{"id":32281,"date":"2019-02-12T14:19:16","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T14:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=32281"},"modified":"2019-02-12T14:19:16","modified_gmt":"2019-02-12T14:19:16","slug":"six-nations-what-we-learnt-from-week-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2019\/02\/12\/six-nations-what-we-learnt-from-week-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Nations: What we learnt from week two"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_32282\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32282\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-32282\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams-1024x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"563\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams-1024x600.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams-300x176.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams-770x451.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams-500x293.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams-293x172.jpg 293w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams.jpg 1195w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32282\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-32282\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams-1024x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"563\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams-1024x600.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams-300x176.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams-770x451.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams-500x293.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams-293x172.jpg 293w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/02\/josh-adams.jpg 1195w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/noscript> Josh Adams scored an excellent try for Wales on Saturday. Credit: Welsh Rugby Union<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nAN enthralling weekend set the stage for a potential title-decider between Wales and England at the Principality Stadium next Saturday.<br \/>\nWales struggled to victory over Italy, Ireland edged out Scotland at Murrayfield and England demolished France in a scintillating display.<br \/>\n<strong>Record-equalling Wales must get better<\/strong><br \/>\nItaly pushed Wales to the end. When Tommaso Allan\u2019s second-half penalty cut Wales\u2019 lead to just two points, Warren Gatland\u2019s decision to make 10 changes looked risky. However, tries from Josh Adams and Owen Watkin sealed an 11th win in a row for Wales.<br \/>\nDan Biggar\u2019s error-strewn performance aids Gareth Anscombe\u2019s chances of wearing the No. 10 shirt against England, while Gareth Davies\u2019 second cameo appearance in a fortnight gives Gatland a selection headache at scrum-half.<br \/>\nFollowing the match, Gatland said \u201cit could be embarrassing\u201d if Wales do not improve before the visit of England.<br \/>\n<strong>Emphatic England will be favourites at the Principality<\/strong><br \/>\nJonny May\u2019s hat-trick inside 30 minutes lit the touch paper for an English attacking blitzkrieg. They went on to beat France 44-8, scoring six tries.<br \/>\nThe victory may have come easily for England, who benefited from Les Blues\u2019 struggles under the high ball, but two fluent performances in succession have made England firm favourites to win the Six Nations.<br \/>\nWales will be far less vulnerable to the high ball, so England may have to employ different tactics when the two sides meet. Expect less kicking and more use of the power of Manu Tuilagi and Mako Vunipola next weekend.<br \/>\n<strong>Ireland\u2019s resilience remains<\/strong><br \/>\nDespite losing at home to England, Ireland played with characteristic determination and efficiency on their way to a 22-13 victory over Scotland.<br \/>\nConor Murray\u2019s incision and Jacob Stockdale\u2019s pace saw Ireland\u2019s attacking verve return, but Johnny Sexton still looked short of confidence and Scotland\u2019s physical approach neutered his impact.<br \/>\nNonetheless, it earned the Irish a vital win to keep their hopes of retaining the Six Nations title alive.<br \/>\nScotland toiled hard and had their chances, notably when they were camped metres from Ireland\u2019s try-line near the end of the first half, but as is so often the case for the Scots this was a case of ifs, buts and maybes.<br \/>\n<strong>Next weekend\u2019s fixtures<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>France vs Scotland KO 2.15pm Saturday, February 23<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Wales vs England KO 4.45pm Saturday, February 23<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Italy vs Ireland KO 3pm Sunday, February 24<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AN enthralling weekend set the stage for a potential title-decider between Wales and England at the Principality Stadium next Saturday. Wales struggled to victory over Italy, Ireland edged out Scotland at Murrayfield and England demolished France in a scintillating display. Record-equalling Wales must get better Italy pushed Wales to the end. When Tommaso Allan\u2019s second-half penalty cut Wales\u2019 lead to just two points, Warren Gatland\u2019s decision to make 10 changes looked risky. However, tries from Josh Adams and Owen Watkin [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":32282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,4],"tags":[593,328,155],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-32281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby","category-sport","tag-josh-adams","tag-six-nations","tag-wales-rugby-union"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Six Nations: What we learnt from week two - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2019\/02\/12\/six-nations-what-we-learnt-from-week-two\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Six Nations: What we learnt from week two - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AN enthralling weekend set the stage for a potential title-decider between Wales and England at the Principality Stadium next Saturday. Wales struggled to victory over Italy, Ireland edged out Scotland at Murrayfield and England demolished France in a scintillating display. Record-equalling Wales must get better Italy pushed Wales to the end. When Tommaso Allan\u2019s second-half penalty cut Wales\u2019 lead to just two points, Warren Gatland\u2019s decision to make 10 changes looked risky. 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