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Last Updated: Tuesday, 21 March 2006, 15:18 GMT
Six Nations fans' verdicts
The 2006 RBS Six Nations' drew to a close with France claiming the title and Ireland sealing a dramatic Triple Crown.

Here our supporters of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales tell us how the Six Nations were for them.

If you want to air your views, join the on-going debates on the Scrum V messageboards.



Sarah, England fan (18)

Venue: At home with friends for a Six Nations marathon.

Reaction: It was a very odd game, with the momentum constantly switching between teams, so well done to the Irish for grabbing it at the end. However, I think there were some dodgy decisions.

Highlight: Noon's try was the perfect start, another tireless performance from Moody and Andy Goode deserved to be on the winning team.

Overall verdict: Utterly deflated, I really hoped this championship would be the time where finally a decent England team emerged from the World Cup hangover, but if anything we seem to have moved backwards. There were some encouraging individual performances but overall the England squad showed nothing of their quality at club level. Maybe we need changes in management.

Liam, England fan (33)

Venue: Pilgrim Hall, Eastbourne.

Reaction: Fantastic commitment from the team, bravely running into thick green walls. Unfortunately, once again we lacked invention and penetration, looking devoid of ideas.

Highlight: Mathew Tait running free in Melbourne with agility, invention, speed and sheer shout-out-loud brilliance.

Overall verdict: England started with a bang against Wales, slowly fizzled out in Paris before finally spluttering out against Ireland. The Championship has been poor in ability but rich in entertainment with so many close games. England have moved backwards which is hard after last year's results and need a serious remedy which I doubt the present management can provide.



Sarah, Ireland fan (24)

Venue: The Woolshed, a Kiwi bar in Dublin city. The atmosphere was electric and by 1730 GMT we were warmed up and ready to go!

Reaction: What a match! It was a real see-saw game and thankfully we had the right combination of effort and fortune to see it out. Therer were huge performances from the whole team.

Highlight: Shaggy crossing that line in the 78th minute. The next two minutes felt like an hour!

Overall verdict: We improved with every game and capped it all off in the best possible way. It's a shame that our failure to score points throughout the tournament meant we missed out on the Championship title. However, at the outset I targeted another Triple Crown and the boys delivered.

Simon, Ireland fan (35)

Venue: A very packed and lively Tommy Flynn's in Chiswick with my Welsh mate Dave Roberts and my English chum Nick Kellet.

Reaction: Creative rugby union tactics and looking for space instead of the tackle beat a one-dimensional, second-hand rugby league game plan and not for the first time.

Highlight: The roar that lifted the roof when Shane Horgan's match-winning try was confirmed.

Overall verdict: The second half in Paris proved to be the turning point for us. Ireland and England are on opposite trajectories at the moment, as the latest world rankings show. Brian O'Driscoll, Paul O'Connell and Jerry Flannery all put in huge performances and many players silenced their critics.



Ruairi, Scotland fan (42)

Venue: At the Stadio Flaminio in Rome with my wife Jane and my two boys. This is a fantastic away fixture for many reasons.

Reaction: The Italian people were great hosts. I felt Scotland deserved to win the game but it was too close for comfort throughout.

Highlight: This is NOT an easy fixture so getting the win was great. The Scottish fans were great ambassadors.

Overall verdict: Our defence is sorted. Lets now get our plan of attack going. The line-out is still poorly organised with an almost casual approach. Other than that, many thanks to Frank Hadden for the vast improvement.

Adrian, Scotland fan (28)

Venue: Clubhouse of Wrexham Rugby club whilst on tour. Or 'North Wales Irish' as they should have been called during the England game.

Reaction: Relief. Scotland needed to win to make this Six Nations a success, anything else would have been a bitter disappointment.

Highlight: Paterson scoring a rare try, his nerve for the winning kick and another great show from Jason White.

Overall verdict: A very mixed bag for the Scots. From the highlight of outplaying England to struggling to beat Italy in the final game. At least Scotland have now put down a marker as to the level they can rightly expect to play to.



Barry, Wales fan (59)

Venue: The usual sport bar in downtown Victoria. Fans in red were subdued at first but the noise levels rose as the game progressed!

Reaction: At last! A match we could and should have won. An excellent 80-minute effort for the first time this season. The final score flattered the French.

Highlight: Mike Phillips finally having the game he is capable of! A good all-round performance from a committed team over both halves.

Overall verdict: A season that promised so much and ended so badly with seven dropped points! You can't honestly blame the players in the wake of Mike Ruddock's controversial departure. So much work to do for the future with a new coach!

Hywel, Wales fan (32)

Venue: I gave my ticket away again and watched the match at my local - the biggest cheer of the day was when the Irish won.

Reaction: Saturday's game was a massive improvement which at least leaves me with a slight smile on my face even though the tournament as a whole was a bit sub-standard.

Highlight: The 'Hair Bears' (Duncan and Adam Jones) have been superb all season and are my Welsh players of the tournament.

Overall verdict: A disaster in results terms but we had a dozen players missing and lost our coach halfway through, so shouldn't have expected anything else. We will be very difficult to beat with a full side out and have blooded a lot of new players - can only be good news for the World Cup.




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