Ireland claim their slice of history

The Ireland class of 2009 became only the second from the Emerald Isle to claim a European clean sweep of rugby on Saturday, beating Wales 17-15 in Cardiff for the first Irish Grand Slam since 1948, courtesy of Ronan O'Gara's late drop goal.

An extraordinary finale saw Wales fly-half Stephen Jones miss a late long-range penalty to hand Ireland their crown in a gripping game of rugby.

By the end, most were on their knees.  Some Irish even kissed the turf!  The entirety of Irish rugby, save a few octogenarians in the stands, experienced a new level of sporting euphoria, shared an experience hitherto only dreamed about.  They all now know what it is to be a Grand Slam champion -- and having been a matter of inches away from losing it!  Most looked as though they didn't know how to react or what to do.

Welsh were also on their knees, heads bowed at some accursed luck.  They had played it right, got themselves into a winning position, but fallen foul of fate and all her little ways and wiles.  The Grand Slam class of 2008 ends up fourth in this Six Nations, a bizarre result for a team that many believe were only a couple of rough breaks away from winning the two matches they lost.

The Six Nations served up a finale of pure tactical rugby, played at a level of intensity that only the truly best can produce.  Ireland kept it cool, prodding for territory and nurturing the charity from a creaky Welsh line-out.  In all, they nicked nine Welsh throws, probably the key statistic, especially considering the territory and possession Wales could have had with their 14-5 penalty count.

The Welsh played flatter and wider and with the hands, moving it back and forth across the Millennium Stadium expanses and waiting their turn.  Something had to give.

The intensity boiled over in the first minute.  Ronan O'Gara collided vaguely with Ryan Jones but went down as though struck by an iron bar.  Donncha O'Callaghan raced to his fly-half's aid and there were two huge men eyeball to eyeball, each clutching fistfuls of the other's jersey, neither to be persuaded to let go.

Referee Wayne Barnes -- once again, exemplary -- eventually managed to break the strangleholds and award the penalty, but O'Gara pulled it left.

It could have been just a random act, but it soon became very apparent that "turnstile", as many fans have nicknamed Ireland's pivot, was the target of some special Welsh care and loving attention.  Three very distinct times one of the more sizeable Welsh runners was given a ball while on a bee-line towards than number ten channel.  O'Gara coped well enough, but two subsequent kicks straight to touch belied a shaken core.

So with O'Gara stuck in his pocket, the Welsh wrought control.  They forced more penalties and began to make inroads into Irish territory -- the visitors had dominated the territory early on with O'Gara's and Kearney's kicking.  There were clean breaks by Lee Byrne, Mike Phillips and Gavin Henson, there were half-breaks from others, final passes which never stuck but which promised to.  While Ireland contented themselves with a patient holding operation, the Welsh went in search of the win.

The pace and width to the Welsh game never broke the green line, but it stretched it enough for the discipline to crack.  Ireland ended up conceding seven first-half penalties, five in the final thirteen minutes of the half.  Stephen Jones converted two of them for a 6-0 half-time scoreline.

The second half started with a green flourish, one which opened the game gloriously up for five short minutes.  First O'Driscoll burrowed over in the manner of the darkest dirtiest hooker from the base of a ruck, then Tommy Bowe latched onto a nasty bounce and steam through a turnstile-like Henson tackle and go under the posts.  Not only did it leave Ireland well in Grand Slam position, but it left the Welsh needing 21 points to secure the Six Nations.

Fourteen points in four minutes.  The momentum had swung to Ireland and the title was theirs.

Wales kept it open.  Mark Jones went for a run before being bundled into touch.  Again, Ireland started to ship penalties.  Again, Jones landed two of them to reduce the arrears to 14-12.  The longer Wales could keep the pace up, the more you felt that Ireland might crack one or two times too many.

But Wales could not keep the pace up.The kicks to deep became more speculative, the power fell away from the charges.  Ireland's pack stuffed the ball up-jumper and bided their time.  Welsh runners descended deeper into isolation and the stream of penalties began to flow the other way.  You could feel the forces of nature turning with it.

Ireland maintained their tactical kicking, also looking to chip to Bowe's wing on many an occasion -- just the number of occasions Bowe seemed to be left unmarked.  Geordan Murphy came on for the final 20 minutes, bringing his brilliant boot into play.

But then the old heads went missing.  Murphy spilled a pass from Stringer which he should never have had to take.  Wales earned a scrum and breaks from Phillips and Mark Jones helped Stephen Jones land a drop goal with five to go.

But fate was not yet done toying with the Celts.  The Irish marched their way into the Welsh 22, once again with the line-out as their weapon of choice.  Back came the ball to O'Gara in the pocket and he struck as clinical a drop goal as you could imagine over the posts.

Back came Wales, sweeping this way and that and heading upfield.  They got into Ireland's half.  Wayne Barnes stuck out his arm.  A penalty!  A chance for the Welsh to spoil the Irish party.

Stephen Jones teed it up, from 48 metres out, from where he had landed on in the first half.  He struck it well.  It rose.  It carried.  But it began to fade.  As if the ghosts of failures past themselves were blowing it back, the ball dropped slowly, excruciatingly for the Welsh, gloriously for the Irish, from the air and drifted a yard under the bar.  Geordan Murphy caught it and ran towards the side of the pitch, eating up every last nanosecond of time before hoofing it into an enraptured crowd.  Grand Slam!

Man of the match:  The officials gave it to Brian O'Driscoll but that strikes us as a cliched cop-out.  Instead we give it to the man who did so much damage to the Welsh challenge by ruining their line-out: Paul O'Connell.

Moment of the match:  No possible candidate other than the moment the goal-kick from Stephen Jones dropped under the bar.  Relief and Joy all rolled into one.

Villain of the match:  Hmmm -- we'll refrain from giving it to Ronan O'Gara for his theatrical tumble in the first minute on sentimental grounds.  No award.

The scorers: 

For Wales: 
Pens:  S.Jones 4
Drop goal:  S.Jones

For Ireland: 
Tries:  O'Driscoll, Bowe
Cons:  O'Gara 2

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Gavin Henson, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Ryan Jones (capt), 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Dafydd Jones, 20 Warren Fury, 21 James Hook, 22 Jamie Roberts.

Ireland:  15 Robert Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Geordan Murphy.

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Touch judges:  David Pearson (England), Stuart Terheege (England)
Television match official:  Romain Poite (France)

England recover Calcutta Cup

England followed up last weekend's earth-shattering improvement with a bitty 26-12 win over Scotland as they reclaimed the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham on Saturday.

It was hardly one for rugby's purists as frustrating handling errors coupled with both side's keenness not to lose scuppered the contest as Ugo Monye, Riki Flutey and Mathew Tait's scores ultimately proved the difference.

Judgement day for Frank Hadden had already been set pre-game and with their fifth-place finish just above the Azzurri falling below the board's minimum requirement, it could well have been the last time he led his loyal troops.

England, meanwhile, were left to consider what might have been after away defeats in Wales and Ireland cost them any chance of playing for the title this afternoon.

This may have been just a prelude to the day's main event in Cardiff but it was of no less importance to Martin Johnson in his attempts to rebuild "Fortress Twickenham".

Scotland, who had not won at Twickenham since 1983, started both halves well and kept in touch with three penalties from Chris Paterson and a long-range strike from Phil Godman.

Hadden's men succeeded where France failed last week, by absorbing England's early attacking threat and briefly turning the tables to ask questions of Martin Johnson's men.

Mark Cueto had a break snuffed out by Max and Thom Evans down one wing and Delon Armitage, whose pace ripped France to shreds last weekend, was expertly shepherded into touch by Paterson.

In between time, Paterson had given Scotland a 3-0 lead after Harry Ellis was penalised for not rolling away and Thom Evans came within a metre of scoring a brilliant breakaway try.

The Glasgow winger sprinted clear after Ellis had tried to snipe down the blindside.  He left Flood in his wake and looked for all the world like scoring a 70-metre special.

But Evans had not banked on the electric pace of England's former schoolboy sprinter Monye, who raced diagonally across field and pulled off one of the great tackles to deny him in the corner.

England conceded five penalties in the first sixteen minutes and they also lost Phil Vickery and Ellis to injuries.

Vickery looked dazed when he went off but play was halted for around ten minutes after Ellis was knocked out in a tackle on Simon Danielli and eventually taken off the field on a stretcher.

He required stitches to a gash behind the ear but was back on the England bench smiling before the end of the game.

England would not have asked for a break under such circumstances, but they made the most of it and emerged from their huddle to dominate the rest of the half.

England soon took the lead with a slick move featuring Flutey and Flood creating the chance for Monye to slip out of Paterson's cover tackle and score his first Test try.

It had taken just over 22 minutes but England had regained their swagger from last week and they scored again after Scotland made a mess of a lineout just five metres out.

England spread the ball left and Flutey cut between two defenders and wriggled his way to the line for a try confirmed by the television officials.

Mike Blair then wasted a golden opportunity for a quick Scotland reply when he failed to spot Danielli screaming for the inside pass having spun clear of England's defence.

It was a only brief respite for Scotland.  Simon Shaw charged down a kick from Blair and Flutey injected some pace into the attack before being hauled down just short of the line.

