France end on a high

France ended their Six Nations campaign on a high after beating Wales 28-9 in Paris, and in the process leap-frogged their visitors into second place in the final championship standings.

Lock and man-of-the-match Lionel Nallett scored a try either side of half-time to kill off any chances the Welsh had of winning this match, while wing Vincet Clerc effectively ended the contest after touching down under the posts whilst James Hook was serving 10 minutes in the bin.

Ireland's 24-8 win over England in Dublin earlier in the day meant Wales went into the match knowing they had to beat France by 27 points -- they never came close and finish the tournament fourth overall.

Wales weren't helped with controversy surrounding defence coach Shaun Edwards after he was banned from any involvement in the game at the Stade de France after internal disciplinary action.

The result restored French pride after last week's humiliating loss to Italy in Rome and also confirmed England as this year's Six Nations champions.

James Hook got his team on the board as early as the second minute with a well-struck penalty that sailed straight and true between the uprights from a difficult angle.

First blood to Wales but Morgan Parra was quick to level the scores with an equally impressive strike 10m in from the touchline.  Hook had a chance to reclaim Wales' lead, but this time pulled his second attempt wide.

Wales then suffered a major blow after flank Sam Warburton was forced to leave the field with an injury and replaced by Jonathan Thomas.

Parra put France in front for the first time in the match with a penalty goal in the 25th minute, but failed with his third attempt to extend Les Bleus' lead even futher.

Wing Leigh Halfpenney looked to be home and dry for Wales' opening try, but a last-gasp ankle tap by fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc saved the day for France.

Instead it was France who crossed over for the first five-pointer thanks to a brilliant bull-dozing run by Nallett after throwing a dummy and stepping on the gas.  The former French skipper took two Welsh defenders over the line with him in the corner, but Parra couldn't follow up the try with a conversion.

At half-time, France deservedly held an 11-3 lead.

It didn't take long for Hook to get his side within five points of the French with a penalty two minutes into the second half but the Perpignan-bound pivot was soon guilty of gifting France their second try.

Hook's attempted clearance kick was charged down by Julien Pierre, who offloaded for his second-row partner Nallet to touch down for the second time.  Parra rediscovered his range with the conversion to pad France's advantage to 18-6.

An exchange of penalties between Hook and Parra made it 21-9 before the officials made a decisive intervention.

Hook was shown the yellow card by referee Craig Joubert, who -- acting on the advice of his touch judge -- deemed the Wales fly-off guilty of a dangerous tackle on Parra.  Replays suggested it was a harsh call, Hook having lifted Parra off the floor before easing him back to the ground rather than simply dropping him.

The extra man told immediately, Clerc added France's third try by collecting Trinh-Duc's chip over the onrushing defence.

Wales almost kept things interesting when, after a breakout against the run-of-play, Davies was stopped just short of the posts and France were able to prevent the ball being recycled quickly with plenty of red shirts waiting out wide.

Clerc was denied a second try of his own when his dive for the right corner saw him stopped just short and France then comfortably ran the clock down as La Marseillaise rang out around a contented Stade de France.

Man of the match:  Two tries, too good -- take a bow Lionel Nallet.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Nallett 2, Clerc
Cons:  Parra 2
Pens:  Parra 3

For Wales:
Pens:  Hook 3

France:  15 Maxime Médard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 David Marty, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Luc Ducalcon, 18 Pascal Papé, 19 Alexandre Lapandry, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Fabien Estebanez, 22 Yoann Huget.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Jamie Roberts, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 George North, 10 James Hook, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Ryan Jones, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees (c), 1 Paul James.
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Rob McCusker, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Morgan Stoddart.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)

Slam party pooped by rampant Ireland

Ireland produced the performance that their whole nation had been waiting for on Saturday as they defeated old rivals England 24-8 at Aviva Stadium.

Declan Kidney's side were arguably three gears up from their showings in earlier rounds and consequently stunned the Grand Slam chasers, with tries from Tommy Bowe and Brian O'Driscoll sealing a much-needed win to lift team morale.

England in contrast were not quite at the races and will now face a slightly anxious wait to see how France and Wales pans out in Paris.  A points difference of 26 points is the task for Wales if they are to claim the Six Nations crown at the death.

A recalled Jonathan Sexton was deadly in front of goal for the fired-up Irish and struck four penalties in all while the score for O'Driscoll brought his total championship try tally up to a record 25.

However a large amount of credit for the victory must go to their back-row of Jamie Heaslip, Sean O'Brien and David Wallace, with the latter duo immense both in contact and in the loose.

England seemed confident at kick-off, although Ireland's defence immediately held up well and they soon won a penalty after their pack dominated the opening scrum.

They won another too when England strayed offside at a line-out after six minutes, with Sexton kicking three points from in front of the posts.  3-0 it was to Ireland.

Martin Johnson's side lost promising possession when trying to break through the midfield soon after, and although Ireland's counter ended with a knock-on, their next brought a high tackle by an, at times angry, Chris Ashton on Sexton.  He found the target and England found themselves 6-0 down after fifteen minutes.

Four minutes later Wallace ended the attempts of Ben Youngs to attack and the nine was then penalised at the scrum for knocking the ball out the hands of an opponent.

Sexton kicked for the corner and with territory established, Ireland worked the ball up and back down the line.  Although O'Driscoll then crossed in the left-hand corner, Bowe's pass to the overlap was adjudged forward.

Still, there was the consolation of another three points for Sexton and the knowledge that they held the upper hand.  It was to get worse for England.

Having been awarded a penalty in the 25th minutes that he would surely have normally taken, an out-of-sorts Tony Flood was found wanting with the boot.

Ireland pressed forward immediately and caught England flat-footed, with a busy Bowe this time making no mistake as he took a smart Sexton's pass to cross.

