England 13 Scotland 19

Stand-off Duncan Hodge shattered England's Grand Slam dreams as Scotland beat the inaugural Six Nations champions 19-13 at Murrayfield to lift the Calcutta Cup with their first win of the 2000 season.

Hodge scored a converted second-half try and four penalties to snatch victory from Clive Woodward's men, who had already secured the Championship after their closest challengers Ireland had lost to Wales.

England led 10-9 at the interval with number eight Lawrence Dallaglio scoring a try coverted by Jonny Wilkinson after 23 minutes but the visitors struggled to break out of their own half in the second period in which they only added three points through a Wilkinson penalty, his second of the match.

Defeat was a bitter blow for England who were denied the Grand Slam by Wales last season and who fell to Scotland at the final hurdle in 1990 when a late Tony Stanger try denied the overwhelming favourites.  "It was a day for strong men and my players showed who they were," coach Ian McGeechan, who had also been in charge of the 1990 team, said.

"They had to play out of their skins and they did.  They didn't let England settle and the English didn't let them to," he added.

Skipper Andy Nicol was overwhelmed by the spirit of the team which battled through against the odds to secure their first Championship win this campaign:  "It's unbelievable, really.  The effort everyone put in there was huge.  A lot of hard work has gone in this season -- and to win this after 10 years was a bit special.

After the game, England coach Clive Woodward said:  "It feels exactly like 1999 (when Wales beat England to end their Grand Slam hopes) -- I cannot say anymore than that."

The ferocity of Scotland clearly upset England from the start with Welsh referee Clayton Thomas desperately trying to control a contest which threatened to boil over at times.  Although the home side's tackling was fierce skipper Nicol's ditribution was poor and kept England on the offensive.

Wilkinson failed with a 14th minute penalty chance after Scotland had gone over the top at a ruck, and within a minute Duncan Hodge had missed too, after Austin Healey was penalised for not releasing.

Scott Murray, Lawrence Dallaglio and Steve Brotherstone were all talked to after two more scraps broke out close to the England line and, after another Thomas lecture, Hodge stepped up to put the home side in front with a 20 metre penalty.

Nicol did well to smother a Catt chip which rolled into the post, but it came at the cost of a five-metre scrum as he was bundled over his own line.  Dallaglio then broke from the scrum, sprinted round the blind side, shrugging off Nicol and outpacing the covering Scottish loose forwards.  Wilkinson landed the conversion.

Scotland's resistance was beginning to weaken, and James McLaren's high tackle on Mike Tindall not only cost another three points from Wilkinson, but also the home side the services of their inside centre for 10 minutes as he visited the sin bin.

More indiscipline from Murray prevented the home side from exerting some welcome attacking pressure on England after Glenn Metcalfe had dragged Matt Perry into touch inside the visitors' half.  But for all their errors, Scotland had succeeded in unsettling their opponents back-row and consequently their fluid style of play.

Hodge reduced the gap with his second penalty five minutes before the interval to give McLaren a welcome return after his brief interlude.  But then Scottish full-back Chris Paterson fumbled a Wilkinson kick within a metre of his own line to set up another barrage of England attacks.

However, despite at least five close-range drives, the home defence held firm, won a penalty then broke swiftly downfield where Paterson was hauled into touch by Healey.

Aother England infringement saw Hodge pull the gap back to a single point with the last kick of the half.  Conditions worsened during the interval, rain sweeping across the stadium, and there was no reprieve for England as Scotland established a territorial foothold.

A slippery ball and greasy surface made things hazardous for both teams, contributing towards narrowing the perceived gap in class, but as the clock ticked on, so England grew increasingly anxious.

Woodward replaced left wing Ben Cohen with exciting Bath youngster Iain Balshaw approaching the hour mark.  Before he could make a contribution though, Scotland regained a lead they'd lost almost 40 minutes earlier.  Hill was punished for killing the ball, and Hodge stepped up to put his side 12-10 in front as the horror vision of Wembley last April began featuring in every English mind.

Six minutes from time, Scotland again laid siege to England's try-line, and flanker Jason White magnificently got his hands on possession, giving Hodge a simple task of touching down.

Hodge then converted to give England a mountain to climb.  Although Wilkinson gave them hope when he slotted a short-range 78th-minute penalty, Scotland held on for a famous victory.

The Teams:

England:  1 Jason Leonard, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Phil Vickery, 4 Garath Archer, 5 Simon Shaw, 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson (c), 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Austin Healey, 12 Mike Catt, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Matt Perry
Reserves:  Martin Corry, Joe Worsley, Iain Balshaw
Unused:  Neil McCarthy, Andy Gomarsall, Alex King, Trevor Woodman

Scotland:  1 Tom Smith, 2 Steve Brotherstone, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Richard Metcalfe, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Jason White, 8 Martin Leslie, 9 Andy Nicol (c), 10 Duncan Hodge, 11 Glenn Metcalfe, 12 James McLaren, 13 Gregor Townsend, 14 Craig Moir, 15 Chris Paterson
Reserves:  Gordon McIlwham, Stuart Reid
Unused:  Gavin Scott, Alan Bulloch, Stuart Grimes, Bryan Redpath, Graham Shiel

Referee:  Thomas c.

Points Scorers:

England
Tries:  Dallaglio L.B.N. 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 1
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 2

Scotland
Tries:  Hodge D.W. 1
Conv:  Hodge D.W. 1
Pen K.:  Hodge D.W. 4

France 42 Italy 31

An unconvincing France ended their five match home losing streak here on Saturday at the Stade de France beating a game and gutsy Italian side, who had their oldest player 35-year-old Valter Cristofoletto sent-off, 42-31 in their final Six Nations match.

The French, who only went into the break 20-17 ahead thanks to a dubious try by Thomas Castaignede which appeared to be touched down over the deadball line, outscored their visitors by five tries to four while the Italians retiring fly-half Diego Dominguez kicked 11 points and did a lap of honour to celebrate his farwell international.

Cristofoletto, who had already been sinbinned in the first-half, was given his marching orders in the 62nd minute by Argentine referee Pablo Deluca after he stamped on legendary Moroccan-born backrower Abdelatif Benazzi and left in shame to catcalls from the hostile home crowd.

Benazzi, who had been dropped to the bench because coach Bernard Laporte claimed he was anonymous against the Irish a fortnight ago, paid the Italians back bigtime with a try a minute later taking scrum-half Aubin Hueber's reverse pass and touching down -- Dourthe failing for the first time to convert.

With the Italians tiring and outnumbered Alain Penaud, who had a mainly unconvincing afternoon on his first start since 1997, ran in his second try of the afternoon and with Dourthe converting took the score to 42-17.

The Italians, though, showed tremendous spirit and scored their third try when Nicola Mazzucato burst through the French defence and touched down under the posts -- which Dominguez converted for 42-24.

Italian captain Alessandro Troncon the added a final try after some dreadful French errors and Dominguez added the conversion to bring down the curtain on his great career.

French captain Fabien Pelous, a member of the Grand Slam sides of 1997 and 1998, gave the French vital early momentum in the second-half touching down and with Dourthe landing an exceelent conversion from out on the right touchline they grabbed a 10-point lead 27-17.

The faultless Dourthe added a penalty to extend their lead further.

Dominguez missed with a kickable drop-goal three minutes into the match and from France's counter-attack Thomas Castaignede, restored to fullback, looked certain to score a try but slipped and knocked the ball forward.

The French went ahead on 10 minutes when Dourthe, who also had been recalled after recovering from a fractured cheekbone, slotted over a penalty in front of the posts.

Dominguez, who made his debut against France back in 1991, went close to scoring a try for Italy as after sustained pressure from the visitors he was tackled short of the line and knocked the ball on as he was twisting to touch it down.

However, the diminutive Argentinian-born fly-half was not to be denied and levelled the match with a drop-goal just after the quarter-hour mark.

The Italians impressive early pressure paid-off with a deserved try five minutes later as centre Luca Martin picked up the loose ball and ran it in under the posts, Castaignede failing to bring him down, and Dominguez converted to give them the lead while the French crowd never the most faithful bunch of supporters whistled and jeered their side.

The Italians almost grabbed another try a minute later after the French had kicked straight into touch from the kick-off for the second time but Dominguez's clever chip over the top was booted over the deadball line by Castaignede with Nicolas Mazzucatto bearing down on him.

Dominguez' French counterpart Penaud, by contrast, had had a very shaky start to the match but broke through scrum-half Alessandro Troncon's tackle 25 metres out and ran the ball in despite Matt Pini's despairing effort to tackle him -- Dourthe converted to level the match.

