France had been strongly fancied to win the Six Nations championship going into the competition after an impressive summer and winter last year, with victory over South Africa, the world champions, in November hinting at a team coming into form at exactly the right time. The French have previous for choking when they have looked in good shape, but Marc Lievremont, the head coach, ensured his side did not conform to type and deservedly claimed their first Grand Slam since 2004.
The secret to their success was their ability to adapt their game to the circumstances in front of them. Lievremont's team had a togetherness rarely seen in French teams and they proved to be a cut above the rest of their opponents. It could be argued that, apart from Ireland, the other teams all had problems or were in various stages of rebuilding, but you can only beat what is put out in front of you, and France disposed of whatever stood in their way to great effect.
The nearest they came to a wobble was in the final minutes in Wales, but they showed they had defensive resilience to match their attacking flair. Mathieu Bastareaud, the bulldozing centre, had proved a controversial call-up after his questionable conduct off the field in New Zealand last summer, but he rewarded Lievremont's faith in him with a string of impressive displays. His two tries inside the first 33 minutes of the match against Scotland were vital in getting the campaign off to a strong start. The pressure is now on to maintain this form for another 12 months as they bid to win the World Cup for the first time.
Good, but not quite good enough was a fair verdict for Ireland's valiant, but ultimately failed, attempt to retain the Six Nations crown they had so memorably won 12 months earlier. There was no disgrace in coming off second best to France, but for Declan Kidney's men it will still have been a failure, with defeat to Scotland in their final game at Croke Park bringing their challenge to an end with a whimper rather than a roar.
Finishing a distant second to the French was not what was written in the script after the excitement of 2009, and there were few glimpses of championship-winning form this year. The opening day win over Italy failed to convince, while the defeat to France was emphatic, although Kidney and his men were left to rue not scoring in the opening minutes when they were in the ascendancy and had the hosts on the backfoot in Paris.
The usually talismanic Brian O'Driscoll had a quiet tournament by his standards, the captain not scoring a try until the final match, and it was left to Tommy Bowe and Keith Earls to lead the try-scoring exploits. Despite not being quite at their best, winning at Twickenham was a fine feat and they proved to be comfortably the best of the rest behind the French.
The same old story of much promise but very little substance is the best way to describe England's disappointing campaign. After winning their first two games and leading their third game against Ireland with five minutes to go, it looked as if an England title challenge under head coach Martin Johnson was going to be a reality. But their challenge fell away meekly. They let Ireland back in at the death to win at Twickenham and were fortunate to get away with a draw at Scotland following a shoddy performance, although there was a battling display in going down to France by two points in the torrential rain in Paris in their last game.
Inconsistent team selection and questionable tactics were again flaws in the English game plan. Jonny Wilkinson and Mathew Tait were both given the chance to re-establish themselves in the team by Johnson, yet both were dropped before the end of the tournament. There were some bizarre tactics as well. After playing with little width against the defensively weak Italians, in wet conditions against Ireland at Twickenham the backs threw the ball around, leading to countless handling errors.
The 2008 champions promised much, but delivered little. But no matter how frustrated Warren Gatland was with his players, he can take heart from their spirit and the fact they were the most entertaining side in this year's tournament. Wales were involved in one of the most sensational comebacks in the tournament's history as they came from 10 points down with three minutes to go to beat Scotland 31-24 in Cardiff.
Lightning almost struck twice when they got to within six points of France after trailing by 20 at half-time, but on both occasions, poor defence had put them up against it in the first place. Attacking flair was there in abundance, but conceding an average of 23 points a game due to blunders and basic errors in the defensive line, was always going to prove a step too far for the attack to make up.
Mistakes and indiscipline were regular facets of the Welsh play, the embodiment of this coming in the opening game against England where Alun-Wyn Jones, the lock, was sin-binned for a needless trip on Dylan Hartley, and his absence allowed England to score two converted tries and leave the Welsh with too big a mountain to climb. A real mixed bag of a tournament and fourth place was a fair reflection of that.
An improved year for the Scots saw them finish in fifth place, not really a fair representation of their play in this year's championship. Victory over Ireland in the final game on Saturday, their lone success of the tournament, was just reward for their efforts which saw them give all their opponents a decent game, with France the only side to comfortably beat them. Their inability to hold onto leads was their Achilles heel, but winning with a late penalty in Dublin did give them some redemption.
It was a credit to Andy Robinson that his men did not implode emotionally after the trauma of their late collapse in Cardiff, which also saw them lose key players Chris Paterson and Thom Evans, while the improvement of Dan Parks, the fly-half, and Johnnie Beattie, the No 8, should give them plenty of cause for optimism for the future and next year's World Cup.
Improvement, but could still do better would be how the report card read for Italy if they were a school pupil. Nick Mallett, the Azzurri coach, has formed a spirited unit who are no longer a pushover for the home nations as they have tightened up at the back, but they lack spark going forward. They pushed Ireland and England hard in their opening games and the boot of Mirco Bergamasco gave them a narrow victory over Scotland to ensure they avoided picking up the wooden spoon for the first time since 2007. Emphatic losses in their final two games against Wales and champions France took some of the gloss off their Six Nations campaign and an average points score of only 13 per game indicate that if Mallet's side are to progress away from the bottom echelons of the table then more emphasis on scoring tries will have to play a bigger part in their strategy.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