The forwards took over but Julian White was ruled to have been held up after a tunnelling drive for the line before England finished the half with a penalty for Flood.

The half-time statistics did not make happy reading for Scotland.  England had enjoyed 62 per cent possession, 68 per cent territory and won ball in their opponent's 22 on 22 occasions to Scotland's nil.

And with Johnson urging England to "out-work and out-enthuse" their opponents, nor did the full-time figures show Scotland in a good light.  England made twice as many passes and forced Scotland into twice as many tackles.

England, though, lost the penalty count again -- poor discipline has cost them dear in this championship -- and that allowed Scotland to chip away at their lead in the second half with Paterson slotting two more efforts to finish the tournament with a 100 per cent record.

Godman joined in on the act with a long-range strike but Scotland could not get close enough to England.

Care slotted a drop goal to make it 21-12 and Tait rounded off the victory with a neatly-taken try in the corner.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Monye, Flutey, Tait
Con:  Flood
Pen:  Flood 2
Drop:  Care

For Scotland:
Pen:  Paterson 4

England:  15 Delon Armitage, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Joe Worsley, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Simon Shaw, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Julian White, 18 Nick Kennedy, 19 James Haskell, 20 Danny Care, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Mathew Tait.

Scotland:  15 Chris Paterson, 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (captain), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Scott Gray, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Jason White, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Moray Low, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Kelly Brown, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Nick De Luca, 22 Hugo Southwell.

Referee:  Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Christophe Berdos (France), Simon, McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official:  Carlo Damasco (Italy)

France run riot in Rome

France banished the ghost of Twickenham past at the first time of asking as they demolished Italy 50-8 in a classy showing at the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday.

So much their pride was dented after going down by 24 points at English rugby's HQ, sleepless nights had marred Les Bleus' build-up for their final Six Nations fixture of 2009.

But in blustery yet sunny conditions, Marc Lièvremont's side were completely unrecognisable from last week as they cut loose with a blistering seven tries erasing any lasting memories of that horror defeat.

Four changes were made in preparation for the contest but it could be argued that none really made much difference as all members involved six days ago had scores to personal matters to settle...and that they did in emphatic style with Italy having no answers to the men in blue.

The visitors got the ball rolling early on as they took the early steam out of the usual Azzurri fight with the assured Morgan Parra and Francois Trinh-Duc acting as puppeteers for a thoroughly entertaining show.

Bourgoin's number nine knocked over two penalties before sixteen minutes had past as he beat the slightly testing elements to open up a 6-0 lead whilst putting his pack in the correct places.

Then on the other side of an Andrea Marcato three points, France were back into their stride with a moment of brilliance lifting the game to new heights.  First it was the size of Yannick Jauzion who rose well to claim a Garryowen before unleashing Sebastien Chabal down the left wing.  The second row had 20 metres separating him from five points and with the ball in one hand like a small child, he crashed over with Parra's conversion soon to follow.

Chabal's score proved to be the catalyst of something memorable in Rome -- for everyone other than the hosts -- as two quick-fire tries were not too far in coming.  From a lineout on halfway, it was fly-half Trinh-Duc who answered his critics with a glorious dummy and step before racing to the whitewash before less than a minute later, Maxime Medard added his name to the list as he finished off Thierry Dusautoir's good work.

France were doing what England had done to them as the possession stakes read an unbelievable 78 per cent in favour of the visitors!

Things did not get any better for the Italians moments after the turnaround though, as flanker Mauro Bergamasco reinacted his own Twickenham nightmare with a shocking pass that was gobbled up by Cedric Heymans as the fourth try was posted.

Before kick-off a punter could have got France at a tempting 100/1 to finish the tournament in second place as a healthy win coupled with Scotland and Ireland winning later in the day was the task.

And with captain Lionel Nallet getting in on the act on 55 minutes, the more conservative among us were left on tenterhooks.

More woe was to come for Italy in the end though, as a second try for Medard and one for replacement winger Julien Malzieu brought up the half-century to add extra gloss to what was another wooden spoon for the hosts.

Man of the match:  Despite leaving the procession midway through the second period, Morgan Parra was superb at the base and wider out.  However, the man one out from him was even better as Francois Trinh-Duc's individual score was great reward for his performance.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Parisse
Pen:  Marcato

For France:
Tries:  Chabal, Trinh-Duc, Medard 2, Heymans, Nallet, Malzieu
Con:  Parra 3
Pen:  Parra 3

Italy:  15 Andrea Marcato, 14 Giulio Rubini, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Luke McLean, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Martin Castrogiovanni, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Roberto Quartaroli.

France:  15 Damien Traille, 14 Maxime Medard, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Sebastien Chabal, 4 Lionel Nallet (c), 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements:  16 William Servat, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Frederic Michalak, 21 Mathieu Bastareaud, 22 Julien Malzieu.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia), Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)

England blow shapeless France away

It was supposed to be Le Crunch.  It ended up as Le Crash.  France, victors over Grand Slam champions Wales a fortnight ago, fell 34-10 to England at Twickenham on Sunday, blown away by the hosts' enthusiasm and clinical finishing.

It was the day England had been searching for all tournament.  Limited against Italy, awkward against Wales, tighter against Ireland, the English brought all the defensive attributes they had developed over the past month, added to it some precise and high-speed running lines and zippy handling, and removed the stupidity which had dogged them at breakdowns.

They also got the rub of the green on countless occasions.  50-50 passes stuck unerringly.  Andy Goode dropped a pass in the second half and managed to volley it into a team-mate's hands.  A downfield kick, bounding its way into in-goal and possibly dead, instead struck a post and forced Cedric Heymans to clear under pressure.  You can't buy or train that kind of thing;  even in terms of good luck, England completely outplayed the French.

France just didn't want to know.  Perhaps they had expected England to do what everybody thought they had been doing over the past few weeks:  lose their discipline, hand the game to the opposition on a plate, soak up the abuse.  Perhaps they believed the press, that England were already dead and buried merely by dint of taking to the pitch.  Perhaps they thought ... who knows what they thought?  Who knows what they had been told beforehand?  How do you account for such a lifeless display?

Whatever it was, they came into the game with none of the forward gusto that had served them so well against the Welsh, nor any of the imagination, nor any of the commitment.  Picks and drives, the initial tactic of choice, didn't work and what was worse, England were so effective at the breakdown they pretty much turned that into a source of go-forward ball.

Line-outs belonged exclusively to England too.  Steve Borthwick will never have enjoyed any other of his games in an England jersey as this one.

Any other method of attack from the French was just not discernible.  Martin Johnson was the one suffering from the ills of the press before this game, but like many tourists, Lièvremont will be the one feeling sick when he heads for home.  Having seen his side set a benchmark two weeks ago, they set another one here, one which was too low ever to be repeated again.

As with Wales in Rome yesterday, France got sucked into playing an inferior game which made their team, better on paper, vastly inferior on the park.  They took on the English at England's game.  Big mistake.  Huge.

Where do England go from here?  If Ireland beat Wales next week and England trounce Scotland -- not unthinkable any more -- Martin Johnson's pilloried squad could yet end this Six Nations in second spot behind Grand Slam champions Ireland, to whom they lost by a single point in Ireland's own back yard.  We'll leave it to you to imagine the smugness of those England players who will have to face their heckling press if that transpires.

Johnson had heard his side booed from the field following recent Twickenham performances and he reiterated during the week that England had to give the crowd something to shout about in order to regain their faith.

England did so from minute one.  Flutey spotted the perfect mis-match and sliced past Sebastien Chabal before sending Cueto away to touch down the opening try with just 70 seconds on the clock.

France, having picked a side reliant on power rather than panache, were looking for the more direct route and they ate into England territory with powerful runs from the destructive centre Mathieu Bastareaud and dynamic number eight Imanol Harinordoquy.

Simon Shaw hit a ruck from the side to offer Francois Trinh-Duc a shot at goal, which he missed, but otherwise England's defence was defiant.

Twice they snatched turnover ball as Les Bleus threatened to build pressure in England's half and, in a key turnaround to recent weeks, it was France who were falling foul of referee Stuart Dickinson.

If England were dominant without the ball they were incisive with it.  Flood extended the lead to 10-0 after Harinordoquy was ruled offside before a slick attacking move sent Flutey over for a second try.

A similar training ground move had sent Mathew Tait clear in Dublin a fortnight ago -- but on this occasion England were able to provide the finishing touch.

From the back of an attacking lineout, Flood slipped an inside pass for Cueto to carve through the French line before returning the favour with the scoring pass for Flutey.

Tom Croft thought he had got in on the action when Harry Ellis whipped play right following another of Nick Easter's powerful carries but play was called back for a marginally forward pass from Lee Mears.

Not that the now excitable Twickenham crowd had to wait long.  France were wobbling and England hammered home the advantage with two tries in the last three minutes of the half.

After Chabal had been stripped of possession by Flutey, England piled forward and pitched camp in the French 22.  Shaw's charge was halted short of the line but Armitage was on hand to provide the finishing touch.