Within minutes, however, Troncon had made up for the error by selling a dummy to the French defence and took the ball in from three metres out, after some great play by Bergamasco, and while Dominguez was converting, to take the score to 17-10, French captain Fabien Pelous was reading the riot act to his bedraggled looking team.

The French reduced the gap when Dourthe converted a penalty after a foul by Cristofoletto, who was sinbinned for his troubles -- in an all action period of play former Wallaby fullback Pini produced a try saving tackle on French winger Daniel Bory but then Castaignede "scored" his try, Dourthe converting, to douse the Italians hopes.

The Teams:

France:  1 Christian Califano, 2 Marc Dal Maso, 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Fabien Pelous (c), 6 Lionel Mallier, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Thomas Lievremont, 9 Aubin Hueber, 10 Alain Penaud, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Emile Ntamack, 14 David Bory, 15 Thomas Castaignede
Reserves:  Abdelatif Benazzi, Pieter De Villiers, Cedric Heymans, Raphael Ibanez, Hugues Miorin, David Venditti
Unused:  Christophe Laussucq

Italy:  1 Andrea Lo Cicero, 2 Alessandro Moscardi, 3 Tino Paoletti, 4 Carlo Checchinato, 5 Andrea Gritti, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Walter Cristofoletto, 8 Andrea De Rossi, 9 Alessandro Troncon (c), 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Nicola Mazzucato, 12 Luca Martin, 13 Nicolas Zisti, 14 Cristian Stoica, 15 Matt Pini
Reserves:  Denis Dallan, Wim Visser, Carlo Orlandi, Salvatore Perugini
Unused:  Matteo Mazzantini, Aaron Persico, Andrea Scanavacca

Attendance:  77000
Referee:  Deluca p.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Benazzi A. 1, Castaignede T. 1, Penaud A. 2, Pelous F. 1
Conv:  Dourthe R. 4
Pen K.:  Dourthe R. 3

Italy
Tries:  Martin L. 1, Mazzucato N. 1, Troncon A. 2
Conv:  Dominguez D. 4
Drop G.:  Dominguez D. 1

Wales 23 Ireland 19

Wales beat Ireland 23-19 in their Six Nations Championship clash at Lansdowne Road with substitute and world record points scorer Neil Jenkins scoring two late penalties to snatch victory.

Victory for the Welsh handed England the Six Nations championship crown.

England can secure the Grand Slam in the inaugural Six Nations Championship should they beat Scotland in the Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Wales ran in two tries through Nathan Budgett and Stephen Jones, who also added two conversions and a penalty, before withstanding a late Irish onslaught.  Winger Shane Horgan scored Ireland's only try with fly-half Ronan O'Gara successful with four penalties and a conversion.

Ireland had been looking to celebrate four successive championship victories for the first time since their Grand Slam winning team of 1948.

Scott Gibbs made his international comeback for Wales in the Six Nations finale.

The British Lions centre, who has not played for Wales since last November's Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat by Australia, came in as a late replacement for club-mate Mark Taylor.

Taylor failed to recover from the leg injury he sustained playing for Swansea last weekend.

Wales, whose coach Graham Henry denied he was playing mind games with the Irish over Gibbs' possible inclusion, had delayed announcing their final team until just before the kick-off.

The Welsh had won six times on their previous eight visits to Dublin but they were up against a buoyant Irish who had triumphed in their three previous games.

Wales also included Colin Charvis, despite the Walsall-born flanker becoming embroiled in the eligibility row that cost them the services of New Zealand's Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson.

The Irish started brightly playing with a strong wind behind them and were awarded a penalty after four minutes when Welsh loosehead Peter Rogers dropped the scrum.  Fly-half O'Gara was on target from the 22 line just left of the posts to give Ireland a 3-0 lead.  Obstruction by the Welsh forwards in the lineout six minutes later gave O'Gara the opportunity to kick a further three points with the visitors struggling to make ground.

But the 23-year old fly-half failed after 12 minutes with his third attempt.

Welsh fly-half Stephen Jones had the opportunity to reduce the deficit moments later but kicking into a howling wind his strike failed to hit the target.

Wales were beginning to grow in confidence despite early home pressure and against the run of play raced in front after 19 minutes.

Neath winger Shane Williams was finally able to show the speed that has made him the team's find of the season.

Williams outpaced Horgan as he chased a hopeful chip ahead into Irish territory, forcing his opposite number to concede a penalty after impeding him close to the line.

Wales went for the line-out, from which Andrew Moore caught the ball and found flanker Nathan Budgett who was bundled over by his team-mates for the try.

It was the Ebbw Vale player's maiden score in his only second appearance in a Welsh shirt.  Jones converted to give his side a 7-6 advantage.

The score settled the Welsh and they attacked the Irish with real purpose.

The visiting pack started to dominate and provided the backs with plenty of ball.  And Wales capitalised on another act of Irish indiscipline when Jones struck a penalty before the interval.

Ireland were caught napping after 46 minutes when Jones receives a pass from Gareth Thomas to streak in under the posts as Wales threatened to run riot.  Jones converted to make it 17-6.  But O'Gara cut Ireland's lead to eight points after 49 minutes with another penalty as Ireland clawed their way back.

And Horgan brought the home crowd to life eight minutes later crashing over to put Ireland right back into the hunt.  O'Gara was on target with the kick to reduce Wales lead to a point.

Ireland then sensationally took the lead with a quarter of an hour to go when O'Gara struck his fourth penalty after the Welsh were caught offside.

But Wales rallied in the closing stages and Jenkins, a second half replacement for Stephen Jones, hit another three-pointer with six minutes to go as Wales edged ahead.

Two minutes later the Cardiff points-machine struck again to give Wales a four point advantage and despite suffering a late Irish barrage the Welsh held on for a deserved victory.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Ian Gough, 5 Andrew Moore, 6 Nathan Budgett, 7 Colin Charvis, 8 Geraint Lewis, 9 Rupert Moon, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Shane Williams, 12 Allan Bateman, 13 Scott Gibbs, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Dafydd James, Neil Jenkins, Robin McBryde
Unused:  Richard Smith, Spencer John, Emyr Lewis, Martyn Williams

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 John Hayes, 4 Mick Galwey, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Kieron Dawson, 7 Simon Easterby, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Rob Henderson, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Jeremy Davidson, David Humphreys, Andy Ward
Unused:  Guy Easterby, Justin Fitzpatrick, Kevin Maggs, Frankie Sheahan

Attendance:  40000
Referee:  Cole a

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Budgett N. 1, Jones S.M. 1
Conv:  Jones S.M. 2
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 2, Jones S.M. 1

Ireland
Tries:  Horgan S. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R. 1
Pen K.:  O'Gara R. 4

France 25 Ireland 27

David Humphreys, who missed a last-minute opportunity in the 1999 Five Nations championship to beat the French, kept his nerve on Sunday and landed a late penalty to give Ireland their first win in Paris since 1972.

The Irish ran out 27-25 winners in their Six Nations match at the Stade de France.  In a pulsating match in which Ireland trailed for most of it, the visitors ran in three tries, all by centre Brian O'Driscoll, to just one for the French -- Gerard Merceron kicking 20 of their points.

Merceron, who showed no sign of nerves despite his inexperience at this level, kicked a beauty of a penalty from the left touchline to extend France's lead to 16-7 after they had gone in 13-7 up at the break.  The Irish looked set to go further behind a minute later as Emile Ntamack, who had had a jittery afternoon at fullback, caught Ronan O'Gara's up-and-under and released Abdelatif Benazzi, who slipped veteran hooker Marc dal Maso free with the try line beckoning.

But Irish winger Dennis Hickie came from nowhere to tackle him two metres short of the line.  In a repeat of the beginning of the first half, the French had all the play and Merceron again put over a penalty after the Irish had stopped the ball from being released.

Not to be deterred, the Irish rebounded strongly.  O'Driscoll seized on a fine pass by fellow centre Rob Henderson and ran in from 10 metres out in the 57th minute.  With O'Gara converting that put them within five points of the hosts.

However, the game looked to have turned decisively for France when experienced lock Paddy Johns became the first Irish player to be sinbinned in the tournament as he took out Lassucq right in front of the posts.  Merceron converted the penalty.

Despite being a man down Ireland got back to within five points when substitute Humphreys slotted over a penalty.  The Irish kept on giving away needless penalties and Merceron once again made them pay with another penalty from in front of the posts to take the score to 25-17.

But the visitors, showing a spirit that had been sorely lacking in their opening match against England, refused to lie down and O'Driscoll showed his predatory instincts when he picked up a loose ball and ran it in under the posts.

