Lions watch: Off-colour Irish tested by Wales, England stands firm

The Six Nations Championship reignited after a week's break, with the third round featuring home teams battling it out. At Twickenham Stadium, England ended their recent losing streak against Scotland, securing a hard-fought victory that veteran forwards could truly appreciate. This win provided a much-needed boost for the English squad and their supporters.

Scotland had the opportunity to lift the Calcutta Cup for the fifth consecutive year, but England's resilience thrilled the home crowd and kept their own slim title hopes alive. Meanwhile, in Cardiff's indoor stadium, Wales continued their losing streak, a fate that seems to haunt this Welsh team. However, interim coach Matt Sherratt's surprising decision to field players in their best positions nearly paid off, forcing Ireland to fight tooth and nail to secure the Triple Crown and maintain their Grand Slam aspirations. This tactical shift injected new energy into the Welsh performance.

A controversial no-try ruling and the even more contentious 20-minute red card rule contributed to Wales's 15th consecutive defeat. Despite the loss, several players proved that they remain top international talents when given possession. With some players striving to be selected for the national team in the Australian Rugby League, the competition is fierce. The question is, who stood out and who underperformed in the race for Lions jerseys?

England's forwards triumphed over Scotland's warriors. Twickenham once again witnessed a thrilling match, with England narrowly winning by a single point. While the victory perhaps reflected missed opportunities by the opposition more than England's ability to shut them down, it undeniably added another feather to the cap of England's forwards. At one point, Maro Itoje, Ben Earl, and Ben Curry were all seen kneeling, having desperately defended Scotland's attacks on their own try line, a testament to the outstanding performance of England's forward pack. This is the essence of this forward pack, a group of unarmed, white-clad terminators, whose only way to be stopped is to sever their ankles and throw them into a molten furnace.

We haven't praised Will Stuart enough so far, mainly because front-row forwards of his type often go unnoticed. However, Stuart's performance against Pierre Schoeman was once again impressive. In this intense contest, the Bath player demonstrated his strength in the scrums, gaining England some advantages by overpowering the larger Schoeman. Ellis Genge also outperformed his former Lions opponent, Zander Fagerson, in this area. The real battle, however, took place in the loose play, where both sides expended a great deal of energy, and the refereeing standard was quite lenient. Itoje always performs like a monster in this aspect – book his flight to Australia now and tailor a captain's suit for him. Jamie Ritchie's contribution to the Scottish team was equally outstanding, as he defended with all his might and won a crucial turnover in the second half.

England's back row was equally impressive. Tom Curry's hip remains a concern, but it hardly seemed to matter with his brother Ben on the bench. Duhan van der Merwe enjoys playing against England and continued his good form against his old rivals. Two years ago at Twickenham, Van der Merwe was unstoppable, shaking off five defenders on his way to the try line. 12 months ago, the South African-born winger scored a hat-trick at Murrayfield. He also scored on Saturday and can create chaos with even a little space, embarrassing Ollie Lawrence with a savage tackle before throwing Marcus Smith aside like an 85kg rag doll. His physical presence always poses a challenge for the English defense.

He is so dominant against England that Australia must be glad they don't wear white jerseys. However, considering how anonymous he was against Ireland two weeks ago, perhaps Australia should try wearing green jerseys to see if it makes a difference… The strength of Scotland's backline was fully demonstrated in their first try, a fluid attack that included a sharp run by Blair Kinghorn, a very clever running line by Kyle Rowe, and a beautiful hand pass to Tom Jordan, who then passed it to the ubiquitous Ben White. Their attack made England's defense look very weak – which may be faint praise – Marcus Smith's defense remains too weak to be a truly world-class fly-half. However, he also demonstrated his value by appearing in the first receiver position in attack and running with the ball into space. But in the battle of the kickers, Finn Smith won hands down. Finn Russell had a bad day, and Sam Prendergast's performance in Cardiff was also far below average. Finn Smith only needed one kick, a crucial 50-meter shot, to help England take the lead, while Marcus Smith's shots elsewhere were at their best. Meanwhile, Russell missed all three of his shots, including a sideline shot that could have won the game. All the shots were difficult, but Russell should have performed better against England. In addition to missing shots, the veteran also missed a try due to a penalty, was shaken off by Tommy Freeman in England's first try, and was in poor form overall.

Wales showed determination against a mediocre Ireland side. It must be a difficult time for Welsh rugby fans right now. But the sleeping Welsh dragon finally showed its anger, after a lifeless start to the tournament. Of course, Ireland made some adjustments, but Wales's performance was indeed very good. Wigley John dwarfed Lions' certainty Andrew Porter in the scrums. The Sale Sharks player, born in Plymouth and raised in the Rhondda Valley, made his first start for Wales in four years and earned his third appearance. If he continues to play like this, he will definitely get more opportunities in the future. It has become a cliché to say that Jac Morgan performed well – the 25-year-old always performs well and once again performed well for Wales, carrying the team again with a passionate performance. Tommy Reffell and the powerful Taulupe Faletau gave him full support in the back row. The 34-year-old, four-time Lions player returned to his peak. Recalled No. 10 Gareth Anscombe also contributed well to Wales, as did Ben Thomas, who, incredibly, performed better in his usual No. 12 position than in the No. 10 position he has been playing. How strange. Gloucester center Max Llewellyn was inexplicably excluded from the squad by Gatland, but after being recalled, he showed how effective it is for a team to have a heavy hitter weighing 110kg and 196cm tall, and who has hands as sticky as spider silk.

Not everything went well for Wales, as you might expect from their current form. Tomos Williams made some very poor judgments in the final stages of the game, when the outcome was still uncertain, highlighting the need for any team to have a steady pair of hands at the base of the scrum. Winner: Color-blind fans. This is unlikely to be a problem the Lions encounter in Australia, but fans with color vision deficiency (CVD), also known as color blindness, could rejoice this week as Ireland wore their white away jerseys in their match against Wales in Cardiff. This is because World Rugby's new rules require away teams to switch to another jersey color when there is a conflict that may affect an estimated 300 million people with some form of CVD. The most common colors that affect people with CVD are red and green – which was a problem in the Wales vs. Ireland match. CVD affects approximately one in twelve men and two in one hundred women, including former World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont. World Rugby's rules were first implemented at the 2023 Rugby World Cup. This also seemed to work well for Wales, who treated their opponents in white jerseys as they would the English, while Ireland looked surprisingly disjointed, although seven changes to the starting lineup may have contributed to this. Loser: Fans of the 20-minute red card rule. Oh, what Wales could have done. Andy Farrell's Ireland is known for managing to avoid players being sent off – which is obviously a huge advantage in winning international rugby matches. So, when Gary Ringrose was sent off for a high tackle, it would be a severe test of their strength if the defending champions needed to play with one less player for most of the 50 minutes. And, considering how close Wales came to pulling off an upset – they led 18-13 when Ireland returned to full strength, when Bundee Aki came off the bench – you'd be hard pressed to find many people who thought Wales couldn't create an upset of the century. But, when Aki himself, covered in blood and stained with the markings on the pitch, completed a turnover and roared with delight, the chances felt increasingly slim. Credit to Ireland's acting captain Dan Sheehan for keeping his cool, and Prendergast for successfully kicking some pressure balls. But you had to feel sorry for Wales, even if Ellis Meii's efforts had not been disallowed, they probably still would have lost the game – although former Wales star and NFL wide receiver Louis Rees-Zammit looked stunned in the crowd, the ruling was correct.