As Jonny Wilkinson said in his autobiography, within minutes of winning the World Cup in 2003, after a few moments of euphoria, before he even got of the pitch, he was already worrying about how he needed to improve for the next time. After all the songs of Saturday, both Andy Farrell and Steve Borthwick will already have their sights refocused on France. Whilst Ireland won whilst playing poorly by their benchmarks – a sign of a successful team – England under Borthwick took their first step forward with a never say die performance.
So a great 6 Nations for Ireland, a strong finish by France, an exciting if frustrating one for Scotland, and England starting to work out a new game plan. Can Wily Warren coax one big game out of Wales in the World Cup? We’ll just have to wait until September to find out.
Where’s Enoch?
The F6NF 2023 Champion is . . .
With all matches this weekend having positive spreads of 12 or 13, Dylan Jones stretched his lead ahead of Matt Williams jnr to 12 points, so taking the title in Gold Cup style.
“I felt good after Week 1” said Jones in an exclusive interview with the F6NF in the winners enclosure at the back of the Sandymount Hotel “I was lying 14th and the results fell for me, nudging up the field and managing to hold on at the end. Its a great relief, and I can’t believe I’m now F6NF Champion! I will wear my badge with pride. I do get a badge, don’t I?”
No badge Dylan, but he does win the jackpot prize of €1,000.
| 1 | Dylan Jones | 184 |
| 2 | Matthew Williams jnr | 172 |
| 3 | Padraig Carton | 167 |
| 4 | Natasha Gow | 163 |
| 5 | Robin Horne | 162 |
| 6 | Alan Coary | 156 |
| 7 | Ali Duffy | 151 |
| 8 | Darragh Fitzpatrick | 150 |
| 9 | Rose Reynolds | 147 |
| 10 | Eoin Dennehy | 145 |
“You can’t win them all” said a stoical Matt Williams from the Aviva after the match. “I needed bigger spreads all round. Anyway can’t stop, I’ve a match for Coolmine Under 10’s tomorrow”
Robin Horne managed 6th place after lodging his entry from the bush in South Africa. “Not bad, eh? Looking forward to seeing the Springboks in the 6 or 7 Nations soon. That will stir things up a bit – might even be able to get tickets”
Week 1 leader Eoin Dennehy was philosophical from his private box in the Aviva. “I kind of knew I’d gone out too quickly, dropped back badly in Week 4 and suddenly the gap was too much. The F6NF is such an unforgiving competition, you have to be on your best form every week to stand a chance. Next year, older and wiser”
Prize Winners
The Ethos Engineering Wooden Spoon Award once again caused a Stewards Enquiry, with Piyush Chaudhary, who scored an astonishing – 598 points, coming under investigation. “Alternating forecasts of 60 and -60 showed intent to come last” said the Stewards’ Committee. “However this was mitigated by the fact that Chaudhary forecast the correct winners of most matches. Because of this the sanction is to split the award with next worst, Sean Cribbin, because he definitely should have known better. He has a medal for feck’s sake”
So Chaudhary and Cribbin split the €200 prize money.
The Kevin Daly Award goes to Matt Williams Jnr, as an emerging talent. Matt Jnr wasn’t available for comment, but his Mother says the €200 will be safe with her, she’ll look after it until Cheltenham next year.
The Kirby Engineering Pack Leader Award is also split, between Peter McHale and John Webster, who both scored a near perfect 58 points at the weekend.
“At last I’ve come good” said McHale from his ranch in Connemara. “The F6NF is an obsession of mine, at last I can sleep easy with one award to my name. Makes you want more though – roll on next year!”
Team News
The winners of the inaugural Team Competition, who win €500, are The Mighty Rangers, who pipped The Nomads by 1 point.
| Team | Score |
| Mighty Rangers | 129 |
| The Nomads | 128 |
| Big Bad Barry | 120 |
| KTA | 117 |
| C’Mon the Jocks ! | 116 |
| Wrong Direction | 114 |
“Speaking on behalf of my brother, just send me the money, no need to mention it to him” said Brian Shalloe from his man cave deep in Bective RFC. “He’d only waste it on something foolish”
“And I was looking forward to spending that on a new rug for the hall when we eventually move back in” said Silke Ryan from their caravan on the hard shoulder of the M50. “Joe told me we’d be back in our own place by the end of the F6NF, but he just seems to keep adding bits of steel to it”
Big Bad Barry had threatened throughout but just fell behind at the last. “We’ll be better next year” said Scanlon from his crib in Atlanta. “We will be having a full and frank team discussion and look for marked improvements next time around. We’ll be back.”
C’Mon the Jocks also commented, but we couldn’t understand anything they said.
Thank You
Well that’s all folks, thank you all so much, whether as an entrant or a sponsor, for making this such a great competition and raising almost €25,000 for LauraLynn. Hope to see you all next year.
Au revoir, but not A Dieu.
