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PAris in spring turned into a rainy March day in Cardiff. It was the perfect conditions for Wales and as Scotland played with them, kicking and stalking, France set out for the four attempts and the 21-point margin of victory they needed to clinch the title, watching it slip from their hands like the ball they were fighting. to hold. on.
England’s defense of their title ended in Cardiff when a French referee awarded Wales two contested tries and France found themselves down 10-3 after 14 minutes when an English official, Wayne Barnes, awarded Duhan van a try. der Merwe after a long maul, although the wing needed to do a double move before landing the ball on the line.
France missed the title last year after losing at Murrayfield, but Scotland had not won in Paris since 1999, the year they were last crowned champions thanks to Wales defeating England at Wembley the next day. They had the motivation to finish second, something they had never achieved in the Six Nations era, and they felt slighted that everyone was talking about what. The Blues needed to do.
It was the final match of 15 but France could finish anywhere on the table from first to fourth, while Scotland and Ireland would finish second, third or fourth. Only the also rans, Italy and England, knew their final resting place, but France only once, and then momentarily, it seemed that the title was within their grasp.
Damian Penaud finished off his best play of the night six minutes into the second half, when Stuart Hogg was in the trash, to put them 18-10 ahead, but Scotland, like an irritating wasp at a picnic, refused to leave. , having discovered in the last six months the ability to do well on the road. When they traveled to Llanelli last October, they had not won in the Six Nations since 2010 except in Rome, but followed the victory there with their first success at Twickenham for 38 years before losing at home to Wales and Ireland.
Three times they turned down the chance to shoot a penalty and tie the score at 23-23 in the fourth quarter before Brice Dulin, the winger who scored the last late try to beat Wales six days earlier, converted a home win. in defeat with a decision that is due to more than just a tired mind. He received the ball from Charles Ollivon after Scotland turned on France 22 with the clock reaching zero, but instead of kicking it, he went off on a final run and was penalized for holding after being tackled by Hogg.
Twenty stages later, Van der Merwe scored his second try and the lead changed for the fifth and final time that night. Scotland’s head coach Gregor Townsend, a 1999 try scorer, celebrated despite his team finishing fourth, tied with Ireland but with a points difference of less than one. Just as Ireland will be reflected in two narrow defeats, Scotland lost to Wales by one point and Ireland by three.
They were expected to win at the time, although they didn’t have many chances at Twickenham or Paris, but they are struggling to lose their losers tag. They were dangerous rivals for France, no matter the conditions, due to their persistence, but what was surprising was that a French team that has been well trained and focused got so distracted by math.
His approach did not square, to the point where some of his central figures were paralyzed, among which the voluminous center Virimi Vakatawa stood out, who during the hour he was on the pitch was like Popeye waiting for a delivery of spinach.
He installed Penaud’s try with a pass from the back of his hand, but too often he took the set pieces and summed up the lack of direction on his side.
France was never in control in a night in which 30 penalties were awarded, evenly divided between the sides. Finn Russell, who played rugby for his club in Paris, became the fifth player to be sent off in this year’s tournament for dangerously high defense over the hapless Dulin, who had previously scored the first of three attempts of his team, while two yellow cards. brought the total to 15, an average of one per game.
Penalties and errors in conditions slowed down the game but increased the tension. France’s losing bonus point ensured they finished second, which is where they would have finished even if Dulin had scored from 80 meters at the end.
And so Wales will receive the trophy on Saturday afternoon, the misery they felt in defeat in Paris last week replaced with satisfaction. It has been a championship of the unexpected played at a time of uncertainty and the frantic and frantic finale in France forged a fitting finale.