French coach Bernard Laporte would not have been impressed by Ntamack not even making an effort to get to O'Driscoll.  Two minutes later and Humphreys faced his monent of truth, taking it with aplomb as he converted the penalty to give Ireland the lead.  Merceron had given the French a deserved lead in the fifth minute with a penalty as the Irish were rocked back on their heels by some outstanding backplay.

The 26-year-old fly-half, a member of the Montferrand team that won the European Shield last season, added another penalty minutes later as the Irish desperately tried to stem the French attacks.  The Irish rallied and at last broke into French territory pinning the French back and got due reward in the 24th minute when O'Driscoll took a pass from lock Malcolm O'Kelly and touched down under the posts, his third try of the tournament and one which O'Gara converted.

However, the French replied in kind five minutes later as scrum-half Christophe Lassucq scored after taking a quick freekick from three metres out, though it was Bernat-Salles' stunning break through the centre which created the platform for the 26-year-old to score his first try for his country.

In a wonderful flowing period of play, Ireland came within inches of scoring another try but French captain Fabien Pelous put in a crashing tackle on flanker Kieron Dawson just short of the line.

Pelous, a member of the 1997 and 1998 Grand Slam sides, put in an even more memorable tackle five minutes later as he took down his Irish counterpart Keith Wood in full flow, leaving the usually unbreakable Irishman stunned on the ground.

Winger David Bory was denied a try within a minute of his debut when after another flowing move, inspired by the recalled Philippe Bernat-Salles coming in off his right wing, referee Peter Honiss ruled it out for a forward pass.

The loss ended France's chances of winning this season's title, while Ireland's remain flickering.

The Teams:

France:  1 Christian Califano, 2 Marc Dal Maso, 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Fabien Pelous (c), 6 Abdelatif Benazzi, 7 Arnaud Costes, 8 Thomas Lievremont, 9 Christophe Laussucq, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Cedric Desbrosse, 13 Stephane Glas, 14 David Bory, 15 Emile Ntamack
Reserves:  Franck Belot, Pieter De Villiers, Raphael Ibanez, Lionel Mallier
Unused:  Aubin Hueber, Alain Penaud, David Venditti

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 John Hayes, 4 Mick Galwey, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Kieron Dawson, 7 Simon Easterby, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Rob Henderson, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 14 Kevin Maggs, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  David Humphreys, Paddy Johns, Andy Ward
Unused:  Simon Easterby, Mike Mullins, Justin Fitzpatrick, Frankie Sheahan

Referee:  Honiss p.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Laussucq C. 1
Conv:  Merceron G. 1
Pen K.:  Merceron G. 6

Ireland
Tries:  O'Driscoll B. 3
Conv:  Humphreys D.G. 1, O'Gara R. 2
Pen K.:  Humphreys D.G. 2

England 59 Italy 12

The England steamroller flattened overmatched Italy at the Stadio Flaminio, winning 59-12 to set up a Six Nations Grand Slam showdown with Auld Enemy Scotland at Murrayfield on April 2.  Coach Clive Woodward's players ran in eight tries, five of them to wingers Austin Healey and Ben Cohen, with five conversions, two penalties and a drop goal to make it four out of four in this the first Six Nations tournament.

Italy, in their second home match of the season, could only muster two tries and a conversion as they battled hard to reproduce the inspirational form that propelled them to victory over Scotland six weeks ago.

The English were given an early shock from the Italian gladiators who led 7-6 after 28 minutes only for a penalty try for a high tackle on winger Austin Healey to turn the tide with the Italians down to 13 men due to two players being sinbinned.

Thereafter England moved into top gear and the back division, spearheaded by an inspired Healey, tore gaping holes at will in an outpaced Italian defence.

"You can see how Scotland got beat down here.  They really rattled us early on," said Woodward.

"It was a great test match and I am just pleased we do not have to come here for a couple of years.  Italy are a credit to the Six Nations," he added.

Woodward paid glowing credit to hat-trick man Healey, saying he gave the England back division "a massive attacking source".  Comparing this year's side to that of last year which fell at the final hurdle to Wales, Woodward said his players were now "more ruthless with our decision making".

"We can't wait to meet up again a week on Tuesday to prepare for the Scotland game." Skipper Matt Dawson also praised Italy for "making it frantic early on." "But we finished superbly in the second half," he added.

England entered the renovated 30,000-capacity Roman stadium as prohibitive favourites after thumping Ireland and Wales and scraping past France 15-9 in their three previous games.  Those results have turned the tide for Woodward, who was pilloried after England's World Cup quarter-final collapse against South Africa in November and who just six weeks ago was widely perceived to be living on borrowed time as coach.

But both Woodward and Dawson had warned against complacency against an Italian side who have proved to be poor travellers since the Scotland game -- conceding 107 points against Wales and Ireland.  Italy's Kiwi coach Brad Johnstone made four changes to the side embarrassed at Lansdowne Road, but two of them had been due to injuries to key players.  England made their first personnel change of the tournament with Darren Garforth replacing the injured Phil Vickery at tight-head prop.

Stand-off Jonny Wilkinson opened the match with two penalties for England under warm, spring-like conditions as the Italians struggled to control their emotions after the two big losses to Ireland and Wales.  But a sudden counter-attack in the eighth minute brought a barrelling try for winger Luca Martin, converted by prolific stand-off Domingo Dominguez and suddenly England were back on their heels.

The Italians could have gone further ahead after 20 minutes but Dominguez astonishingly missed from under the posts with a penalty.

The penalty try after 28 minutes signalled the end of the Italian flurry with flanker Neil Back dropping a goal after 32 minutes and Dawson scoring a fine individual try after tapping two quick penalties in the 36th minute.

England snuffed out any embers of Italian hopes early in the second period with Healey running in three tries in nine minutes, the second a remarkable solo effort from just inside the Italian half, chipping on to outpace full back Corrado Pilat for his 10th try for his country.

Healey then chipped ahead for Cohen to score in the corner after 61 minutes before the Italians finally replied with a scrappy try for winger Christian Stoica.

Further tries from Cohen and Dawson were the icing on the cake for classy England.

They now head from the most southerly Six Nations outpost to the most northerly, in search of the two points against Scotland that will assure them of the first Six Nations Grand Slam.

Italy have another tough assignment with an away match against the French in Paris.  Johnstone said his side had been much improved on the Ireland game which proved to him that Italian rugby had a bright future.

"The English changed their style of play in the second half and we did not change our style of defence to suit," he said.

Only over-confidence could prevent England from winning the Grand Slam, he added.

The Teams:

England:  1 Darren Garforth, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Jason Leonard, 4 Garath Archer, 5 Simon Shaw, 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson (c), 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Austin Healey, 12 Mike Catt, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Matt Perry
Reserves:  Neil McCarthy, Martin Corry, Andy Gomarsall, Alex King, Joe Worsley, Trevor Woodman, Iain Balshaw

Italy:  1 Andrea Lo Cicero, 2 Alessandro Moscardi, 3 Tino Paoletti, 4 Carlo Checchinato, 5 Andrea Gritti, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Walter Cristofoletto, 8 Andrea De Rossi, 9 Alessandro Troncon (c), 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Luca Martin, 13 Nicolas Zisti, 14 Cristian Stoica, 15 Corrado Pilat
Reserves:  Massimo Cuttitta, Aaron Persico, Giacomo Preo
Unused:  Matteo Mazzantini, Orazio Arancio, Carlo Orlandi, Andrea Scanavacca

Attendance:  30000
Referee:  Lewis a

Points Scorers:

England
Tries:  Dawson M.J.S. 2, Healey A.S. 3, Cohen B.C. 2, Penalty Try 1
Conv:  King A.D. 1, Wilkinson J.P. 4
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 2
Drop G.:  Back N.A. 1

Italy
Tries:  Martin L. 1, Stoica A. 1
Conv:  Dominguez D. 1

Wales 26 Scotland 18

Wales beat Scotland 26-18 at the Millennium Stadium to give their under-pressure coach, New Zealander Graham Henry a win he desperately needed.

The build-up to this match had been dominated by the dropping of New Zealand-born players, Brett Sinkinson and Shane Howarth from the Wales side after doubts were raised about their eligibility.

But it was two native Welshmen, winger Shane Williams with two tries and fly-half Stephen Jones, with an excellent kicking display, who guided Wales to their second Six Nations win of the season.

The defeat leaves last ever Five Nations champions Scotland without a win after four matches and favourites for the wooden spoon when they face England, on course for a Grand Slam, at Murrayfield in two weeks time.  The opening exchanges were a clear sign of the lack of quality in both teams.  Wales had the lion's share of possession but a lack of quick ball meant the Scotland defence could cover Wales' early attacks.  When Scotland did have the ball basic handling errors let them down.

