SUPER SATURDAY REALLY became a thing back in 2015. What a glorious day Ireland had at Murrayfield that year.
Wales, Ireland, and England all started the final day as possible Six Nations winners and with bonus points yet to become part of the championship, it looked highly likely that it was going to come down to points difference.
The Welsh were first up as they hammered Italy in Rome and gave themselves a +53 points difference, which meant Ireland knew they needed to win by at least 20 points against Scotland in Edinburgh in the second game of the day.
Schmidt’s side delivered a brilliant performance as Paul O’Connell and Jared Payne scored tries, Sean O’Brien added a brace, Johnny Sexton kicked 18 points, and Ian Madigan added two.
And as crucially as anything, Jamie Heaslip produced a brilliant try-saving tackle to deny Stuart Hogg in the dying minutes. It would prove to be a gigantic moment.
Ireland’s superb 40-10 win left them top of the Six Nations with a points difference of +63, which meant that they would be champions as long as England didn’t beat France by more than 26 points.
Around 10,000 Irish fans stayed around at Murrayfield to watch events from London on the big screens. Pints flowed, hopes soared. Schmidt and his players suited up for the post-match dinner, but they weren’t focused on the food. All eyes were on Twickenham.
A wild game played out, with the hosts scoring five tries and the English scoring seven. Heading into the closing minutes, England led by only 20 points.
Peter O'Mahony and Simon Zebo. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Ireland had one hand on the Six Nations trophy. But then, with less than a minute left, Nigel Owens awarded England a scrum penalty. They kicked it into the left corner. A converted try would win them the Six Nations, stealing it from Ireland’s grasp.
England mauled, then they battered, but they erred. They went off their feet. Penalty France. With the clock already in the red, that was surely it. Ireland were the Six Nations champions… but wait… what is this horror?
Yoann Huget tapped the penalty in front of his own line and passed to Uini Atonio. Over at Murrayfield, the Irish fans and players screamed in dismay. The game was lost, France couldn’t salvage anything. Kick it off!
England were within inches of a turnover but France held on. Mathieu Bastareaud and Thierry Dusautoir were the Irish saviours who cleared out the ruck, and then Rory Kockott was the hero as he mercifully kicked the ball off the pitch.
The crew in Edinburgh exploded in delight. Ireland came back onto the pitch in their suits and sprayed champagne all over each other as that army of Irish fans watched on. U2′s Beautiful Day and The Dubliners’ Irish Rover soundtracked wild scenes that included Simon Zebo’s dancing. No one there will ever forget those magical moments.
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Making it all the more gleeful was the fact that many of those Irish fans probably remembered 2007 when Super Saturday wasn’t so super for Ireland.
France, England, and Eddie O’Sullivan’s Ireland were all in the mix on the final day. The English had a tough task playing away to Wales, but Ireland were big favourites away to Italy, and France were the same at home to Scotland.
So, points difference was going to be key. Ireland were on +38 coming into Super Saturday, while France were on +42. This was going to be seriously tight.
Ireland were first up in Rome and they were rolling beautifully on a gloriously sunny March day, with Denis Hickie and Girvan Dempsey grabbing two tries each as O’Sullivan’s men scored eight in total.
Denis Hickie is tackled by Roland de Marigny in 2007. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
They seemed to have done a fine job of leaving France and England under pressure but then right at the death in the 80th minute, they conceded a second try to the Italians. Italy fullback Roland de Marigny was the villain who dotted down.
The Irish groans rang out. Could that try prove to be the difference between winning and losing the Six Nations?
Over to the French in Paris and having conceded an early try to Scotland’s Nikki Walker, les Bleus got rolling after half an hour when the brilliant Imanol Harinordoquy crossed.
Watching on in Rome, it was agony for Ireland as France racked up try after try, the flow stopped only briefly by a second Scottish score. It seemed to have slipped away from Ireland.
But then, with four minutes left, the unlikely figure of Scotland tighthead prop Euan Murray crossed wide on the left. Suddenly, Ireland were back on top of the table. Irish supporters around the world held their breath. They prayed. They dreamed.
Remember that this was a time when Ireland had yet to win a Six Nations. Their last Five Nations title was in 1985.
So some Irish fans could barely watch as France engineered one final chance and found themselves battering the Scottish line with the last play of the game. They surged over and referee Craig Joubert was in position to check if sub back row Elvis Vermeulen had grounded the ball.
