Six Nations 2015: Power Ranking Teams After Matchday 3
The Six Nations landscape underwent yet more dramatic change in Week 3 of the competition, a round that always promised to overhaul the standings with its workload of closely drawn fixtures.
Ireland are back at the summit, Wales have renewed (but still slim) hope of a challenge for the title and Italy took a clinical edge over Scotland as they look to finish anywhere but last.
The table tells us which teams have taken their opportunities best thus far, but results alone may not give us the full story. Read on for updated power rankings of the Six Nations combatants, where recent form and quality of each side's Week 3 outing in particular account heavily for a team's position.
6. Scotland
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Officially, Scotland are now the only team in the Six Nations who cannot win this year's title, with Italy stealing a late win from Murrayfield that leaves Vern Cotter's men bottom of the standings.
The Azzurri were by no means fantastic on their trip to Edinburgh, but just as it did against Wales in Week 2, turning chances into points proved difficult for the home outfit.
Speaking to BBC Scotland (h/t BBC Sport) after the defeat, Cotter gave the impression that his ideologies and philosophies still aren't being embraced by the players, but ultimately laid the blame on himself:
"I'm obviously not getting the message across. Obviously, I'm responsible for the defeat so I'll be having a good look at myself and how we can move forward.
There are some things we need to have a look at. We win together, we lose together.
We've got two more games. and there are things that we need to do to perhaps give us more composure and enable us to finish and close out games.
"
It's admirable from the Kiwi head coach, but unnecessary when considering his players had more possession, territory and beat more than twice as many defenders as their opponents.
However, the Scots also conceded the majority of turnovers at Murrayfield and gave away more penalties than their Italian guests, showing just where the subtle yet effective differences were made.
5. Italy
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Getting a first "W" on the board of their Six Nations campaign may not mean all that much to the big guns of the tournament, but for Italy and their supporters, it means everything.
Just as it always seems to be, guts, heart and other abstract mental attributes appeared to be the leading factor behind Jacques Brunel's win, emerging as 22-19 victors at Murrayfield.
As well as being revenge for the last-gasp defeat suffered against the Scots in Rome 12 months ago, this result almost assures the Italians of finishing above last place.
That in itself is almost reason enough for Brunel's men to move up in our power rankings, but their tireless work in repelling the Scottish threat also gives them reason to ascend.
It was far from pretty and will by no means be remembered as an easy victory, but the fact Italy managed to earn the points at all speaks volumes of their ability to absorb huge amounts of pressure and dish some of it back.
4. France
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Problems in the French camp are reaching fever pitch after Philippe Saint-Andre's side suffered a fourth consecutive defeat to Wales on Saturday.
For long stretches of the 20-13 defeat, Les Bleus simply didn't look up for challenging their guests, more specifically during a first half where they were severely outclassed in possession.
According to Reuters (h/t Daily Mail), Saint-Andre referred to his side as the "Father Christmas of rugby" because they give away so many points, adding:
"International rugby is about combat, humility. But above all it's a collective sport. We don't need starlets. In rugby, the team is the star and we need champions. Yesterday, I didn't see any champions, or not many."
Saint-Andre is correct in that many of his squad are still emerging as international players, and it told yesterday as Wales' veterans, the likes of Jamie Roberts and Alun Wyn Jones, led with experienced minds.
Accounting for just 23 percent of possession in the first period is something that really should have led to worse than a 6-3 deficit at the break, but even France's second-half revival was insufficient as they came up short across the board.
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3. Wales
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Having now assembled what appears to be his most effective lineup in the backs, Warren Gatland's side showed shades of their best in Paris on Saturday.
In short, Wales' trip to the Stade de France went just about as well as any away fan could have wanted; the scrum was defended relatively well, the line-out looked strong and counter-attack rugby was at a premium.
Dan Biggar's swiftly taken try evidenced best just what a punishing team Wales can be when granted opportunity, with Dan Lydiate and Rhys Webb each playing big hands in the score.
As unimpressive as the first-half possession was for France, Wales did magnificently to retain almost 80 percent of the ball in the first half, despite dropping to a less impressive 33 percent in the second period.
2. England
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A first defeat of the 2015 Six Nations means England can no longer claim a Grand Slam, but coach Stuart Lancaster hasn't given up hope of seeing Ireland dethroned just yet.
A 19-9 defeat at the Aviva Stadium will undoubtedly affect morale in Lancaster's squad, but the helmsman is quoted by BBC Sport as saying all is not lost just yet:
"Absolutely we can still win the Six Nations. There are very few Grand Slam teams. In the majority of years you end up with a team winning the championship that has lost one game along the way.
We have two games at home and it's critical we get as much out of those as we can.
Ireland have two games away and Wales are still in the hunt having won at the weekend. Wales against Ireland will be a big game, but we can't control that.
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Decision-making proved a pivotal factor in England's defeat, with Chris Robshaw perhaps now regretting some of the choices to kick for touch instead of taking points during the first half.
Tactically, England were outdone. Ireland had a plan to deal with the centre partnership of Jonathan Joseph and Luther Burrell, utilising high ball frequently in an attempt to confound full-back replacement Alex Goode.
The main difference came in the turnover count, though, where England conceded 23 compared to Ireland's nine, a match-turning contrast in terms of ability to retain possession.
That statistic in itself indicates at least a portion of the reason England lost on their trip to Dublin, where one can't expect to win unless they can keep hold of the ball they've earned.
1. Ireland
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As aforementioned, Ireland's ability to strip England of possession was prolific on Sunday, but it was what the hosts were able to do with possession that impressed most at the Aviva Stadium.
Conor Murray was at his most genius in Week 3, and it certainly helped that Jonathan Sexton seemed back to his best before having to be withdrawn with a hamstring injury.
Although Robbie Henshaw was at fault in defence—he missed an unimpressive six tackles—his try told the difference in Dublin, but Joe Schmidt told that the seasoned players were the key to winning, per BBC Sport:
"We had core leaders and had a bit more experience out there than England. They had a few missing.
...
We rely on Jonny Sexton and Conor Murray a lot—they move us about the pitch in the right manner and it's hard to quantify what they add to the team.
England have set the benchmark, particularly in their opening game against Wales, and we knew that despite having a six-point half-time lead, they were going to come back at us.
But we managed to dig deep and keep them off our line. I have a great bunch of players and I'm learning as much from them as they are hopefully learning from me.
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Arguably the most humble coach in world rugby is too grounded to admit just how big a role his strategic input will have played in the victory, but it's true this Ireland team is ascending once again.
Having gone through some injury absences and struggles for momentum in recent weeks, this was Ireland at their best once more, disciplined and brave, yet unafraid to try the daring—with success, at that.
All statistics come courtesy of ESPN Scrum.
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