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BBC News
24-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Five talking points from round three of Six Nations
Ireland overcame a resurgent Wales in Cardiff, England squeezed past Scotland after Finn Russell's late missed kick, and France scored 11 tries to hammer our round-up of the big talking points from the third round of fixtures in the 2025 Men's Six Nations. Borthwick defends winning tactics Steve Borthwick called for his players to continue playing fast and with aggression after outscoring France four tries to squeezing past Scotland 16-15 to win back the Calcutta Cup for the first time since 2020, England were outscored three tries to one, with a heavy reliance on their kicking kicked away 69% possession and had a 2.7 pass-to-kick ratio, which means after less than three passes they reverted to the boot, compared to Scotland's 9.7."It is not a team that looks like they want to play," former Wales captain Sam Warburton told BBC's Six Nations Rugby Special. "England are playing off nine rugby much of the time ."England conceded nine line breaks against Scotland, seven of which came in the wider channels, where in particular Scotland wing Duhan van der Merwe had plenty of joy in the first half. "I see England being narrow in defence quite regularly but I do feel like it could be fixed," Warburton said."Maybe England are giving teams that space deliberately as Ireland and Scotland found it [in the wider channels] ."Their one-on-one tackling has to get better and has hurt them."However, despite errors in defence and a lack of free-flowing attacking rugby, Borthwick is not concerned about his game plan always being pleasing on the eye."It's not necessarily how we wish to play, but there are two teams out there and we found a way to win," said Borthwick. Russell's missed kicks cost Scotland but could Van der Merwe have done better? Despite Scotland outscoring England in tries, Russell failed to make any of his three conversion attempts England full-back Marcus Smith was successful with all three of his kicks and his namesake Fin Smith nailed an important penalty from halfway with 10 minutes der Merwe's late try in the corner gave Russell the opportunity to extend Scotland's winning run over England to five games."It was a difficult kick from the touchline and he will be ruing the two earlier in the game which were much easier kicks," former Scotland hooker Fraser Brown told BBC'S Rugby Union Weekly."To go nil from three is not why Scotland lost but as an international 10, Finn will be really disappointed."Russell only missed one kick in the Six Nations last year, but this campaign - and in a British and Irish Lions year - is kicking at 38%.Former England wing Ugo Monye told BBC's Six Nations Rugby Special that Van der Merwe had to do more to get closer to the posts when crossing for Scotland's third try."Van der Merwe is running away from the sticks on an outside angle," Monye said."You can see by his reaction that he does not look like he is celebrating scoring the winning try."When you look at the margins of how far he has run out against how much it has been missed by, he has to do more."As winger you have to do everything to try and help out." Ireland & France to meet in showdown When the 2025 Six Nations fixtures were first released one fixture stood out - Ireland v France in round four."Right when the fixtures came out, you thought that game is going to decide who wins the title," Warburton sides have finished in the top two spots over the past three championships and played out one of the great Six Nations fixtures in as a possible Grand Slam decider, Ireland have done their part with three straight wins as they seek an unprecedented third title in a last-gasp defeat by England prevented a potential Slam decider, but their 11-try thrashing of Italy gives Les Bleus momentum heading to Dublin on 8 with a superior points difference, are three points behind Ireland, making the fixture a potential Six Nations when asked for his prediction went for an Ireland win, Barclay went the other way with Galthie's side host Scotland in the final round, while Ireland travel to Italy, while England are also still in the title hunt. Wales get new manager bounce When Warren Gatland left his role as Wales boss, interim head coach Matt Sherratt only had three training sessions to try to produce one of the greatest shocks in Six Nations Grand Slam-chasing Ireland in Cardiff, Wales were inches away from potentially taking the lead in the 73rd minute when Ellis Mee nearly pulled off a miracle boot of 22-year-old fly-half Sam Prendergast helped Ireland close out the game Wales ended up falling to a 15th successive Test defeat, the performance of Sherratt's side succeeded a disappointing loss to Italy in round two, Sherratt made eight changes to his squad, which included bringing in Gloucester pair Gareth Anscombe and Max believes Sherratt's changes in personnel and style brought big improvements."The nine-10-12-13 combination have all worked and played together under Sherratt, and are the best players for their position," Warburton added."He freshened the boys up, so they were full of beans for the game and he imprinted, so quickly and impressively, his attacking game plan, which was night and day from what we've seen the last 12 months."I can't believe he made so many positive changes within one week." 20-minute red card needs 'firmer punishment' In January, it was announced that this year's Six Nations will use 20-minute red cards for the first say the 20-minute red card trial is designed to "punish the player and not the team", with sides able to replace a dismissed player after 20 minutes instead of playing the rest of the game with centre Garry Ringrose got his timing wrong on a big first-half hit on Wales' Ben Thomas and his high tackle was later upgraded to Ireland down to 14, Wales had their best period of the match and scored a superb try in the corner through Tom the 20 minutes passed, Bundee Aki replaced Ringrose and played a key role in seeing the game home for Ireland."Ringrose is an exceptional player and defends so physically but in my opinion those collisions need to be out of the game," Barclay said."That is a player who has made a decision to fly in. In my view, and a lot of other people, that should be a straight red card."Warburton says players' behaviours have not changed enough since he retired in 2018."There needs to be a much firmer punishment on individuals off the field," he said. "If Ringrose gets a one or two-week ban then he is going to do that again."A four-week ban and he probably doesn't do that tackle again. We need to punish the player individually much more harshly off the field."