Sexton could not convert, but Flood could at least put England's first points on the board with a penalty just past the half hour.  And boy did they need it.

They could not use that to fashion a response though;  instead Wallace came close to scoring after England's backline were dispossessed dealing with a high kick.

Youngs had helped bundled Wallace into touch but he was then sin-binned for throwing the ball into the crowd and preventing the quick throw.  Sexton kicked his fourth, with Wallace almost crossing one minute before the half time interval.

England appeared just as nervous at the start of the second half as Ireland piled on more heat, although they failed to make the man advantage pay off.  But with Danny Care replacing Youngs it didn't matter as O'Driscoll picked up a loose ball to cross in the left-hand corner after 46 minutes, with Sexton converting.

Ashton then burst for the line but his final pass found Gordon D'Arcy.  However, Ireland gifted their opponents a try on 52 minutes after a line-out went awry and Thompson took advantage, England's record-cap hooker racing over for a try.

Jonny Wilkinson added the two and it was around this time that England finally appeared to get their act together and consistently apply pressure themselves.

Ireland's defence remained unbreached, however, and with heavy rain falling, the hosts got some respite when Care struggled to control the ball on the wet surface.

Ireland remained ahead on territory in the closing ten minutes and try as England might, their increasingly tired-looking attacks never looked likely to prosper.

Victory was celebrated like a championship for Ireland but who can blame them?  Success against their old foes and depriving them of a Grand Slam, the Six Nations title?

Man-of-the-match:  Leinster flanker Sean O'Brien was once again immense for Ireland with his carrying strength killing England.  David Wallace and Jonathan Sexton also deserve a big mention for their efforts but captain and centre Brian O'Driscoll gets the gong for his all-action showing that saw him become the top try-scorer in Five/Six Nations history.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Bowe, O'Driscoll
Con:  Sexton
Pen:  Sexton 4

For England:
Tries:  Thompson
Pen:  Flood

Ireland:  15 Keith Earls 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (capt), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Sean O'Brien, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Paddy Wallace.

England:  15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Matt Banahan, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nick Easter, 7 James Haskell, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements:  16 Steve Thompson, 17 Paul Doran-Jones, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Tom Croft, 20 Danny Care, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 David Strettle.

Referee:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

Scots hand wooden spoon to Italy

Scotland crossed the line twice on Saturday to claim a morale-boosting 21-8 victory, thus condemning Italy to the Six Nations wooden spoon.

Line-out accuracy and goal-kicking had let down Italy early on as Leonardo Ghiraldini and Mirco Bergamasco struggled to find their range.

But hitting the target was no such problem for the hungry Scots as tries from Nick de Luca and Nikki Walker finally ended an embarrassing run that had seen their last score at Murrayfield coming in November 2009.  Andy Robinson was happy.

It was by no means a classic for what was a basement battle in Edinburgh.  Both sides were desperate to avoid bottom spot in a World Cup year and the efforts showed a great deal of guts while the showmanship was duly sacrificed.

Scotland did show flashes of good rugby though and it can't be underplayed how much makeshift centre Sean Lamont has brought to their midfield alongside Joe Ansbro, who was unfortunately carried from the action early on with a knee injury.

But his replacement -- Nick De Luca -- was to be the man to finally put an end to their unwanted Murrayfield try-scoring record as he was on the end of a well-worked move down the left wing, finishing soundly in the corner on 47 minutes.  Chris Paterson was unsuccessful with the conversion but did contribute eleven points on the day while making another try-saving tackle.

Italy were very much in proceedings though and were in fact ahead at the break, courtesy of an Andrea Masi try, with Bergamasco adding three points to 20 minutes later.

Scotland however moved back into the lead in the 55th minute, when Walker shrugged off replacement Luke McLean's challenge to atone for his earlier missed tackle with a try.

The Italians fought gamely to try and force their way back into it, but Paterson added another penalty before making that fantastic late tackle on McLean to deny the Italians a score.

Man-of-the-match:  Despite being outrun by a hooker when he probably should have scored, Sean Lamont was superb for Scotland.  Strong in the tackle and powerful when in possession, his move to inside centre could now be permanent.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  De Luca, Walker
Con:  Paterson
Pen:  Paterson 3

For Italy:
Try:  Masi
Pen:  Bergamasco

Scotland:  15 Chris Paterson, 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Sean Lamont, 11 Nikki Walker, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Kelly Brown, 7 John Barclay, 6 Nathan Hines, 5 Alastair Kellock (capt), 4 Richie Gray, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Scott Lawson, 17 Euan Murray, 18 Richie Vernon, 19 Alasdair Strokosch, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Nick De Luca.

Italy:  15 Andrea Masi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Kris Burton, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (capt), 7 Paul Derbyshire, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Valerio Bernabo, 19 Robert Barbieri, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Luke McLean.

Referee:  Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees:  Alan Lewis, John Lacey (both Ireland)
TMO:  Hugh Watkins (Wales)

England scrape past brave Scots

England kept their Grand Slam dreams alive, but only just, after seeing off Scotland 22-16 in an unconvincing performance at Twickenham on Sunday.

It was by no means a performance to savour, but the result will be a relief for the home side.  It was another tight contest that could so easily have gone the way of the Scots, but England held on.

England manager Martin Johnson should be livid with his charges.  They produced a flat display in the first half, and were fortunate to head into the break with the scores all square at 9-9.

They played with more intensity in the second half though, but just couldn't convert their opportunities until replacement forward Tom Croft powered over for the match-defining try.

And although Scotland wing Max Evans crossed late on for the visitors to set up a nervous finale, the trusty boot of Jonny Wilkinson settled matters in the final minute.

Scotland enjoying an early lead after Chris Paterson got the first points on the scoreboard thanks to a fourth-minute penalty goal that barely made it over the posts.

