{"id":19167,"date":"2017-03-17T11:58:04","date_gmt":"2017-03-17T11:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=19167"},"modified":"2017-03-17T11:58:04","modified_gmt":"2017-03-17T11:58:04","slug":"choose-top-five-six-nations-finale-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2017\/03\/17\/choose-top-five-six-nations-finale-days\/","title":{"rendered":"We choose our top five Six Nations finale days"},"content":{"rendered":"

WITH\u00a0the final day of the 2017 Six Nations approaching, we’ve trawled through the history books to bring you the five best finales from down the years.<\/p>\n

\n

2015<\/strong>
\nTHE\u00a0finale to end all finales. The 2015 Super Saturday made fans who had become disillusioned with the robotic nature of professional rugby fall in love with the sport again. Ireland, England, Wales and France all went into the final day with a chance of winning the title. While France were reliant on beating England at Twickenham and Wales and Ireland losing to Italy and Scotland respectively, the other three sides were level on six points after four rounds, and the equation was simple. <\/span>
\nWales, up first in Rome and with a points difference of +12 compared to England\u2019s +37 and Ireland\u2019s +33, had to run riot and set a target for Ireland and England to catch. <\/span>
\nA half-time score of 14-13 to Wales suggested they were out of the running — or so we thought. In a second-half of exhilarating rugby, Wales ran in seven tries to secure a 61-20 victory. They would come to rue Gareth Davies\u2019 knock-on when no Italian could have stopped him scoring, immediately after which Leonardo Sarto went downfield to score — a 14-point swing for Warren Gatland\u2019s men. <\/span>
\nIreland now knew they had to win by 21 points if they were to stand any chance of taking home the trophy. They surpassed their target, beating Scotland 40-10 at Murrayfield. <\/span>
\nAnd so to Twickenham, where England had to topple France (now out of the running) by 26 points or more. Twelve tries were scored in all, but England\u2019s 55-35 win was not quite enough, though with a line-out on the French five-metre line in the 80th minute they had one final chance to pull off an unlikely victory. (France won a penalty at the resulting maul before briefly entertaining the idea of trying to score from behind their own posts — surely the most French thing ever to happen?) <\/span>
\nNeutrals marvelled at three of the most entertaining matches of the professional era. Ireland retained their title, and stalwart Paul O’Connell bowed out of the Six Nations as a champion.\u00a0<\/span>
\n

\"Paul