Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
James Tompkinson previews York City Knights' upcoming clash with Leeds Rhinos
Anthony Quinn previews Saturday's Four Nations match between England and Australia
The first game on the weekend is a final chance for Scotland to get a score on the board. They have so far lost every game they have played this season. Their losing streak was close to turning around last weekend when they put in a fighting performance against England, losing by only two points.
If they can keep it up this weekend, then they might just be able to beat Italy, thus finishing joint second, rather than sitting at the bottom alone. And if you take points difference into consideration then Italy will be the real bottom. Scotland have the home advantage this weekend, but I don’t think that will make such a great difference.
However, Scotland will have a lot to contend with as Italy will still be high from their amazing victory against France. In a shocking turn of events, Italy beat France by a mere one point 22 – 21. I don’t think anyone could have expected an Italian victory, but it was obvious that they picked up their game.
This weekend expect a strong performance from the key players again; players like Mirco Bergamasco will be holding the Italian team together, as per usual.
Prediction: (Hard to call but) Italian win
The second game of the weekend could secure the English the Grand Slam as they take on Ireland. After England’s sloppy performance last weekend, they have a lot of work to do this week. It seems the previously strong backs have tired after their amazing start to the competition. England only managed to turn their game around last weekend by introducing the old players, such as Wilkinson.
I’m holding out hopes that England can perform well using the allure of the Grand Slam. However, if they lose this weekend, England will probably still win the competition as a whole. That is, unless Wales manages to crush France and gain a huge points difference. Although the win isn’t in question, the Grand Slam is. I only hope England can keep it together for this last match.
Ireland were also not on their top form last weekend, losing to Wales, 19 – 13. It seems the end of the competition is leading to weak performances on all sides. Ireland have a position secured in the middle of the table this year, a far cry from last year’s second place. With no chance of a win, it seems the Irish team aren’t fighting to defend anything apart from their reputation this year.
They have the home advantage this game, but that didn’t exactly work for them against France.
Prediction: English win (Grand Slam for England)
The final game of this year’s Six Nations sees last season’s winners, France, take on the current second-placed Wales. Although France started with strongly, beating Scotland by a large points difference, this disappeared in the close game against Ireland and the defeats to both Italy and England.
The French have the advantage of the home stadium this weekend, but we will have to wait and see what difference, if any, that makes.
On the other hand, we have Wales, a team that have been consistently strong this season, after doing very little last year. They’ve gone from a losing start to a season filled with winning, first absolutely demolishing Scotland, then securing a strong win against Italy and a surprising win against Ireland last weekend.
This is the only team I feel hasn’t slowed down as the competition has gone on. With Leigh Halfpenny finally back on the wing last weekend, I feel we might see a strong performance from him this weekend. Wales should hold their heads up high this year: even if they don’t managed to get the first place position, they have probably given the best team performance of the season.
Prediction: Welsh win
I don't know what Wales team you've been watching, but this has absolutely not been a good year for them! Despite them sitting in second place, they've played poorly consistently and look clueless when attacking. They seemingly have no idea how to use their good players and have become an uninteresting team to watch. In fact, I'd say that they've not developed at all since losing all of their Autumn International matches.
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