England were now attacking in waves.  Ellis chipped ahead and Flood came within inches of the line before slipping but the ball was shipped wide for Worsley to secure England a quite remarkable 29-0 lead at the interval.

Half-time did nothing to dilute England's dominance or halt their momentum and when Yannick Jauzion spilled the ball after a brilliant tackle from Ellis, Armitage raced clear on the counter-attack and Flutey was on hand to finish a sparkling 75-metre try.England began to ring the changes and, unable to maintain their complete dominance, France eventually got on the scoreboard with hooker Szarzewski tunnelling over the line after France had earned two penalties deep in England's 22.

England's bad habits began to creep back in and referee Dickinson issued a warning as France cranked up the pressure at the scrum before winger Malzieu was able to saunter over for a simple try.

But England finished on a high with another powerful carry from Easter sending Armitage on another blistering break into the French half.

This one didn't quite end in the score england wanted but little matter.  Boring England.  Win ugly England.  Now, top tryscorers in the competition England.  Quite a turnaround, non?

Man of the match:  He's been on the painful end of the sharpest criticism of all over the past few weeks, but Steve Borthwick was immense from start to finish today.

Moment of the match:  All from England, but our gobs were smacked hardest by the free running and incisiveness of England's first try.

Villain of the match:  We've said it before and we'll say it again.  We - do - not - need - that - cretinous - song - playing - over - the - tannoy - to - have - a - good - time - when - someone - scores.  Go - back - to - soccer - you - utter - utter -

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Cueto, Flutey 2, Armitage, Worsley
Cons:  Flood 3
Pen:  Flood

For France:
Tries:  Szarzewski, Malzieu

England:  15 Delon Armitage, 14 Ugo Monye, 13 Mike Tindal, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Joe Worsley, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Simon Shaw, 4 Steve Borthwick(c), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Julian White, 18 James Haskell, 19 Nick Kennedy, 20 Danny Care, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Mathew Tait.

France:  15 Maxime Medard, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Françios Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Sebastien Chabal, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Jérôme Thion, 4 Lionel Nallet (c), 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayzer, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Louis Picamoles, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 21 Florian Fritz, 22 Damien Traille.

Referee:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch judges:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official:  Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)

Italy give Wales a scare

Wales set up a championship showdown with Ireland in Cardiff next week, beating Italy narrowly 20-15 in Rome and leaving themselves with a bigger job to do next week than ought to have been necessary.

Wales now have to win by 18 points against Ireland in Cardiff next week -- and that's before Ireland play Scotland this afternoon.

Tom Shanklin's late cameo try bales Wales out, and Italy might once again reflect that with a little more finesse they would have had a result here.  Wales might reflect that they were dashed lucky, plain and simple.  On this form, an Irish Grand Slam is a near-formality (late Saturday results notwithstanding).

Wales are, in fact, in a bit of a trough.  Warren Gatland's attempt to shake things up after a slightly stale performance in Paris simply didn't work, with ring rust causing problems in a number of instances.  Up front, the scrum was shoved around tamely, while neither Gavin Henson nor James Hook were anything like the free-running talented players we know they can be.

Hook in particular was very quiet, getting drawn into a dour kicking game when his mandate had surely been to speed and open the game up as much as possible.

That Hook and co. were off-form and out of kilter was even more open to criticism because Italy offered no more than their usual mixture of territorial kicking and gear grinding up front.  In stark contrast to previous weeks the Azzurri did keep their penalty count down, not letting Wales get a toehold in their half at all.  Wales must have been prepared for a forward onslaught, but they didn't seem it.

On the two occasions Wales did manage sustained pressure, they scored tries.  That was the difference.  italy also had a couple of spells of possession in the Welsh 22, but once came away with a penalty and once, just before half-time, nothing after a botched drop goal attempt.  There, in fact, was the difference between the teams.

Otherwise, it was a nothing game.  Barely any clean breaking in the backs, a hail of aerial balls, a series of ugly thudding forward charges.  There were a few techincal bits and bobs for the puritan to chew over, a couple of admirable handling moments from props who simply don't look like they can do that sort of thing, a fabulous all-action display from the irrepresible Sergio Parisse and ... erm ... that's it.

Italy took a deserved sixth-minute lead when full-back Andrea Marcato slotted a penalty.

Andrea Marcato's kick came after referee Alan Lewis penalised the Wales front row, which was a totally changed unit from the one on duty in Paris two weeks ago.

Wales looked to move possession wide, but they also had to remain patient, biding their time in the hope scoring opportunities would present themselves later.

The visitors had expected an early Azzurri onslaught, and so it proved, with Marcato sacrificing a kickable penalty for territory in the corner when Wales lock Luke Charteris was punished for killing possession.

And Italy closed out an impressive opening quarter by launching another attack, as Mirco Bergamasco chased a kick that Wales full-back Lee Byrne smothered.

Wales should have drawn level in the 21st minute, but Hook missed a penalty from in front of the posts that confirmed an error-strewn team performance.

The visitors had to start making their presence felt, yet they struggled for fluency, forcing passes and misdirecting kicks that merely played into Italian hands.

Wales boss Warren Gatland would have been infuriated at what was unfolding in front of him, but his team gave him cause for optimism 14 minutes before the break.

A belated spell of Wales pressure produced its reward when Henson cleverly switched attacking direction and wing Shane Williams scored a simple overlap try.

It was his Wales record-equalling eighth try against Italy, and left him one short of matching Gareth Edwards' Wales best of 18 in Five or Six Nations rugby.

Hook atoned for his earlier error by slotting the extras, giving Wales a 7-3 lead, but the visitors still had plenty of work to do.

And there were further problems for the Wales front-row, as they conceded a second penalty that Marcato kicked, cutting the deficit to one point.Marcato completed his hat-trick five minutes before the break after Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones took out Azzurri scrum-half Paul Griffen off the ball, and Wales were back to square one.

And they had a lucky escape on the stroke of half-time, when wing Mark Jones just managed to ground possession behind his own line under pressure from Italy flanker Alessandro Zanni.

It meant Italy ended the opening 40 minutes with an attacking scrum, and only more impressive defensive resilience by the heavily-worked Jones kept them out.

Gatland opted against making any interval substitutions, retaining belief in a team which had produced easily the worst 40-minute performance of his nine Six Nations Tests in charge.

But there was no sign of Italy losing their conviction either, with fly-half Luke McLean keeping his team in the ascendancy by cleverly mixing and matching his kicking game.

And with skipper Parisse offering a box of tricks off the back of the scrum, Wales had their hands full.

Italy deserved to be more than two points ahead, and it was Azzurri head coach Nick Mallett who made the first changes, sending on Castrogiovanni and lock Carlo del Fava after 50 minutes.

Wales were patternless -- and often clueless -- lacking the collective nous to tighten up their game.

As a frantic third quarter edged towards its close, so the Italian forwards stepped up a gear after Castrogiovanni's arrival and Marcato booted his fourth penalty for a 12-7 advantage.

Gatland then began to use his bench, sending on three reinforcements up front in prop Gethin Jenkins, hooker Matthew Rees and back-row ace Ryan Jones, before a Hook penalty narrowed the deficit again to two points.

A Hook penalty after 65 minutes inched Wales ahead, but the game remained poised on a knife edge.

Byrne was then replaced by Tom Shanklin, yet Shanklin's first contribution was to concede a penalty 35 metres out and Marcato made it five kicks out of five.

The unthinkable prospect of defeat continued to loom large for Wales, trailing 15-13 with nine minutes left.

But it was the cue for Shanklin to make amends by scoring a quality try, dummying Marcato as he crossed the line after superb approach work by Hook.  Hook converted -- the sighs of relief at the final whistle echoed round the valleys.

Man of the match:  Sergio Parisse is fast becoming a legend.

Moment of the match:  Tom Shanklin's try was the one moment of pure class in a patchy game.

Villain of the match:  Nothing to report.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Pens:  Marcato 5

For Wales:
Tries:  S. Williams, Shanklin
Cons:  Hook 2
Pens:  Hook 2

Italy:  15 Andrea Marcato, 14 Giulio Rubini, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Luke McLean, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Martin Castrogiovanni, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Pablo Canovosio, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Roberto Quartaroli.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Jamie Roberts,12 Gavin Henson, 11 Shane Williams, 10 James Hook, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Dafydd Jones, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones (captain), 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Rhys Thomas, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 John Yapp
Replacements:  16 Matthew Rees, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Ryan Jones, 20 Warren Fury, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Tom Shanklin

Referee:  Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Touch judges:  David Pearson (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Geoff Warren (England)

Dream still on for Ireland

Ireland's dream of ending 61 years of Grand Slam hurt remains on the cards as they eked out a scrappy 22-15 win over Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

There wasn't much to separate these two in-form nations in the end, but Declan Kidney's men provided sufficient grit and determination to muscle past their opponents with substitute Jamie Heaslip's try proving the difference.

Scotland had started the stronger as they looked to add to their own improving efforts over the past six months.  And with a late switch to the right-hand side just five minutes in, powerful winger Simon Danielli looked set to open the scoring until a stray Irish hand brought him to his knees ten metres from the whitewash.