England fly-half Toby Flood had a chance to level the scores, but pushed his relatively easy first attempt wide of the posts, but made amends with another straight-forward shot five minutes later.

The battle of the boot between the two pivots continued -- Paterson banging over his second successful penalty of the match to reclaim Scotland's lead, before Flood tied up the scores once more.

England went in front for the first time in a tight encounter ten minutes from half-time after Flood raised the flags once more with his third successful attempt.

The Scots threatened England's line twice but were denied on both occasions through some fierce defence from the home side, but Martin Johnsen's men couldn't keep out a perfectly struck drop goal from Ruaridh Jackson on the stroke of half-time.

Jackson's strike meant the sides went into the break all square at 9-9 all -- a fair reflection of a dull and uninspiring opening forty minutes.

As the teams ran out for the second half, it was interesting to see replacement Matt Banahan in for captain Mike Tindall, with word from the England camp putting it down to a 'tactical move'.

It nearly proved to be a masterstroke from manager Johnson as England came out firing from the restart, flanker Tom Wood getting hauled down inches from Scotland's try-line.  And Banahan's damage was already evident after powering into Kelly Brown, that would leave the Scotland number eight having to be stretchered off the pitch -- a horrible sight for any spectator.

Scotland continued to dig deep in pressure situations to hold out several England attacks, before John Barclay was sin-binned for an infringement close to the visitors' line -- a decision that was perhaps a wee bit harsh by referee Romain Poite on the Scottish flank.

Flood then put England back in front with the ensuing penalty, while Scotland made their way back for the restart 14 men down.

The game was interrupted moments later when referee Poite limped off with a calf injury to be replaced by touch judge Jerome Garces.

Scotland needed a last-ditch tackle from Paterson to deny Ben Foden a try in the corner, and with 15 minutes remaining Johnson sent on England's reinforcements, bringing on hooker Steve Thompson, lock Simon Shaw, Croft and Wilkinson.

The new blood had the required effect and on 68 minutes, Croft crashed over after being released by Mark Cueto with what looked like a forward pass.

Wilkinson converted and England looked to be poised for victory at 19-9 up.  However a clever individual try by Evans, chippping and gathering his own kick ensured a nail-biting finale before Wilkinson gave England a five-point cushion with a nerveless late penalty.

The win means that England will travel to Dublin next Saturday knowing that victory over Ireland will give them their first Grand Slam in eight years.

However England know they will have to improve significantly if they are to defeat the Irish at Lansdowne Road after a disjointed and error-strewn performance.

And as Scotland's 28-year losing streak at Twickenham continued, Andy Robinson's troops now face a must-win clash against Italy at Murrayfield to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon.

Man of the match:  The official man of the match may have gone to England flank James Haskell, but we disagree.  Our vote goes to veteran Chris Paterson who showed there's an abundance of life left in those old legs yet.  The full-back made a superb try-saving tackle and other crucial defensive interventions, as well as being typically flawless with the boot.  It's just a shame he was on the losing side after a complete performance.

Moment of the match:  There weren't many in a rather dour encounter.  Whilst Tom Croft's try brought on the loudest roar at Twickenham, and Max Evans' five-pointer gave the Scots hope of an upset -- Paterson's try-saving tackle on Foden takes the cake.

Villain of the match:  A yellow card to Scotland flank John Barclay but no malice in it.

The scorers:

For England:
Try:  Croft
Con:  Wilkinson
Pens:  Flood 4, Wilkinson

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

England:  15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs , 8 Nick Easter , 7 James Haskell, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements:  16 Steve Thompson, 17 Paul Doran-Jones, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Tom Croft, 20 Danny Care, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Matt Banahan.

Scotland:  15 Chris Paterson, 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Sean Lamont, 11 Max Evans, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Kelly Brown, 7 John Barclay, 6 Nathan Hines, 5 Alastair Kellock (capt), 4 Richie Gray, 3 Moray Low, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Scott Lawson, 17 Geoff Cross, 18 Richie Vernon, 19 Alasdair Strokosch, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Nick De Luca.

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)

Ball decision seals victory for Wales

Wales kept alive their slim hopes of lifting the Six Nations trophy with a 19-13 victory over Ireland in a dour clash at the Millennium Stadium.

Controversy will forever be attached with this March 12 fixture as a Mike Phillips score that should never have been awarded will leave the whole of Ireland fuming on Saturday evening.

It came from an Irish clearance that led to Wales captain Matthew Rees taking a line-out quickly.  However, television replays proved the eyebrow raisers correct in that it was a different ball that the hooker picked up and used on the touchline.

But the history books will show a Welsh victory, one that puts them level on points with current leaders England, who play Scotland on Sunday.

Ireland had gone into the dressing room at half-time with a 13-9 lead thanks to a try from Brian O'Driscoll, but were left pointless in the second period as they chose to kick more than they ran.  Paddy Wallace will also be kicking himself for looking for an easier conversion for Jonathan Sexton instead of just taking the try at the death.

But in truth, the sporadic drama cannot disguise what was a dismal 80 minutes.

The game took just 20 seconds for the first replacement to be made and it may be a record for the shortest period of time on a field.  Scrum-half Eoin Reddan was withdrawn after copping a ball in the face from Lee Byrne's hefty clearance directly from the kick-off.

Peter Stringer came on in his place at the base and was, in fact, the player to fire out a pass to returning Ireland winger Tommy Bowe, who subsequently created a hole for captain and outside centre O'Driscoll to dive over and open the scoring in the early stages.

If that substitution is to be an unwanted tag for scrum-half Reddan, it was one of three records or milestones to be beaten or matched within the first four minutes.  O'Driscoll's smartly-taken try now propels him to joint top try-scorer in Five/Six Nations history while Ronan O'Gara reached 1000 Test points with the extras.

