England 59 Italy 13

Wow. Eight tries in total, a hat-trick inside the hour for Chris Ashton, who ended up with four, and another stellar contribution from Toby Flood - this was a very, very productive afternoon for England.

If the opening game against Wales was an exercise in coping with naked hostility, this was a lesson in how to bury a side with well over half the match still to unravel.

Italy were out of this game after 30 minutes when Mark Cueto blasted over for England’s third try. It was as comprehensive a Six Nations display as England have offered in many a year.

Almost the best thing about England’s effort was that the final score didn’t quite do justice to their excellence. England took their chances well, but they also failed to finish off one or two others. That was the scale of their superiority.

From the opening seconds when Flood, Ashton and co went wide to the final minutes when Jonny Wilkinson - who else? - risked life and limb to prevent a second Italy try, England exuded effort and class.
It was a performance in which every player contributed. Alex Corbisiero, in his first game, and up against the mighty Martin Castrogiovanni, was magnificent, England’s midfield had the measure of their Italian opponents, and James Haskell had the best half of his international career to date.
But the man who held it all together was Flood. From callow youth to Mr Indispensable, Flood is now the guy who thinks and plays this team into strong positions. Half of England’s tries came from sharp, smart Flood passes to support runners arriving on his inside and outside shoulders. Ashton was the main beneficiary, but every time Flood had his hands on the ball and was challenging Italian defenders, Italy wobbled badly.
If there were any dodgy areas for England to rectify they came in the shape of poor discipline early on, the fact that they allowed Italy a try from a lineout which hadn’t functioned all game, and a stodgy patch just after half time when it took England too long to get themselves hot and sweaty once more.
But to do more than mention those in passing is to veer towards the nit-picky. As with England’s annihilation of Australia in the autumn, this was a display which will reverberate around the world. France are next up for England at Twickenham in two weeks. They won’t enjoy the DVD of this game.
England’s transformation since they went to Paris for the final game of last season’s Six Nations has been remarkable. A year ago England played Italy in Rome, stumbling to a victory which Steve Borthwick, then captain, raved about but which anyone with half a rugby brain realised was anything but.
England that day were one-paced, predictable and utterly tedious. Fast forward 12 months and the side has been transformed by the arrival of Ashton, Ben Youngs and Ben Foden. But it is more than an injection of new personnel which is behind England’s revival. The really startling development is that England now look like a team that knows how to play rugby.
The way they varied the point of attack, the way they mixed up the tempo, the way forwards and backs hunted and hurt Italy was very impressive.
That doesn’t happen by accident, and it is pertinent now to acknowledge the contributions of an England coaching team marshalled and led by Johnson.
A while ago forwards coach John Wells was under the cosh for failing to generate quick ball. No such problems now. The ball came back pretty much exactly as England’s half backs wanted it. Similarly with England’s attack. Against Scotland at Murrayfield last year they couldn’t buy a try. Now there was nothing wrong with their attacking edge. Brian Smith has unlocked England to the point where they are comfortable attacking from anywhere.
Of course, any final reckoning of England has to take account of the opponents and Italy were desperately disappointing. But this is the Italy which ran Ireland close a week ago, the Italy who many thought were close to becoming genuinely competitive. That is the context against which to judge.
It is vastly to England’s credit that they demolished Italy’s lineout. That was an alarming weak point which hasn’t surfaced before, but other Italian difficulties were more predictable. Yet again Italy had little or no idea how or where to attack. There was one brief spell in the first half when Italy were able to string several phases and passes together but they ended up further behind the gain line than when they started. If anything showed up Italy’s lack of ideas and penetration, that did. The little ball they got was a liability for them.
The sadness was that some great players were caught up in the mess. Sergio Parisse and Martin Castrogiovanni are proud, fine rugby men, yet long before the end of the match they were both bickering with each other and the referee.
Castrogiovanni was sin-binned when he prevented England from taking a quick tap penalty and Parisse, normally the most focused of individuals, was more worried about perceived injustices than what was actually happening on the pitch. It was impossible not to feel for them. They deserved to be part of a better, more competitive team.
No such problems for England where the momentum is building nicely. Given the way they played, they would probably fancy France this Saturday rather than have a week’s rest as the Six Nations goes into limbo.

