those of you who saw Sri Lankans struggle to bowl out the Bangladeshi batsman, there was similarity in England’s laboured win over Italy. The Italians were rather listless in the first half but decides that they needed to step on the gas in the second.

The difference in the number of tackles made by Italy and England was approximately 40+ in the first half as Italy had to do all the tackling to prevent England from scoring. At the end of the game, it was England that had notched up the larger number of tackles as Italy went on the rampage. A number of mistakes at critical points in the game prevented Italy from scoring. The fact that they did not permit England to cross their goal line is laudable.

The Welsh will play England next week in what is billed as blockbusters. The Welsh must be at training this week with renewed vigour as they will honestly believe that they are in with a chance to beat England. Whilst Toby Flood was accurate with his goal kicking the imaginative play and flair of Owen Farrel was missed.

I have always been of the view that the referee must only be a facilitator for a smooth game and not aim to hog the limelight. After all 81,000+ spectators had come to watch the 30 men do duty for their country as opposed to Clancy stamp his authority at the Twickenham Stadium. Italy were definitely denied of possession and priceless momentum in the first half when George Clancy incorrectly ruling on a knock on inside the England 22 despite the clarification from the assistant referee to the contrary.

The Italian fullback won the man of the match award being a member of the losing side indicating the influence that he had on the Italian side during the game. His clean collection of the high ball was a treat to watch as was his incisive run well past the gain line. The key moment of the game was when Luciano Orquera cross kick found winger Luke McLean for the game’s solitary touchdown.  

If England is to entertain hopes of a grand slam victory, they will have to improve vastly on the last error-ridden performance. England had the golden opportunity to effectively wrap it all up, had they won handsomely against Italy. However Italy showed loads of spunk and finally it was England who held put to one of their lacklustre performance on recent times.

The previous day also provided us with plenty to think about as finally the French flair was in full flow. France eventually may have ended a three-game losing streak with this hard fought draw. Despite this there is a lot of work to be done if they are to be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Maybe the thought of being handed their first wooden spoon since 1999, and a first whitewash since 1957, spurred them on. Without doubt fly-half Frederic Michalak remains a serious cause for concern.

Everybody thinks so, except for the man who matters, which is the coach Philippe Saint-Andre whose faith in Michalak is baffling. Captain Thierry Dusautoir turned in yet another sterling performance despite the rather atrocious playing conditions and surface. Another member of the French brigade who had a good game was Morgan Parra sporting the # 9 jersey. He was the centre of attraction and the director of operations.

After one of the many bone-crunching tackles veteran Irish centre O’Driscoll was assessed by the medical staff as unable to play further and left the field, only to return minutes later for one last hurrah in discomfort from a dead-leg. It may have possibly been his last appearance on Irish soil.  

Bodies littered the field as France battled in a desperate effort to win this game, but they had left too much to do in the last quarter. Referee Steve Walsh, whose handling of the game in quite testing circumstances deserves praise, chose not to award a penalty or a penalty try having consulted with the Television Match Official – although input on foul play is not allowed in the Six Nations, unlike the Super Rugby competition where Walsh is a regular.  The role of the TMO must be standardised.



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