Wales quickly needed to find their footing and two James Hook penalties pulled them back to within a point before the hour, with Ireland giving away sloppy offences at the breakdown.

Hook's inclusion over the veteran fly-half Stephen Jones did not really lead to much creation though, as both sides maybe felt the need to claim victory before looking to cut loose.

O'Gara did boot a long-range penalty on 33 minutes and one on the half-time hooter to extend the lead, but it was only a three-point lift due to Leigh Halfpenny's own strike.

The second-half was one to forget for Ireland as replacement Sexton endured a difficult half-hour.  First he pushed a cross-field effort into touch before missing a simple penalty.

Then came the moment that will be tagged to this game as Rees threw to Phillips from the touchline and the scrum-half showed his pace and power to go over.  Hook's conversion was the further twist of the knife into Ireland's side as the momentum had consequently swung.  Jonathan Kaplan had requested confirmation from touch judge Peter Allan, who said it was the same ball, but replays conclusively illustrated that the officials were wrong.

Ireland cannot say that they didn't have a chance to banish their upcoming nightmare tonight though, with Wallace's big blunder on the hooter ending Ireland's hopes of silverware.

Man-of-the-match:  For his general game-management, James Hook.

Moment-of-the-match:  Is there any other contender?  The controversial try for Mike Phillips.  Ireland will no doubt be fuming and talking about this one for a good while yet.

Villain-of-the-match:  I don't mean to pick on an official but it has to go to Peter Allan for not spotting the different ball being used in the lead-up to Mike Phillips' try.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Try:  Phillips
Con:  Hook
Pen:  Hook 3, Halfpenny

For Ireland:
Tries:  O'Driscoll
Con:  O'Gara
Pen:  O'Gara 2

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Jamie Roberts, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 Shane Williams, 10 James Hook, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Ryan Jones, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Matthew Rees (c), 1 Paul James.
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Rob McCusker, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Morgan Stoddart.

Ireland:  15 Luke Fitzgerald, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian 0'Driscoll (c), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Sean O'Brien, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Jonathan Sexton, 22 Paddy Wallace.

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), Peter Allan (Scotland)
Television match official:  Geoff Warren (England)

Italy shock the defending champions

Italy made history on Saturday when they recorded their first ever Six Nations victory over France, winning 22-21 in a nail biter in Rome.

The defending Six Nations and Grand Slam champions outscored their hosts two tries to one but made far to many errors, allowing Mirco Bergamasco to slot six penalties and convert Andrea Masi's try to hand Italy the biggest victory in their rugby history.

So often the weak link in the Azzurri's game, Bergamasco landed six out of his eight kicks from the tee to punish the French for their sloppy indiscretions.

Indeed les Bleus will head back to Paris ruing a string of mistakes.  Many were made under pressure but some will leave coach French fans pulling their hair out and pointing fingers with wing Yoann Huget amongst those in the firing line.

10/1 underdogs at kick-off, Italy produced yet another courageous effort and must be given full marks for effort and commitment.  By contrast, their visitors seemed flat, uninspired and were unable to match the home side for physical intensity.

Contrary to what has become the norm, Italy's success was not built on scrum domination.  In fact, it was the French set piece that had the upper hand, and one could argue that they had a case for a potentially match-winning penalty in the dying minutes.  But rather than crying over split milk, Marc Lièvremont's team should look to their chronic sterility on attack and their knack for fluffing opportunities, exemplified by Aurelien Rougerie dropping the ball in the act of scoring for the second straight match.

An early try from Vincent Clerc gave France an 8-6 lead at the break.  It was a classic winger's try as Clerc latched onto Rougerie's long pass out wide before chipping over the last defender and using his pace to get to the ball first.

The game looked dead and buried when François Trinh-Duc and Morgan Parra linked up to slice through the Italian defence to put the scrum-half in under the sticks.

18-6 down going into the final quarter, a lesser team would have buckled.  But Italy never let there heads drop and were back in the game when Fabio Semenzato found Andrea Masi on the blindside and the full-back darted over from short range to revive his team's hopes.

Bergamasco landed two more penalties to Parra's one to set up a grandstand finish.  With just four minutes left on the clock the Italian wing landed his sixth successful kick to give the hosts the lead for the first time.

France plied the pressure in the dying minutes, but with Stadio Flaminio in full voice, the visitors were denied the penalty they sought.

And thus history was made.

Man of the match:  Tough one to call.  Sergio Parisse was at his brilliant best but how can we deny the try-scorer on such an historic occasion?  Andrea Masi was solid as a rock at the back and was rewarded with a try he'll never forget.

Moment of the match:  Italy trailed for 76 minutes, but the roar from the crowd when Mirco Bergamasco's final penalty split the uprights left no doubt as to who was ahead on the scoreboard when it mattered.

Villain of the match:  No rough stuff to report.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Try:  Masi
Con:  Bergamasco
Pens:  Bergamasco 5

For France:
Tries:  Clerc, Parra
Con:  Parra
Pens:  Parra 3

The teams:

Italy:  15 Andrea Masi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements:  16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Salvatore Perugini, 18 Quintin Geldenhuys, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Kristopher Burton, 22 Luke McLean.

France:  15 Maxime Médard, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Sébastien Chabal, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Sylvain Marconnet
Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Luc Ducalcon, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Imanol Harinordoquy, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Clement Poitrenaud.

Venue:  Stadio Flaminio, Rome
Referee:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Stuart Terheege (England)
Television match official:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)

Three-try Ireland win at Murrayfield

Ireland scored three unanswered tries to beat Scotland 21-18 in a closely contested Six Nations game in Edinburgh on Sunday.

Jamie Heaslip, Eoin Reddan and Ronan O'Gara touched down for the visitors as Ireland kept their Six Nations title hopes alive -- although based on this performance it's difficult to see them lift the championship trophy next month.

