The Best 6 Nations Weekend Ever?
This weekend felt momentous. History was made twice in the same afternoon. But how was it made and do we have a proper 3 horse race heading into the final weekend?
How Scotland beat France
Was this the best match of the 6 Nations in over a decade? 90 points scored in what must be Scotland’s best ever performance. While the Scots may take beating England for granted, it's not every day that they put 50 points on a team who have not had to get out of third gear this championship. So how did they do it? (All stats and figures are from RugbyPass unless otherwise stated).
The percentages
Scotland have a reputation for playing an attacking brand of rugby, but they are probably the best team in the 6 Nations at playing the percentages. They have averaged 55% of territory and have had most of their possession between the halfway line and the opposition’s 22. This forced France to have 40% of their possession between their own 22 and the halfway. If you’re trying to play rugby in that part of the pitch, even if you are French, it’s going to be easier to force you into mistakes. France lost 15 turnovers (which is their lowest so far this 6 Nations - before Scotland they averaged 21 turnover losses) but because Scotland are the only team to have the right game plan and players, they were able to exploit this and keep France constantly on the back foot at least in the first half. They are very efficient when they enter the opposition averaging 3.25 points per entry. As outlined in the excellent Attacking the Space by Sam Larner, anything over 3 points/22 entry increases the chance of victory. Against France they hit 5.5 points/entry.
Lee Radford
Who? Outside of Hull, Northampton and the rugby league world you may not know who Radford is. The tough second row who played for Hull FC and Bradford Bulls winning 5 caps for England, was appointed Northampton’s defence coach in 2023 and promptly helped them win a Prem title. He replaced Steve Tandy in 2025 as Scotland’s defence coach and his impact has been tangible. Before Saturday, Scotland’s tackle success was 90% - second only behind France. They have been ferocious, and while the last 15 minutes against France dented that success rate, their speed off the line and their ability to get two men into the tackle prevented France’s offload game. The next Shaun Edwards? Quite possibly.
Team selection
Townsend stuck with those he trusts and having Steyn as a direct replacement for Van Der Merve must feel like a vindication. However, it is France whose selection we want to look at. When France had to chase the game, they had some of their better ball carriers on the pitch – Mauvaka, Meafou – who create offload opportunities with their physicality and the number of players they suck into a tackle. This was missing in the first half and the game finished with Thomas Ramos the fullback having the highest number of carries at 11. This ranked him 6th overall, with the next French player being Attissogbe – the wing. It becomes harder to offload in those wider channels, simply because you have a touchline acting as the 16th defender. And while France do like to use their wingers as ball carriers, the big men in the middle of the park can cause more issues with if they offload. They managed 6 all game – a marked reduction on the 11 against Italy and 25 against Wales.
Sione Tuipulotu
Scotland’s own hype man. At every break in play, every ruck win, every turnover Tuipulotu was there congratulating the players, geeing them up, reminding them of their jobs - his offer to give Princess Anne a hug at the trophy presentation demonstrated his exuberance. But he also leads from the front. He carried 13 times – the most of any back on the pitch – for 41 metres and he was only behind Rory Darge in tackles made for Scotland (9). He really is captain fantastic.
French discipline
Discipline has been a big topic in this championship and not because anyone is being particularly naughty. Breakdown indiscipline, little technical infringements and all out brain fades have marked the yellow and reds dished out. On Saturday France was guilty of persistent breakdown silliness and brain fades. There is a potential eye gouging incident missed by the TMO but likely to get sanctioned later this week. France appeared to lose their discipline when they were under maximum pressure from Scotland who have become adept at stressing opposition defences in the right part of the pitch.
Forza Italia!
Italy’s historic victory against England had some similarities to the Scottish victory, but in different circumstances. It was the lowest quality game of the weekend partly down to the fact that Italy knew they could beat England and that the English team’s confidence has evaporated.
The Numbers
Italy got some key things right. While they didn’t dominate possession or territory, they had most of the former in the right part of the pitch – beyond the halfway line, despite having a malfunctioning scrum (33% success rate) and an average line out (89% success rate). In attack they had 9 offloads compared to England’s 4. Their 8 line breaks contributed to England’s poor tackle success rate and their 22 efficiency was far better than England’s (7 entries yielding 2.4 points/entry against 1.5 point/entry). Italy also managed to significantly slow down England’s ruck. England have the highest average ruck speed so far averaging 4.76s/ruck. Against Italy they managed 5.37s/ruck. This meant that when England inevitably kicked, Italy were set and ready to go.
Tackling
England have the worst tackle completion rate in the competition at 83.5%. This is stopping a players momentum and/or bringing them to the ground. It can increase the opportunity for a turnover. Against Italy they completed only 84% of their tackles. There is no doubt that England have one of the most dynamic back rows in world rugby, but they have forgotten how to tackle. In missed tackle charts you would expect there to be mostly backs (this is the case in the 6N) and then your back three players as they are often exposed 1v1. However, both Earl and Underhill are the highest ranking forwards for missed tackles (11th and 10th respectively). Dingwall has missed 8 tackles. There is not a single England player in the top 27 for number of tackles completed (again Earl is the first player at 28th place with 33, Jenkins leads with 69). These are key positions in which you cannot afford to have poor tackle completion. Dropping Earl seems out of the question, but England need to rebalance that back row with an out and out 8, move Earl to 7 and find a blindside whose tackle success is much better.
Team selection
England are stuck between two things – Borthwick’s inherent conservatism and Lee Blackett’s attacking nous. This is structural, but against Italy Borthwick got the team selection completely wrong. Finn Smith hasn’t played much rugby this season and yet he was thrown in with an inside centre who he had not played with since their Worcester days. Atkinson is a better defender and ball carrier than Dingwall so you can see the logic, but what is Borthwick trying to achieve here – does he want a basher or a playmaker at 12? The back row was unbalanced and both second rows looked short of confidence and skill. Itoje is quite obviously playing on fumes mentally and physically. A Lions Tour as captain, marriage, injury and most importantly the sudden death of his mother mean this young man has had a rollercoaster 6 months. Take him out of the firing line. Out wide only Roebuck can be seen as reliable. And back to the point of being stuck between two styles – if you want control Ford is perfect, Spencer is ideal, but this needs to be balanced with unpredictability. If you pick players like that, then you need to pick players like Furbank or even George Hendy. The Leicester 2023 blueprint will not work in international rugby in 2026.
Tactics and intangibles
I would never criticise a rugby player for lack of effort or ‘heart’ - especially in international rugby. It is too simplistic an explanation and frankly offensive. These men and women put their bodies on the line for our entertainment. But players can suffer from a lack of confidence. When low confidence then bleeds into your tactics, you’re in trouble. In every other game this weekend we saw kicks to the corner, regularly. England are so short on belief they went for the posts on several occasions. The disagreement between Itoje and Smith over a penalty summed this up. And this is where we see the clash of philosophy. England needed to build a head of steam, which they failed to do and while penalties are great for the points/entry stats, they act as a reset in terms of defence in today’s game. Unless you are knocking over penalties again and again, no momentum is built. Even a failed rolling maul after a kick to the corner can provide another round of pressure on the opposing team. But England simply picked the wrong players for that approach – not just on matchday but in the squad at large.
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