mea culpa

There are always those who ask, what is it all about? For those who need to ask, for those who need points sharply made, who need to know "where it's at," this:

If England win at the Millennium Stadium, they will take the title and the Grand Slam

If the match is drawn, England will win the title but not the Grand Slam

If Wales win by eight points or more, they retain the Six Nations title

If Wales win by six points or less, England will win the title

If Wales win by seven points, they will retain the title because they have scored  more tries over the course of the tournament

However, if England score two more tries than Wales in Cardiff the title will be shared

If Wales win by seven and England somehow score three more tries than Wales, they will win the title.

I made it back in time to watch the second half of England versus Italy in the William Morris yesterday, but it suddenly struck me last night  that the Delphic utterances on the game's implications for the showdown in Cardiff next week to which I treated those assembled were misleading as I failed to take into account the (fairly obvious) fact that each point Wales score will decrease England's point difference by one as well as improving ours. There is a correction above.

The task is not as daunting as I feared; though I went up an mountain, I came down a hill.

Luckily I am fairly confident that no-one puts any faith in what comes out of my mouth. God knows what my ten year old self would have made of such an elementary lapse.