Lee Trevino once said golf is a game of adjustments. Just when you think you have it figured out, it reminds you that you don’t.
The results in the Six Nations last weekend endorsed that assertion, as they certainly didn’t pan out the way I’d thought beforehand. I had envisaged England grinding out a win against a stoic Italy, and anticipated that France’s sheer quality would be enough, even if Scotland stressed them at times during the game.
In some ways this puts Ireland’s victory over Wales in context: a little bit sticky, but not as seismic as other events on a weekend that rocked the foundations of northern hemisphere rugby.
France, a little like England, have all the riches in the world from a player and financial perspective, and should by all accounts be pulling away from the other home nations. This Six Nations has highlighted emphatically that this is just not the case.
France imploded in the opening 60 minutes: beaten in the air, undone at the breakdown and lacking in the basics associated with attacking intent.
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