The early barrage continued for the seemingly nervous away outfit as the hosts started to set up camp downfield with points not too far away as record-breaking referee Jonathan Kaplan spotted a breakdown offence on seven minutes, allowing the metronomic Chris Paterson to master the testing wind at the first time of asking.

Offences continued to dog the Championship-chasing visitors efforts though, which started to bring a sense that Scotland were increasingly on top in several aspects.

But just as captain Mike Blair looked to press home the advantage with a bouncing kick into the Irish corner, it was a case of "nice idea but shame about the execution" as Luke Fitzgerald ushered the attempt out in-goal.

Ireland subsequently clawed themselves back onto level terms two minutes later with a penalty of their own as their soon-to-be record holder, Ronan O'Gara, slotted one through the posts during a shift in territory.

Having under-performed against England a fortnight ago, the Emerald Isle seemed to be stuck in a similar Dublin rut as David Wallace proved the catalyst in gifting Paterson a chance to stretch the gap before the two kickers traded blows.

But one felt that despite their lack of fluency, Ireland would largely be encouraged by their 12-9 deficit after a distinctly average showing up until now.

However, before any long whistle blowing could take place, Ireland were left with hearts in their mouths as the strengthening Thom Evans announced himself on proceedings.  The young winger, who has set the tournament alight on several occasions, spotted some space behind the away defence and re-gathered his own kick before Tommy Bowe saved his side with a vital tackle.

Was that to be something for Declan Kidney to use during his half-time team-talk?  Well, something seemed to inspire the men in green as Peter Stringer shrugged off an earlier knock to dart through an unexpecting Scottish defence before feeding replacement Heaslip to score the game's only try.

And with the scores 16-12 in favour of the now dominant travelling side, momentum had definitely changed hands from the first period as Ireland's forwards took a stranglehold on the match.  Enter under-fire fly-half O'Gara, who showed all of his experience to sit back and repel Scotland from the one-score margin with a well-taken drop-goal on 57 minutes.

The gutsy hosts were certainly not done on their home patch though, as a fifth Paterson penalty-goal moved them back within touching distance -- a strong finish possibly in the offing at Murrayfield?

But that was to be the Edinburgh full-back's final meaningful act as Ireland showed Six Nations-winning form to grind out their fourth-straight victory as another three points sets up an intriguing clash against reigning champions Wales next weekend.

Man of the match:  These sort of contests are won by individual moments of intelligence and what Peter Stringer showed when setting up Jamie Heaslip's score was just that.  The recalled Munster scrum-half, who had shrugged off an earlier shin injury in the game, broke through to switch with his supporting number eight and the rest is history ... welcome back Peter.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Heaslip
Con:  O'Gara
Pen:  O'Gara 3
Drop:  O'Gara

For Scotland:
Pen:  Paterson 4

Scotland:  15 Chris Paterson, 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Max Evans,12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (capt), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 John Barclay, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Jason White, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Moray Low, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Nick De Luca, 22 Hugo Southwell.

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (capt), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Rory Best, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Jamie Heaslip, 20 Tomas O'Leary, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Geordan Murphy.

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Wayne Barnes (England), Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Television match official:  Hugh Watkins (Wales)

Ireland grab ugly win over England

Ireland are now the only team left who could land a six Nations Grand Slam, after they beat England 14-13 in a miserable encounter at Croke Park on Saturday.

Brian O'Driscoll got the crucial try with 23 minutes to go, a suitable riposte after he had twice been felled late and without arms in, well, after the process of kicking.

Ronan O'Gara missed the conversion of that, and three other shots at goal on a strange off-day for him.  Other teams would have made Ireland pay, for like O'Gara's boot, the Irish were rarely at their best.

England are not one of those other teams.  Once again, ill-discipline pervaded their efforts, never more apparent than when Phil Vickery became England's ninth yellow-card recipient in four games for killing the ball not two minutes after referee Craig Joubert had issued a stern and lengthy team warning.  Two minutes later, O'Driscoll scored.  As if the fact that you cannot win with 14 men had not been emphasized enough ...

It didn't stop there either.  Danny Care followed Vickery with ten minutes to go for an asinine shoulder charge on an innocent bystander at a ruck, helping O'Gara extend the lead to 14-6.  Two yellow cards, eight points conceded as a result, eight points the defference between the two teams going into the final minute in which England scored.  We'll leave it up to you to imagine the colour of the air around Martin Johnson in the stands.

Revitalised and rejuvenated by Declan Kidney's arrival, the mental frailties that have so often undermined Irish rugby appear to have been stamped out.

Paul O'Connell looks more certain to be Lions captain by the week, while Brian O'Driscoll is showing the form of old.  He scored a try, a drop-goal and was named man of the match.

A team so long considered Six Nations bridesmaids can start sizing up their bridal gowns.  Ireland have won three Triple Crowns in four years.  No longer will that be good enough.

Scotland lie in wait at Murrayfield in a fortnight before a trip to Cardiff on the final weekend.  Ireland have a first Grand Slam since 1948 firmly in their sights.

England spent most of a physical first half forced onto the back foot by the ferocious Irish forwards.

Under pressure, England were penalised seven times in 40 minutes and were fortunate not to be trailing after O'Gara missed two relatively simple shots at goal.

Neither side showed any real inclination to play rugby and the 81,000-plus Croke Park crowd spent long periods craning their necks to watch aimless bouts of kick-tennis.

England's early glimpses of adventure, with nice touches from Riki Flutey and Mike Tindall, came to nothing as they twice ignored overlaps.

And from the moment Joe Worsley was overwhelmed at the breakdown, it was Ireland who edged the physical battle and they enjoyed 59 per cent of the first-half possession.

O'Gara almost created the opening try with a deft chip over the top for Tommy Bowe but Mark Cueto reacted smartly to win the race and touch down.

After two simple misses, O'Gara finally nudged Ireland onto the scoreboard just before the half-hour mark as England scrambled to recover after Flood's pass had been intercepted by O'Driscoll.

England managed to draw themselves level just before the interval with a Flood penalty from their one foray into the Irish 22.

But Ireland started the second half with purpose, helped by James Haskell and then Flood conceding careless penalties.

O'Driscoll snapped over a drop-goal before Ireland built 10 minutes of virtually unbroken pressure and tempers began to fray.

A series of tit-for-tat off-the-ball barges ended with referee Craig Joubert issuing a stern warning to England captain Steve Borthwick after Armitage was penalised for taking out O'Driscoll.

Tomas O'Leary sniped to within inches of the line before Joubert's patience finally snapped and Vickery was sent to the sin-bin as England defended desperately.

Ireland opted for the scrum and O'Driscoll crashed over from close range to score his third try of the championship.

O'Gara had an off day with the boot and missed with the conversion before Johnson began to ring the changes, with Mathew Tait, Care, Goode and Dylan Hartley all sent on.

In the midst of the changes, Armitage reduced the arrears to 11-6.  England were still in with a chance -- but then Care decided to crash into Horan from behind and was yellow-carded.

England staged a late rally with Goode and Tindall's breaking through the Irish midfield before Armitage sprinted onto the grubber kick to score.

Goode landed the tough conversion but England ran out of time.  We'll see in a fortnight if Martin Johnson has run out of patience with his miscreants.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Try:  O'Driscoll
Con:  O'Gara
Pens:  O'Gara 2
Drop goal:  O'Driscoll

For England:
Try:  Armitage
Con:  Goode
Pens:  Flood, Armitage

Yellow card:  Vickery (England, 55, persistent infringement), Care (England, 70, off-the-ball tackle)

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Gordon D'Arcy, 22 Geordan Murphy.

England:  15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Joe Worsley, 6 James Haskell, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Julian White, 18 Tom Croft, 19 Luke Narraway, 20 Danny Care, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Mathew Tait.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Christophe Berdos (France), Peter Allan (Scotland)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

Scotland send Italy into tailspin

Italy will surely finish bottom of this year's Six Nations after a 26-6 defeat to Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday, and questions must surely be asked at FIR headquarters over the continued tenure of Nick Mallett as Head Coach.

Once again the Italians looked restricted by their game-plan and were full of unforced errors as well as forced ones.  They still lack a game-breaker though;  Sergio Parisse may be able to do it all from number eight, even landing a drop goal in this match, but he can't win matches on his own.

That is something you can't blame Mallett for.  When the FIR chiefs do get together and review their team's performance, they might also do well to review how many journeymen are playing their trade in Italy's Super 10 at the moment.  Italy's inclusion into the Magners League must be on a self-imposed proviso that none but Italians and maybe one or two real global stars are allowed in the teams.  Italy may be suffering from an uncomfortable marriage with Mallett's methods, but the non-emergence of the needed quality for so long is not the coach's fault at all.

This could be a catapult to better things for Scotland.  Yes, we've heard that before, but there was more than just fighting spirit about this victory, there was a cutting edge, glimmers of inspiration through the dour belligerence of recent years' triumphs.  But there's still an absent ruthlessness.

Simon Danielli scored one of the tries of the tournament so far in the first half and helped to set up Scott Gray for a decisive score midway through the second period.

But for long periods the home side laboured horribly against the Azzurri, who have won just two of their last thirteen matches -- one of those last year in Rome against Hadden's men.