Neither side can be blamed for not trying to play attractive rugby as there was plenty of positive intent from the protagonists.  Unfortunately, the harsh truth is that the skills levels failed to match their ambitions as a plethora of errors made the encounter a stop-start affair.

If anything, Scotland were once again victims of their own attacking mindset as their expansive style left them empty handed when a more pragmatic approach -- especially in the closing minutes when they were desperate for territory -- could have put Ireland under pressure.

Ireland were clearly the stronger side on the day but will head back to Dublin with plenty to think about as their knack for giving possession away through silly mistakes could well have cost them victory if Scotland were more clinical.

It took just six minutes for Ireland to find their way over the try-line as some slack Scottish defending around the fringes saw Heaslip cruise in for the opening score.

Scotland turned up the intensity and are were able to narrow to gap to a single point as Ireland were pressured into transgressions at the breakdown and Paterson could land two penalties.

Ireland would cross the whitewash again just before the half-hour mark after scrum five metres from the Scottish line.  A huge scrum provided the platform for Heaslip to break off.  Two defenders were unable to pull him down before he could off-loaded to Eoin Reddan, who burst over the line untouched.

O'Gara slotted his second conversion but Scotland continued to hang on as Paterson added his third penalty to leave the sides separated by just five points going into the break at 14-9.

The home side's hopes of victory took a major blow when loosehead prop Allan Jacobsen was sent to the bin for scrummaging in.

A minute before Jacobsen returned from the field Ireland broke through again as O'Gara found himself at the end of a massive overlap.  The visiting fly-half duly added the extra points and the game looked settled at 21-9.

The Scots kept coming however as Ireland seemed content to try defend their lead.  Another penalty for Paterson and then one for replacement fly-half Parks put Scotland back in contention.

It was all Scotland in the final ten minutes but the hosts couldn't find the gap that would have brought a famous comeback victory.

A date with England at Twickenham now looks a daunting task for Andy Robinson's men.

Man of the match:  Jamies Heaslip deserves a mention for scoring one try and creating another.  Max Evans was Scotland's most dangerous runner.  But the gong goes to the man who, on his return to the starting XV reminded everyone why he has been Ireland's go-to man for years.  Ronan O'Gara's try was just reward for a top performance.

Moment of the match:  Ireland led from start to finish thanks to Heaslip's try.  That early score had Scotland playing catch-up for 74 minutes.

Villain of the match:  No nasty stuff to report.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Pens:  Paterson 4, Parks
Drop:  Parks

For Ireland:
Tries:  Heaslip, Reddan, O'Gara
Cons:  O'Gara 3

Yellow cards:  Jacobsen (Scotland -- 44th min -- illegal scrummaging)

The teams:

Scotland:  15 Chris Paterson, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Sean Lamont, 11 Max Evans, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock (capt), 4 Richie Gray, 3 Moray Low, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Scott Lawson, 17 Geoff Cross, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Richie Vernon, 20 Rory Lawson, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Simon Danielli.

Ireland:  15 Luke Fitzgerald, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (capt), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Sean O'Brien, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Jonathan Sexton , 22 Paddy Wallace.

Venue:  Murrayfield
Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Andrew Small (England), Pascal Gauzere (France)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)

Foden try settles Le Crunch

England took pole position in the Six Nations title race on Saturday with a 17-9 win over France in a high-paced encounter at Twickenham.

A Ben Foden try early in the second half proved to be the difference between two very evenly-matched sides in a clash high on intensity but littered by errors.

The result brings an end to France's Grand Slam defence and leaves England as the only unbeaten side in the championship.

It was all square after a hotly-contested first half that was somewhat tainted by a number of handling errors from both sides, who were looking to play positive rugby but struggled to come to grips with a slippery ball.

France enjoyed the ascendancy in terms of both territory and possession for much of the game but les Bleus will head home regretting a handful of missed opportunities.

England on the other hand confirmed their status as the northern hemisphere's leading nation as the home pack matched their much-vaunted visitors in the tight exchanges and the back three once again looked dangerous whenever on the ball.

Toby Flood opened the scoring from the kicking tee early on but was answered almost immediately by Dimitri Yachvili.

The respective place kickers continued to trade penalties until the French scrum-half had a chance to put France ahead for the first time just before the break.

His attempt sailed just wide however to leave the sides locked at 9-9 as they headed for the changing rooms.

England took the lead again soon after the restart when Foden scored an excellent try.  Tom Palmer had put England on the attack by charging down Yachvili and after sending the ball to one touchline, England brought it back to the other as Flood had three runners coming off his shoulder.  Foden showed tremendous strength to muscle his way over, despite the attention of two French defenders, for the game's only try.

Jonny Wilkinson added three points within seconds of coming on for an injured Flood to move ahead of Dan Carter as the world's top Test points scorer and extend England's advantage at 17-9.

Yachvili hit the upright with penalty attempt and Aurélien Rougerie knocked on in the act over diving over the try-line to leave France frustrated but the status quo on the scoreboard.

England must now host Scotland before travelling to Dublin as they seek to repeat their Grand Slam of 2003.

Man of the match:  Not too many stand out candidates here.  Toby Flood was good but didn't last the distance after hurting his ankle.  Rougerie was a class act but that knock-on when France desperately needed a try ruined his team's night.  We'll back up the official choice and go for Tom Palmer who hit rucks hard all night and was key in setting up England's try.

Moment of the match:  There can be only one:  Foden's try was the match-clincher.

Villain of the match:  A cheeky one here.  Steve Thompson matched Brian Moore's record for caps at hooker for England, but his jersey was way to small for the size of his stomach!

