Scotland improved. France still played in patches, but only in patches - but were still good enough.
The commentators are saying "England improved" but I'm not sure they did. England desperately spoiled, spoiled again, and again, and some would say they were lucky there were only 2 yellow cards. Wales were good enough to defend against the pressure that England did exert - in that sense they were better than last week, they did manage to exert some pressure - and England despite trying desperately to prevent Wales' attacks weren't actually good enough to do that throughout the game and so weren't able to stop them scoring. The fact that the game was as close as it was is basically due to Joe Worsley tackling his heart out all day long. But he can't be there to tackle every time, he wasn't there to tackle every time, and Wales scored on that basis.
On today's showing there's still a lot of red shirts going for Lions' shirts. Joe Worsley might get one. But Worsley is a player near the end of career. Good luck to him for extending it another cap, but he's not going to the next RWC. Who will replace him?
There are always hard games in a Grand Slam. England v Wales is always harder than it looks - the fact this is the first time Wales have beaten England three times on the trot for the first time is a good indication of that. But, Wales v France doesn't hold much in the way of terrors after today's performance. Wales v Italy shouldn't either... The question really, will be can England or Scotland lift enough to beat Ireland or will it be a GS decider at the end for both sides?
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