The three wins enjoyed during the heady days of Hadden's debut campaign in the Six Nations of 2006 seemed a distant memory, Scotland managing only fleeting moments of impressive rugby against Italy.

They will have to raise their performance if they are to trouble Ireland's potent mixture of youth and experience when the sides meet in Edinburgh in a fortnight's time.

Scotland were forced into an early change when stand-off Phil Godman went off with a facial injury, to be replaced in a blood-bin substitution by Chris Paterson.

It was another piece of misfortune against Italy for the Edinburgh playmaker, who was at fault for the first of these opponents' three tries in six minutes when the sides last met at Murrayfield two years ago.

Paterson -- who scored all Scotland's points in their last win over Italy at the 2007 World Cup -- was immediately into the action, slotting a penalty seconds after he entered the fray in the sixth minute to put his country 3-0 ahead.

Italy, who replaced Garcia with Andrea Bacchetti as Scotland carried out their reshuffle, conceded another penalty six minutes later -- and Paterson made no mistake to double his side's lead before making way fo Godman.

The return of their playmaker did nothing to improve Scotland's play as they continued to labour, a woeful interception pass thrown by Hugo Southwell to Italy flanker Alessandro Zanni summing up their dismal initial efforts.

Unlike in 2007, Scotland managed to scramble back to stop the try.  But Italy did get on the board from the subsequent recycled ball when number eight Sergio Parisse emulated great All Black back-rower Zinzan Brooke by landing a drop goal in the 22nd minute.

Godman failed with a simple penalty attempt but did move his side 9-3 ahead with a straightforward kick just after the half-hour.

Scotland were still by no means playing fluent rugby but were at least enjoying a greater amount of possession and territory -- and they turned that improved field position into a try of rare ingenuity and class four minutes from the break.

Mike Blair and John Barclay fed Graeme Morrison in midfield, and the Glasgow centre popped the ball inside for Danielli to hit the line at pace.

The Ulster winger scorched past Matteo Pratichetti and sauntered round under the posts for one of the tries of the tournament -- and Danielli's first for his country since 2004.

Godman converted to stretch his side's lead to 16-3 -- and with Marcato missing a long-range penalty attempt just before the break, Scotland went to half-time with a significant advantage which probably flattered them.

Less than 10 minutes had elapsed in the second period when both sides coincidentally decided to change their full-backs, Paterson coming on permanently for Hugo Southwell and Marcato replaced by Giulio Rubini.

Hadden also brought on Dougie Hall at hooker in place of Ross Ford and Chris Cusiter for captain Mike Blair.

Italy were the next to score, stand-off Luke McLean slotting a simple penalty in the 55th minute to bring his side to within a converted try and a penalty of the hosts.

However, Hadden's latest replacement did have the desired impact when Gray touched down in the 63rd minute after more good work from Danielli.

The former Bath and Borders star cut in from the left and fed fellow winger Thom Evans, who showed a welcome piece of composure to find Gray when he was stopped short of the line to allow the Zimbabwe-born flanker to dive over for his first try for Scotland.

Paterson converted to put Scotland out of sight at 23-6 and ask further questions of Italy's stamina in Test matches.

Scotland made most of the running in the latter stages, and only a fumble on the line denied Cusiter a try -- after a wonderful burst from replacement prop Alasdair Dickinson -- in the last notable piece of action.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Danielli, Gray
Cons:  Godman, Paterson
Pens:  Paterson 2, Godman 2

For Italy:
Pen:  McLean
Drop goal:  Parisse

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair, (captain), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 John Barclay, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Alastair Kellock, 4 Jason White, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Kelly Brown, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Chris Paterson, 22 Nick De Luca.

Italy:  15 Andrea Marcato, 14 Mirco Bergamasco, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Luke McLean, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Pablo Canovosio, 21 Andrea Bacchetti, 22 Giulio Rubini.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch-judges:  George Clancy (Ireland) and Romain Poite (France)

France break Wales' run

Wales' run of eight consecutive Six Nations victories came to an end in Paris on Friday, as France finally stitched all the component parts of their game together and produced a terrific second half of rugby to win 21-16.

The hosts went 51 minutes without conceding a penalty following Lee Byrne's 24th minute try which gave the Welsh a 13-3 lead, notching 18 unanswered points before holding off a fierce late Welsh onslaught.

"If we win we'll be right, and if we lose you can say that we are incompetent and pass us off as idiots," Marc Lièvremont said to reporters who had questioned the wisdom of playing with no specialist goal-kicker, no specialist fly-half starting, and an untried 20-year-old in the middle.

In the event, the fly-half did just fine before he went off injured and the 20-year-old had a more than passable debut.  As for the goal-kicker:  Morgan Parra joins Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and Dimitri Yachvili on the list of French international scrum-halves who could boot a ball through an archer's slit from 50 yards.  Lièvremont was right.  If the French back this up with similar domination of England in a fortnight's time -- not unthinkable -- it could herald a new era.

If France had all the problems and pressure before the game, Wales have a few after it.  An uncharacteristic indiscipline undermined their efforts; in that period the French didn't concede a penalty, the Welsh gave away nine.  It's not worth a panic yet -- better teams have lost in Paris when the French are on song -- but by Wales' own high standards, this was a step down.

Whatever it was to the teams, it was the game of the tournament to all of us watching, full of fluidity, endeavour, tactical nuance and surprise.  Did France win because they wised up to the lack of Welsh bodies at rucks?  Will the Welsh feel hard done-by from the referee?  How good was Imanol Harinordoquy?  Should the Welsh have speeded the game up sooner?  How much more room do the French have to develop from this point, or was this the benchmark performance Lièvremont had demanded?  All rugby fans watching had plenty to both admire and ponder, the perfect rugby experience.

Certainly the answer to the first of those questions is a resounding "yes".  In the first few minutes the Welsh got themselves into a 6-3 lead courtesy of two penalties.

The French had opted not to contest rucks in defence early on, perhaps hoping that the Welsh might over-run themselves with ball in hand and get isolated.  Instead, they were caught offside once and pinged once for playing the ball on the ground.  But eventually the Welsh were lulled into a false sense of security; the French later turned over oodles of ball by sending bodies into the thick of it in defence, blue shirts often outnumbering red by two to one.

The Welsh in defence were even more reticent; frequently a French ruck would be marked with one Welsh tackler and two Welsh pillars, with the other twelve strung across the pitch in rigid defensive formation and five or six blue shirts piled up to secure possession.  Again, the French got streetwise and adapted, starting hitting the ball at pace and from deeper, and got the upper hand.

On the basis of all that, Wales were their own worst enemies.  Being outnumbered at a ruck in an age where referees are encouraged to whistle any attempt to steal ball that lasts longer than a nanosecond is not particularly clever.  There may be grumbles about refereeing consistency but they'll find short shrift from most watching, particularly after what Wales' defence did to England a fortnight ago.

Still, they led 13-3 after 24 minutes after a magnificent try from Lee Byrne, who sliced through a gap at full tilt on an unstoppable angle from 40m with not a fingernail laid on him.

That should have been the cue to speed things up.  France had already struggled with direct running from deep, especially from Tom Shanklin.  Instead, the Welsh backs remained infuriatingly flat, removing their ability to create such gaps.

Instead, the game belonged to France from that moment on.  They had already shown signs of their in-game development when Bastareaud's break had taken the french to the line and Harinordoquy had touched the ball down, only for the move to be whistled for excessive usage of the hand in presenting the ball -- an extraordinary harsh call given some of the leeway allowed for ball presentation at times.

That was on 21 minutes.  That was the last time the French conceded a penalty before Harinordoquy was caught going into the side of a ruck on 72 minutes.  That was the difference between the teams.

Five minutes before half-time Maxime Médard's break resulted in a penalty which Parra converted effortlessly to make it 13-6, right on the stroke of half-time Harinordoquy picked off the base of a scrum and drove to 2m out, stopped short by a brilliant tackle from Shane Williams.  Two picks and drives and a conversion later, Thierry Dusautoir and Parra had levelled the scores at the break.

Wales started the second half brighter, with a Mike Philips box-kick causing consternation in the French defence and Tom Shanklin driving close.  Here the difference became apparent again:  French bodies there tempted the Welsh to drive in off their feet and give the position away.

France took the lead on 53 minutes, swinging the ball left after Harinordoquy had made the hard yards and scoring through Heymans despite doing their best to butcher a four on two overlap.  Parra blotted his copybook with the conversion and a penalty ten minutes later, both of which shaved the post, but by now France had the game in control.

Bastareaud made another break which Heymans nearly capitalised on, Parra put his side two scores ahead with a penalty for an early tackle as Wales struggled to cope with the depth of the French support runners.

Finally the veneer of French discipline broke on 71 minutes, with Harinordoquy, of all people, caught going into the side of a ruck.  James Hook, whose introduction had been long overdue, made it 21-16.

Cue some frantic Welsh catch-up rugby -- reminiscent of four years ago at the very same venue.  Cue another mad scramble for the line off a ruck from Martyn Williams.  But there was no magical ending this time as the French piled bodies into a ruck on the line and turned the ball over.