Wales took the lead when fly-half Jones, playing in place of the injured Neil Jenkins, kicked an eighth minute penalty after Scotland had strayed offside.

Neath winger Williams, whose pace raised spirits in the home crowd every time he received the ball, burst forward in the ninth minute but he was well-tackled by opposing winger Glenn Metcalfe.

Scotland equalised when fly-half Duncan Hodge coverted an easy penalty chance from 15 metres out in the 24th minute after Wales were offside.  Hodge was extremely unlucky to see a 34th minute penalty attempt from 49 metres hit the left post and five minutes later, when Wales were offside again, his effort from 40 metres out hit the right upright.

Just before the end of the half, Wales scored the try their first-half dominance deserved.  Jones kicked ahead, centre Allan Bateman followed up with a kick of his own and Williams won the race for the touch-down in the 37th minute.

Jones converted and in first-half injury time his 40 metre penalty, after Scotland lock Stuart Grimes was offside, gave Wales a 13-3 lead at the interval.  But it was Scotland, perhaps inspired by coach Ian McGeechan's half-time talk, who started the second period the stronger.  In the 46th minute they came back into the game with a try.  Gregor Townsend, playing his 50th international for Scotland, sent a well-timed pass to full-back Craig Paterson.

He was held up just short of the line but from the resulting ruck, flanker Martin Leslie dived over.  Hodge converted and Scotland had reduced the deficit to 13-10.  Jones and Hodge then exchanged penalties to leave Wales 16-10 ahead.

Then in the 63rd minutes Wales scored the game's decisive try.  Williams, reacting sharply, took a quick lineout, after Scotland had cleared.  He exchanged passes with Gareth Thomas and the ball was moved to the right.  With the defence sucked in the ball was moved back left to Williams, who finished what he started with a fine try.

Scotland's Metcalfe was sin-binned for a late tackle on 71 minutes after team-mate, lock Budge Pountney, had been held up just short of the line by good Wales team defence.

With three minutes remaining Townsend marked his 50th international with a try, the ball bouncing off his thigh before he touched down.  Referee David McHugh of Ireland, consulted with English touch judge Steve Lander, before correctly awarding the score.

Scotland couldn't make the most of several minutes of injury-time and Wales hung on for a vital win.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Ian Gough, 5 Andrew Moore, 6 Nathan Budgett, 7 Colin Charvis, 8 Geraint Lewis, 9 Rupert Moon, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Shane Williams, 12 Allan Bateman, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Matt Cardey
Unused:  Alix Popham, Richard Smith, Jason Strange, Dafydd James, Spencer John, Robin McBryde, Martyn Williams

Scotland:  1 Tom Smith, 2 Steve Brotherstone, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Stuart Reid, 9 Andy Nicol, 10 Duncan Hodge, 11 Glenn Metcalfe, 12 John Leslie (c), 13 Gregor Townsend, 14 Craig Moir, 15 Chris Paterson
Reserves:  Gordon Bulloch, Dave Hilton
Unused:  Alan Bulloch, Cameron Mather, Bryan Redpath, Doddie Weir

Referee:  Mchugh d.t.m.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Williams S.M. 2
Conv:  Jones S.M. 2
Pen K.:  Jones S.M. 4

Scotland
Tries:  Leslie M.D. 1, Townsend G.P.J. 1
Conv:  Hodge D.W. 1
Pen K.:  Hodge D.W. 2

Scotland 16 France 28

Two late tries from French flanker Olivier Magne helped France limp to a 28-16 victory over Five Nations champions Scotland in the Six Nations clash.

Magne's double ensured the formbook was vindicated in a match where an undisciplined France looked for a long time as if they were determined to help the Scots to their first ever Six Nations win.

Stewards at Murrayfield had been put on alert to confiscate any cockerels that French fans might smuggle into the stadium but for a long time it appeared that headless chickens might cost France the match as the Scots took the lead after half-time with France down to 13 men after two first-half sin-binnings.

Montferrand's Magne admitted that Bernard Laporte had not been happy at the interval.

"In the first-half the sin-binnings cost us very dear," admitted Magne.  "Bernard was not happy.  Playing with 13 men is an unacceptable handicap.  We must be careful.  Against a stronger team it would have cost us the match."

Of his tries Magne, an injury doubt for this match, said:  "It was no big deal.  Emile (Ntamack) was very nice to pass to me (for the first try) because he could have scored himself."

For the second he said:  "I anticpated it well and Emile set me up again."

France's hopes of the Six Nations title were dealt a severe blow when they lost to England a fortnight ago but most pundits expected them to easily see them brush aside the Scots who were abysmal in their two previous outings against Italy and Ireland and were being tipped to replace the last ever Five Nations Trophy on the mantelpiece with the Wooden Spoon at the end of the season.

But a combination of Scottish pride and French indiscipline contrived to produce a tight encounter.

Scotland's Kenny Logan had already missed a penalty before France took the lead after 11 minutes with a converted try.

The Scottish side looked like caving in against French pressure and conceded a penalty 10 metres from the line.  The French chose to run it and the Scottish defence was again looking hopelessly inadequate as the visitors extracted maximum advantage.

Even the normally ponderous prop Christian Califano had the chance to show his ball-playing skills as he played the ball along the line where it eventually reached full-back Thomas Castaignede who crossed the line before touching down near the posts.

Castaignede, back at fullback after being blamed by some for the 15-9 defeat by England after an indifferent performance as stand-in flyhalf, had all the time in the world to score and even had hooker Marc Dal Maso outside him if needed with no Scottish defender in sight.

Gerald Merceron converted before a brief Scottish rally.

Logan reduced the deficit with a penalty but another Merceron kick -- this time a penalty -- restored the French advantage to seven points with the score 10-3 after 20 minutes.

But Scotland came perilously close to scoring after half an hour when the French held up a surge from the Scottish forwards on the line.  Flanker Budge Pountney touched down but was correctly penalised by English referee Steve Lander for a blatant double movement.

Had Pountney bided his time there was plenty of support and his colleagues were clearly unhappy with his rash move as the French cleared their lines from the subsequent penalty.

France produced some typical flowing passing movements but then their eternal Achilles heel indiscipline, which new coach Bernard Laporte has vowed to stamp out, allowed Scotland to narrow the gap.

First Emile Ntamack was sin binned for 10 minutes and full-back Chris Paterson, who had taken over kicking duties from Logan who had missed another kick, popped over the penalty.

Then Jean Daude was also banished temporarily to the touchline for a high challenge leaving the French down to 13 but this time Paterson squandered the kick.

The French held on to half-time 10-6 to the good but knew that they would still be two men down when the match resumed.

And the Scots wasted no time in taking full advantage when they were awarded a penalty in the second minute of the second period.

Not surprisingly given their numerical advantage they chose to run it and scrum-half Andy Nicol touched down under the post, leaving the conversion a formality for Paterson.

Scotland now led 13-10.  But Ntamack returned and with the French still a man down Merceron levelled the score with a penalty.

Laporte, who had fielded a patched-up team, changed his formation with Thomas Lievremont, Arnaud Costes, Pieter De Villiers and Raphael Ibanez coming into reinforce the struggling visitors.

Finally restored to full strength the French again started to exert pressure and David Venditti failed to collect the ball for what would have been a simple try after an inaccurate pass by Christophe Dominici.

The game went into the final quarter deadlocked at 13-13 but the French were looking the more likely with the elusive Dominici held up by Paterson just short of the line.

Finally the Scots yielded the try with France's talismanic flanker Olivier Magne touching down from a pass by Ntamack after a chipped kick from Christophe Laussucq but the conversion was missed.

Paterson reduced the margin to 18-16 with another penalty and France had just less than 10 minutes to hang on.

But any doubts as to the final result were ended when the same combination gave France breathing space.  Again Ntamack played the scoring pass while Magne this time cantered behind the posts, leaving Merceron this time to add the two extra points.

That silenced the Murrayfield crowd and a Merceron penalty further assuaged French nerves.

The Teams:

Scotland:  1 Tom Smith, 2 Steve Brotherstone, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Scott Murray, 5 Doddie Weir, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Stuart Reid, 9 Andy Nicol, 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Glenn Metcalfe, 12 John Leslie (c), 13 James McLaren, 14 Kenny Logan, 15 Chris Paterson
Reserves:  Stuart Grimes, Dave Hilton, Duncan Hodge, Cameron Mather
Unused:  Graeme Beveridge, Jamie Mayer, Steve Scott

France:  1 Christian Califano, 2 Marc Dal Maso, 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Jean Daude, 6 Olivier Magne, 7 Sebastien Chabal, 8 Fabien Pelous (c), 9 Christophe Laussucq, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 Emile Ntamack, 12 Thomas Lombard, 13 David Venditti, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Thomas Castaignede
Reserves:  Arnaud Costes, Pieter De Villiers, Raphael Ibanez, Thomas Lievremont, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde
Unused:  Cedric Desbrosse, Aubin Hueber

Referee:  Lander s.

