THE chances look good going into the third round of the competition this weekend and of much interest is whether anyone can spoil the party for England.
Since the competition came to be known as the 6 Nations in 2000, the boys in white have won the Grand Slam twice, the most recent being last year, while Wales and France have achieved this three times each and Ireland once.
But significantly none of the six teams has achieved back-to-back Grand Slams in the 6 Nations, although this was something which both England and France succeeded once each in 52 years of competition under the Five Nations after World War 2 to 1999.
England did it in 1991 and 1992 while France found fame in 1997 and 1998.
The triple crown – wins by one team against the other three home unions in Britain – is much easier to target.
Since 2000, England and Ireland succeeded four times each and Wales thrice.
What sets England apart from the other five so far is how they don’t allow themselves to get rattled even when behind with limited game time left. Having a strong bench is another big help and you saw how effective the bench was in England’s game at home against France and then away to Wales.
Luck played its part against France to allow England to win 19-16 but otherwise it was a win achieved on a composed approach.
Another positive aspect of England’s game is how their outside backs have been running strongly to open up the gaps and this was where England got the better of Wales.
The host had decent possession but when they pushed forward found the England defence too strong, too disciplined.
If that win against France was aided by luck when replacement flyhalf Jean-Marc Doussain failed to find touch in the last minute that could have provided an opportunity for France to at least level the score, the success in Cardiff was down to two horrendous Welsh errors with the game less than five minutes to go.
Understandably Wales supporters took out their knives immediately and went tearing into centre Jonathan Davies who, like Doussain, failed to find touch, which could have changed how the game played out after that and winger Alex Cuthbert who was exposed out wide and missed a tackle on opposite number Elliot Daly, ending in the relatively inexperienced Daly scoring the winning try after he had received the ball about 27 metres from the Welsh goal-line.
The bad news for opposing teams is that several of England’s players remain unavailable for selection due to injury.
Of the five other teams, it’s safe for anyone to discard Italy, who lost both starting matches. They first went down to Wales 33-7 and the following weekend 63-10 to Ireland. They gave fans some hope against Wales but their game came to shreds in the last quarter.
The other four have an equal chance, although the bonus point system has given six points to Ireland, ahead of Wales, France and Scotland by one point.
The situation is very simple.
Any team that wants to have a chance of stopping England in its tracks has to win this weekend, when Scotland hosts Wales and Ireland takes on France in Dublin. England travels to Italy where coach Eddie Jones is expected to make many changes to his squad.
One positive aspect to this year’s tournament is that as anticipated, it has been very competitive and the scores, except for the Italy games, truly reflect how tough it have been.