Six Nations Championship opens with thrilling matches
The largest pre-World Cup rugby event – the Six Nations Championship – is currently underway. All the European giants are participating in this event to prepare for the World Cup and to test the rising stars of the game.
The World Cup will be held in New Zealand later this year.
England, currently the highest rated team in the world, is expected to lift the world title. Tindall is leading the English team surprisingly well. He was feared to miss the championship opener due to injuries. He is replacing Lewis Moody, who fall a prey to knee injury two days before the opening match.
England won the opener against Wales 26-19 at the Millennium Stadium, the home ground of Wales.
England dominated the match and turned it completely in its favour. The match had also found the immensely-talented youth, Ton Wood. The young man had played exceptionally well and his 80-minute career has forced critics to draw comparison with the rugby great – Richard Hill. His coach and captain both praised him after the match. Tindall said, “I think he is definitely a player in the Richard Hill mould. Richard went under the radar. You have to look at film to see how good he was and I thought Tom was outstanding.”
Ireland and Italy also faced each other at Stadio Flaminio. The match left Irish coach Declan Kidney fuming for bad refereeing. Kidney was not satisfied with the French referee’s standards, yet Ireland were able to beat Italy 13-11. Italy were reduced to 14 men when Romaine Poite red carded Denis Leamy on the 71st minute of the game.
Kidney said, “Most of the penalties did seem to come in the scrum, but we’re told that there is an avenue for us to approach this and we’ve been asked to trust it. That’s what I’ll do.”
In another match, France outclassed Scotland with a rousing victory of 34-21 at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday. The French team was being underrated because of its performance in the latter part of 2010, but with the home field and home-crowd advantage, the team’s spark returned to life and they got their first victory over Scotland since 1959.
The French players were excellent on the field and performed under pressure without losing their strong nerves. Scotland Coach Andy Robinson was impressed by the tactics of the French and said the French team was “the best scrum-managing team in the world”. The French team has given a message to the other teams not to take them lightly.
The opening matches have created a lot of drama so far and the excitement is only expected to increase in the future.
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