6N18: Week 1

What a weekend! Not for you necessarily but for me I mean. I was in Anglesey, did a bit of walking with the Groupie and rather more eating and drinking. And in between times (thanks to the boon that is catch-up television) I watched all three of the rugby internationals and rounded things off with the Superbowl.

The eating and drinking first - walked around the bay from the family estate to Red Wharf Bay - bracingly cold, inspiring high tide, and just a bit of rain. Bosting. Ship Inn: pint of Timothy Taylor's Landlord to whet the appetite, then a very good seafood chowder, banoffee waffle, washed down with sauvignon blanc. Bosting but definitely slowed me down on the walk back - a bit more rain but not so much that you would complain.

some second-string

Next, the rugby. A stolid affair in Paris, where Ireland were markedly better than France but almost conspired to lose. This Irish side is potentially very good and after years of scepticism I'm beginning to see why they make such a fuss of Johnny Sexton. My favourites for the title, but only just. Wales v Scotland was oddly funny because it made complete charlies out of the alleged experts. This was to be the new dawn for Scotland, and Wales would be hobbled by injuries. As it was, the bad old Scotland turned up and got duffed up by a very impressive Wales team. Rhys Patchell is a player I have long liked and I think the injury to the always impressive Biggar may have done Wales a favour. International rugby is a hard school. It could all have been even worse for the Scots, what with Wales knocking on two scoring passes due to over-enthusiasm. As for the supposed lack of strength in depth in Welsh resources, I would say only this - anyone would miss Faletau but Moriarty is some second-string and if you can afford to leave Tipuric on the bench then things can't be all bad.

some third-string

On Sunday England won tidily enough in Rome but, as ever, there were errors and omissions. Mind you if Richard Moriarty is an impressive second-string, then Sam Simmonds is just as mighty a third-string at number eight. It all makes for a resounding clash between England and Wales next Saturday. Before that we will no doubt have to endure the childish mind-games of the two coaches. Paddy Power have the spread at eleven in England's favour - that strikes me as ridiculously optimistic and worth a punt on Wales. But what do I know?

Two very good things to come out of this first weekend: nobody won the Ronan O'Gara Gobshite Award and there were free-kicks awarded for not straight in the scrum. Good grief, they'll stop allowing New Zealand to get away with forward passes if things continue like this. We can hope.

Finally the Superbowl. I dutifully sat myself down in the company of several beers and a surfeit of hot dogs with no great expectation of a great match. Wrong again. A high scoring and dramatic clash. Some weekend.