The tournament resumes on Friday with Wales taking on France, but The Mirror rugby correspondent believes the wait for sparks to fly may go on
So will this be the weekend the 2016 RBS Six Nations Championship finally comes to life?
Two rounds down and we’re struggling to stretch the highlights reel to a couple of minutes.
There have been six games played and 20 tries scored but precious little to set the pulse racing.
Nothing of note in either of France’s two games, except perhaps for Sergio Parisse trying to win the championship opener for Italy with a last-gasp drop goal in Paris.
Like much of the campaign to date, his attempt was a dog’s dinner, skewing hopelessly wide.
An instantly forgettable Calcutta Cup clash, followed by Ireland and Wales knocking lumps out of each other all for the sake of a draw, completed a ho-hum opening weekend.
It didn’t get much better the following week.
France and Ireland served up a stinker, infamous only for the cheap shot put on Johnny Sexton by Yoann Maestri.
In Rome, England toiled for the best part of an hour before getting the upper hand against Italy only after their cavalry from the bench rode to the rescue.
But for the 50-point ding-dong served up by Wales and Scotland – featuring splendid tries by Gareth Davies, George North and Duncan Taylor – we would not be in any great hurry to tune in this weekend.
Of course, with the Six Nations hope springs eternal.
The history of England against Ireland, the desperate need for victory of both Italy and Scotland and the theatre of a Friday night clash between Wales and France under the roof in Cardiff will all command our attention in some shape and form.
Part of the reason is the loyalty we feel to a championship which has delivered time and again down the years.
We simply can’t imagine the Six Nations spectacle not upping its game.
But talk to Wales coach Warren Gatland, whose side are still the favourites of many to lift the title, and he will concede that there is no guarantee.
“Teams these days defensively are so organised there is just no space on the field,” he says.
“There is no side that’s easy in the Six Nations.
“You come up against people who are as conditioned and as fit as you are, then you have got an ability to shut teams down. That is what has happened to the game.
“We are all trying to be innovative and hopefully trying to create space, but the more you try and be creative on attack, the better teams become defensively as well.
“At this level, not many players make mistakes anymore and not many players miss tackles.”
Gatland says those who decry this as the worst ever Six Nations are entitled to their opinion, but they should take into account that the weather has not been conducive to running rugby.
“We all spoke about how good the World Cup was, but the World Cup was played in a lot warmer weather conditions and there was an opportunity for players to be much more expansive.”
The table shows England and France leading the way on maximum points, but with Wales also unbeaten and in confident mood after four successive wins over their visitors on Friday.
The Welsh back row will feed on the mistakes likely to come from a French team playing without any discernible structure or game-plan.
We can expect a home win in Cardiff to go with victories for England and Scotland.
At the very least let’s hope there’s something to get excited about.
READ: Shuffling personnel and rugby in its purest form: 5 lessons from the Six Nations so far