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  Nicol A.D. 1
Conv:  Paterson C.D. 1
Pen K.:  Logan K.McK. 1, Paterson C.D. 2

France
Tries:  Castaignede T. 1, Magne O. 2
Conv:  Merceron G. 2
Pen K.:  Merceron G. 3

France 28 Scotland 16

Two late tries from French flanker Olivier Magne helped France limp to a 28-16 victory over Five Nations champions Scotland in the Six Nations clash.

Magne's double ensured the formbook was vindicated in a match where an undisciplined France looked for a long time as if they were determined to help the Scots to their first ever Six Nations win.

Stewards at Murrayfield had been put on alert to confiscate any cockerels that French fans might smuggle into the stadium but for a long time it appeared that headless chickens might cost France the match as the Scots took the lead after half-time with France down to 13 men after two first-half sin-binnings.

Montferrand's Magne admitted that Bernard Laporte had not been happy at the interval.

"In the first-half the sin-binnings cost us very dear," admitted Magne.  "Bernard was not happy.  Playing with 13 men is an unacceptable handicap.  We must be careful.  Against a stronger team it would have cost us the match."

Of his tries Magne, an injury doubt for this match, said:  "It was no big deal.  Emile (Ntamack) was very nice to pass to me (for the first try) because he could have scored himself."

For the second he said:  "I anticpated it well and Emile set me up again."

France's hopes of the Six Nations title were dealt a severe blow when they lost to England a fortnight ago but most pundits expected them to easily see them brush aside the Scots who were abysmal in their two previous outings against Italy and Ireland and were being tipped to replace the last ever Five Nations Trophy on the mantelpiece with the Wooden Spoon at the end of the season.

But a combination of Scottish pride and French indiscipline contrived to produce a tight encounter.

Scotland's Kenny Logan had already missed a penalty before France took the lead after 11 minutes with a converted try.

The Scottish side looked like caving in against French pressure and conceded a penalty 10 metres from the line.  The French chose to run it and the Scottish defence was again looking hopelessly inadequate as the visitors extracted maximum advantage.

Even the normally ponderous prop Christian Califano had the chance to show his ball-playing skills as he played the ball along the line where it eventually reached full-back Thomas Castaignede who crossed the line before touching down near the posts.

Castaignede, back at fullback after being blamed by some for the 15-9 defeat by England after an indifferent performance as stand-in flyhalf, had all the time in the world to score and even had hooker Marc Dal Maso outside him if needed with no Scottish defender in sight.

Gerald Merceron converted before a brief Scottish rally.

Logan reduced the deficit with a penalty but another Merceron kick -- this time a penalty -- restored the French advantage to seven points with the score 10-3 after 20 minutes.

But Scotland came perilously close to scoring after half an hour when the French held up a surge from the Scottish forwards on the line.  Flanker Budge Pountney touched down but was correctly penalised by English referee Steve Lander for a blatant double movement.

Had Pountney bided his time there was plenty of support and his colleagues were clearly unhappy with his rash move as the French cleared their lines from the subsequent penalty.

France produced some typical flowing passing movements but then their eternal Achilles heel indiscipline, which new coach Bernard Laporte has vowed to stamp out, allowed Scotland to narrow the gap.

First Emile Ntamack was sin binned for 10 minutes and full-back Chris Paterson, who had taken over kicking duties from Logan who had missed another kick, popped over the penalty.

Then Jean Daude was also banished temporarily to the touchline for a high challenge leaving the French down to 13 but this time Paterson squandered the kick.

The French held on to half-time 10-6 to the good but knew that they would still be two men down when the match resumed.

And the Scots wasted no time in taking full advantage when they were awarded a penalty in the second minute of the second period.

Not surprisingly given their numerical advantage they chose to run it and scrum-half Andy Nicol touched down under the post, leaving the conversion a formality for Paterson.

Scotland now led 13-10.  But Ntamack returned and with the French still a man down Merceron levelled the score with a penalty.

Laporte, who had fielded a patched-up team, changed his formation with Thomas Lievremont, Arnaud Costes, Pieter De Villiers and Raphael Ibanez coming into reinforce the struggling visitors.

Finally restored to full strength the French again started to exert pressure and David Venditti failed to collect the ball for what would have been a simple try after an inaccurate pass by Christophe Dominici.

The game went into the final quarter deadlocked at 13-13 but the French were looking the more likely with the elusive Dominici held up by Paterson just short of the line.

Finally the Scots yielded the try with France's talismanic flanker Olivier Magne touching down from a pass by Ntamack after a chipped kick from Christophe Laussucq but the conversion was missed.

Paterson reduced the margin to 18-16 with another penalty and France had just less than 10 minutes to hang on.

But any doubts as to the final result were ended when the same combination gave France breathing space.  Again Ntamack played the scoring pass while Magne this time cantered behind the posts, leaving Merceron this time to add the two extra points.

That silenced the Murrayfield crowd and a Merceron penalty further assuaged French nerves.

The Teams:

France:  1 Christian Califano, 2 Marc Dal Maso, 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Jean Daude, 6 Olivier Magne, 7 Sebastien Chabal, 8 Fabien Pelous (c), 9 Christophe Laussucq, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 Emile Ntamack, 12 Thomas Lombard, 13 David Venditti, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Thomas Castaignede
Reserves:  Arnaud Costes, Pieter De Villiers, Raphael Ibanez, Thomas Lievremont, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde
Unused:  Cedric Desbrosses, Aubin Hueber

Scotland:  1 Tom Smith, 2 Steve Brotherstone, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Scott Murray, 5 Doddie Weir, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Stuart Reid, 9 Andy Nicol, 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Glenn Metcalfe, 12 John Leslie (c), 13 James McLaren, 14 Kenny Logan, 15 Chris Paterson
Reserves:  Stuart Grimes, Dave Hilton, Duncan Hodge, Cameron Mather
Unused:  Graeme Beveridge, Jamie Mayer, Steve Scott

Attendance:  67500
Referee:  Lander s.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Castaignede T. 1, Magne O. 2
Conv:  Merceron G. 2
Pen K.:  Merceron G. 3

Scotland
Tries:  Nicol A.D. 1
Conv:  Paterson C.D. 1
Pen K.:  Logan K.McK. 1, Paterson C.D. 2

Ireland 60 Italy 13

Ireland strolled to a record 60-13 victory against Italy at Lansdowne Road here on Saturday, only their second win in the past five meetings with their opponents, to stay joint-second in the Six Nations table with France, behind all-conquering England.

Warren Gatland's men carried on from where they left off after the previous record 44-22 trouncing of Scotland, putting six tries past the bewildered Italians to stay in the hunt for the inaugural championship after France beat Scotland 28-16 and England defeated Wales 46-12.

Ireland captain Keith Wood led the way with the first try, followed by winger Shane Horgan (2), flanker Keiron Dawson, centre Brian O'Driscoll, and full-back Girvan Dempsey.

Fly-half Ronan O'Gara also added an Irish-record 30 points with the boot as Ireland put on an exhibition for referee Derek Bevan's final international.

O'Gara beat Paul Burke's previous record of 24 points set against Italy at Lansdowne Road in 1997.

Ireland never looked likely to slip to defeat against a side that had become a bit of a bogey team for them and they eclipsed their biggest win of 31-15 in 1988 by some margin.

Italy's points came from a try by number eight Andrea de Rossi, and eight points from kicker Diego Dominguez.

After starting the tournament with a surprise defeat of Five Nations champions Scotland, Italy's challenge faltered as they slipped to defeat against Wales, with whom they are locked on two points in the table, ahead of bottom-placed Scotland.

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 John Hayes, 4 Mick Galwey, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Kieron Dawson, 7 Simon Easterby, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Mike Mullins, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Rob Henderson, Dion O'Cuinneagain, Justin Fitzpatrick
Unused:  Guy Easterby, David Humphreys, Paddy Johns, Frankie Sheahan

Italy:  1 Massimo Cuttitta, 2 Alessandro Moscardi, 3 Tino Paoletti, 4 Carlo Checchinato, 5 Andrea Gritti, 6 Wim Visser, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 8 Andrea De Rossi, 9 Alessandro Troncon (c), 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Luca Martin, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Juan Francescio, 15 Matt Pini
Reserves:  Marco Rivaro, Giuseppe Lanzi, Salvatore Perugini, Giacomo Preo, Laurent Travini
Unused:  Giampiero Mazzi, Carlo Orlandi

Attendance:  40000
Referee:  Bevan w.d.