Paul Ackford   Daily Telegraph

Viking 7's

It is now official, there is to be a new 7's tournament this year.
The Viking Summer 7's will be held at Spartacus RK on the 4/5th June. With a number of teams visiting from Italy, Spain. Holland, England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and France this will be an International event with what we are told some very good sides ready to challenge the Swedish clubs for the prize money on offer.
We are given to understand that there will be sponsors for both the Men's and Women's events. with 25,000Sek for the winners of the Men's and 15,000Sek for the Ladies Champions along with the normal trophies.
Without doubt, this is really good news for Swedish Rugby and will hopefully contribute towards the development of the game in Sweden. Now an Olympic Sport it could help showcase 7's and help to attract new participants to the game.

Our congratulations go to Spartacus for their initative in this and we wish them well in this endeavour.

Italy 11 Ireland 13

Beautiful weather, ugly rugby. A thrilling finale should not mask the dross that preceded it, as Ireland snatched victory through a drop goal three minutes from time by replacement Ronan O'Gara.

Two minutes earlier Italy, using their numerical advantage with Denis Leamy sent to the sin bin, had scored their first try, and a famous first win over the Irish in this competition had looked possible.

But they committed the cardinal sin: they dropped the ensuing kick off. Ireland, knew the drill. A couple of drives were made upfield and then the old head of O'Gara stepped back into the pocket in readiness.

So certain was he of his target that he was punching the air and running back towards halfway before the ball was anywhere near the posts.

Ireland were clearly the better side, dominating possession and territory, but it would not have been a huge injustice had Italy sneaked it, because Ireland made enough mistakes to last a whole campaign.
There really was no excuse for their profligacy. The conditions were near perfect, with the sun shining and the flat track.
Amid some thoroughly ordinary performances lock Donncha O'Callaghan had a huge match for Ireland and Sean O'Brien had his moments, but the day's outstanding individual was undoubtedly the Italian skipper and No. 8 Sergio Parisse, who enjoyed an extraordinarily good and influential second half. His power and work rate was quite phenomenal.
And when Leamy was off the field, given his orders for handling at a ruck, Italy's scrummage really put Ireland under the cosh.
Skipper Brian O'Driscoll was spoken to by referee Romain Poite as loose-head prop Cian Healy collapsed for a second time.
Tension was high and a try was almost inevitable and it duly came after a slick pass out of the tackle from replacement Gonzalo Garcia, putting full back Luke McLean, who had a lively game throughout, in at the corner.
Italy had actually led 6-3 at the break, with winger Mirco Bergamasco kicking his second penalty on the very stroke of the break.
It was a fine kick, from way out on the right, and it provoked a huge roar from the home crowd, but in truth this had been a half full more of groans.
Goodness, there were some mistakes. When you witness the great O'Driscoll hurling a pass off his left hand straight into touch you know for certain that error is the order of the moment.
A couple of minutes later he was dropping a pass after an ill-timed switch with Jonathan Sexton.
Then Gordon D'Arcy spilled a regulation pass as Ireland threatened in the Italian 22. He was to do the same again in the second half.
Other passes went straight to ground. Nothing clicked. Without solely blaming one person, it never helps when you have a scrum half like Tomas O'Leary whose strength clearly is not his pass.
His stiffness and an involuntary duck of the head at the moment of release suggest that it is not a natural movement. The all-enveloping Parisse caught him napping a couple of times at the base of rucks.
Ireland might have scored once after full back Luke Fitzgerald had put Sexton clear, but a wonderful scything tackle from Alberto Sgarbi put paid to that.
O'Driscoll also escaped down the left after a pass from Leamy. We will give the flanker the benefit of the doubt and call it a flick on, but Leamy may not have realised that was what he was doing. Anyway another superb tackle, this time from McLean, stopped O'Driscoll.
Yes, Italy were doing a lot of tackling and not much attacking- although Sgarbi was always running strongly- but, as ever, that defence was ferociously committed. And yes it was unsettling Ireland. The rhythm and snap simply would not come.
But pressure usually tells, and so does class. That O'Driscoll should drag his side form their languor just after the interval was a not a surprise.
Their try came from their best scrummage of the match, with tight-head prop Mike Ross at last anchoring his side and from a solid base Ireland could finally attack with composure.
Even then they looked as if they had taken a wrong option as Sexton was left isolate don the left, but the ball was recycled and O'Leary fed O'Driscoll going left and through a gap.
You expected the tries to flow from there. But maybe Ireland's injury count - 12 major players missing- was more of a factor than we thought. Confidence appeared low and rustiness high.
Even O'Driscoll made another mistake, throwing a poor pass to debutant winger Fergus McFadden who might have scored with a better service.
Italy refused to cow, and their response was rousing. It was just a shame that replacement lock Carlo del Fava fumbled at that re-start, and that another replacement- fly-half Luciano Orquera- should attempt his own dramatic drop-goal effort from such a long distance.
More patience and calm was required. Ireland just about had it, but will need to improve in spades.