Man of the match:  King of the line-outs and the loose, Imanol Harinordoquy was a colossus, the benchmark player of a top-notch game.

Moment of the match:  That late turnover sealed the deal, a super piece of defensive graft under heavy pressure.

Villain of the match:  Tom Shanklin was lucky not to get a yellow card for a mid-air tackle on Harinordoquy, but that bit of villainy was cancelled out by the meal the Frenchman made of his landing.  No award.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Dusautoir, Heymans
Con:  Parra
Pens:  Parra 3

For Wales:
Try:  Byrne
Con:  S.  Jones
Pens:  S.  Jones 2, Hook

France:  15 Maxime Medard, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Benoit Baby, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Sebastien Chabal, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 21 Francois Trinh-Duc, 22 Clement Poitrenaud.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Ryan Jones (c), 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Dafydd Jones, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 James Hook, 22 Gavin Henson

Referee:  Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Alain Rolland (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)

Disjointed Ireland account for Italy

Ireland followed up last week's win over France with a 38-9 victory over Italy at the Stadio Flaminio to keep the pressure on Wales at the top of the Six Nations standings.

Put the result to one side and there will be major areas of concern for both coaches, in what was a tale of two halves.  In the opening forty minutes it was Italy who controlled events whilst Ireland floundered, and then the roles were reversed after the break.

Declan Kidney will be the happier of the two coaches, after all his side came out of this brutal encounter with the win, but Nick Mallett will also draw from Italy's ability to take the game to Ireland, albeit only for forty minutes.

Paul Griffen, whilst not spectacular, showed the true worth of having a recognised half-back at this level, and Italy's game benefited for it.  How Mallett must be wishing he had never even entertained the idea of playing a flanker at nine, let along actually going through with it.

There was a fluidity to their rugby that was missing at Twickenham last week, and that coupled with Ireland's ill discipline allowed them to settle early on -- even with 14 men.  No sooner had the game started than Andrea Masi was in the sin-bin for a disgraceful swinging arm that caught Rob Kearney high.

Despite having Masi off the field Italy went about their task with plenty of vigour, perhaps a little too much at times as tempers came dangerously close to boiling over.  Hell bent on rectifying last week's forgettable forty minutes, Mauro Bergamasco was a menace at the breakdown, often slowing Ireland's ball down enough for any promising attacks to fizzle out.

Kidney will be alarmed that his side coughed up more penalties in the opening fifteen minutes of this game than they did in eighty minutes against France.  Italy had their own infringers, but Ireland were feeling the wrath of Chris White's whistle all too often.  The end result was a six point margin courtesy of Luke Mclean's boot.

Their luck changed after eighteen minutes when Tommy Bowe snapped up a loose pass, before skipping out of two despairing tackles, and showing a clean set of heals to go in under the posts.  O'Gara converted and suddenly Ireland were leading having spent the opening quarter on the back foot.  The lead didn't last though as Mclean soon slotted his third straight penalty.

With the penalties continuing to flow it was always a matter of time before we saw another yellow card, and in fact two came in quick succession.  First O'Gara went, albeit slightly harshly, for tackling a player without the ball, and then it was Salvatore Perugini's turn, his more deserved for taking Paul O'Connell out in mid-air.

Ireland continued to struggle, as they had for much of the half, until they finally turned some pressure into points.  Italy were holding firm, with the half at an end, until Jamie Heaslip slipped a great pass to Luke Fitzgerald, and the wing did the rest.  With O'Gara off Kearney slotted the extras and Ireland went into the break with an undeserved lead.

Kidney will have been livid at half-time, and Ireland's performance after the break suggested they had taken much of what was said on board, or at least Heaslip did.  It was his surge down the middle of the pitch that lead to David Wallace scoring, although the laboured manner in which the try was eventually taken will not go unnoticed.

From there it seemed as if Italy lost their belief, at the same time Ireland began to find some success from playing to their game plan.  The structure enabled them to go through the phases and put pressure on Italy's defence, and when O'Gara slotted a penalty on the fifty minute mark it was clear there would only be one winner.

Sadly the game began to fade, as errors became increasingly more common, effectively ending the game as a spectacle and contest.  Both sides still went about their business in keeping with the physical nature of the game, just both had a sense that the game was up.  Fitzgerald's second try, and O'Driscoll's first, the icing on the cake for Ireland and the final nails in Italy's coffin.

Italy's frustrating affair with the Six Nations continues, and one wanders if they will ever compete on a weekly basis.  At present one senses they have the ability to win a one-off game, but there is little evidence to suggest they could sustain such form.

Despite claiming victory there will be cause for concern in the Ireland camp, as if they are to mount a serious challenge this season they can ill-afford to turn in such a sub-standard first-half again.  On the flip side they did what they needed to win, and really that is what matters.

Man of the Match:  Having had a stormer against France last week Jamie Heaslip backed it up with another all-action display here in Rome.  Be it bursting through tackles, doing the hard work at the breakdown, or setting up tries, all that Heaslip did had a touch of class to it.  A few more outings like this and there will be talk of a British and Irish Lions spot for him.

Moment of the Match:  With Italy starting to believe they could cause an upset in the first half the telling blow was Luke Fitzgerald's try on the stroke of half-time.  It gave Ireland the lead, despite having done little to deserve it, and left Italy trailing at the break -- a position from which they would never recover.

Villain of the Match:  Tempers were simmering over throughout, but it took just 41 seconds to hand this gong out.  Hang your head in shame Andrea Masi for a horrendous high swinging arm.  Had it not been the first minute of a Test match it would have been red.

The Scorers:

For Italy:
Pens:  Mclean 3

For Ireland:
Tries:  Bowe, Fitzgerald 2, Wallace, O'Driscoll
Cons:  O'Gara 4, Kearney
Pen:  O'Gara

Yellow cards:  Masi (1st minute -- dangerous tackle), O'Gara (32nd minute -- early tackle), Perugini (36th minute -- taking the man out in the air).

The Teams:

Italy:  15 Andrea Masi, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Luke Mclean, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Tommaso Reato, 4 Santiago Dellape', 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Giulio Toniolatti, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Andrea Bacchetti.

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mal O'Kelly, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Gordon D'Arcy, 22 Geordan Murphy.

Referee:  Chris White (England)
Touch judges:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Romain Poite (France)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)

France ease to victory over Scotland

France got their Six Nations off to a belated start on Saturday with a 22-13 win over Scotland in the Stade de France, in a game which will do little to alleviate the pressure on either coach to get their team going.

In the end, France won because their pack managed to get more of the possession and because Lionel Beauxis was a little more wily with the boot in open play;  neither principle pleased the crowd one jot.

The match was punctuated by a chorus of boos from a demanding French public beginning to develop more than a mite of irritation at their new team's inability to get it completely together.

French discipline was much better -- they didn't concede a penalty until the 26th minute and conceded only seven all game -- but it was their gameplay in general that let them down this time.  Where last week in Ireland they had conceded penalties at the rate of one every four minutes, this time the rate of handling errors exceeded that mean, certainly in the first half.

Scotland weren't much better with their handling errors, so it was a frustrating match of rugby to watch.  Both sides promised much but delivered very little.  Both coaches will have to knuckle down under a hail of criticism and spend the next fortnight on execution lessons: neither game-plan was flawed, neither side lacked quality, neither side seemed capable of catching a train, never mind a rugby ball.

Max Evans and Simon Danielli justified their selections by being the brighter sparks outside the Scottish scrum;  they benefitted from the openness of the Scottish game-plan which saw the visitors try to open the ball from side to side even when ensconced in their own 22.

The French also limited their use of the boot to start with, although as the first half wore on and frustration at the lack of continuity grew, a number of garryowens became the plan B.

Both sides looking to open the ball, neither executing with mnuch success.  So what separated the two teams was the set piece skirmish, and once again the Scots scrum let itself down, being turned this way and that, once being memorably driven some 10m backwards and generally being dominated.

Had the French line-outs been anything like as good as the scrum the men in white could have been further ahead than just 6-3 at the break, but Dimitri Szarzewski was imprecise with his throwing, Jim Hamilton, Jason White and later Kelly Brown eager with the contest, so French line-out became a source of Scottish possession more often than not.

The clearest opportunity either team had to score a try in the first half was when Lionel Beauxis hacked through a dropped ball in the French midfield, but when he tried to hack ahead the second time, the ball took an unruly bounce over his boot and the danger was thwarted.

Beauxis also missed two easy shots at goal which could have had France in a comfort zone.  He landed two out of four to Phil Godman's one from one: 6-3 at half-time it was, after a forgettable half of rugby.

France opened the second half with more of the same: a dire line-out, the defence forcing a handling error from the Scots, a hack ahead by Médard where the bounce cost the French a try.

Moments later though, we did have a try as Médard jinked his way through and offloaded to Fulgence Ouedraogo for the score.  Beauxis found his range, 13-3.

Godman replied with a penalty on 50 minutes after some handbags from Szarzewski and at last, blessed relief!  The game began to open up!  France's backs found their rhythm and Médard was once again nearly on the end of a chip kick.  On 53 minutes, Benoit Baby was high-tackled in midfield and Beauxis landed his kick from 50m to make it 16-6.

