2024 Six Nations: Round 4 Review

It was an enthralling weekend of rugby, and it saw Steve Borthwick’s England secure a historic win against Ireland at Twickenham.

The penultimate round of the 2024 Guinness Six Nations came to an end on Sunday, and it was a weekend of enthralling action. Italy hosted Gregor Townsend’s Scotland at the Stadio Olimpico, England and reigning champions Ireland met at Twickenham, and on Sunday, Warren Gatland’s Wales hosted France at the Principality Stadium.

With this year’s Championship nearing its end, we will soon find out who will win the iconic trophy for 2024. Will Ireland become the first nation since England (2016 & 2017) to win consecutive Six Nations titles, or could Steve Borthwick’s side emerge with an unlikely title following next week’s action?

Ahead of week four’s action, Ireland were on the verge of their 6th Six Nations Championship title after their emphatic 31 – 7 victory over Wales and Scotland’s 30 – 21 defeat of England at Murrayfield on the same day.

Following this weekend’s results, Ireland’s fate is in their hands, but thanks to a historic result at Twickenham, England are still in with a chance of winning an unlikely 8th Six Nations title—it would be their first since 2020.

We will start our review with the game between England and Ireland on Saturday afternoon at the iconic and historic Twickenham Stadium.

England 23 – 22 Ireland (Twickenham)

England and Ireland are two heavyweights of international rugby. They have shared no less than 13 Six Nations titles between them since the inaugural edition of this competition just over 20 years ago, in 2000. They will meet once again in 2024, with the latter looking to seal a second consecutive Six Nations title.

Steve Borthwick’s side stood in their way, and they managed to deny Owen Farrell’s side the opportunity to do so. In doing so, they not only secured a historic 23 – 22 victory but also gave themselves a slight chance of winning the Six Nations themselves in the fifth and final round.

Ollie Lawrence did get the opening try, only for England to be losing by a margin of four points thanks to the fantastic efforts of Jack Crowley. James Lowe was then on hand to score for Farrell’s visitors at the start of the second half, but thankfully for England, George Furbank was there to score a try for his country soon after.

England finally managed to reclaim their lead thanks to an incredible and crucial try from Ben Earl before another try from Lowe saw the visitors take their lead back. To England’s relief, they secured their historic win thanks to a drop goal by Marcus Smith in the 81st minute.

The scenes at the end of the game were incredible for those of an England persuasion, and it provides them some fresh momentum going into the final weekend.

In Round Five, England will face France at the Groupama Stadium in Lyon, whilst Ireland will also have the chance to seal the 2024 Guinness Six Nations title at the Aviva Stadium against rivals Scotland.

Italy 31 – 29 Scotland (Stadio Olimpico)

Next up in this review is another crucial game from the weekend, just gone in the form of Gonzalo Quesada’s Italy taking on a Scotland side led by their Head Coach Gregor Townsend at the Stadio Olimpico on the afternoon of Saturday, 9th March 2024. Ultimately, it was a tight and tense 31 – 29 victory for Quesada and Italy in Rome.

It was Scotland who managed to gain the most metres in the entirety of the game with no less than 680.7 compared to 337.4 for the hosts, Italy. Scotland also edged turnovers with 3, with Italy having completed 2 themselves. The hosts had made the most successful tackles with 214, whilst their visitors had made 131.

Both teams scored several tries, with Italy scoring 3 to Scotland’s 4. Italy’s tries came thanks to Juan Ignacio Brex (14’), Louis Lynagh (43’) and Stephen Varney (56’), whilst Scotland scored theirs through Zander Fagerson (5’), Kyle Steyn (11’), Pierre Schoeman (27’) and Sam Skinner (77’).

Italy scored 4 penalties – three were scored by Paolo Garbisi (1’, 34’, 72), whilst the other one came through Martin Page-Relo (38’). Finn Russell scored the only try of the game for Gregor Townsend’s Scotland.

Russell did score all three of his side’s conversions (7’, 12’, 77’), whilst it was Paolo Garbisi who got both of the conversions of the hosts, Italy, that day.

Next up for the winners, Italy, is a game against Warren Gatland’s Wales at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, 16th March, with the game kicking off at 14:15. As for Scotland, they face Ireland on the same day in a game that gets underway at 16:45.

Wales 24 – 45 France (Principality Stadium)

Finally, we move on to the final game of this review, which was between Warren Gatland’s Wales and Fabien Galthié’s France on Sunday 10th March 2024 at the iconic Principality Stadium. The first two games of this fourth weekend of action in the 2024 Guinness Six Nations were tight and tense, this was a dominant display from France.

In the end, the visiting French side were able to come away as emphatic 24 – 45 victory against Wales in Cardiff. France gained the most metres with 515.8 gained compared to 351.5 for Gatland’s Wales. Wales did edge turnovers with 4 to France’s 2, whilst the hosts also made more tackles with 174 compared to their visitors’ 117.

Wales scored 3 tries to France’s 5. Starting with the hosts, their tries were scored by Rio Dyer (8’), Tomos Williams (24’) and Joe Roberts (42’). As for France, theirs were scored by Gael Fickou (21’), Nolann Le Garrec (28’), Georges-Henri Colombe (64’), Romain Taofifenua (68’) and Maxime Lucu (80’).

The sole penalty that Wales scored came through Sam Costelow (1’), whilst visitors France’s all came courtesy of Thomas Ramos (6’, 14’, 60’, 73’).

Finally, regarding conversions, Thomas Ramos scored all four for France (22’, 29’, 65’, 69’), whilst Sam Costelow got three for hosts Wales (9’, 25’ and 44’).

Next up for France is England in the fifth and final round of the 2024 Guinness Six Nations at the Groupama Stadium in what is set to be a 20:00 kick-off at Lyon’s Groupama Stadium on Saturday, 16th March. As for Wales, they face Italy at the Principality Stadium on Saturday 16th March in a 14:15 kick-off.

Excitement and anticipation are building rapidly ahead of the conclusion of the 2024 Guinness Six Nations on Saturday, 16th March 2024, where the latest winner to add their name to the history books will be ultimately decided.

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