Steve James, Daily Telegraph

France 34 Scotland 21

This game comes with a health warning. France, the Grand Slam champions, are back, all memories of the stuffing by Australia in the autumn banished on a surprisingly balmy February evening. France were confident, poised, controlled.

They had pockets of flair and if they lost concentration at various stages in what was an enthralling encounter, it was probably because they were saving themselves for the bigger games to come.

Twickenham towards the end of the month springs to mind. It should be lip-smackingly exciting.

It was not so much the scoreline at the end of the game which advertised France’s welcome return to form, more the fact that it came against a resurgent Scotland who actually played pretty well themselves.

That was the beauty of this encounter. It had everything. Seven tries, four from France, three by Scotland.
The physical beauty of big men running into each other with intent on their faces and murder in their souls. It had some elusive running — strangely, given their reputation — by Scotland’s midfield and back three. And it had a scrummaging performance of stunning eloquence by the portly-looking Thomas Domingo.
He was the significant difference between the sides in the first period. France had galloped away to a 10-0 lead after nine minutes with a Maxime Médard try when Nick De Luca was turned over in a dump of a tackle followed by a conversion from Morgan Parra and a dropped goal by François Trinh-Duc.
Yet Scotland had cantered back into it when Alastair Kellock drove low and hard through a pile of bodies after his second-row mate Richie Gray had been prominent in the build-up. The conversion by Dan Parks brought Scotland to within three points of France at 10-7.
If truth be told, France were a little better value for their points because there were a number of occasions when profligacy or a lack of care saw them cough up ball, but the game was nicely poised as it ticked into its second quarter.
Enter Domingo, hoping to profit from a strong scrummaging position deep inside Scotland’s 22 to the right of the posts.
Three times Domingo went down to pack against Euan Murray and three times Domingo’s superiority was so complete Murray had to slip and fall away to concede a penalty.
At the fourth scrum Domingo himself accidentally lost his footing, but on the fifth referee Wayne Barnes was so upset with Murray that he awarded France the penalty try.
Domingo, red-faced and breathing heavily, grinned all the way back to the halfway line accompanied by fawning team-mates. The entire sequence lasted four minutes and encapsulated why the game’s authorities are so keen to sort this mess out. Four minutes of collapses and resets.
Four minutes of 14 players and 80,000 spectators watching two packs of forwards trying to make the unintelligible comprehensible.
But the strange thing, too, was that Domingo was so self-evidently a supreme craftsman that it carried with it a macabre fascination.
Scotland struggled a little after that, never getting close enough to France to put the frighteners on them, which was a shame because they played with far more purpose and pace than usual.
Scotland opened up from the kick-off and for the rest of the match tried to send men down the wide channels outside the French blitz defence. When they managed to flood that space they were effective.
Hugo Southwell and both wings led sorties and there were some neat exchanges involving De Luca and Joe Ansbro. But, even at their most potent, there was always a sense that France were playing within themselves.
That’s the worrying aspect for the other teams yet to face France. They seem to have the urge back and that coupled with the talent they always possess makes them very formidable indeed.
This was the France of old, a team who pushed all the buttons. Although their scrummage was formidable, their line-out solid, France did not just play tight and mean. Aurélien Rougerie was very influential in the centre and both half backs mixed up tempo and strategy.
As ever, France set great store on winning the one-on-one collisions but there was far greater fluency and knowingness abut their rugby here. They looked as if they knew how to play again.
Scotland did well to stick as close to France as they did. Ten minutes into the second half when Imanol Harinordoquy made the most of another turnover, cantering over for a try after a diagonal run from 40 metres out, it appeared they would be on the end of a right old hiding.
And that impression wasn’t altered by the sight of Parra and Harinordoquy leaving the pitch to be replaced by Dimitri Yachvili and Sebastien Chabal. But Scotland scored themselves within five minutes through Kelly Brown, confirming the belief that sides built by Andy Robinson never give up easily.
It was tit for tat after that. Damien Traille pushed France further out in front before Sean Lamont had the last laugh with the final try of the contest. I say last laugh, but it was the French who had the smiles.
They knew they had laid down an important marker, knew, too, that this is a squad capable of taking on the best. France are bubbling again, and if you like your rugby, you should be mighty happy for them.

