Ireland Destroys Scotland And Wins RBS 6 Nations

In the final week of RBS 6 Nations, there were three teams who could potentially take home the trophy. This was largely due to Ireland’s surprising loss to Wales, which originally gave England the tiebreaker heading into the final round.

Now, when there is a tie — England, Wales and Ireland all had eight points — the winner is decided by point differential. As a result, all three teams needed to score as much as possible for a chance to win the 6 Nations trophy.

So needless to say, all three matches were pretty much blowouts. First, Wales destroyed the 6 Nations punching bag, aka Italy, 60-21. After a slow beginning for the Welsh, they topped Italy with seven second half tries.

On the other hand, Ireland, who has been known to start their matches slow, came out of the gate scoring. Forwards Paul O’Connell and Sean O’Brien put in the first two tries of the match.

And once they started scoring, they did not stop as the always reliable Jonathan Sexton hit four penalty kicks and three conversions, which was on top of two more tries in the final forty minutes.

Most importantly, after putting up ten points in the first half, Ireland’s defense buckled down and did not give up a single score in the second — controlling both possession and field position in the half.

And finally, England drew the unlucky straw, playing probably the toughest opponent of the three potential champions. While France has been largely inconsistent, they are still an extremely volatile opponent. And it truly showed in a game where defense was nonexistent.

In total, there were twelve tries scored. That is an astronomical amount when one considers the scarcity of tries on the professional level. While England put up the 55 points that they needed, France was able to fight back, scoring 35.

This would ultimately be England’s downfall, putting them behind Ireland by six points. And while Ireland struggled to put the ball in the try zone, there defense showed why they are one of the best in the world — they only gave up 56 points in the whole tournament. The only real disappointment had to be for Wales, who put up 60 against Italy and still remained in third by ten points.

Either way, it was a thrilling conclusion for a wonderful 6 Nations tournament. Ireland walked away as back-to-back champions and Scotland took home the wooden spoon for the third time in nine years.

Article by Anthony Falco