Points Scorers:

Ireland
Tries:  Dawson K. 1, Dempsey G. 1, Horgan S. 2, O'Driscoll B. 1, Wood K.G.M. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R. 6
Pen K.:  O'Gara R. 6

Italy
Tries:  De Rossi A. 1
Conv:  Dominguez D. 1
Pen K.:  Dominguez D. 2

Wales 12 England 46

England smashed Wales 46-12 at Twickenham to keep alive their hopes of winning the first ever Six Nations Grand Slam and extend Wales' losing streak at the home of English rugby to six matches.

England ran in five unopposed tries, from hooker Phil Greening, wing Ben Cohen and a back-row hat-trick for Neil Back, Richard Hill, and Lawrence Dallaglio to stay ahead in the championship with three straight wins.

England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson added 21 points to eclipse Neil Jenkins' three penalties and a drop goal as England celebrated prop Jason Leonard's 80th cap, only bettered in an England shirt by winger Rory Underwood.

Wales' were led by David Young, who broke Graham Price's 42-cap record for a Welsh prop.

But any hopes of repeating the Scott Gibbs-inspired 32-31 victory of last year were shattered by another heavyweight performance from England's pack, inspired by man-of-the-match Greening, allied to a potent back line always looking to attack the spaces.

England last achieved a Grand Slam of championship victories in 1995, but with wins already against Ireland and France and with tournament newcomers Italy and wooden-spoon candidates Scotland left to play, the favourites are on course to prove that the World Cup quarter-final elimination was only a blip in their development.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Craig Quinnell, 5 Chris Wyatt, 6 Colin Charvis, 7 Brett Sinkinson, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley, 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Shane Williams, 12 Allan Bateman, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Shane Howarth
Reserves:  Ian Gough, Spencer John, Barry Williams
Unused:  Matt Cardey, Geraint Lewis, Richard Smith, Stephen Jones

England:  1 Jason Leonard, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Phil Vickery, 4 Garath Archer, 5 Simon Shaw, 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson (c), 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Austin Healey, 12 Mike Catt, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Matt Perry
Reserves:  Martin Corry
Unused:  Neil McCarthy, Andy Gomarsall, Alex King, Joe Worsley, Trevor Woodman, Iain Balshaw

Attendance:  73500
Referee:  Fleming j.m.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 3
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 1

England
Tries:  Back N.A. 1, Dallaglio L.B.N. 1, Greening P.B.T. 1, Hill R.A. 1, Cohen B.C. 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 3
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 5

France 9 England 15

England produced a courageous performance on Saturday to beat France 15-9 in their Six Nations Championship match at the Stade de France.

England now look on course to finally reward coach Clive Woodward with a major title.

In a hard and gritty match, with England at one stage down to 13 men, both sides failed to score a try with England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson scoring all his team's points, taking his total to 206 in internationals, while French fullback Richard Dourthe kicked three penalties.

France pressured the England line late in the game without finding a way through.  "We knew coming here to the Stade de France that it was going to be very tough -- and that we'd have to give 110 percent," said elated but exhausted England captain Matt Dawson.

The French, who were given no room to play with their traditional flair, were shattered at the end.

Backline ace Christophe Dominici said:  "We're very disappointed as we worked hard to try and overcome them, but the tournament's not lost.  We've still got matches coming up against Scotland and Ireland and Italy.  We're going to have to go away now and come up with something different to what we did here today against this English team." Dourthe, who was given the kicking responsibility after the withdrawal of Christophe Lamaison on Monday, got France to within three points of the English within six minutes of the start of the second-half, kicking two penalties.

The English, who looked to be tiring after a sterling first-half when they had given as good as they got against a much-larger pack, started to make standard errors with Mike Catt ruining a try scoring opportunity when England had an overlap by serving a hospital pass out to winger Ben Cohen.

However, another French infringement, this time by the increasingly rattled scrum-half Fabien Galthie, gave England more breathing space as Wilkinson slotted the penalty between the posts from right in front of goal.

The French then came under a period of sustained pressure during which coach Bernard Laporte's demand for discipline and fair play was sorely tested.  Flanker Olivier Magne was extremely fortunate not to become the second French player to be sinbinned when he punched lock Garath Archer.

Laporte must have been steaming, however, when replacement Serge Bettsen was yellow-carded only a minute after coming on for foul play and Wilkinson converted the penalty to restore England's nine-point lead with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining.

With Laporte throwing on former captain Raphael Ibanez and Pieter de Villiers to bolster his tiring pack, England started to lose their edge and Dourthe landed another penalty to make it 15-9 with eight minutes to go.

Dourthe, making his 24th test appearance, was left red-faced and on his backside when he slipped taking a much easier chance a minute later after England lock Simon Shaw was given a yellow card.

Wilkinson, who tackled like a lion, had opened the scoring with a penalty in the 13th minute after persistent pressure forced the French into an infringement.

English winger Austin Healey almost forged a try out of nothing coming in off his wing to burst through the French centres but delayed his pass to hooker Phil Greening too long and was tackled five metres short of the line.

Wilkinson then added another penalty from 35 metres out halfway through, although the French sparked into life pouring on the pressure close to the England line but scrum-half Fabien Galthie was denied a try when the ball was ripped out of his arms as he crossed the line.

The French did finally look to have got on the scoreboard when Thomas Lombard touched down after a magical weaving run by Christophe Dominici, but Australian referee Stuart Dickinson ruled it out for what appeared to be a marginal forward pass.

Dickinson fell further out of favour with the French when he sin-binned massive French lock Olivier Brouzet for tripping flanker Richard Hill -- Wilkinson coolly converting the penalty to rack up 200 points in just 16 internationals.

The 20-year-old missed a far easier opportunity on the stroke of halftime but his chances in the second half were more limited as the French dominated territorially without being able to break through.

In the end, it was a victory that England merited.  "The English were stronger than us today," admitted French forward Olivier Magne.  "We were lacking strength.  We've got work to do."

The Teams:

France:  1 Christian Califano, 2 Marc Dal Maso, 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Legi Matiu, 6 Abdelatif Benazzi, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Fabien Pelous (c), 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Thomas Castaignede, 11 Emile Ntamack, 12 Thomas Lombard, 13 David Venditti, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Richard Dourthe
Reserves:  Serge Betsen Tchoua, Pieter De Villiers, Raphael Ibanez, Thomas Lievremont
Unused:  Cedric Desbrosses, Stephane Glas, Christophe Laussucq

England:  1 Jason Leonard, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Phil Vickery, 4 Garath Archer, 5 Simon Shaw, 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson (c), 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Austin Healey, 12 Mike Catt, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Matt Perry
Reserves:  Martin Corry, Iain Balshaw
Unused:  Neil McCarthy, Andy Gomarsall, Alex King, Joe Worsley, Trevor Woodman

Attendance:  78000
Referee:  Dickinson s.

Points Scorers:

France
Pen K.:  Dourthe R. 3

England
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 4

Ireland 44 Scotland 22

Ireland recorded their first win over Scotland in 12 years after producing a remarkable second-half display to overwhelm the defending champions 44-22 in the Six Nations match at Lansdowne Road.

Ireland, fielding five new caps among eight changes to the side humiliated 50-18 by England two weeks ago, launched a ferocious fightback after going 10-0 down early on to seal their first championship win in Dublin since 1996.

It was also the first time they had beaten a team other than Wales in the championship for five years and the remarkable rediscovery of their form will have done much to relieve the mounting pressure on New Zealand-born coach Warren Gatland.

The defeat was another blow to Scotland, whose defence of the championship had begun so disastrously with a shock 34-20 reverse at the hands of tournmaent newcomers Italy in Rome.

Ireland's points came through tries by lock Malcolm O'Kelly, wing Shane Horgan -- on his debut -- centre Brian O'Driscoll, substitute David Humphreys and captain Keith Wood.

Fly-half Ronan O'Gara, another new face in the Irish line-up, overcame a nervous start to register two penalties and two conversions.  Humphreys, who replaced him early in the second half, struck one penalty and three conversions.

Scotland's points came through a try, two conversion and a penalty by wing Kenny Logan and late consolation tries by fullback Glenn Metcalfe and prop George Graham.