 Paul Ackford, Daily Telegraph.

Wales 19 England 26

Land of Hope and Glory ? Yes, why not? Delighted England fans certainly thought so as they streamed out of the Millennium Stadium on Friday night, victory over Wales already putting their side in the driving seat for Six Nations honours and suffusing dreams with thoughts of World Cup honours. This was a defining moment.

England have proved poor travellers in the Six Nations and this was a performance that silences any doubts about their ability to deliver under duress and on the road. They will carry that feel-good vibe with them to New Zealand in September. They have three championship games in a row at Twickenham now. Who could blame their supporters if they were already eyeing that final day showdown with Ireland?

This was England’s first win in Cardiff in eight years, their 2003 victory here prefacing something rather notable later that year. This side may lack the clout and consistency of that World Cup-winning team but they are a gathering force. There is an evident sense of togetherness, a hard-nosed desire to tough it out as they did in the final stages. They have a notable cutting edge, too, in Northampton wing, Chris Ashton who scored two trademark tries to take his tally to five in the last seven tests. Anything is possible when you have a finisher of that quality.

There is a growing maturity, too, in the play of fly-half Toby Flood, who directed his line well and who is proving every

As for Wales, where do they go now? A crisis is looming as their run without a win stretches to eight matches. That record is becoming a millstone. It could drag Wales back into the dark days. True, they were nuggety and zealous but they lacked penetration. Too often they ran across the field and not at England. Scrum-half Mike Phillips also had a wayward game. Wales travel to Murrayfield with desperation in their eyes. How they need a win.
Their discipline also let them down when it mattered, prop Craig Mitchell falling foul of referee, Alain Rolland, when diving over the top and ending up in the sin-bin. England scored ten points in his absence, Ashton nabbing his second just before his return in the 56th minute. That was effectively game over, 23-9 with just over twenty minutes to run. Wales could only manage three points when England lock, Louis Deacon was yellow carded just before half-time.
That ruthlessness, that ability to deliver when it matters, will stand England in good stead. There are flaws there still. The midfield play was clunky at times, Shontayne Hape looking out of sorts. Yet still they managed to contrive scores from scant opportunities.
Ashton’s first owed everything to his own finely-tuned radar but more especially to Flood’s eagled-eyed vision. The Leicester man had a fly-half’s dream set-up in front of him, two props in opposition. Flood didn’t waste it, scampering between the pair of them in 14th minute and finding Ashton, the poacher supreme on his inside shoulder. He knows where that try-line is does Ashton, rounding things off with a flamboyant dive.
England’s forward platform was telling, the lineout in particular earning its spurs. Stade Francais lock, Tom Palmer, continues to grow in stature. He made the initial dent from where Mark Cueto eventually threw the floated pass for Ashton’s second try. England barely noticed the absence of three front-line forward through injury.
England knew that they had to strip the match back to its basics: be direct, be accurate and silence that crowd. They did just that for long stretches, only allowing Wales a sniff in the final quarter.
The streets were thronged, the mood intoxicating and the clamour deafening. This was to be a test of character as much as of skill. Heart and soul still count for as much as muscle and bone.
There were errors in their game but Wales simply did not take advantage, James Hook and Stephen Jones missing two early penalties.
England would not have wished for the beating handed out before Christmas by South Africa but it was a salutary experience. It reminded them of the need to front-up first and foremost. It’s invariably a game of inches not yards, a battle for control of the gain line. Gradually, England asserted their might. Their pack laid firm foundations.
Wales eventually had to chance their arm, and they did. Mind you, poor England defence from Shontayne Hape helped as Jones’s beautifully weighted pass beat the England centre allowing Jonathan Davies to put Morgan Stoddart in for a try on the hour. Jones converted to reduce the gap to seven points.
It was nail-biting stuff. Wilkinson replaced Flood, James Hook moved to fly-half for Wales and slotted a goal when Hape offended. 23-19, and the tension soaring with ten minutes remaining.
Wilkinson, though, eased worries.
There is a growing maturity, too, in the play of fly-half Toby Flood, who directed his line well and who is proving every bit a reassuring presence as one Jonny Wilkinson did.

