It was a low key start to the 2012 Six Nations, but Philippe Saint-Andre and Stuart Lancaster won’t be too bothered.
Kicking things off this year was France against Italy in Paris and we had two pre-prepared narratives in our heads; either France would murder them in revenge for last year or Italy would produce one of their classic upsets.
Instead France were a bit worse than we expected, Italy were about what we expected and the home side crept home with as unimpressive a 19-point win as you can imagine.
Tries by Aurelien Rougerie, Julien Malzieu, Vincent Clerc and Wesley Fofana did the business in a 30-12 win and another performance like that would suit Ireland down to the ground next week. Sadly, you feel that they shook the cobwebs out today and they should be much more formidable in seven days.
France captain Thierry Dusautoir confirmed as much in his post-match interview.
“We are happy we took our revenge, but we will have to be much better next week,” he said. We hope they aren’t but we fear they will be.
As for the Calcutta Cup match, it was pretty turgid stuff. Scotland led England 6-3 at the break, thanks to two Dan Parks penalties. But the game was won just seconds after the second half began when Parks had a clearance blocked by Charlie Hodgson who pounced on the loose ball for the game’s only try.
The home side huffed and puffed and the Murrayfield crowd did their best to inspire their troops and put the visitors off but Scotland just didn’t have the skills or guile to beat a well-organised England defence.
Greg Laidlaw was unlucky the TMO didn’t award him a try but Scotland didn’t create enough and they endured a scoreless second 40 minutes while an Owen Farrell penalty near the end sealed a 13-6 win for Stuart Lancaster’s new-look England.
A first win at Murrayfield since 2004 will be welcomed by England but they showed little spark, flair or invention.
Let’s hope we get a better game tomorrow in Aviva. I have a feeling we will.
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