The scorers:

For England:
Try:  Foden
Pens:  Flood 3, Wilkinson

For France:
Pens:  Yachvili 3

The teams:

England:  15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nick Easter, 7 James Haskell, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Steve Thompson, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Hendre Fourie, 20 Danny Care, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Matt Banahan.

France:  15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Alexis Palisson.

Venue:  Twickenham, London
Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

Chance goes begging for Italy

Italy blew a massive chance to move off the bottom of the Six Nations table on Saturday as they fell 24-16 to Wales.

Ten points were missed from the tee by wing Mirco Bergamasco and replacement fly-half Luciano Orquera in a result that will hurt Italy.

Wales did not help themselves in the opening stages when, after Stephen Jones had opened the scoring, they gifted the Azzurri a try on five minutes.  The Welsh were looking to adopt their expansive game right from the off and it was that that cost them when a stray pass from lock Bradley Davies was swooped upon by centre Gonzalo Canale.  His chip and chase eventually saw him regather to send the Stadio Flaminio into raptures.  Bergamasco missed the extras.

A response was needed in order to quieten the Italy support.  And so it came as the visitors marched downfield and crossed wide on the left courtesy of Scarlets wing Morgan Stoddart, who was awarded the try after a long wait for the TMO.

The match conditions were helping the game no end and it didn't take long for the third five-pointer to arrive, which was arguably the pick of the bunch in Rome.  From a breakout in midfield, full-back Lee Byrne hit a magnificent angle -- similar to the one he did in Paris a few years back -- and James Hook had the simple task of drawing the last man and sending over Sam Warburton.  Stephen Jones sent over the simple conversion and the score was up to 15-8 to Wales on fourteen minutes.

But despite their seven-point cushion, one had the feeling that the lead was unlikely to grow dramatically.  Italy were matching their visitors play by play and in fact cut the arrears ten minutes later when a backtracking Stoddart was blown for not releasing the ball.

Then came a moment that full-back Luke McLean might lose sleep over tonight as his somewhat overambitious penalty touch-finder did not make its target, with that ultimately costing the hosts six points via the boot of Jones that sent them in 21-11.

Wales' form dipped somewhat in the second period as they enjoyed little territory and/or possession.  However for all the Azzurri's dominance and hunger, it was a constant lack of cutting edge that's required to win such internationals that will annoy Nick Mallett the most.

Number eight Sergio Parisse did show real strength to cross on the left wing -- shrugging off pivot Jones to ground and reduce the gap to just five points -- to continue the momentum.

But for all their ball and will to upset Warren Gatland's charges, it was fitting that a Hook drop-goal took the game beyond doubt.  A lesson for Italy that they need to take their chances and kick their goals, but one that needs to be absorbed.

Man-of-the-match:  He was a different class.  Sergio Parisse.

Moment-of-the-match:  Scrum-half and scrum-half, you wouldn't expect to witness such physicality.  If you haven't seen it yet, try and find Mike Phillips' bump off Fabio Semenzato.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Canale, Parisse
Pen:  Bergamasco 2

For Wales:
Tries:  Stoddart, Warburton
Con:  Jones
Pen:  Jones 3
Drop:  Hook

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Andrea Masi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Kris Burton, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Santiao Dellape, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Valerio Bernabo, 19 Manoa Vosawai, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Tommaso Benvenuti.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Morgan Stoddart, 13 James Hook, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Ryan Jones, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Matthew Rees (c), 1 Paul James.
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Tavis Knoyle, 21 Rhys Priestland, 22 Leigh Halfpenny.

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees:  Dave Pearson (England), John Lacey (Ireland)
TMO:  Iain Ramage (Scotland)

Ireland blow chance against France

France managed to keep their Grand Slam hopes alive on Sunday after winning a hotly-contested clash with Ireland 25-22 at Aviva Stadium.

Ireland gave a massively improved performance than the one that saw Italy come so close to causing the upset in the championship's history.

But their efforts were not enough to overcome a les Bleus outfit who will be relieved to escape Dublin with two points that puts them joint-top.

The classy visitors had gone in 15-12 down at the interval after Leinster winger Fergus McFadden and Munster scrum-half Tomas O'Leary had crossed the whitewash, with France maestro Morgan Parra on target with four penalty goals.

However, a well-taken Maxime Médard try on 55 minutes was the catalyst of a French revival in the second-half as their bench proved too strong.

Ireland supporters will be cursing their luck though in the aftermath of this one as they blew an opportunity to score what would've been a match-winning try in the 79th minute, but replacement hooker Sean Cronin knocked-on at the vital time.

The underdog hosts in fact looked superior in flashes, but were undone by their ill-discipline as six penalties saw Marc Lievremont's charges edge the battle on a brisk afternoon.

Ireland began at great pace and were rewarded with a fifth-minute try when McFadden muscled his way over from close-range with his leg drive stunning France's ruck guards.

However, the assured boot of Parra replied quickly for the visitors and he went on to land three further before the interval while O'Leary answered some of his critics with another strong finish fifteen in from the left touchline.  An out-of-sorts Sexton missed the extras.

Following the break another Parra penalty drew the French level before the stadium fell silent on the hour when Aurelien Rougerie shrugged off Gordon D'Arcy to send Medard in.

A sixth French penalty -- this time from replacement number nine Dimitri Yachvili -- piled on the misery and although returning number eight Jamie Heaslip dived over in the corner to make it a three-point game, Cronin spilt the chance of a winning try at the death.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  McFadden, O'Leary, Heaslip
Con:  Sexton, O'Gara
Pen:  Sexton

For France:
Try:  Medard
Con:  Yachvili
Pen:  Parra 5, Yachvili

Ireland:  15 Luke Fitzgerald, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (capt), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Sean O'Brien, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Paddy Wallace.

France:  15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Sébastien Chabal, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Vincent Clerc.

