Rugby Mad Blog

Six Nations Game 1 – England vs Italy (36-11)

The Six Nations has rolled around again, and every England fan was hoping for an improvement over their lacklustre Autumn performances. When Andy Goode [left] scored a try within 95 seconds of kickoff, we were thinking it might come true. But the euphoria was short lived.

To be honest, most people were more interested in the shocking performance of the hapless Mauro Bergamasco, a Flanker playing Scrum Half. Itatian coach Nick Mallett might have had his hands forced by injury nightmares, but within the first few minutes, it was obvious to everyone that he was far from competant at No. 9.

Another Bergamasco error saw him sucked into a ruck, missing the ball as it popped up for James Haskell to flick a pass towards Harry Ellis [right], who took full advantage and sprinted 20m to cross the line with a slide, evading Italian defenders.

Minutes later the Italian’s day went from bad to nightmare when he botched a pass to Gonzalo Garcia, enabling Andy Goode to gather, kick ahead and the move was finished off by Riki Flutey [left].

That left England going in at the break 22-6 up.

Thankfully, Mallett put us all out of our misery an brought on his 5th choice Scrum Half  Giulio Toniolatt for his second cap in the second half. He was certainly an improvement!

There were three more tries in the second period – a second for Man-Of-The-Match Ellis, a consolation try for Miro Bergamasco (at least one brother did something right), and a welcome return to the scoreboard (and team) for Winger Mark Cueto [right].

The final result was a rather flattering 36-11. There will be plenty for Martin Johnson to work on during the coming seven days. I can hardly see the Welsh quaking in their boots for next week’s clash at the Millennium Stadium. But one or two England fans might be.

EDF Semi-Final 1 – Leicester Tigers vs London Wasps (34-24)

As a neutral watching the game, it was a very entertaining 80 minutes, with the lead changing hands several times, often against the run of play.

I had travelled to the Millennium Stadium with the Saraacens supporters. We had seats in the East stand, about 4 rows back. Good in theory, but pretty bad for the first 40 minutes on a sunny afternoon with the roof open – couldn’t see a thing with the sun straight in our eyes. Eventually it dipped below the stadium roof, and I was able to get some half-decent photos. Paul Sackey scored a great try in the first half, and the teams went in 13-12 at half time.

[Paul Sackey is enveloped by Andy Goode and Harry Ellis, looking sharp for the Leicester defence]

Things opened up a little in the second half, with the Tigers putting more points on the board than Wasps. Sackey managed another touchdown in the second half, along with team mate Danny Cipriani. Whilst for the Tigers, Seru Rabeni, Dan Hipkiss and Martin Castrogiovanni all crossed. No-one was more surprised than the Prop himself, when Castrogiovanni found himself in space, ball in hand and the line 20m away. He lumbered forward and no-one was at home to defend. He did the most exuberant belly-flop to get his try that I’ve ever witnessed. Didn’t realised Props bounce quite that well!

[Martin Castrogiovanni belly-flops his way to a try]

In the end, Leicester were the deserved winners, and will go into the final with confidence after that performance. See more match photos from the game.