Flood didn’t fluff a kick, scoring 13 points, Wilkinson closing out proceedings four minutes from time with his only pot at goal, just the tonic as things got decidedly jittery. There was a terrific debut from Northampton flanker, Tom Wood, and the perfect riposte from hooker, Dylan Hartley, who had been singled out for criticism by Wales coach, Warren Gatland. Hartley didn’t miss a beat. It was a quality showing on his part.

There may not have been the sweep and majesty of the Australia game on view, little sustained fluency and carefree devil, but England managed to face down the hype and hoopla. That is no small achievement in a Six Nations context. They have character and a sense of defiance in their ranks. They didn’t attempt to play down the magnitude of the occasion, backing themselves to rise to the challenge. That’s a sure sign of a team in a good place, at ease with themselves and with each other.

By Mick Cleary.  Daily Telegraph

New 7's Tournament ?

Word has reached us that there is going to be new 7's tournament in June.
As far as we can ascertain it is the Viking Summer 7's and is being hosted by Spartacus on the weekend of June 4th and 5th.

The big news is that it will have prize money for both the Men and Women, supposedly.

We have only vague information regarding this, yet we believe it to be true and if this is the case, it is really good news for Swedish Rugby and the 7's game. Anything that can help promote 7's in the lead up to the Olympic games has to be a positive. So we are keeping our fingers crossed.

If we get anymore information on this we will post it immediately.

What's in Store for 2011?

As pre-season training begins or continues for some, we too have decided to come out of hibernation and carry on with the enjoyable task of writing and publishing this blog. Please do feel free to offer your own contributions, should you wish, and providing that they are relevant and acceptable, we will be more than happy to publish them. You can submit articles via 'trueswedenrugby@live.com' or just post your comments as and when you wish.

So what's going to happen in the Elite series this year? 

Are Stockholm Exiles going to recruit yet more players from abroad in an attempt to retain their title. or will they start to give their talented home grown players a chance?
Enkoping have been busy recruiting and we hear that two players from Göteborg have signed for them. Obviously disappointed with their season last year, there appears to be a deliberate policy to improve things, will it happen?
Hammarby will be looking to improve upon last season's outstanding success. Rumours are that they have also been recruiting and look for a surprise transfer into their ranks from another Swedish club.
What about the surprise package of last season, Spartacus? Will they be able to improve upon their standing of last year, or will they regress?
Göteborg have lost two important players to ERK, so what effect will that have on them? They will be hoping for an improvement on last season. Will they get it?
Newcomers Atilla will be hoping to take a few scalps and we hear that they have also been recruiting, will it work for them or will they struggle?