Referee:  Dave Pearson
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Geoff Warren (England)

Wales back to winning ways

Wales ended their eight-Test winless drought thanks to a scrappy 24-6 Six Nations victory over Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Under-fire coach Warren Gatland will be relieved after his team did enough to upset the formbook and put their championship campaign back on track.

Recent results suggested that the odds were against the Welsh having triumphed just twice in their last 14 games, but Gatland's troops -- at one stage down to just 13 players -- did enough in the opening quarter of the match to rain on Scotland's parade.

Wonder wing Shane Williams ran in two tries and fly-half James Hook scored the rest of the points, kicking four penalties, a conversion and creating the first try in a fine all-round performance.

Scotland, who went into the contest with high hopes after opening their Six Nations campaign with a brave display against France, could only muster six points through the boot of Dan Parks.

Coach Andy Robinson cut a frustrated figure as a mistake-riddled Scottish performance underlined their chronic lack of consistency.  The hosts have now lost two from two this season and could end up in a battle with Italy to avoid the wooden spoon.

The visitors enjoyed a strong start -- surging towards the Scotland try-line just after the five-minute mark -- and took the lead through a Williams try.

Hook, starting in the number ten jersey for the first time in two years, broke through the defence to play in his Ospreys team-mate for a simple try, which he then duly converted.

Hook then extended the advantage in the 14th minute as he slotted home a penalty from the right after the hosts had been penalised for strolling offsides.  And the 25-year-old made it 13-0 just after 18 minutes were in the clock when he nailed another penalty after Scotland had come in from the side at a ruck.

Scotland full-back Hugo Southwell was then taken off the pitch with blood poring from his face after catching a boot when challenging opposite number Lee Byrne.  He would not return.

Another infringement at the breakdown then allowed Hook to score his third penalty, but Scotland were given a boost when Bradley Davies was yellow carded for cynically kicking the ball away from a dangerous ruck.

And when Byrne took out Max Evans with a dangerously high tackle, Scotland were given a two-man advantage.

The ever-reliable Parks got Scotland on the board after Dan Lydiate had conceded a penalty but they would have wanted more then three points by the time Byrne re-entered the fray to even the numbers.

Parks then slipped as he was attempting another kick at goal after Wales prop Craig Mitchell failed to bind at the scrum, leaving the scoreline 16-3 at the half-time interval.

After the restart, Hook attempted to increase the advantage with an attempt from almost 50 metres, but although his kick had the legs it drifted just wide.

Parks reduced the arrears by another three points after Wales were penalised for hinging down at a scrum as the contest became more and more scrappy.

Wales centre Jamie Roberts was on his way to killing the game off as he raced towards the line after Scotland gave the ball up but Sean Lamont made a terrific try-saving tackle.

The visitors came away with three points, however, as Hook kicked his third penalty and shortly afterwards Williams ran onto a Jonathan Davies kick to touch down again and put the result beyond doubt.

It is now a case of back to the drawing board for Scotland after arguably their worst performance of Robinson's reign, which came just three days after he signed a contract extension to incorporate the 2015 World Cup.

Man of the match:  Group effort.  The Wales back row of Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton and Ryan Jones were a key element in the visitors' defensive effort -- especially when the Welsh were down to thirteen men.  The triumvirate were tireless at the tackle area and completely outplayed their highly-rated Scottish counterparts.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Pens:  Parks 2

For Wales:
Tries:  Williams 2
Cons:  Hook
Pens:  Hook 4

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Max Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Richie Vernon, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Al Kellock (c), 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Rosss Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Scott Lawson, 17 Moray Low, 18 Scott Macleod, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Sean Lamont.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Morgan Stoddart, 13 Jamie Roberts, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 Shane Williams, 10 James Hook, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Ryan Jones, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Matthew Rees (c), 1 Paul James.
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Tavis Knoyle, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Rhys Priestland.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)

Four-try Ashton leads rampant England

England underlined their 2011 Six Nations title credentials on Saturday as they demolished Italy 59-13 in an eight-try performance at Twickenham.

It was a showing that will add weight to talk of a possible Grand Slam as sublime running and support lines left the Azzurri with no answer.

Toby Flood and Chris Ashton were once again the top performers, with the right wing crossing four times to take his championship tally up to six.

Next up for England -- after a week's break -- will be a mouth-watering prospect of testing themselves against reigning champions France on home soil.  And if they progress past title contenders Les Bleus, there is a prospect of a trip to Ireland on March 19 for possible glory -- where they in fact sealed their last Grand Slam back in 2003.

One major reason for England's sudden boost in confidence has been the form of Ashton, of that there is little doubt.  Northampton's prized possession regularly gets himself on the shoulder of the initial line-breaker, with his four tries showing just that as he fed off the many breaks made by Flood and others wearing white.

It took just three minutes for Ashton to get over the line following his fly-half finding a hole in his own half.  It was a sucker punch for the side beaten narrowly by Ireland and one that they struggled to recover from.  But in truth, England were a gear up than the Irish.

The visitors did manage to stay in touch via two Mirco Bergamasco penalties, but when the lively Ashton crossed again on 25 minutes, the writing was on the wall in London.

Italy were struggling for any foothold in the match as their line-out fell to pieces in the first half-hour.  And that problem was the catalyst of a moment to savour for Mark Cueto, who followed Ashton's support-line lead by popping up for his first try in nineteen Tests.  England were cruising at 24-6 up.

Captain Mike Tindall joined the party five minutes later when he was on hand to take a nice offload from number eight Nick Easter that extended the lead to 25 points at the break.

Italy needed a miracle to get back into the contest and were not helped by tighthead Martin Castrogiovanni being yellow carded for slapping the ball out of Ben Youngs' hands as the scrum-half tried to take a quick penalty.  His absence led to Ashton going over and then the procession continued as Danny Care crossed.