He thought it was good, but he wanted to check with his TMO. Incredibly, the TMO was an Irishman, Simon McDowell.
“I believe a try has been scored, unless you’ve got a good reason not to award it,” Joubert told McDowell.
A prolonged review took place. This was pure agony to watch. Ireland’s 22-year wait for a championship was on the line. France would win the Six Nations, pipping Ireland, if the score was awarded.
To Irish eyes, the replays suggested that Scotland’s Kelly Brown got his arm in under the ball to prevent Vermeulen from dotting down, but Joubert’s question to McDowell was key.
Olivier Milloud, Elvis Vermeulen, Pieter De Villiers and Pascal Pape celebrate in 2007. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
The replays couldn’t conclusively disprove Joubert’s belief that Vermeulen had scored.
And so, Irish hearts broke as the try was awarded and France won the title with a points difference of +69 to Ireland’s +65.
McDowell’s nine-year-old son rang him after the game to tell him he had made a mistake, but the Irish TMO was just doing his job. It wasn’t to be Ireland’s day.
Instead, with England losing to Wales in the final game of the championship, it was France’s day and France’s Six Nations.
It’s not expected that today’s Super Saturday will be as dramatic as in 2007 and 2015 but then, this Six Nations has defied expectations nearly every single weekend.
First things first for Ireland and Scotland is trying to win the Triple Crown. The winner of that game will go to the top of the Six Nations table. France will know exactly what they need to do when they kick off against England this evening in Paris.
Who knows what lies ahead? Buckle up. This could be fun.
__________
Ireland vs. Scotland 2.10pm, Virgin Media One
IRELAND: Jamie Osborne; Robert Baloucoune, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, Tommy O’Brien; Jack Crowley, Jamison Gibson-Park; Tom O’Toole, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (captain).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Michael Milne, Finlay Bealham, Darragh Murray, Nick Timoney, Craig Casey, Ciarán Frawley, Bundee Aki.
SCOTLAND: Blair Kinghorn; Darcy Graham, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu (captain), Kyle Steyn; Finn Russell, Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson; Max Williamson, Grant Gilchrist; Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey.
Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, D’Arcy Rae, Alex Craig, Magnus Bradbury, George Horne, Kyle Rowe, Tom Jordan.
Referee: Luke Pearce [RFU].
_________
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Wales vs. Italy 4.40pm, RTÉ 2
WALES: Louis Rees-Zammit; Ellis Mee, Eddie James, Joe Hawkins, Josh Adams; Dan Edwards, Tomos Williams; Rhys Carré, Dewi Lake (captain), Tomas Francis; Dafydd Jenkins, Ben Carter; Alex Mann, James Botham, Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Nicky Smith, Archie Griffin, Adam Beard, Olly Cracknell, Kieran Hardy, Jarrod Evans, Blair Murray.
ITALY: Lorenzo Pani, Louis Lynagh, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Alessandro Fusco; Danilo Fischetti, Giacomo Nicotera, Muhamed Hasa; Niccolò Cannone, Federico Ruzza; Michele Lamaro (captain), Manuel Zuliani, Lorenzo Cannone.
Replacements: Tommaso di Bartolomeo, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosuè Zilocchi, Riccardo Favretto, David Odiase, Stephen Varney, Leonardo Marin, Tommaso Allan.
Referee: Christophe Ridley [RFU].
__________
France vs. England 8.10pm Irish time, RTÉ 2
FRANCE: Thomas Ramos; Theo Attissogbe, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Yoram Moefana, Louis Bielle-Biarrey; Matthieu Jalibert, Antoine Dupont (captain); Jean-Baptiste Gros, Julien Marchand, Dorian Aldegheri; Thibaud Flament, Emmanuel Meafou; François Cros, Temo Matiu, Charles Ollivon.
ENGLAND: Elliot Daly; Tom Roebuck, Tommy Freeman, Seb Atkinson, Cadan Murley; Fin Smith, Ben Spencer; Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Joe Heyes; Maro Itoje (captain), Alex Coles; Ollie Chessum, Guy Pepper, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Bevan Rodd, Trevor Davison, Chandler Cunningham-South, Sam Underhill, Henry Pollock, Jack van Poortvliet, Marcus Smith
Referee: Nika Amashukeli [GRU].
- This article was updated at 7.54am to correct an error stating that England played France at Stade de France in Paris in 2015. The game was played at Twickenham in London.