Scotland butchered the best move of the game by gawping at their own ability to do something good.  John Barclay and Mike Blair exchanged four passes between each other as they shredded the French midfield, the nearest Scottish support man was about 20m behind.  Barclay was tackled and held on, France cleared from the penalty.  On the hour mark, the Scottish scrum creaked too much for referee George Clancy's liking and Beauxis made it 19-6.

Thom Evans emulated his brother's try-scoring feat of last week by slicing through the 10-12 channel after a series of Scottish rucks near the French line with twelve minutes to go, with Paterson bringing the Scots back to touching distance at 19-13.

Three minutes later, Beauxis clipped over his fifth to put his side more than two scores ahead again, and seal the deal.

Man of the match:  Max Evans was Scotland's brightest spark, with Mike Blair and John Barclay also playing well.  For France, Maxime Médard was a source of creativity, but it was Imanol Harinordoquy whose work-rate kept his side going forward.

Moment of the match:  The inter-passing move between Mike Blair and John Barclay that petered out for lack of support.  Super handling and running angles, something few others managed all afternoon.

Villain of the match:  The French crowd deserves to be frustrated, but to boo so vociferously when your team is winning?  Come on ...

The scorers:

For France:
Try:  Ouedraogo
Con:  Beauxis
Pens:  Beauxis 5

For Scotland:
Try:  Thom Evans
Con:  Paterson
Pens:  Godman 2

The teams:

France:  15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Maxime Medard, 13 Benoît Baby, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Renaud Boyoud, 18 Sebastien Chabal, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Maxime Mermoz, 22 Julien Malzieu

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 John Barclay, 6 Al Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Jason White, 3 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Moray Low, 18 Kelly Brown, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Chris Paterson ), 22 Nick De Luca.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Wayne Barnes (England), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

Wales break brave English hearts

Wales held off a much improved England side to record their second consecutive Six Nations victory of the season, running out eventual 23-15 winners at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

It was meant to be a cakewalk for Wales, but England had different ideas, very different ideas.  The question must be asked, was this England finally turning the corner from what has been a long straight road of directionless rugby, or was this England spurred on by the occasion -- Wales in Cardiff?

The opening twenty minutes suggested not much had changed from last week, in either camp.  Wales were full of endeavour and organised attack, whilst England were a little lost, all too dependent on the boot and up to their old tricks with a lack of discipline.  End result, Wales 9-0 to the good and seemingly in position to kick on and record the comfortable victory most had them down for.

And then, rather unexpectedly England came to life and began playing with something that looked suspiciously like structure, and more than a fair share of direction.  Joe Worsley, deployed to shackle Andy Powell and Jamie Roberts, worked himself into the ground.  Even Mike Tindall, ten minutes in the bin aside, was making his hits and stopping quick ball for the Welsh.

It was his desire to slow Welsh ball down that got him ten in the bin, but that is when England were at their best.  Once Stephen Jones slotted the resulting penalty the Tindle-less England scored against the run of play.  Riki Flutey showed a glimpse of his brilliance before sending Andy Goode free, and Paul Sackey won the race to the chip ahead.

When Goode slotted a drop goal on the half hour mark Wales looked shell-shocked.  It was as if they had believed all the pre-match hype, billing them as clear favourites and runaway winners, and forgotten to play rugby in the process.  Their insistence of attacking the same way until the space was gone worked against them on several occasions, too many players waiting for the swing in action and not enough in the rucks.

Credit to England, who for so long have lacked anything other than yellow cards (although they got their usual two this time out), for it was their aggression at the breakdown that caused Wales their problems.  Suddenly with a lack of quick ball Wales didn't look so clever, lacked a little shape and consequently lost control of the game.

Goode handed the hosts a perfect start to the second half, as he was sent to the bin and Wales made England pay the ultimate price.  First of all Jones slotted the resulting penalty, and then seconds later Leigh Halfpenny, who seems to know no bounds, was racing away for a great try from turnover ball.  Was that to be the spark Wales needed?  Was that to be the start of what we had all expected?  The answer was a resounding "no".

In fact England grew in stature as they realised they had a fighting chance, and when Delon Armitage broke free to dive in under the posts there only seemed to be one winner.  Wales were looking lost with Powell nullified, hence he was withdrawn on the hour, and Roberts being contained, just.

Although with Roberts under the microscope Tom Shanklin was left to roam free.  Shanklin has never needed a second invite, and once again he proved to be a real threat with ball in hand.  In fact he was one of the few Welsh players to make an impact on England's resolute defence, a defence that finally looked worthy of the Test arena.

Whilst the record books will show an English defeat, this could be the turning point a nation has been hoping and praying for.  Or it could be a much improved performance fuelled by passion and emotion.  Either way it will keep the wolves from the door for another week, and with their barks getting increasingly louder of late the peace will be welcome.

For Wales there is plenty to ponder, and they will be glad this wake-up call came now, for if they went to France in this state it could be a messy day.  We now know there isn't much when the ball is slow, which means Gatland and co.  need to devise "plan B".  "Plan A" is good, and works well, now lets see what Wales can do when not given free reign and quick ball.

Man of the Match:  First let's give Jonathan Kaplan a well deserved mention.  A lot has been said of the standard of the officials of late, but this was a fine display from the South African.  He controlled the breakdown and allowed the game to flow.  Well done sir, take a bow on behalf of referees.  Now to the real heroes.  Andrew Sheridan answered his critics in style, whilst Riki Flutey finally showed he can play Test rugby.  Honourable mentions for Jamie Roberts and Leigh Halfpenny, but the award is split between Tom Shanklin and Joe Worsley.  Shanklin was Wales' rock, in attack and defence, with plenty to offer.  Worsley, question marks over his ability as an international openside, turned in one of his best ever England performances.  He tackled like a man possessed and enabled England to play to a gameplan, something they haven't done since 2003!

Moment of the Match:  Two moments stick out the most, England's yellow cards.  Had it not been for the yellows England may have won this game.  When Tindall was off they won 5-3, but when Goode was off, and the game was in the balance, they coughed up ten points.  One day England will learn it is very difficult to win a Test match with fourteen men for sixty minutes.

Villain of the Match:  Nick Kennedy had a few wild swings, which thankfully amounted to nothing more than air shots, and apart from that this was a good old fashioned game of rugby.

The Scorers:

For Wales:
Try:  Halfpenny
Pens:  S.Jones 5, Halfpenny

For England:
Tries:  Sackey, Armitage
Con:  Flood
Drop goal:  Goode

Yellow cards:  Tindall (15th minute -- slowing the ball down), Goode (42nd minute -- killing the ball).

The Teams:

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Mark Jones, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Ryan Jones (captain), 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Dafydd Jones, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 James Hook, 22 Andrew Bishop.

England:  15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Joe Worsley, 6 James Haskell, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Julian White, 18 Tom Croft, 19 Luke Narraway, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Mathew Tait.

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
TMO:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Wales conquer Murrayfield

Wales navigated the potential banana skin of Scotland at Murrayfield with ease on Sunday, opening the defence of their Six Nations title with a confident 26-13 victory over the luckless locals.

It was the near-perfect start for the reigning champions and they will return home to plot England's downfall with heads and tails held high.

Scotland will rue what might have been.  Two game-ending injures in the first half coupled with a yellow card to debutant prop Geoff Cross killed off what had been an enterprising start and any real chance of an upset.

Much has been made of Wales's confidence following their Grand Slam heroics of 2008 and they showed their mettle by shrugging off the eleventh-hour loss of their captain, Ryan Jones, to gallop to a 21-3 lead in just over 40 minutes of rugby.

But perhaps Wales are just a little too confident at present.

With the game all but won they coasted home in second half, allowing the Scots back into the game.

Shaun Edwards's face bent into apoplectic rage as Max Evans snatched a consolation try for the men in blue.  It was a vivid indication that such bouts of navel-gazing will be beaten out of the Welsh in the next few days -- sides better equipped than resource-challenged Scotland would have taken full advantage of such complacency.

But perhaps also the Welsh are entitled to feel good about themselves.  Their handling skills, game perception, defence, organisation and fitness are a cut above everything else we have seen this weekend.

Indeed, the only discernable chink in the red armour seems to be the line-out.  It is a weakness that England will seek to exploit at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday -- it could be their only hope.

The Scots exploded into the game, making mincemeat out of the Welsh in the game's first scrum.  But it proved to be an illusion -- Scotland's pack doubled and creaked without the twin tonnage of the injured Nathan Hines and Euan Murray.

The visitors, who have won only once on their last five visits to Edinburgh, soon settled into the stride, with Lee Byrne causing the locals all sorts of problems with his sinewy lines of running.

Simon Webster came off his wing to kill a promising raid with a great hit on Martyn Williams, but the Scotsman came off second best -- and the intervention led to a penalty which Stephen Jones duly dispatched between the upright.

It was a passage of play that summed up the hosts' day:  plenty of hearty endeavour but precious little reward.

And worse was to come.

This time it was Cross who came off second best in a challenge.  He took out the airborne Lee Byrne and earned concussion and a yellow card for his troubles.

