A Northerner's Perspective: Final Weekend Review of the 2013 Six Nations

So the 2013 Six Nations has ended and I, like most people can't work out if it was dull or exciting. What we do know though, is that Wales won the title when everyone, including me, had them down for failure, England failed at the last hurdle, France finished bottom and Scotland and Italy can actually play a high quality of rugby at times. Here, I'll run you through the last weekend's matches.

Our first game saw us visit Rome and the day focused mainly on Andrea Lo Cicero, who was playing his last game for Italy and on Brian O'Driscoll, who was possibly playing his last game for Ireland. Both Paddy Jackson and Luciano Orquera slotted early penalties for their teams but it was all Italy in the first half, they looked good with ball in hand and their rolling mauls were being used well. Ireland were starting to turn over a lot of ball but their discipline was poor, Orquera getting a second penalty for the home team. Things then turned worse for Ireland, Luke Marshall and Keith Earls went off injured and BoD, in an anti-fairytale ending, got sin-binned for stamping. The Irish eventually started to attack but they were too deep and Italy's defence held out, before Gonzalo Garcia kicked a long-range penalty. Luke Fitzgerald then added to Ireland's injury woes, meaning flanker Peter O'Mahoney had to play out on the wing as Jackson took the scores to 9-6 at half-time.

Again, it was all Italy after the break and after some patient build up, Giovanbattista Venditti rumbled over the line, Orquera converting. Sergio Parisse got sent to the sin-bin for tripping and Italy started to self-destruct. Jackson got three penalties in a row and Ireland attacked well but they couldn't get through the Italian wall. Donnacha Ryan and Conor Murray became the latest players to be given a yellow, with Orquera sneaking a penalty in between their respective cards. Italy carried on holding out and on the final whistle, Orquera kicked a fourth penalty to win the game 22-15. The Italian pack were back to their best, especially the backrow, not just Parisse, but Alessandro Zanni and Simone Favaro made a formidable partnership. For Ireland, it looks like Declan Kidney might be out of a job.

It was then time for the title decider at the Millennium stadium, the roof was closed, the atmosphere was electric and Wales knew they had to win by more than eight points to retain the title. The Welsh put the pressure on early and Leigh Halfpenny was his usual solid self as he kicked over his first penalty of the day. The pace then quickened as both teams looked to attack and run the ball from deep, but discipline faltered. Halfpenny got three points before Owen Farrell got England on the board, but Halfpenny kicked another, as England were penalised at the scrum. England were attacking well but the Welsh were solid, and an interception led to George North handing off Chris Ashton and breaking, before Mike Brown tackled him well and Geoff Parling snaffled up the loose ball. The intensity then lifted again and it was frantic end-to-end stuff, Brown nearly scored before North broke but he was halted by a good Farrell tackle.

Wales drew first blood after the break with another Halfpenny penalty before the impressive Welsh backrow turned over a ruck, shipped the ball out to Alex Cuthbert who outpaced Brown and went over in the corner, Halfpenny missing the conversion. England were beginning to get frustrated and they lost referee Steve Walsh who was starting to penalise them more often and giving Wales the benefit of the doubt. Dan Biggar kicked a drop goal before Cuthbert got his second. Sam Warburton broke from his own 22, the ball went through Welsh hands to Justin Tipuric who dummied well before feeding Cuthbert who strolled over, Biggar getting the conversion. England hadn't had a look in in the second half and Owen Farrell was disappointing, showing that he can't play in a team going backwards. Biggar got another penalty and the difference between the two teams is that Wakes were clinical and their pack played well, especially Adam Jones and Richard Hibbard. England finally mustered an attack but the Welsh line was solid again and England blew their chance when Danny Care stupidly kicked the ball dead. Final score of 30-3 and the whole of Wales erupted as they won the Six Nations title for the second year in a row.

Next it was Scotland's turn to visit France, who were looking for a large victory so as to keep their hands off the Wooden Spoon. France looked to play with the poor conditions and they started testing Scotland with high balls, and more often that not, Scotland were failing that test. They got on the board first though, as Greig Laidlaw kept up his great kicking form with another three points and then another soon after. Both teams were looking to counter-attack with the slippery ball, France racked up the phases but Scotland were holding out, apart from at scrum-time, the French were dominant and they needed to be with the amount of dropped balls there were. Laidlaw was kicking well though and finding a lot of space and Stuart Hogg was beating the first tackler everytime and making yards. 6-0 at half-time and the French crowd were making sure their team knew what they thought about their performance so far, as boos rained down nearly as much as the rain itself.

As we've seen in previous weeks, Scotland's discipline dropped after the break. Freddie Michalak kicked three penalties to take France into the lead after sustained pressure from the forwards. Alasdair Strokosch was tackling superbly and it was just as well, Michalak was upping his game and the French tide was relentless. Laidlaw kicked another penalty before massive prop Vincent Debaty made a huge 40 metre run but instead of giving the two-on-one, he looked to run over Hogg who tackled him and turned over the ball. Mathieu Bastareaud was making ground constantly and he helped set up France's first try, Wesley Fofana dived over after some good French hands, Michalak converting. By now, there were massive holes in the Scottish defence and we didn't have to wait long for another French try, as bad tackling let Maxime Medard walk over. Scotland's first real attack came in the 70th minute as good handling sent them down to the opposition line before the ball was dropped. This was a sign of things to come though, Matt Scott broke through the defence and gave the ball to the supporting Tim Visser who scored. Jackson got the conversion and the final whistle sounded to give the French a 23-16 victory, although that wasn't enough as they stayed bottom of the table and picked up the dreaded Wooden Spoon.