Scotland 9 – 18 France
The French team did the bare minimum by beating a willing but weak Scottish team. They relied on their strong scrum and defense, focusing on playing the balls returned by their opponent, especially in the first half where they showed a lot of realism by scoring two tries from three attacks.
However, they could easily have conceded two tries if not for Lionel Nallet’s interventions.
In the second half, instead of pushing their advantage, the French were content to manage the score without being able to expand their game in a way that would have allowed them to kill the match.
As expected, the French team made a modest entry into the tournament, and they will need to step up their game next Saturday in Paris to have any chance of defeating Ireland.
Notable individual performances included the good comeback of Bastareaud and strong performances from Domingo, Nallet, Harinordoquy, and Poitrenaud.
Ireland 29 – 11 Italy
The match was lackluster, featuring an inconsistent and unimaginative Irish team against an Italian team that was as undisciplined as ever and played a far too simplistic rugby to destabilize the Irish.
England 30 – 17 Wales
England relied on their pragmatic play based on control, close physical challenges, and Wilkinson’s kicking to defeat the Welsh, who realized too late that their salvation depended on a more ambitious, movement-based rugby.
Comments by Éric Buchet