Webster was then ordered off the pitch after a delayed reaction from his own knock saw him introduce his lunch to the Murrayfield turf during the break in play.

Wales made the most of the Scotland's woes by scoring immediately after the resumption of play, launching a flowing back move that saw Shane Williams and Byrne link menacingly before Tom Shanklin powered over in his usual inimitable fashion.

Jones botched the conversion attempt, yet Wales were good value for their 8-0 advantage during what had been a stop-start affair during the first 25 minutes.

And matters soon deteriorated further for Scotland, as Wales cashed in on disrupting the seven-man blue scrum to launch a Stephen Jones-inspired raid before scrum-half Mike Phillips delivered the scoring pass to Alun-Wyn Jones.

Chris Paterson, on for the stricken Webster, opened Scotland's account with a penalty nine minutes before the break, but Wales were in no mood to concede further points.

A Welsh defence that conceded just two tries during last season's entire Six Nations tournament thwarted Scottish adventure, highlighted through a stunning try-saving tackle by number eight Andy Powell on Paterson.

With the ball failing to emerge from the ensuing melee, Scotland were awarded a scrum on the red line.  Manna from heaven for any attacking team -- but not a under-powered Scottish scrum.  Ross Ford won the hook but Wales simply shunted the Scots off the ball and Powell ran to safety from the base of the accelerating scrum.

Wales charged upfield in pursuit of their ramapaging anchorman and Stephen Jones struck his second penalty with the half's final kick, securing a 16-3 interval advantage.

Wales began the second half as they ended the first, with the impressive Jamie Roberts cutting a line down the middle of the field.  The ball was sent right at pace and a delicious back-door pass from Shane Williams offered up the line to Leigh Halfpenny and the youngster touched down in the corner with textbook precision.

Stephen Jones missed the conversion but it hardly mattered:  Wales had clear water and the Scots were all at sea.

Inevitably, Shane Williams soon got in on the act, sneaking through following a period of sustained pressure.  Again, Stephen Jones failed to add the extras.

With the job done, Wales boss Warren Gatland rang the changes.  It seemed the stationary warm-up bicycles would offer the Welsh replacements more of a work-out than the Scots, but the hosts had other ideas.

They mounted a late challenge with Martyn Williams in the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-down and a consolation try duly arrived on 71 minutes with the impressive Evans wriggling through to score.

The try lifted the crowd and their team continued to press.  Paterson almost scored, but he could not ground the ball ahead of a scrambling Byrne.

The truth is that a second Scottish try would have added nothing but cosmetic value -- Wales had comfortably done enough, winning a Test match they never remotely looked like losing.

Man of the match:  Not much from the Scots, to be painfully honest -- but one senses that they are just a game or two away from getting it together -- one has sensed that for a while, actually.  All the usual stars shone for Wales, but it was the intelligent play of the unsung Jamie Roberts that stood out.  How Scotland must envy their victors' deep reserves of talent!

Moment of the match:  Surely the demolition of Scotland's scrum on the Welsh line -- it was a hammer blow to any lingering Scottish hopes.

Villain of the match:  Alain Rolland was reluctant to wave a yellow card over the prone body of Geoff Cross and we are reluctant to hand him this hideous gong.  It might have been a tad cynical, but we'll put it down to over-exuberance -- his tears during Flower of Scotland showed just what a first appearance for his country meant to him.  It seems a pity that he won't remember any of it!  No award.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Try:  Evans
Con:  Paterson
Pens:  Paterson 2

For Wales:
Tries:  Shanklin, AW Jones, Halfpenny, S Williams
Pens:  S Jones 2

Yellow card(s):  Cross (Scotland) -- dangerous tackle, 20;  M Williams (Wales) -- deliberate knock-down, 66.

The teams:

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Simon Webster, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 John Barclay, 6 Ally Hogg, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Jason White, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Alastair Dickinson, 18 Kelly Brown, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Chris Paterson, 22 Max Evans.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams (c), 6 Dafydd Jones, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 James Hook, 22 Andrew Bishop.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Chris White (England), Rob Debney (England)
TMO:  Geoff Warren (England)

Ireland turn the tide

Ireland got their 2009 Six Nations campaign off to a winning start on Saturday with a 30-21 victory over France in an enthralling, high-paced encounter at Croke Park.

Despite playing entertaining rugby and having the lion's share of possession, France were unable to repeat their last-minute victory of two years ago at the same venue as Ireland triumphed over Les Bleus for the first time in six years.

Declan Kidney's team cashed in on every opportunity that came their way to outscore their visitors three tries to two.

In stark contrast to England's dour display at Twickenham earlier in the day, no one could complain that the teams didn't entertain.  France came good on their promise of playing enterprising rugby and Ireland's backs finally came up with the spark that has been missing for so long.

As expected, Ireland's win was built on the hard graft of their ever-efficient pack, but a few flashes of class from the likes of Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Gordon D'Arcy kept the scoreboard ticking over.

But it was the Irish loose trio that stood out.  A try for Jamie Heaslip was just reward for a tireless effort.  On numerous occasions, possession was ripped from French hands at vital times.

Ronan O'Gara opened the scoring for the home side after just two minutes with a penalty from 35 metres out after Lionel Faure was penalised for not rolling away.

France had not yet touched the ball and were three points down but dominated possession for the rest of the half.

The visitors scored the first try on the quarter-hour mark with a piece of flowing rugby.

Maxime Médard had the Irish defence scrambling with a chip down the left touch line and Sébastien Tillous-Borde had the presence of mind to send a long cross-field pass out to Sebastien Chabal.  The big lock rumbled forward before finding Julien Malzieu, who did well while skirting the touchline to offload to Imanol Harinordoquy and the French number eight charged over to put his side ahead.

Lionel Beauxis' conversion was almost immediately countered by a second penalty from O'Gara, when Dimitri Szarzewski was adjudged off-side.

Apart from the opening foray, it had been all France for twenty minutes, but the home side were just one point adrift.

Five minutes from the half-time a break from Kearney turned the game on its head.  The full-back beat a couple of tackles as the Irish back-line produced it's most fluid move in many moons.

Kearney's break led to the supporting Tommy Bowe carrying on the charge.  The recycled ball found Jamie Heaslip, and a big step from the number eight wrong footed the defence before he sprinted over for a vital score.

Being behind didn't put France off their enterprising game as Chabal made a barnstorming run to put his team back on the attack.  With the referee playing advantage for an Irish offside, Beauxis struck one of his trademark drop goals from 40 metres out to make the score 13-10 to the hosts as the teams trotted off at half time.

Ireland started the second period in perfect fashion to move further ahead as skipper O'Driscoll scored a fantastic try.  It was classic BOD -- straight running to beat his man -- Beauxis -- followed by a clean step to get around the last line of defence- Julien Malzieu.

France struck right back as Maxime Médard scored thanks to an inch-perfect cross-field kick-pass from Beauxis after Harinordoquy had grabbed a loose ball.

Beauxis followed up with his second drop goal.  Three points it might have added, but one could not help feel that it was a waste of quality possession at that moment.  What exactly the fascination with drops is in French rugby is beyond me, overkill is the word that springs to mind.

At 20-18 it was anyone's game but Ireland once again nicked the advantage.  A clever chip ahead from O'Driscoll put the blue line-out jumpers and their fly-half under pressure, setting up an attacking line-out for the home side.

D'Arcy rounded off a few phases from the heavies by twisting himself over the line for a well deserved try.

A penalty from Beauxis with four minutes to play made the scores 27-21, setting up a tense finale.  But O'Gara's sixth successful place-kick a minute later put the game out of the visitors' reach.

France will head home obviously disappointed with the result, but showed enough to maintain hopes of victory in this year's tournament.

For Ireland, their first victory in eight games against France has confirmed their status as genuine title contenders.  A fascinating month awaits us -- as does that game in Cardiff on March 21!

Man of the match:  Imanol Harinordoquy was the stand-out player for the visitors with an excellent display in both the line-outs and loose play.  Sebastien Chabal deserves a mention, as does Beauxis in his first game in Blue since the World Cup.  For Ireland Brian O'Driscoll silenced his critics with his best display in a long time and Rob Kearney was exciting on attack.  But Jamie Heaslip gets our vote.  His try was awesome but his night was summed up by winning a penalty for O'Gara to slot in the dying minutes by wrapping up Cedric Heymans, who was forced to hold on in the tackle.

Moment of the match:  Both O'Driscoll and Heaslip's tries were gems, but Gordon D'Arcy's try on 66 minutes put the Irish ahead at a vital time and forced the French to loose their composure a little.

Villain of the match:  No serious mischief to report.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Heaslip, O'Driscoll, D'Arcy
Cons:  O'Gara 3
Pens:  O'Gara 3

For France:
Tries:  Harinordoquy, Medard
Con:  Beauxis
Drops:  Beauxis 2

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mal O'Kelly, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Gordon D'Arcy, 22 Geordan Murphy.

France:  15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Lionel Nallet (c), 4 Sebastien Chabal, 3 Benoit Lecouls, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Nicolas Mas, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Benoit Baby, 22 Cedric Heymans.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges:  Dave Pearson (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
TMO:  Giulio de Santis (Italy)