WE watched the Six Nations denouement as a La Rochelle squad on Saturday night, together. One mid-sized room, but if the breadth of emotion therein was a microcosm of the rugby population at large, we have ourselves some ball game. Twenty nine tries were scored on the final day alone, and 111 across the tournament. It didn’t take a diviner to detect that Maro Itoje and England were at it in the Stade de France. I got that same vibe only a couple of months ago when an under-performing Harlequins came to the Stade Deflandre in wretched form.

Source: Irish Examiner March 16, 2026 14:43 UTC