This feels strange. Very strange. For possibly the first time in the history of The Corner I’m going to be reviewing England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales with pretty much nothing bad to say about them. It was a great round of fixtures in all, with some absolutely flawless team and individual performances. Some of the teams are on their way to the Quarter Finals, while others could be on their way there very soon. This will be the last one for a bit because only Scotland are playing this weekend and a “home nations” review with only the one team would be a bit short and pointless, so in the next there’ll be two Scotland reviews for both Romania and Ireland. Kapish? Wonderful. Anyway, enough waffling, let’s get into the review!

England: “Well Done, He’s 13”

Oh, come on! I needed to have a bit of a joke. In England’s defence, they would end up doomed regardless of the outcome of this one. If they absolutely smashed it, like they did, then “it’s just Chile”, if they weren’t so convincing then it would be just another unconvincing and boring Borthwick game. A win like this can be massive for momentum and it’s coming at an important time for England with their ticket booked for the Quarter Finals after the Japan-Samoa result. It was a frustrating opening twenty minutes for England. They couldn’t get any meaningful passages of play together and Chile kept an incredibly tight defence. But it didn’t last, and once Henry Arundell got his first of 5 tries of the afternoon the flootgates completely opened. After around 35 minutes fatigue was starting to set in for Chile after their and England started to play with a bit more freedom. Owen Farrell played well in his first game back from suspension, and I was really glad to see Faz and Marcus Smith playing so well together. I’ve said it before, but England are such a better team when they’re both playing. Obviously, this doesn’t make them contenders, but you can only beat whoever’s in front of you. Second bonus point win, still unbeaten, likely to win the group and probably play Fiji in the Quarters making a Semi Final doable. I mean you would’ve taken that before the tournament, wouldn’t you?

Ireland: Absolutely Wonderful Horseplay

Wow. That’s how you make a statement. If South Africa have the bomb squad, then Ireland have the disposal unit. This felt like a World Cup Final going into it, and it played out like one. Tight, high intensity, both teams terrified to make a mistake. Ireland kept the intensity to match Springboks from the first whistle to the last. It might not have been the highest scoring encounter of all time, but this will go down as one of the World Cup’s all-time greatest games. Where the Boys in Green struggled with the attacking lineout, they more than made up for it with their great scrummaging. I wasn’t sure how the Irish scrum would be able to handle the bomb squad, but they more than held their own. Both teams looked a bit nervous at times, and there were a couple of wasted chances towards the try line that I think both would’ve taken in other games, but that’s also down to how great both were in defence and at the breakdown with Ireland having the slight edge. Bundee Aki was incredible once again. I’ve sung his praises the last couple of weeks but he’s having the tournament of his life. If he keeps this up (and I know it’s ages away) then he’ll easily be one of the first names picked for the Lions Squad. A special mention has to go to James Lowe as well. His attacking performances speak for themselves, but he put in a huge defensive shift last Saturday which proved to be absolutely crucial. Him and Mack Hansen on either side of the wing is a scary thought in both attack and defence. Ireland may not be in the Quarter Finals just yet, and it’s probably going to go down to the last game to guarantee it, but they’re basically there. Replay for the final, anyone? I mean obviously not because Wales are winning the whole thing, but it would be a good consolation.

Scotland: Still Hanging On

There’s something unbelievably satisfying about a team scoring multiple tries and having a different scorer every time. Scotland desperately needed this win to keep their slim hopes of the Quarter Finals alive, and that win came in the form of seven tries. It looked like it might’ve been a close affair after the first 20 minutes with Solomone Kata responding to George Turner’s opener with a try of his own, but Scotland fought back with another 3 from Duhan van der Merwe, Kyle Steyn, and Rory Darge before half time. Tonga didn’t really help themselves and made some silly mistakes; they gave away some daft penalties and missed a few tackles while losing their heads a bit at times. I’m quite surprised that Afusipa Taumoepeau’s yellow wasn’t upgraded for his pretty horrendous challenge on Jamie Ritchie, but that’s a different debate. At times in the second half, I thought they were a bit too cocky and tried to be a little bit too clever, but hey, that’s the new look Scotland playing a more exciting style of rugby for you. As expected, Tonga were very physical but Scotland defended well against them. They’ll have to perform much better against Ireland if they want to stand a chance of getting into the quarters, but if they get another bonus point win against Romania before that then who knows what could happen.

Wales: AAAAAAAANNNNDDDDDD WEEEEE WEEEERRREEEE SIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGG

WE’RE WINNING THE WORLD CUP BAYYYYYBEEEEEEEE!!! *ahem* What a massive result for Wales. Everything about the performance was perfect in what was easily the best win of the Second Gatland era. From the word go everything was perfect. Even when Dan Biggar went off early, Gareth Anscombe more than stepped up to the occasion. The Aussies gave away far too many penalties throughout the game, and Anscombe’s boot kept the points ticking over. Wales were outstanding at the breakdown and totally dominated at set pieces. Jac Morgan once again played an absolute stormer in what was possibly his best performance yet in a red shirt. Most backs would struggle to kick a 50:22 let alone a 22:22, but he did it with absolute ease. Captain Jac was definitely the standout player, but there were some massive performances for the full 80. Gareth Davies and Taulupe Faletau were both amazing, while Nick Tompkins once again played great. Like Bundee Aki, he’s impressed me every time he’s played so far. I’ll be honest; I wasn’t totally convinced Wales would win when they were leading 32-6 with 20 minutes left. Even though Wales were in complete control, the memories of bottling games against Australia throughout my childhood and adult life started to haunt me. I still wake up in cold sweats at the thought of Quade Cooper standing a penalty while they’re down by 2 and the clock’s gone red. Only when Wales scored their last try and led by 34 with around 3 minutes left did I think maybe, maybe, Wales had done enough to sneak it. Not bad for a little s**t place with 3 million people, eh Mr. Jones? Pick me up something nice in duty free.*

*yeah I have that thin a skin I’m still rattled by a joke he made like 6 years ago, what about it?