Sevens and positive thinking

Welcome to Loose Pass - our weekly assortment of disjointed thoughts. This week we will be mostly concerning ourselves with Sevens and positive thinking...

So it's all over bar the shouting, but what has the Six Nations taught us?

Well, not a great deal.

As usual, Italy showed that they have fire in their bellies and heart all over their sleeves, but they are still some way off from being genuinely competitive.

And there is still no sign of that shallow pool of talent growing any deeper.

Scotland were perhaps the revelation of the tournament. It had seemed that yet another promising new dawn would turn into another sad tale of bad luck and missed opportunity, but then came that day in Dublin. They have their loose forwards to thank for what now looks like a nailed-on renaissance, and Dan Park has the same trio to thank for his personal rebirth.

Wales are still rugby's answer to football's Brazil, able to create moments of sublime brilliance but equally adept at simply wandering around the pitch admiring each other's hairdos. And they are still yet to discover a better stiffener than half-time oranges. Off-field shenanigans are also still high on the agenda. Booze, too.

England's aversion to new blood continues, and they still appear to be 'rebuilding'. Twickenham might not be awash with silverware, but Rob Andrew and company are now in a position to eclipse the contractors dawdling around Ground Zero. Well done.

Ireland were their usual, solid selves. They will be disappointed by their losses to France and Scotland but rumours of their imminent decline are greatly exaggerated. Scaling the heights of 2009 was never going to be easy: only five sides have managed to secure back-to-back Grand Slams.

France have come on leaps and bounds. In the manner of a top viticulturist, Marc Lièvremont has harvested the grapes of no less the 80 vines to blend a wine that even the most hard-to-please French fan appears to find palatable enough. It's none too flashy but pretty potent - and it looks like it could age well. But the award-winning tipple appears to lose its edge when served as an accompaniment to stodgy English fare. Yep, plus ça change and all that!

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For the try-starved citizens of the northern hemisphere, the Hong Kong Sevens took on the appearance of a free bar in the desert.

There's a tendency to look down at Sevens as if it were the silly, kid brother of the unabridged version of the game.

Sure, it lacks the technical nuances of XVs, but the snobbery is not only misplaced but also damaging to the game as a whole.

Sevens nurtures instinct. It's all about keeping the ball alive and creating space. It depends on dogged support-running and good handling. These are - or should be - the building blocks of the game.

The likes of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia get it. Their sides in Hong Kong were peppered with young understudies from across the Super 14 franchises.

The European sides give Sevens much shorter shrift, which seems a great pity given the lack of ball-in-hand confidence on display during the Six Nations.

It's perhaps unfair to name names, but it is unlikely that England's Chris Ashton would have butchered his gilt-edged, four-on-one chance in Paris had his education included a stint on the Sevens circuit.

With the carrot of Olympic gold now hanging over the abbreviated game, perhaps attitudes will change and the north will begin to see the Sevens circuit in the right light: it is a nursery for winning 15-man rugby rather than just an amusing distraction.

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Thanks to those of you who took the time to share your thoughts on the scrum's descent from keystone of the game to jelly-moulded joke.

There we were, suggesting all manner of complicated solutions, from rolling replacements to video tribunals.

And then you hit us with it: looser jerseys. Genius. I guess we couldn't see the wood for the collapsed bodies.

Rest assured that we will be passing the splendid recommendation to the powers that be.

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Positive thinking is all the rage at Twickenham at the moment.

First we had Martin Johnson on progress by dint of losing by narrower margins, then came Steve Borthwick with his sunny prognostic after his side stumbled to a narrow win over Italy.

Now the RFU's media team is at it.

"Rob Andrew is looking forward to taking an extended squad Down Under as the countdown to Rugby World Cup 2011 begins," runs the blurb attached to their latest missive.

Quite how he could be looking forward to the tour is beyond us, and quite how he believes he will still be on the RFU's payroll come June deifies the basic tenets of rational thought.

Positive thinking, indeed. Whatever it is that these guys are on, Loose Pass wants some.

Compiled by Andy Jackson