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Ireland have glorious and agonising memories of Super Saturday
SUPER SATURDAY REALLY became a thing back in 2015. What a glorious day Ireland had at Murrayfield that year.
Wales, Ireland, and England all started the final day as possible Six Nations winners and with bonus points yet to become part of the championship, it looked highly likely that it was going to come down to points difference.
The Welsh were first up as they hammered Italy in Rome and gave themselves a +53 points difference, which meant Ireland knew they needed to win by at least 20 points against Scotland in Edinburgh in the second game of the day.
Schmidt’s side delivered a brilliant performance as Paul O’Connell and Jared Payne scored tries, Sean O’Brien added a brace, Johnny Sexton kicked 18 points, and Ian Madigan added two.
And as crucially as anything, Jamie Heaslip produced a brilliant try-saving tackle to deny Stuart Hogg in the dying minutes. It would prove to be a gigantic moment.
Ireland’s superb 40-10 win left them top of the Six Nations with a points difference of +63, which meant that they would be champions as long as England didn’t beat France by more than 26 points.
Around 10,000 Irish fans stayed around at Murrayfield to watch events from London on the big screens. Pints flowed, hopes soared. Schmidt and his players suited up for the post-match dinner, but they weren’t focused on the food. All eyes were on Twickenham.
A wild game played out, with the hosts scoring five tries and the English scoring seven. Heading into the closing minutes, England led by only 20 points.
Ireland had one hand on the Six Nations trophy. But then, with less than a minute left, Nigel Owens awarded England a scrum penalty. They kicked it into the left corner. A converted try would win them the Six Nations, stealing it from Ireland’s grasp.
England mauled, then they battered, but they erred. They went off their feet. Penalty France. With the clock already in the red, that was surely it. Ireland were the Six Nations champions… but wait… what is this horror?
Yoann Huget tapped the penalty in front of his own line and passed to Uini Atonio. Over at Murrayfield, the Irish fans and players screamed in dismay. The game was lost, France couldn’t salvage anything. Kick it off!
England were within inches of a turnover but France held on. Mathieu Bastareaud and Thierry Dusautoir were the Irish saviours who cleared out the ruck, and then Rory Kockott was the hero as he mercifully kicked the ball off the pitch.
The crew in Edinburgh exploded in delight. Ireland came back onto the pitch in their suits and sprayed champagne all over each other as that army of Irish fans watched on. U2′s Beautiful Day and The Dubliners’ Irish Rover soundtracked wild scenes that included Simon Zebo’s dancing. No one there will ever forget those magical moments.
Making it all the more gleeful was the fact that many of those Irish fans probably remembered 2007 when Super Saturday wasn’t so super for Ireland.
France, England, and Eddie O’Sullivan’s Ireland were all in the mix on the final day. The English had a tough task playing away to Wales, but Ireland were big favourites away to Italy, and France were the same at home to Scotland.
So, points difference was going to be key. Ireland were on +38 coming into Super Saturday, while France were on +42. This was going to be seriously tight.
Ireland were first up in Rome and they were rolling beautifully on a gloriously sunny March day, with Denis Hickie and Girvan Dempsey grabbing two tries each as O’Sullivan’s men scored eight in total.
They seemed to have done a fine job of leaving France and England under pressure but then right at the death in the 80th minute, they conceded a second try to the Italians. Italy fullback Roland de Marigny was the villain who dotted down.
The Irish groans rang out. Could that try prove to be the difference between winning and losing the Six Nations?
Over to the French in Paris and having conceded an early try to Scotland’s Nikki Walker, les Bleus got rolling after half an hour when the brilliant Imanol Harinordoquy crossed.
Watching on in Rome, it was agony for Ireland as France racked up try after try, the flow stopped only briefly by a second Scottish score. It seemed to have slipped away from Ireland.
But then, with four minutes left, the unlikely figure of Scotland tighthead prop Euan Murray crossed wide on the left. Suddenly, Ireland were back on top of the table. Irish supporters around the world held their breath. They prayed. They dreamed.
Remember that this was a time when Ireland had yet to win a Six Nations. Their last Five Nations title was in 1985.
So some Irish fans could barely watch as France engineered one final chance and found themselves battering the Scottish line with the last play of the game. They surged over and referee Craig Joubert was in position to check if sub back row Elvis Vermeulen had grounded the ball.
He thought it was good, but he wanted to check with his TMO. Incredibly, the TMO was an Irishman, Simon McDowell.
