Six Nations: Ireland deny England grand slam, Wales blast ‘cheating’ France, Cotter bows out in style

A round-up of the final round from the Six Nations Championship.

Ireland's victory denied Six Nations champions England the grand slam. Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

Ireland stunned England 13-9 in the Six Nations on Saturday to deny their old rivals a second successive grand slam and end their hopes of a world record 19th successive victory.

Joe Schmidt’s Irish team secured a top seeding for the 2019 World Cup draw as a try by lock Iain Henderson after 23 minutes proved the difference between the sides.

While England improved after being completely dominated in the first half, they failed to make a serious dent in the Irish defence.

England won the tournament last week with a 61-21 thrashing of Scotland, but they collected the Six Nations trophy in a downbeat mood as the third English side in 16 years to be denied a grand slam in Dublin on the final day of the tournament.

“We didn’t slam it but, hey-ho, we’re still the champions,” said England captain Dylan Hartley. “Full credit to Ireland. They put us under unbelievable pressure.”

Wales blast ‘cheating’ France after historic game

Damien Chouly celebrates his dramatic late try. Franck Fife / AFP

France coach Guy Noves dubbed the 100-minute thriller against Wales “heroic and historic”, but soon found himself in Welsh crosshairs amid accusations of cheating at the epic end of the Six Nations.

Damien Chouly was bundled over for an extremely late try, Camille Lopez converting to hand France a memorable 20-18 victory after camping out in the Welsh 22m area for 20 minutes past what should have been the final whistle in a firestorm of a finish.

But there was controversy over the 84th minute substitution of Uini Atonio, France bringing preferred tighthead prop Rabah Slimani, known for his devastating scrummaging power, back on to strengthen the set piece.

Noves insisted it was a genuine call by his medics for a head injury, a non sequitur for a referee obliged to follow strict concussion rules that allow teams to replace injured props with front row teammates who have been already subbed off.

“They told me he (Atonio) was injured and I took my responsibility,” Noves said.

But Wales counterpart Rob Howley saw it otherwise, saying there was “evidence to suggest that the integrity of the game has been brought into disrepute”.

Not only was Slimani seen warming up minutes before going back on, Howley said, but “one of their coaches outside the technical area had a conversation with their doctor and within a minute of that obviously he’d got on and taken the tighthead off ... that’s outside the laws of the game”.

“You can hear (referee) Wayne Barnes ask him (Atonio) if he’s OK and he replies, ‘I’ve got a sore back, I’m OK’ and then the doctor comes on and he goes off. That wasn’t Wayne’s fault, he’s listened to the medic.”

Cotter bows out in style

Scotland’s outgoing head coach Vern Cotter. Ian MacNicol / Getty Images

Vern Cotter ended his three year tenure as Scotland’s head coach as his side beat Italy 29-0 for a bonus point victory that completed their most successful Six Nations campaign in 11 years.

Tries by fly-half Finn Russell, replacement centre Matt Scott and wingers Tim Visser and Tommy Seymour earned Cotter’s side a convincing win against a hapless Italy, who failed to trouble the scoreboard for the first time in two years — since a 29-0 defeat against France in Rome in March 2015.

That kept the Scots in with a chance of their first ever second-placed finish, depending on results in Paris and Dublin later on the final day of the championship, but ensured three Scottish victories out of five for only the second time in the Six Nations era, matching the tally achieved under Frank Hadden in 2006.

In watching his side bounce back from last week’s 61-21 mauling against England at Twickenham, Cotter finished his tenure with 19 victories from 36 matches. The 55-year-old Kiwi — who moves on to Montpellier in the French Top-14 when Glasgow’s Gregor Townsend replaces him in June — is the first Scotland coach in the professional era to record a win ratio of 50% or more.

As for Italy, having produced promising first-half performances but dramatic second half fade-outs in their previous four games, they failed to get a point on the board in either half, completing a miserable first Six Nations campaign for coach Conor O’Shea, his side finishing bottom of the table without even a solitary bonus point.

* Agencies

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