Summary
AFTER THE opening two rounds of Six Nations action, the weekends in between the matches have a Christmas-in-the-trenches feel to them. Admittedly the players are not kicking a football and swapping cigarettes like it was 1915 all over again but still the coaches take some time out to evaluate their tactics, lick their wounds and learn some lessons.
The most obvious one is the importance of discipline. Italy's yellow card in Rome went unpunished on the scoreboard but Ireland lost ten points and most of their momentum when Cian Healy was in the sinbin while Wales and Scotland each leaked ten disastrous, short-handed points. The five yellow cards shown so far have cost the teams concerned an average of more than one point for every minute a man is on the sidelines, which is a hefty price to pay.See the full content of this document
Extract
Reasons to Be Cheerful
Warren Gatland won't quite know what to make of his schizophrenic side but this Welsh squad is some way shy of Ireland's mental strength or France's physical ruthlessness. The long honeymoon is over for Declan Kidney. The French defeat was only his second loss in 15 Tests, which illustrates just how far ahead Ireland have forged over the past few years.
Despite two...See the full content of this document
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