Rugby World Cup successful coach Sir Clive Woodward has claimed that there are actually two ‘clear’ tiers to the Guinness Six Nations.
France have been topped Grand Slam champions to assert their first title since 2010 after rising emphatic 25-13 winners in Paris, though a jittery efficiency brought on by the nerves of the event prevented them from pulling clear at any stage.
It’s the third time in 5 years England have ended the match nursing three defeats, a poor return that raises questions over Jones’s suitability to proceed simply 18 months out from the World Cup.
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A giant win over the All Blacks in November gave the French the favorite’s tag heading into the Six Nations and so they embraced it, with the win over England seeing them end some extent above Eire.
The English completed third, an enchancment on final 12 months’s fifth place however one unlikely to ease the stress on coach Eddie Jones after a second straight championship wherein they misplaced three video games.
It’s been a tough couple of years for England and now their former coach sees there as being a transparent division inside the match.
“My take is that there are manifestly two divisions. There are France and Eire after which there are the remainder,” wrote Woodward in his Each day Mail column.
“France and Eire are forging forward of their understanding of the fashionable recreation, their talent ranges and attacking intent and the tempo they try and play the sport at.”
“The French have lit up the rugby world. Stars resembling Antoine Dupont, Cameron Woki, Gregory Alldritt, Romain Ntamack and Damian Penaud will finally be remembered as legends of the sport once they retire however, make no mistake, they’re greater than a random gathering of freakish expertise.
“France below Fabien Galthie have fearlessly and systematically chosen younger tyros they imagine in, whereas Edwards has received them match and remodelled their defence.”
“Eire, in the meantime, have a relentless tempo and array of abilities that jogs my memory of Farrell’s nice rugby league facet at Wigan when he was skipper,” wrote Woodward.
The tables have definitely turned because the early 2000s. Readers of a sure classic will keep in mind throughout Woodward’s reign as head coach, that some voices inside the sport have been calling for the Six Nations to be break up into two divisions, with England and France on one facet and the remainder on the opposite.
The rise of Eire and Wales within the continuing 20 years, and extra lately Scotland, put pay to this moderately slim and boastful view of the competitors.
extra reporting AAP
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