How the Blues can still win the Six Nations tournament (well, if we believe in miracles)

Thanks Marcus Smith! Thanks to his drop score after the siren, the English replacement flyhalf offered his team a respectable victory over the Irish Ogres (23-22) at Twickenham on Saturday. A grand opener thus allowed France to win with a bonus in Wales on Sunday (24-45), before welcoming XV de la Rose to Lyon on Saturday to keep the chance to win this Six Nations tournament.

Or, more precisely, “Chanconet”, a neologism that fits well with the prospect of seeing Fabian Galthy’s men rise to the top of a competition that has started so poorly, after a terrible opening defeat in Marseille against Ireland (17- 38). An almost stolen victory in Scotland (16-20) and a miraculously pathetic draw in Lille against Italy (13-13).

In the event of a tie on points, the teams will be decided by overall points difference, followed by the number of tries scored in all matches. If after these two criteria, they are still indistinguishable, they will be ranked equally.

Ahead of the final day on Saturday, which will also see Ireland host Scotland at 5:45pm, four teams can still hope to win the tournament:

1. Ireland (16 points, +80 point differential, 17 tries)
2. England (12 points, -3, 9 tries)
3. Scotland (11 points, +4, 11 tries)
4. France (11 points, +4, 10 attempts).

Given their lead in points average and number of tries, a simple defensive bonus point should be enough for the Clover players to protect themselves from English’s possible improved success and win a second straight tournament in his absence. Second Grand Slam in a row, lost at Twickenham.

If they beat England, the Blues will finish second

For France to win the competition for the 27th time, they will need to fulfill several conditions and the following conditions:

• A zero point defeat for Ireland
• The win over England improved, with a huge score to overtake Ireland on points difference, but also Scotland, who would have beaten Ireland in our case study.

Conclusion: We had a lot of fun writing these few lines, and Johnny Sexton’s heirs should logically end all suspense before the start of France – England, which should be second only to his only accounting interest. competitiveness. But the “crunch” always retains a huge symbolic stake no matter what happens, especially a year after the Blues’ historic win at Twickenham (10-53).