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 John Hayes, 4 Mick Galwey, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Kieron Dawson, 7 Simon Easterby, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Mike Mullins, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Jeremy Davidson, Rob Henderson, David Humphreys, Justin Fitzpatrick
Unused:  Guy Easterby, Trevor Brennan, Frankie Sheahan

Scotland:  1 Tom Smith, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Gordon Simpson, 9 Bryan Redpath (c), 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Shaun Longstaff, 12 Jamie Mayer, 13 Graham Shiel, 14 Kenny Logan, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  George Graham, Andy Nicol, Robbie Russell, Doddie Weir
Unused:  Duncan Hodge, James McLaren, Stuart Reid

Attendance:  40000
Referee:  Dume j.

Points Scorers:

Ireland
Tries:  Horgan S. 1, Humphreys D.G. 1, O'Kelly M.E. 1, O'Driscoll B. 1, Wood K.G.M. 1
Conv:  Humphreys D.G. 3, O'Gara R. 2
Pen K.:  Humphreys D.G. 1, O'Gara R. 2

Scotland
Tries:  Metcalfe G.H. 1, Graham G. 1, Logan K.McK. 1
Conv:  Logan K.McK. 2
Pen K.:  Logan K.McK. 1

Wales 47 Italy 16

Fly-half Neil Jenkins wrote himself into the record books as Wales romped to a 47-16 victory over newcomers Italy in the Six Nations championship match at the Millennium Stadium.

Jenkins slotted over seven penalties and three conversions as the Welsh, who ran in four tries, bounced back from their crushing 36-3 defeat by France here two weeks ago.  The Cardiff points-machine kicked a penalty after four minutes to become the highest points scorer in the history of the tournament, overtaking former Scottish full-back Gavin Hastings' record of 288.

The veteran British Lion was already the highest points-scorer in the history of international rugby.

The Welsh ran in four tries through number eight Scott Quinnell, centre Allan Bateman and teenage wing Shane Williams -- making his full debut -- and New Zealand-born full-back Shane Howarth, his fourth in 18 tests for his adoptive country.  Back row forward Wilhelmus Visser scored Italy's only try while Jenkins opposite number Diego Dominguez scored 11 points including two penalties, one conversion and one drop goal.

Italy, who stunned Scotland 34-20 in their championship debut in Rome two weeks ago, were no match for Graham Henry's rampant Welsh side who now tackle England at Twickenham in two weeks time.  Italy face Ireland in Dublin.

With Jenkins winning the kicking competition against Dominguez to give Wales an early 15-6 lead, Henry's side eventually got the try their growing domination deserved.

Lock Chris Wyatt collected from the line-out and found Craig Quinnell who flipped up a pass to his brother Scott who charged over from eight metres for his sixth try for Wales.

Jenkins missed the conversion and after Dominguez quickly reduced the deficit with a penalty, the Welshman responded with his sixth successful kick.

Wales killed off any realistic hopes of an Italian upset when they grabbed their second try just after the break.

Centre Mark Taylor took a quick free-kick and made the break before finding Williams, whose raw pace saw him surge clear for his maiden try for Wales.

Craig Quinnell, Peter Rogers and Gareth Thomas then combined to create a gap for veteran centre Bateman to claim his eighth try for his country.  Jenkins converted from the touchline as Wales began to run riot.

Shane Howarth completed Wales's record home victory over their opponents with a late try under the posts.  Jenkins converted again to take his match tally to 27 points.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Craig Quinnell, 5 Chris Wyatt, 6 Geraint Lewis, 7 Brett Sinkinson, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley, 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Shane Williams, 12 Allan Bateman, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Shane Howarth
Reserves:  Ian Gough, Colin Charvis, Dafydd James, Spencer John, Stephen Jones, Barry Williams
Unused:  Richard Smith

Italy:  1 Massimo Cuttitta, 2 Alessandro Moscardi, 3 Tino Paoletti, 4 Andrea Gritti, 5 Giuseppe Lanzi, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Carlo Checchinato, 8 Wim Visser, 9 Alessandro Troncon (c), 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Luca Martin, 13 Marco Rivaro, 14 Cristian Stoica, 15 Matt Pini
Reserves:  Juan Francescio, Carlo Orlandi, Aaron Persico
Unused:  Laurent Travers, Matteo Mazzantini, Alejandro Moreno, Andrea Scanavacca

Attendance:  72500
Referee:  Ramage i

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Williams S.M. 1, Bateman A.G. 1, Howarth S.P. 1, Quinnell L.S. 1
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 3
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 7

Italy
Tries:  Visser W. 1
Conv:  Dominguez D. 1
Pen K.:  Dominguez D. 2
Drop G.:  Dominguez D. 1

Scotland 20 Italy 34

Diego Dominguez kicked Italy to a historic 34-20 victory over Scotland in the opening match of the new Six Nations Championship.

Italy, coming off three numbing defeats at the World Cup, banished a year of misery to beat the winners of the final Five Nations tournament with Dominguez scoring all but five of his country's points and achieving something that all the other countries had failed to do on their respective debuts in the competition -- beat Scotland.

Italy, watched by Princess Anne at the Flaminio Stadium in Rome, were 12-10 up at the break and ran out deserved winners for a solid, error-free performance that kept the Scots in check.

Dominguez' success contrasted sharply with the miserable afternoon spent by Scottish kicker Kenny Logan, for whom little or nothing went right in front of a crowd of 20,000.

Italy defended well in a tough, balanced match which gave neither side much room to build up wide overlapping moves or solo runs into space.

Dominguez' early drop-kick fell short but Scotland should have taken a sixth minute lead when Logan skewed a 25-metre penalty kick well wide of the left-hand post.

He steered another wide from 35 metres just minutes later as Scotland kept up the pressure but Italy held their ground and kept possession.

Dominguez tried his luck again with a penalty from the 40-metre line but again came up just short, while Scotland lost injured skipper John Leslie with a suspected thigh problem after 14 minutes -- replaced by James McLaren.

Scottish stand-off Gregor Townsend finally broke the deadlock with an 18th minute drop goal from 25 metres, but Dominguez levelled five minutes later -- swinging in a superb penalty from the left, some 30 metres out.

Logan's erratic kicking continued when he sent in a penalty which cracked the left-hand post, flew down and hit the crossbar before bouncing out and being cleared by the Italian defence.

Dominguez showed him how it was done in the 32nd minute with a well-taken penalty from the right as Italy took a 6-3 lead.  But it all changed within the space of four minutes.

Glenn Metcalfe made the first penetrating run of the match, picking up possession 30 metres out and running for the line.

The New Zealand-born Scottish full-back was blocked by a desperate tackle but the loose ball was kicked forward between the posts and hooker Gordon Bulloch sprinted after it for an easy try.

Logan converted for 10-6 and Scotland looked ready to make the decisive break.

But Dominguez came to Italy's rescue with two consecutive penalties -- the second with the last kick of the half -- to put the Squadra Azzurra 12-10 up at the break.

The Argentinian-born stand-off, who toured for the Pumas in the late 1980s, followed up with a ballistic drop goal from 35 metres out in the very first minute of the second half -- and five minutes later hit another from a similar distance as Italy took an 18-10 lead.

Logan had a chance to narrow the gap just a couple of minutes later but the left winger sent his penalty from the 22-metre line just wide of the right-hand post.

Dominguez punished him for the miss almost immediately, booting the Italians into a 21-10 lead with a majestic penalty from the 40-metre line which sailed over the bar in the 52nd minute.

Townsend took over the kicking in the 57th minute for Scotland, calmly knocking home a penalty for 21-13, as the visitors put up a fight.

But Dominguez was in unstoppable form, saving his best of the afternoon when he drove home an angled penalty from 27 metres out -- but just four metres inside the right-hand touchline for 24-13.

He followed up with another 40-metre drop in the 68th minute to put Italy on their way -- 27-13 up against the Five Nations champions, whose handling went to pieces in the closing 15 minutes.

Dominguez nearly rounded off his magical afternoon with a try, but the Scottish defence managed to stop the 33-year-old -- something they failed to do when replacement Giampiero De Carli went over from close range.

Dominguez obliged with a tricky conversion from the right for 34-13.

Scotland stormed straight back up the field to score a try through flanker Martin Leslie in stoppage time, converted by Townsend for 34-20.  But it was too little and too late to save Scotland.

