Six Nations Report Card

The rugby wasn’t always vintage and the set scrum (or rather its interpretation by referees) remains a terrible mess but there’s still something very splendid and very special about the Six Nations championship. France were the class of the field, even if they produced their most indifferent performance of the season when clinching Le Grand Chelem against England last night.

Elsewhere it was a case of frustrated regrets over what might have been mixed with glimpses of a more promising future. Every side will mourn the opportunities that got away. For Scotland that feeling was especially acute as winning positions against Wales (a match henceforth to be known as The Mad Horror), Italy and England were all squandered. But everyone else could say something similar. England will feel they could have beaten Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France while Wales must suspect that only ill-discipline prevented them from beating England. Meanwhile Ireland will rue their failure to conquer Scotland to claim another Triple Crown and even Italy will think that with a spot of luck, a touch more composure and so on they could, for the first time, have beaten England.