´óÏó´«Ã½

So, another Six Nations is done and dusted, one of the best since Five became Six in 2000.

A third Grand Slam in eight years for Wales. Plaudits for runners-up England. Misgivings over Ireland and France, a win for Italy and a third Wooden Spoon in nine years for Scotland.

Time for a few awards, and a team of the tournament.

I canvassed the views of the ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s main television analysts – former Wales fly-half Jonathan Davies (JD), ex-England centre Jeremy Guscott (JG), former Scotland scrum-half Andy Nicol (AN) and ex-Ireland hooker Keith Wood (KW) – for their highlights, and asked them for a mark out of 10 for their respective home nations, as well as their composite teams.

Read the rest of this entry

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

"I hope Wales is rocking at the moment," mused Warren Gatland, an hour or so after Rhys Priestland had booted the ball high into the stands to spark wild celebrations at the Millennium Stadium.

You can bet on it Warren. Rocking, rolling and revelling deep into another Grand Slam night, a third in eight years, and the second in five years on his watch.

It wasn't pretty at times, and there was little of the flowing rugby we have come to associate with his young side in the past year. But it was mightily effective, impressively composed, and their triumph was richly deserved.

There were several scary moments - Imanol Harinordoquy bearing down on Leigh Halfpenny metres from the Welsh line after a cheeky French line-out routine, and French replacement Jean-Marcellin Butin racing onto a quickly-taken cross-kick to the left touchline from a penalty chief among them.

Read the rest of this entry

Welcome to the final week of our Six of the Best series, the chance to remind you of some of the most memorable matches associated with a particular Six Nations fixture.

This time it comes with a slight twist: not just the best Wales v France games down the years (otherwise some famous Welsh victories in Paris - 1999 (34-33), 2001 (43-35) and 2005 (24-18) - might also have been included), but six Grand Slam deciders between the countries, given the context of Saturday's momentous encounter in Cardiff.

Wales have completed four of their last five Grand Slams against France, while the French have also wrapped up two of their nine clean sweeps - in 1968 and 1998 - against Wales, as well as denying Wales another Slam in Cardiff in 1988.

Check out the video here, and as always, do share your own memories of these matches, as well as your thoughts on how the latest instalment will unfold on Sunday.

Read the rest of this entry

Welcome to week four of Six of the Best, the chance to reacquaint yourself with some of the most memorable matches associated with a particular Six Nations fixture.

This week it is "Le Crunch", that well-worn label for an encounter that often provided a decisive pointer to the destination of the title in the 1990s and early 2000s.

France also completed their two most recent Grand Slams (2004 and 2010) against England, but having been held to a draw by Ireland, the Tricolores will have to summon motivation from elsewhere this weekend.

A quick trawl through some of these moments might provide it, and also encourage England in their quest for a third win in eight attempts in Paris during the Six Nations era.

Check out the montage here, and as always, do share your own memories of these matches and thoughts on the latest instalment which will unfold on Sunday.

Read the rest of this entry