The Teams:

Scotland:  1 Tom Smith, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Gordon Simpson, 9 Bryan Redpath, 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Shaun Longstaff, 12 John Leslie (c), 13 Jamie Mayer, 14 Kenny Logan, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  Dave Hilton, James McLaren, Stuart Reid, Doddie Weir
Unused:  Duncan Hodge, Andy Nicol, Robbie Russell

Italy:  1 Massimo Cuttitta, 2 Alessandro Moscardi, 3 Tino Paoletti, 4 Carlo Checchinato, 5 Andrea Gritti, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Massimo Giovanelli, 8 Wim Visser, 9 Alessandro Troncon (c), 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Manuel Dallan, 13 Luca Martin, 14 Cristian Stoica, 15 Matt Pini
Reserves:  Matteo Mazzantini, Marco Rivaro, Giampiero De Carli, Giuseppe Lanzi, Aaron Persico
Unused:  Carlo Orlandi, Andrea Scanavacca

Attendance:  24000
Referee:  Kaplan j

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  Bulloch G.C. 1, Leslie M.D. 1
Conv:  Logan K.McK. 1, Townsend G.P.J. 1
Pen K.:  Townsend G.P.J. 1
Drop G.:  Townsend G.P.J. 1

Italy
Tries:  De Carli G.P. 1
Conv:  Dominguez D. 1
Pen K.:  Dominguez D. 6
Drop G.:  Dominguez D. 3

Ireland 18 England 50

Winger Ben Cohen scored two tries on his debut as England got off to a flying start in their opening Six Nations Championship match, swamping Ireland 50-18 at Twickenham.

Clive Woodward's side ran in six tries in a superb display of running rugby which left the Irish chasing shadows for much of the afternoon in front of a capacity 75,000 crowd.

The Irish rallied in the second half but never threatened to overhaul the 11/10 pre-championship favourites, who have not lost to another home nation at Twickenham since the Irish beat them 13-12 in 1994.

Centre Mike Tindall also scored on his international debut while England's other try scorers were left wing Austin Healey (two) and flanker Neil Back.

Fly-half Johnny Wilknson struck four conversions and four penalties to seal the rout.  Ireland's points came from a try by wing Kevin Maggs and substitute Mick Galwey, two penalties and a conversion by fly-half David Humphreys.

It was a highly impressive all-round display by England as they overwhlemed Warren Gatland's side in the first period -- but a handful of individuals stood out.

Cohen looked an exciting prospect while scrum-half Matt Dawson, captaining England for the first time on home soil, former skipper Lawrence Dallaglio at number eight and centre Mike Catt were all inspirational.  "You dream of something like this," said Cohen, whose uncle George won a football World Cup winners' medal with England in 1966.  "To score two tries on your debut in front of a full house at Twickenham is wonderful."

Dawson praised Cohen and his fellow debutant Tindall, saying:  "The young guns played like seasoned pros.  Their power and confidence was awesome."  After riding a brief, early onslaught from the Irish, England's forwards took control of the game and provided a stream of possession for their backs to run at the visitors.

Fly-half Jonny Wilkinson missed a long penalty in the ninth minute but made no mistake with two other attempts shortly afterwards to put England 6-0 up after 15 minutes.

England's mounting pressure soon brought a try when Northampton wing Cohen cut in from the right, broke two tackles and scored under the posts.  Wilkinson converted to make it 13-0.

It was England's first match since last year's crushing World Cup quarter-final defeat by South Africa in Paris and they were clearly determined to stamp their authority on the inaugural Six Nations Championship.

Ireland had no answer to England's power in the pack and pace in the backs and only tigerish defence stopped Clive Woodward's from running away with the match inside the first 25 minutes.

England scored their second try after a superb flowing move that began deep in their own half.  When Cohen was held up just short of the line, Healey popped up from the left wing to touch down.

Healey added a second a minute before the interval after a superb break by Mike Catt ripped open the Irish defence.

England's total domination continued after the break as Neil Back made the most of some poor Irish tackling to go over in the corner in the 43rd minute.  Wilkinson converted to put England out of sight at 32-3.

Ireland fought back in the third quarter of the match and reduced the deficit when Maggs scored in the corner after an excellent break by 20-year-old centre Brian O'Driscoll, making his championship debut.  Humphreys, having missed the conversion, then slotted a penalty.

England stepped up the pressure though,and Tindall burst through for his first try for his country.  Substitute Mick Galwey grabbed a second try for Ireland, before Cohen rounded off a highly satisfactory debut with his second in the dying moments.  Wilkinson converted to take England to a half century of points.

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 Paul Wallace, 4 Bob Casey, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Kieron Dawson, 7 Dion O'Cuinneagain, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Tom Tierney, 10 David Humphreys, 11 Justin Bishop, 12 Mike Mullins, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 14 Kevin Maggs, 15 Conor O'Shea
Reserves:  Girvan Dempsey, Mick Galwey, Trevor Brennan
Unused:  Eric Elwood, Justin Fitzpatrick, Frankie Sheahan, Peter Stringer

England:  1 Jason Leonard, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Phil Vickery, 4 Garath Archer, 5 Simon Shaw, 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson (c), 10 alf Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Austin Healey, 12 Mike Catt, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Matt Perry
Reserves:  Martin Corry, Trevor Woodman, Iain Balshaw
Unused:  Neil McCarthy, Andy Gomarsall, Alex King, Joe Worsley

Attendance:  75000
Referee:  Walsh s

Points Scorers:

Ireland
Tries:  Galwey M.J. 1, Maggs K.M. 1
Conv:  Humphreys D.G. 1
Pen K.:  Humphreys D.G. 2

England
Tries:  Back N.A. 1, Healey A.S. 2, Tindall M.J. 1, Cohen B.C. 2
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 4
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 4

Wales 3 France 36

Bernard Laporte's first game in charge of France ended in a comfortable victory as the World Cup runners-up brushed aside a lacklustre Wales side 36-3 at the Millennium Stadium.

Laporte, who succeeded Jean-Claude Skrela after the World Cup in November, saw his side produce a solid, professional performance with occasional flashes of inspiration in front of a sell-out 72,500 crowd.

France dominated most of the match but led just 9-3 at half-time and had to wait for nearly an hour before they managed to cross the Welsh line.

But two tries in quick succession by flanker Olivier Magne and full-back Thomas Castaignede -- both converted by fly-half Christope Lamaison -- effectively killed off the challenge from Graham Henry's side.

Right-wing Emile Ntamack scored a third try for France late on while Lamaison kicked a total of 15 points including four penalties, three conversions and a drop goal.  Wales' only points -- the first of the match -- came from a Neil Jenkins penalty.

The Welsh, with new caps in Australian-born centre Jason Jones-Hughes,lock Ian Gough and a new skipper in prop David Young, were looking for a hat-trick of wins over France for the first time since their golden days of the 1970s.

But they showed little invention against a France side fielding eight of the team which lost the Rugby World Cup final to Australia on their previous visit to the Millennium Stadium last November.

Castaignede, who destroyed Wales from fly-half two years ago, started at full back for the first time in his international career.

Wales took the lead after 13 minutes when fly-half Jenkins, the highest points scorer in international rugby, kicked a 35m penalty after the French had been caught offside.

France were forced to make a change at centre midway through the half as Richard Dourthe, who had been up all night with a stomach virus, was replaced by Brive's David Venditti.

But within a couple of minutes the visitors -- determined to atone for last season when they finished bottom of the Five Nations -- were level thanks to a drop goal from Lamaison.

The Brive fly-half booted his side into the lead for the first time just a couple of minutes later from a simple penalty opportunity and stretched it to six points with another in the 36th minute.

Lamaison missed a third penalty five minutes after the turnaround but made no mistake moments later to put the French 12-3 in front.

The pressure finally told on the home side as the French scored two tries following lightning breaks from deep in their own territory.

Firstly, Castaignede set off on a searching run and was hauled down a few yards short of the line but Magne was on hand to gather and touch down.

Two minutes after Lamaison's conversion Castaignede made sure of a French triumph when he went over in the ledft corner.

Lamaison converted and then added his fourth penalty before wing Emile Ntamack latched onto a loose Welsh pass, to go over for France's third try and seal the rout.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Ian Gough, 5 Chris Wyatt, 6 Colin Charvis, 7 Brett Sinkinson, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley, 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Dafydd James, 12 Jason Jones-Hughes, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Shane Howarth
Reserves:  Geraint Lewis, Richard Smith, Shane Williams, Spencer John, Mike Voyle, Barry Williams
Unused:  Stephen Jones

France:  1 Christian Califano, 2 Marc Dal Maso, 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Legi Matiu, 6 Abdelatif Benazzi, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Fabien Pelous (c), 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Christophe Lamaison, 11 Emile Ntamack, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Thomas Lombard, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Thomas Castaignede
Reserves:  Serge Betsen Tchoua, Pieter De Villiers, Raphael Ibanez, Thomas Lievremont, Alain Penaud, David Venditti
Unused:  Christophe Laussucq

Attendance:  72500
Referee:  White c.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 1

France
Tries:  Castaignede T. 1, Magne O. 1, Ntamack E. 1
Conv:  Lamaison C. 3
Pen K.:  Lamaison C. 4
Drop G.:  Lamaison C. 1