Some rugby writers for the Times give their predictions for the Six Nations, 2021.
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Rugby Player
Sylvain Kinsberger (!855-1935)
Photo Credit: World Rugby Museum [CC BY-NC]
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Owen Slott:How will they finish?
England, France, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Italy.
England won two trophies last year and got nowhere close to their potential.
Grand slam? Yes
Sam Warburton
How will they finish ?
England, France, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Italy
England and France are ahead of the pack... It will be a tight battle between Wales and Scotland for fourth and fifth.
Stuart Barnes
How will they finish?
France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy
Grand slam? Yes
John Westerby
How will they finish?
England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy.
England would not be expected to beat Ireland and Wales away, but those games will be less daunting without crowds.
Grand slam? Yes
Steve James
How will they finish?
England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy.
England and France are in a tier above the rest but it is the beauty of the Six nations that one of Ireland, Scotland and Wales could upset the apple cart.
Alasdair Reid
How will they finish?
France, England, Scotland. Ireland, Wales, Italy
France were superb last year and have room for improvement. Wales could surprise but the signs aren't good. Scotland have the advantage of three home games.
Alex Lowe
How will they finish?
England, France, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Italy.
There is a gap between England and France and the rest.
Grand slam? Yes
How they actually finished
Points
Wales Won 4 Lost 1 20
France Won 3 Lost 2 16
Ireland Won 3 Lost 2 15
Scotland Won 3 Lost 2 15
England Won 2 Lost 3 10
Italy Won 0 Lost 5 0
*They [the Welsh] are raised on songs and stories – yet that lore leads to a certain place, to the red jersey and molten heat of Cardiff on international days.
…Play at the Principality Stadium and you will know all about that. When Wales are banging on the line the noise is something you rarely experience. It is loud elsewhere but this is like the way you can tell the difference between when your child is crying to raise the roof and when there is urgent feeling behind the cry. The roar in Cardiff is primal, from the pit of the crowd’s belly. They must crash over that line. In those moments you feel fundamentally human, trying to resist a force of nature.
…Being in camp with the Welsh is something I’ve been lucky to experience on two Lions tours. Supporters often say the Welsh are the spirit of that tour; it’s the same with the players. They are different, but serious crack [craic?] – once they have accepted the fact that they have to leave Wales that is.
…For the 2009 tour we were left waiting for the Welsh bus at Pennyhill. You can tell the lads are thinking: “Who the hell shows up late to a Lions tour?”
Thirty minutes late, in rolls the Welsh bus. It turned out they were late because Andy Powell’s mum was crying and hugging Andy so much outside the bus. “I’m so proud of you son…I’m so proud of you.”
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Maternal Joy,
Thomas Faed (1825/26-1900)
Photo Credit: The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum [CC BY-NC-ND] |
She had also brought a load of sandwiches for the boys before their journey. As soon as you hear that you’re almost overcome with love for the Welsh; the butterflies who cannot be broken on the wheel of professionalism.
That said, who turned up on the tour? Andy Powell’s mum! The sandwiches and tears were just a ceremony to mark the leaving of Wales!
(Donncha O’Callaghan, The Times, 2019)
*A vicious wind swept in from Tiger Bay and along the assembled ranks of players before the kick-off. Alun Wyn Jones, who will have had bigger things on his mind – like battering the second-best team in the world into the turf to secure the grand slam – noticed his appointed mascot, seven-year old Joey Hobbs from Whitchurch RFC, was shivering in his shadow. So, the Wales captain paused and lent down to wrap his Welsh jacket around the boy’s shoulders, a gesture Joey surely will never forget
(Kevin Mitchell, The Guardian, 2019)
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