Bob Dwyer Rugby Workshops

31^st January, 2010.

It’s either a measure of my courage or my foolhardiness that I attempt this preview of the upcoming Six Nations Championship. We see only selected matches each weekend, courtesy of whichever TV network is broadcasting whichever tournament to Australia. It’s quite an effort each Friday night, combing through the various programmes, in order to record my selected matches. Add to this the fact that the programmes are often incorrect! Anyway, here goes!

The Six Nations is a great tournament and, almost always, there are upsets. It’s a succession of local derbies, with the expected old rivalries - some centuries old – and tribalism is at its best, or should that be, worst. The competing nations are close enough to each other to ensure large numbers of away-team visitors, all hell-bent on a great weekend of fun but, thankfully, no mayhem! Rome seems to have replaced Paris as the favoured destination for travelling supporters, and I must say that I’m envious. I’ll have to be satisfied with, hopefully, a Sunday of three recorded matches. I may sit up, or get up, for the odd 3am viewing. It had better be good!

I’m guessing that it will be good. My Northern Hemisphere viewing, over the last four months or so, has indicated no serious contagion from the Springbok and Wallaby affliction of “serial indiscriminate kicking”. Indeed, I’ve seen many excellent displays, which have evidenced the full scope of the laws of our game.

I’ll give England some hope by stating up front that I believe that only France, Ireland and Wales can win the Championship, but it’s difficult to see a Grand Slam. I’ll go further and say that I believe that only Ireland are consistent enough to prevail and they do have three home games, albeit with France away, in Paris. Both Wales and France are capable of excellent performances, but lack consistency and will need all of the best players available.

Ireland can be both brilliant and pragmatic. They have excellent leadership all over the pitch. They can be tough and relentless, where required. They have great speed and realignment in their backline and are therefore capable of the snap try from the smallest opportunity. Brian O’Driscoll, I believe, is now a better all-round player than at any stage of his career; he now uses support players better and this makes him even more dangerous. I’m guessing that Allan Gaffney’s presence as an influential backline coach has allowed all of Ireland’s excellent backs to exhibit all of their talent. Significantly, Paris will hold no fears for O’Driscoll – and therefore for his team. I saw firsthand his two tries in Paris some years back – on his Paris debut, if memory serves me correctly.

France, to follow the usual line, can be brilliant – remember the fantastic performance against, an admittedly poor, Springbok team in the autumn – and then awful, with no answer at all, a week later against the All Blacks. They will need Harinordoquy, Picamoles and Millo-Chlusky and the later is already missing for the opening match against Scotland. They lack, however, a world-class fetcher and should take a leaf out of South Africa’s book and finally admit the inestimable value of such a player. They often look less than great, to me, around the #9, 10, 12 spots and this could be their downfall. Selections generally look less than obvious and this always indicates less than world-class players available.

Wales, like France, can play instinctive rugby - perhaps better than anyone else – but, at times, they seem reluctant to do so. They will need all of their best players and I, like the rest of the rugby world, hope that Lee Byrne’s appeal is successful. Surely ERC could not make the same ludicrous decision two weeks in succession. The team seem strangely undecided about their defensive strategy and this can cause indecision, with sometimes catastrophic results – remember the match against the Wallabies in the autumn!

Ireland CAN win away in Paris, but can Wales win in Dublin, and can France win in Cardiff?

I’m certainly looking forward to it!