Wales, Ireland and their New Zealand footprint in the outcome of the Six Nations

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Ireland and Wales, two teams that added eight spoons of wood in the 1990s - the punishment for falling in all the games - of the then Five Nations, have turned the tables. The statistics are clear: they have taken five of the last seven twisted and seven of the last 11. Those emotional but unstructured sets are today precise machines with the genome of its architects from New Zealand. When Wales hosts Ireland on Saturday (15:45, #Vamos) it will be the last Six Nations game for their coach, Warren Gatland, who will be looking for his fourth title and his third Grand Slam, full of victories. Opposite, Joe Schmidt, who will also leave the post after the World Cup, pursues his fourth title in six years. Two Kiwis have changed the history of two teams competing again in the tournament. England, waiting, receives at 18:00 to Scotland, who has not won at Twickenham since 1983.

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Wales conceded 96 points against South Africa in 1998 and it was not casual: England endorsed them 60 and France, 51. Meanwhile, Ireland 'pursued' its third wooden spoon. Two New Zealand technicians disembarked then, laying the foundations. Graham Henry - winner of the 2011 World Cup with the All Blacks - soon saw his authority questioned in Wales and Warren Gatland landed first in Ireland, where he did not win the position despite leaving the third team in 2000 and second in 2001.

The process found restrictions but settled at the base of New Zealand rugby: many hours of work and meticulous preparation. They did not have the skill of the raw material in the oceanic country, encouraged from the earliest childhood, but they knew how to adapt to the available wicks to reduce the emotional aspect and apply consistency. Gatland took control of Wales in 2007 and starred in two historical exploits of the XV of the Dragon: snatch in 2013 to the English the tournament with a 30-3 in the final day and defeat them in their World Cup-indirectly eliminating them in the group stage- despite a huge list of injuries. His style, sometimes called defensive, was worth to succeed in the north but perish before the greats of the south. The time has been qualifying this limitation with a more versatile game and records a national record of consecutive victories -13- since it fell in February 2018. His methods and his games in press conferences have paid off in a country that saw weaken to their clubs in Europe and lost players heading to England or France.

Joe Schmidt took charge of an Ireland that came to fall in 2013 against Italy. Its impact was immediate and the XV of the Clover went from fifth place to take the 2014 tournament. The triumph of last year was the third in five years for a project with a tendency to address the All Blacks in the World Cup in Japan this fall. Faced with Gatland's most belligerent tone, Schmidt is a diplomat who learns from the past. When Ireland fell in the quarterfinals of the last World Cup, with losses in its key men, the challenge of expanding the squad to rise with the imponderables was set. Since then, the list of debutants is extensive.

Ireland maintains its lead as an axis to dominate the static game like nobody else. The defeat of the All Blacks in November - their first in Dublin - speaks for itself: leaving the world gendarme without rehearsing are major words. The English victory in the same place at the start of the Six Nations was a seismic blow, but the technician that many pointed to succeed Steve Hansen in New Zealand - he ensures a sabbatical - has recovered the bases and his pupils will defend the title until the end. Duel of giants in Cardiff.

Edited March 16, 2019 by -Dark ✖
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