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Monday Maul
All Blacks still casting shadow over Europe
Tom Hamilton and Huw Richards
March 16, 2015
England have the upper hand heading into the final weekend of the Six Nations, but it could and should have been so much better © Getty Images
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Following a weekend that sets up four possible winners of the Six Nations Championship, Monday Maul looks back at the key talking points and forward to a super Saturday.

Hibernating Kiwis still make presence felt

You imagine Steve Hansen and his All Blacks coaching staff will be watching every match of the Six Nations. But though they are resting, tweaking tactics and assessing the form of those in Super Rugby, their silence is still pressing on the minds of those north of the equator. The reputation they have built of being utterly ruthless is still the benchmark. When Stuart Lancaster was discussing England's wastefulness on Saturday, he used the Kiwis as the yardstick of converting chances.

"If you look at the All Blacks, when they create a line break, they usually end up scoring from them. We created 12 line breaks today, which is a huge positive because I haven't seen any team pull Scotland apart like that in terms of line breaks, but ultimately to only come away with three tries is frustrating. I think the players know that as well." Tom Hamilton

Try, try and try again on final weekend

The Six Nations table could hardly be tighter © Scrum.com
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A year on and the situation is just the same. Teams will head into the final weekend of the championship preaching the need to secure victories first before even contemplating their points difference, but in the back of each player and coach's head will be the pressing, unavoidable, niggling need to score tries.

This year it is England in the driving seat, holding a four-point advantage in the Points Difference column over Ireland. Had this been last year, you could have argued that Ireland's trip to Murrayfield was a significantly easier task than hosting France at Twickenham. However, Scotland are a meaner, sterner test than they have been in recent championships. But for their meltdown against Italy, they would be looking for their second win next weekend rather than hoping to avoid that old wooden ladle. Scotland will not roll over against Ireland while Italy will want to finish their campaign on a high against Wales.

And then there is England. They play last and by the time the ball is hoisted into the Twickenham air, England will know the number of points they need to secure the championship. It's an inevitability of the scheduling where broadcasters are Gods.

But we are still unsure exactly what England will turn up; it will be a match of the two unpredictable entities. Will they be the England of the second half in Cardiff, the profligate England against Scotland or the England who failed to tweak their game plan accordingly to combat the Ireland trebuchets?

If they play with the style and panache they attempted to against Scotland and find a new accuracy and execution, they should be lifting the title come 7pm. But as this championship frequently shows, rational thought and expectation has a tendency to be flipped on its head. Last year England were a forward pass from winning the title; instead it was Ireland who were spraying the champagne.

The organisers of the championship will face a monumental dilemma over just where they position the trophy. Tom Hamilton

Let the crowd speak for themselves

Not the least welcome aspect of the run-up to Wales v Ireland was the absence of the usual tedious will-they won't-they games over whether or not the Millennium Stadium roof should be shut. This really should not be an issue, unless it makes the difference between the match being played and postponed - and perhaps World Rugby should issue a ruling to that effect.

Rugby is not snooker, but an outdoor game in which dealing with natural conditions is a test of skills. Nor does closing the roof improve playing conditions. Both former Wales and Lions three-quarter Tom Shanklin and the late rugby league player Terry Newton have confirmed that it often does the opposite, with the heat contained within the roof leading to a greasy pitch and handling conditions at least as tough as any produced by rain.

And while on the subject, can we stop kidding ourselves that a closed roof is necessary for the purposes of atmosphere? The crowd has rarely in recent times contributed as much to a match at the Millennium as it did on Saturday, with the roof open. And it wasn't the usual pre-match fiesta of bombast that did it, but a gripping contest which either team might have won, and Wales were pushed to their limits.

It isn't light shows, flamethrowers and bellowing announcers which create atmosphere. Most of the time they flatten it, turning spectators into passive recipients of the homogenised racket which makes one sporting event very much like another. Turn off the noise and crowds will create the atmosphere for themselves, provided the on-field entertainment - which is after all what the day is about - is good enough. Huw Richards

France and Italy need new inspiration

Italy's pack could face a huge disadvantage against Wales on Saturday © Scrum.com
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Italy and France's match in Rome was the worst of the championship so far and on current evidence neither Jacques Brunel nor Philippe Saint-Andre will be in charge of their respective teams next year. The bizarre realisation is that France can still win the title next weekend if results go their way but they are still so far short of the expectations which surround a French team.

They seldom show any attacking flair and they put paid to the notion that teams resemble their coaches. Saint-Andre's style of rugby during his playing days is absent in his blueprint for the current team. Bordeaux-Begles' Raphael Ibanez seems to be the front-runner to take over the reins post-World Cup.

And then there is Italy. Even the great Sergio Parisse failed to get going against France. When he has an off day, you know something is wrong. Italy also need fresh inspiration after they took a giant leap backwards after their heroics in Edinburgh. Tom Hamilton

Gatland's great mind

Congratulations to former Ireland lock Neil Francis for homing in on just about the one thing nobody ever said against Warren Gatland in his comments during the week. You can say that his teams are dull and unimaginative, but nobody before ever said he wasn't smart, and for good reason. A mutual New Zealand acquaintance confirms: "One of his great strengths is that he is very bright indeed - I've known people like international lawyers meet him and come away remarking on his intelligence." Huw Richards

The Welsh defence was exceptional against Ireland © Getty Images
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© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
Tom Hamilton is the Associate Editor of ESPNscrum.
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Tom Hamilton was brought up near the stands of the Recreation Ground and joined ESPN in 2011. He is now Associate Editor of ESPNscrum.
Follow him on Twitter @tomESPNscrum