Who’s hot and who’s not: England answer their critics, record-breaking former All Black and humble pie for the Irish

David Skippers
Split between England celebrating and Wales disappointment.

Split between England celebrating and Wales disappointment.

It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons after the weekend.

THEY’RE ON FIRE!

England and Ben Earl: Where did that performance come from? After receiving plenty of criticism following their display in the Calcutta Cup defeat to Scotland in Round Three, Red Rose head coach Steve Borthwick and his players came to the fore with an outstanding effort en route to a 23-22 victory over high-riding Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday. The result ended the men from the Emerald Isle’s dreams of winning back-to-back Six Nations Grand Slams and while the entire England side deserve credit for the win, star back-row Earl earns special praise after delivering a wonderful all-round performance which saw him walk off with the official player of the match award. Some showing.

Nolann Le Garrec: The Racing 92 scrum-half made his first start for France in the international arena, against Wales at the Principality Stadium, and certainly made the most of the opportunity as he shone with an excellent performance. The 21-year-old caught the eye with a stunning reverse pass during the opening half and continued to thrill the crowd with his superb decision-making and ability to bring his team-mates into play. Le Garrec spent 71 minutes on the field but during that time he provided slick service to his outside backs and kept his forwards on the front foot with his brilliance on attack. Le Garrec also went over for a try on the half-hour mark and his excellent all-round effort was rewarded with the official player of the match award.

Italy: After delivering competitive performances in two out of their three previous encounters in this year’s Six Nations – in a narrow defeat to England and a draw with France – the Azzurri went one better by claiming a stunning come-from-behind victory over Scotland in Rome on Saturday. Gregor Townsend’s charges made a superb start and raced into an early 14-3 lead and had their tails up with the score 22-16 in their favour before their hosts turned things around with an outstanding second-half performance to seal a 31-29 triumph. The result was a momentous one as it was the Azzurri’s first home victory in the Six Nations in 11 years.

U20s kick-off the excitement: Before one of the great Six Nations encounters took place at Twickenham, there was another thrilling England-Ireland clash, this time in Bath. On Friday, the only two unbeaten sides in the U20 competition went head-to-head at the Rec and it proved to be a humdinger. At the end, neither outfit were particularly happy after it finished in a 32-32 draw, but that did not take away from the overall spectacle. England were in front going into the latter stages but the Irish youngsters hit back to level matters. The title will therefore be decided this weekend, with just one point separating the teams.

Record-breaking Julian Savea: While we’re on momentous occasions, the former All Blacks flyer had reason to celebrate on Friday when he set a new Super Rugby try-scoring record during Moana Pasifika’s clash with the Melbourne Rebels in Hamilton. It was Savea’s 61st try in the competition and his first one for his new team, after making the move from the Hurricanes, and he beats the mark set by former Waratahs full-back Israel Folau. Despite Savea’s record-breaking feat, it wasn’t enough to help Moana to victory as the Rebels held on for a 29-23 win.

COLD AS ICE!

Wooden spoon Wales: With just one round of matches left to be played in this year’s Six Nations, Wales are languishing at the bottom of the standings after losing all four their matches so far in the Championship – against Scotland, England, Ireland and France. Warren Gatland’s side currently have a paltry three points amassed on the table and are four points adrift of their closest rivals, Italy, who they face in their last match of the tournament in Rome on Saturday. Whoever loses that match will probably finish at the bottom of the table and if it’s Wales it will be the first time they finish as the Six Nations’ wooden spoonists since 2003.

Humble pie for Irish pundits: While the Ireland supporters did themselves credit, that was not the case for many of their former players, who rather ridiculed England’s chances ahead of the clash. Although pretty much everyone expected Andy Farrell’s men to emerge triumphant, including us, some of the stuff that came out from the likes of Ronan O’Gara, Jamie Heaslip and co. came across as arrogant, and to be honest did their fans a disservice, who know that winning at Twickenham is rarely a foregone conclusion.

Crusaders: We always knew that things wouldn’t quite be the same when Scott Robertson left his position as the perennial Super Rugby champions coach to take over as the All Blacks’ boss, but who would’ve predicted the Crusaders’ horror start to the season? After three rounds of Super Rugby Pacific, the men from Christchurch are still winless after losing to the Chiefs, Waratahs and the Fijian Drua in Lautoka at the weekend. The 20-10 loss to the Drua mean the Crusaders are in 11th position in the 12-team tournament and this is their worst start in Super Rugby since 1996. Plenty of homework awaits new head coach Rob Penney.

Pierre Schoeman: The Scotland loosehead prop will be kicking himself after a moment of madness had dire consequences for his team during their narrow defeat to Italy in their Six Nations clash in Rome at the weekend. With the score 22-16 in their favour, Scotland were on the attack early in the second half and after a superb attacking move, George Horne crossed the whitewash to put more daylight between his team and the home side. However, his score was disallowed after referee Angus Gardner looked at television replays which revealed that Schoeman had taken out Ross Vintcent with an off-the-ball hit in the build up. That act proved decisive in the bigger scheme of things as the Azzurri launched that superb fightback and clinched a deserved victory.

Scotland disappoint again: Although Schoeman deserves to be called out for his role in his team’s defeat to the Azzurri, the entire Scotland side will have to do some introspection for the way they capitulated under pressure from the Azzurri during the second half of their encounter in Rome. After having Horne’s try chalked off, Scotland’s players went into their shells – notably co-captains Finn Russell and Rory Darge – while their Italian counterparts seemed to grow in stature as the match progressed and scored 15 unanswered points to take a 31-22 lead before Sam Skinner scored a late try for the Scots, but it wasn’t enough to secure them a win.

READ MORE: ‘A very bad look’ – Warren Gatland STORMS OFF before post-match interview

Crusaders