BBC News
31-01-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Losing is not what I'm about
Men's Six Nations: Ireland v EnglandVenue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Saturday, 1 February Kick-off: 16:45 GMTCoverage: Listen live on BBC Radio 5 Live & BBC Sounds; text commentary and highlights on BBC Sport website and app; watch on ITV1. New England captain Maro Itoje says losing is not what he is about as his side prepare to open their Six Nations campaign against Ireland on replaced Jamie George as skipper earlier this month after England only won five of their 12 Tests in Borthwick's side beat Ireland, who are seeking a historic third championship in a row, at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium last year and will be hoping to start positively in Dublin to help their bid for a first Six Nations title since 2020."I don't want to lose and losing is not what I am about," Itoje told the BBC's Rugby Union Weekly."There is no greater honour than winning with England. You win with your club and that is special, but winning with England is a different kettle of fish."I want this team to feel that and achieve that and I think we can."Itoje led England to the Under-20 world title in 2014 but only stepped up to lead Saracens this season in the wake of previous captain Owen Farrell's departure to 30-year-old lock made his debut in England's 2016 Grand Slam-winning campaign and enjoyed a successful start to his international career under Eddie Jones, reaching the Rugby World Cup in a 2021 book, Jones questioned whether Itoje was suited to captaincy, writing that the second row was "very inward-looking" and did not "usually influence people off the field" - a view Itoje later Lawes, who captained England during their Australia tour in 2022, said Itoje is not a loud talker, external when it comes to pre-game team talks, but the new England captain is happy to hand over those duties to louder squad members."If there are swearing obligations I will hand that over to the 14 members of the team!" Itoje added."Everyone has things to work on. I like to think I am a reasonably self-aware person and I think I am humble enough to acknowledge where I need support from others." I want to bring a different edge - Murley Harlequins wing Cadan Murley, who scored two tries for England A against Australia A in November, will make his England debut on up, Murley played the majority of his rugby as a flanker - like his father and former Harlequin Jon - before switching to the backs as a nine England camps since his first call-up in 2023, the 25-year-old finally has the chance to show that he punches above his size, taking inspiration from fellow 5ft 11in wing Jack Nowell who had a successful England career with a similarly stocky build."I have different traits to a life-long wing and want to bring a different edge like Jack Nowell did to the English team," Murley told BBC's Rugby Union Weekly."I was quick for a flanker, but did not have standout pace, and you obviously work with the best speed coaches to get as quick as you can."There are some absolutely rapid wings in the world, so it's definitely something I have tried to add to my game. There are not many line breaks in Tests and you have to take those opportunities."I am going to try and stay in this shirt, I am desperate to play from my country."
BBC News
31-01-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
England will 'target' Prendergast
Former winger Chris Ashton believes England will see Sam Prendergast's inexperience as an "opportunity" in Saturday's Six Nations 21-year-old Leinster fly-half will be making his championship debut having won his three previous caps in November. After the retirement of Johnny Sexton following the 2023 World Cup, Munster's Jack Crowley wore the ten jersey for every minute of last year's Six 25-year-old started against the All Blacks and Argentina in the autumn but has since had to make do with a role as a replacement. "The inexperience of Sam might be an opportunity," said Ashton on BBC's Rugby Union Weekly."You're so used to having someone there for Ireland who is so experienced."We're going back 20 years, [Ronan] O'Gara, Sexton, you're so used to having someone there who is experienced and can lead a team. Sam is 21-years-old, so if you're looking for a chink somewhere, a target for your team, you're going to go for the fly-half, aren't you?"While predicting Ireland's fly-half debate will be a "close contest for years to come", Ashton likens Prendergast's style to that of Sexton, who has been in the side's camp in a mentoring role. "The way he looks, the way he plays, is so similar to Johnny Sexton," he added."The way he operates, those wraparound passes, there's so many similarities there."