“I believe a try has been scored, unless you’ve got a good reason not to award it,” Joubert told McDowell.
A prolonged review took place. This was pure agony to watch. Ireland’s 22-year wait for a championship was on the line. France would win the Six Nations, pipping Ireland, if the score was awarded.
To Irish eyes, the replays suggested that Scotland’s Kelly Brown got his arm in under the ball to prevent Vermeulen from dotting down, but Joubert’s question to McDowell was key.
The replays couldn’t conclusively disprove Joubert’s belief that Vermeulen had scored.
And so, Irish hearts broke as the try was awarded and France won the title with a points difference of +69 to Ireland’s +65.
McDowell’s nine-year-old son rang him after the game to tell him he had made a mistake, but the Irish TMO was just doing his job. It wasn’t to be Ireland’s day.
Instead, with England losing to Wales in the final game of the championship, it was France’s day and France’s Six Nations.
It’s not expected that today’s Super Saturday will be as dramatic as in 2007 and 2015 but then, this Six Nations has defied expectations nearly every single weekend.
First things first for Ireland and Scotland is trying to win the Triple Crown. The winner of that game will go to the top of the Six Nations table. France will know exactly what they need to do when they kick off against England this evening in Paris.
Who knows what lies ahead? Buckle up. This could be fun.
__________
Ireland vs. Scotland
2.10pm, Virgin Media One
IRELAND: Jamie Osborne; Robert Baloucoune, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, Tommy O’Brien; Jack Crowley, Jamison Gibson-Park; Tom O’Toole, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (captain).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Michael Milne, Finlay Bealham, Darragh Murray, Nick Timoney, Craig Casey, Ciarán Frawley, Bundee Aki.
SCOTLAND: Blair Kinghorn; Darcy Graham, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu (captain), Kyle Steyn; Finn Russell, Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson; Max Williamson, Grant Gilchrist; Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey.
Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, D’Arcy Rae, Alex Craig, Magnus Bradbury, George Horne, Kyle Rowe, Tom Jordan.
Referee: Luke Pearce [RFU].
_________
Wales vs. Italy
4.40pm, RTÉ 2
WALES: Louis Rees-Zammit; Ellis Mee, Eddie James, Joe Hawkins, Josh Adams; Dan Edwards, Tomos Williams; Rhys Carré, Dewi Lake (captain), Tomas Francis; Dafydd Jenkins, Ben Carter; Alex Mann, James Botham, Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Nicky Smith, Archie Griffin, Adam Beard, Olly Cracknell, Kieran Hardy, Jarrod Evans, Blair Murray.
ITALY: Lorenzo Pani, Louis Lynagh, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Alessandro Fusco; Danilo Fischetti, Giacomo Nicotera, Muhamed Hasa; Niccolò Cannone, Federico Ruzza; Michele Lamaro (captain), Manuel Zuliani, Lorenzo Cannone.
Replacements: Tommaso di Bartolomeo, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosuè Zilocchi, Riccardo Favretto, David Odiase, Stephen Varney, Leonardo Marin, Tommaso Allan.
Referee: Christophe Ridley [RFU].
__________
France vs. England
8.10pm Irish time, RTÉ 2
FRANCE: Thomas Ramos; Theo Attissogbe, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Yoram Moefana, Louis Bielle-Biarrey; Matthieu Jalibert, Antoine Dupont (captain); Jean-Baptiste Gros, Julien Marchand, Dorian Aldegheri; Thibaud Flament, Emmanuel Meafou; François Cros, Temo Matiu, Charles Ollivon.
Replacements: Peato Mauvaka, Rodrigue Neti, Demba Bamba, Hugo Auradou, Mickaël Guillard, Joshua Brennan, Baptiste Serin, Émilien Gailleton.
ENGLAND: Elliot Daly; Tom Roebuck, Tommy Freeman, Seb Atkinson, Cadan Murley; Fin Smith, Ben Spencer; Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Joe Heyes; Maro Itoje (captain), Alex Coles; Ollie Chessum, Guy Pepper, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Bevan Rodd, Trevor Davison, Chandler Cunningham-South, Sam Underhill, Henry Pollock, Jack van Poortvliet, Marcus Smith
Referee: Nika Amashukeli [GRU].
- This article was updated at 7.54am to correct an error stating that England played France at Stade de France in Paris in 2015. The game was played at Twickenham in London.
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