In the words of Bon Jovi, we’re halfway there, or over halfway if you want to get technical about it. After it feels as if we’ve only just started, another game week is down in the 2023 Six Nations championship. We had three very different games with arguably some flattering score lines. Whilst the tournament is far from over and some teams might not be on the beach just yet, there may be one or two starting to think about making their way down the pebble slope (for better or worse). As the teams go into another break before the final two fixtures, it’s time to get on with the grading!

Italy: Down, but far from out

No matter who Italy play nowadays you know for a fact that it won’t be boring, and it will damn sure be competitive. After a shaky opening 5 minutes with a disallowed James Lowe try and an allowed James Ryan try, you’d be forgiven for thinking it might end up as a bit of a drubbing, however that didn’t happen. The days of Italy getting battered by everyone are over, and this game is proof of it. It seems weird saying that after they lost a game where they conceded five tries, but in all honesty, it was a bit of an unfortunate result. With what’s becoming very much a reoccurring theme for the Azzurri, they didn’t give up when they were knocked down and very much took the game to the world’s number 1 ranked team. Lorenzo Cannone had a fantastic game breaking through a very strong Irish defence on more than one occasion while Pierre Bruno looked incredibly dangerous on the wing. Like they’ve grown to do this tournament, this Italy team will make the most of their opportunities when presented them and in all honesty were probably unlucky not to get anything out of this. The intensity was yet again incredibly high with some lightning fast paced rugby, but it just wasn’t enough. 

Grade: B-. Shaky at times. But in all honesty, I can’t nit-pick too much.

Ireland: Keep plodding on

It was hardly the demolition job that we’ve seen against Italy in years gone by however the Boys in Green still did what they needed to do. They started bright with early tries from James Ryan and Hugo Keenan followed by tries later in the half by Bundee Aki and James Lowe, but they still let Italy into it and made it a lot closer than it had to be. If Ireland are a team that are going to go for a Grand Slam and a World Cup later this year, then these are games that they should be using to make big statements. It feels weird to dig into them too much when they scored 5 tries and won by 14 points, but it wasn’t the most comfortable performance. With that being said you can’t expect a team going for the Grand Slam to be firing on all cylinders every week, just look at France’s performance against Wales in Cardiff last year. While it was close, it does show how solid and stubborn the Irish defence was. I gave a lot of praise to Italy, but they still only managed 3 points in the second half as Ireland frustrated the usual free-flowing Italian style of play, all for Hansen to deliver the final hammer blow 9 minutes from full-time. The break comes at a good time for Andy Farrell’s men as they can work on what went not so great in time for a trip to Edinburgh in a fortnight’s time, as the Grand Slam dream carries on.

Grade: B+. Not the dominance you showed in the first two games but still did what you needed to.

Wales: “Solidarity foreeeevvvvverrrr for the union makes us strong”

Honestly, I can’t be mad at that. Was it good? Far from it. Wales really didn’t see enough of the ball and didn’t threaten enough in attack for my liking, but there are some huge asterisks here. If you put yourself in the players position, not knowing if they have a future in rugby full stop because of something as ridiculous as the WRU wanting to put a cap on regions wages to the extent where it wouldn’t be financially viable to play in Wales anymore, then you understand why they might’ve had other things on their mind. In terms of what happened on the field, it wasn’t too pretty. It looked a bit static and one dimensional. Wales kicked the ball away far too much for my liking which hindered any kind of attacking threat. It was a big statement from Warren Gatland to change the team as much as he did. I get the point to try and show that nobody’s too big to be dropped, and Joe Hawkins and Mason Grady are the future at 12 and 13 so I’m really pleased that they both started, but to change the squad that much was a bold strategy that didn’t pay off. Tommy Reffell and Jac Morgan have been two of Wales’s best players, so I really don’t get the reasoning behind them being dropped. To try and get some positives, it was much better than the opening two games. I thought the front row looked strong again, both pre and post substitutions, while Christ Tshiunza is getting better with every game. Next is a trip to Rome in a massive game against Italy where the Welsh team will be desperate for their first win of the tournament.

