The third and final game of this weekend’s 6 Nations matches was between Scotland and France. Jerry Guscott noted earlier in the week that statistically France tends to win the 6 (or 5) Nations in years following a Lions tour. Despite their bruising trip to New Zealand over the winter, which probably left them with as many bruises and the Lions got in South Africa, many people are tipping Les Bleus for the championship this year. On the basis of today’s game, those people are right.

Firstly the French pack totally destroyed the Scottish scrum. Had the Scots not had the excuse of a pitch that was cutting up badly and making keeping your footing difficult Nigel Owens might have awarded a few penalty tries. And of course they out-ran the Scots too. Scotland were defending horribly narrowly and were always vulnerable to quick, wide ball. The stars of the French back line were the cunning little Francois Trinh-Duc, and the amiable, chubby giant, Mathieu Bastareaud, who clearly fell into a cauldron of magic potion when he was a baby and doesn’t know his own strength.

The Scots will be pleased with the performances of Sean Lamont and Beattie, and with the fact that Chris Patterson is still the best kicker in the world. They will be less pleased at yet another match in which they never looked like scoring a try.

As Bill McLaren would have said, they’ll be dancing in the streets of Paris tonight. Here’s hoping that the fleur-de-lis flies proudly over the Louisiana Territory as well. Geaux Saints!

This weekend sees the most important sporting event of the year. No, not that little game in Miami, though I will be watching that as well (Geaux Saints!). I refer, of course, to the annual Wales – England rugby match.

This year the game is in London, which should help England overcome their natural disadvantage of being, well, English. Also the England side is very much in a rebuilding phase, with many young players looking to establish their reputations. The Welsh side, on the other hand, is stuffed full of veterans of two Grand Slam campaigns. They ought to win. Expectation always brings pressure.

My main worry is at scrum half. Gareth Cooper is the Welsh third choice – Philips and Peel both being injured. He’s a good player but, as I’m sure Will will explain in the comments, Danny Care is a wily fox and proving worthy of being England’s first choice at the position.

My other worry is the referee. As the BBC and Martyn Williams explain, some new regulations have just been handed down regarding how rucks will be policed. Going into the game, the players will be unsure what is legal and what isn’t. They will need to watch the referee carefully and see how he whistles the game. But Wales cannot afford to give away penalties, because if they do then Jonny Wilkinson will kick them, and then we’ll probably lose.

On the bright side, the selection of Tait instead of Hipkiss suggests that England are actually going to try to play rugby rather than mud wrestling, and when they do things that don’t come naturally to them they often get in a terrible mess. We shall see.

Well, no. Other people have made the baseball joke already. It was a great game, but compared to other events of the weekend it was nothing to sing about.

The Heineken Cup, the top tournament in European rugby, is now only a little over a week away. Over on Sky Sports, Stuart and Dewi have been looking into the form of the French sides. And the word from across the Channel is that Stade Francais, the over-paid glamor boys of world rugby, are finally living up to their talent. What is the cause of this miraculous turn-around in form? Well, it just might be the “boy named Sue” sydrome.

You see, there is a hierarchy in ball games. Soccer players wear their hair long and spend lots of time kissing each other after a goal. Gridiron players wear lots of armor so that they don’t get hurt. But rugby is a seriously macho game. You can tell veteran rugby players from their scars and broken noses and missing ears. It is, after all, a sport in which jumping up and down on your opponents is legal. If you show any sign of weakness, you have to go out there and perform or risk getting laughed at. And so, some genius coach in Paris decided that the right thing to do was get their boys playing ruby wearing pink orchids.

Quick, someone tell Al Davis. I mean, it can’t possible make the Raiders any worse, can it?