Grade: D. Fairly poor on the pitch, but absolute legends off it. To stand their ground against the salary cap and the 60-cap rule with threatening strike action and still going out on the field on Saturday shows how mentally strong this squad is. Even though you lost you can still be proud.

England: Slowly but surely getting there

As the Borthwick Revolution continues, England get their first win in Cardiff since 2017. It wasn’t particularly the best performance of all time, but they did what needed to be done. It really shouldn’t have been that close, especially after the first half. In what was a bit of a boring game overall, there were some definite diamonds in a bit of a proverbial rough. Ollie Lawrence and Anthony Watson put in some great performances. Freddie Steward continued to show why he’s one of the best fullbacks under the high ball, while Lewis Ludlam played yet another stormer. He and Jack Willis were an absolute menace at the breakdown and I thought rucked brilliantly. With this being said, England should’ve won by a much higher margin. It would be easy to point the blame directly at Owen Farrell for his questionable at best kicking, and that was obviously a contributing factor, but England still fell into the trap of kicking it away far too much. There were a few times where the kick and chase wasn’t really working at times which became quite predictable and frustrating to watch, but Steward is a terrifyingly good under the high ball. As I’ve kept saying all along, this is part of a wider plan with long-term goals. It’s scarily reminiscent of early Tigers under Borthwick, which should be promising for England fans. I just hope that the RFU stick with him for the long term, because I can honestly see Borthwick and co. take this England team very far.

Grade: B. Not the most exciting but managed to get a result, it shouldn’t have been that close though.

France: Bouncebackability confirmed (probably)

After a bit of a drubbing in Dublin, and probably a stern lecturing from Shaun Edwards, France would’ve been desperate to get back to winning ways. After jumping into a 19-0 lead with tries from Romain Ntamack, Ethan Doumortier, and Thomas Ramos and Scotland down to 14 men, it looked as if it might’ve been a bit of a drubbing. However that didn’t happen, with Mohamed Haouas deciding to do his best Zinedine Zidane 2006 World Cup Final impression and came flying in with a headbutt on Ben White for… reasons, thus making it 14 against 14. Scotland managed to get back into it with a few tries of their own, but France were able to strike back through Gael Fickou to confirm the bonus point win. If the Wales-England game was a bit disappointing, then this one more than made up for it. The attack was free flowing, and the French defence was much better than it was in Dublin a fortnight ago. It was a game of fine margins, and France managed to make the small things matter. From the odd turnover to forcing the occasional penalty, it was all part of the bigger picture. The defence also turned up when they needed to, after stopping two almost certain tries from Duhan van der Merwe and Zander Faegerson. A bonus point win was going to be crucial if Les Bleus wanted to still be in contention for the title, and that’s exactly what they got.

Grade: A. Star of the Week! Did very well to bounce back, well done.

Scotland: So very close

This one’s going to sting if you’re a Scotland fan. It was a huge opportunity to send shockwaves around the rugby world with what would be a huge statement win, but alas it didn’t come. In all honesty, 32-21 is a bit of a flattering score on France’s behalf, because it gives the impression a bit that it was a tad one sided when it was anything but. Scotland were wounded in the opening 8 minutes with two French tries and a red card for Grant Gilchrist, but they managed an amazing near comeback. The French red card evened things, but it’s unfair to say that was the sole reason. The Scottish attack remained strong resulting in two tries for Huw Jones and one for Finn Russell, and Russell remained consistent with the boot, but it just wasn’t enough. Maybe on another day if they got a tad luckier with the Zander Faegerson and Duhan van der Merwe chances then they could’ve snuck the win, but it wasn’t to be. The championship is out of their hands for the moment with Ireland being the only team that haven’t lost; however, it can swing massively back in their favour with a win against the Boys in Green in Edinburgh in two weeks’ time. Considering Wales are out of any kind of contention for the title, I’ll support Scotland to win it because why not. It would be fun.

Grade: B+. Great performance overall, not too much at all that I can nit-pick at, just unlucky to lose.

Class clown of the week: Nika Amashukeli. He wasn’t awful by any stretch but I’m still in disbelief that he needed his assistants to confirm to him that there was a high degree of danger after Haouas did a diving headbutt into Ben White.