Fabio Ongaro snatched a consolation try for the Italians from a rolling maul, but James Haskell grabbed a deserved score before Banahan sent Ashton in for his fourth late on.

Man-of-the-match:  Toby Flood was once again the architect but for his four poacher-like tries, the award has to go to Saints star Chris Ashton.

Moment-of-the-match:  Despite all the pre-game talk about not throwing in the Hollywood dive when scoring, it took just three minutes for the in-form Ashton to go against his word.  Cue the laughter from the journalists.  Wonder how Brian Smith and Martin Johnson reacted.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Ashton 4, Cueto, Tindall, Care, Haskell
Con:  Flood 5, Wilkinson 3
Pen:  Flood

For Italy:
Try:  Ongaro
Con:  Bergamasco
Pen:  Bergamasco 3

England:  15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nick Easter, 7 James Haskell, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements:  16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Hendre Fourie, 20 Danny Care, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Matt Banahan.

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Andrea Masi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Valerio Bernabo, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Santiago Dellape, 19 Robert Barbieri, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Kris Burton, 22 Gonzalo Garcia.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Peter Allan (Scotland)
Television match official:  Tony Redmond (Ireland)

France outclass Scotland

Defending Six Nations champions France sent out a statement to their championship rivals on Saturday with an impressive 34-21 win over Scotland in Paris.

Unlike the nightmare against Australia the last time les Bleus were at the Stade de France, Marc Lièvremont's side were all singing from the same hymn sheet as they scored four eye-catching tries.

Out-muscled up front, outpaced out wide, Scotland looked down and out with an hour left on the clock.  Credit to them however for scoring three tries of their own by the final whistle, with a late consolation touch down lending the scoreline an air of respectability.

Scotland's scrum has been a strength in recent times but the French scrum is quite possibly the best there is right now and they showed the world as much.  It's not often that Euan Murray is put under pressure at scrum time but the Scottish tighthead, like the rest of the visiting front row, was going either backwards or down all evening from the moment the ''engage'' call came from referee Wayne Barnes.

But for a change, the French backs were also firing and the hosts ensured that the game was played at a frenetic pace.

The French off-loading in the tackle and support running on the counter attack had their visitors scampering back with high frequency and only a handful of last-gasp tackles prevented the score-line from running away in the first half.

By full-time, Maxime Médard, Imanol Harinordoquy and Damien Traille had all touched down, all from movements started in broken play.

France were cruising to such an extent that Lièvremont had no fear of disrupting his team by sending most of his bench on well before the last quarter.

France were on the scoreboard with the almost their first touch of the ball.  From a turnover in the tackle Thierry Dusautoir fed wing-turned-centre Aurélien Rougerie who dropped the ball onto his left boot.  Médard turned on the gas on the outside and dotted down for the opening try after just three minutes.

A François Trinh-Duc drop goal saw the French take a ten-point lead after as many minutes.

Scotland did well to hang in there and Alastair Kellock's first Test try at the end of the first quarter kept his side in contention.  After some solid build-up play the skipper found a gap on the fringe of a ruck to sneak over.

But the visitors failed to threaten for the rest of the first period.  Referee Barnes was left with no choice but to award France with a penalty try on the half-hour mark after the visitors' pack was murdered in series of 5 metre scrums.

Scotland would have been relieved to head to the changing rooms at 17-7.

Trinh-Duc linked up with Harinordoquy -- via a pass between the fly-half's legs -- to get the scoreboard ticking in the second period with the big loose forward backing himself for pace to finish under the sticks.

Again the reply came from Scotland as Kelly Brown profited from some sloppy tackling to charge over and reduce the gap to ten points.

The changes had taken some of the rhythm out of the French attack but they were still lethal from broken play and a silky string of interpassing saw Traille end under the posts.

With the result sewn up, Lamont grabbed a try in the dying minutes as the French defence went missing.

Ironically the game ended -- like it did against the Wallabies -- with a few boos coming the crowd who were denied another try when France opted for an easy penalty rather than going for the whitewash.

Man of the match:  A handful of candidates here.  Richie Gray had a strong game for Scotland while Maxime Médard and François Trinh-Duc looked good for the hosts.  But we'll go for prop Thomas Domingo who, along with William Servat and Nicolas Mas, was awesome at scrum time.

Moment of the match:  Went it's going right for les Bleus, it seems anything is possible.  François Trinh-Duc's between the legs pass to set up Harinordoquy's try was a classic!

Villain of the match:  Nothing to report here.  A wonderful night of rugby.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Médard, Penalty try, Harinordoquy, Traille
Cons:  Parra 2, Yachvili 2
Pens:  Yachvili
Drop:  Trinh-Duc

For Scotland:
Tries:  Kellock, Brown, Lamont
Cons:  Parks 2, Jackson

France:  15 Damien Traille, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Luc Ducalcon, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Sébastien Chabal, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Vincent Clerc, 22 Clément Poitrenaud.

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell , 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Max Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Kelly Brown,7 John Barclay, 6 Nathan Hines, 5 Alastair Kellock (c),4 Richie Gray, 3 Euan Murray,2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Moray Low, 18 Richie Vernon, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Sean Lamont.

Venue:  Stade de France, Paris
Referee:  Wayne Barnes

O'Gara drop saves Ireland

Ireland survived a massive scare on Saturday as a Ronan O'Gara drop-goal sealed a 13-11 win that broke Italian hearts at the Stadio Flaminio.

Played under glorious sunshine, this was always going to be a banana skin that needed avoiding for Ireland.  And boy was it difficult to negate.

With just two minutes separating the Azzurri from an historic first win over their visitors, replacement fly-half O'Gara save travelling Irish blushes.

Italy had frustrated the Emerald Isle for much of the contest and actually went in 6-3 up at the interval thanks to two Mirco Bergamasco shots.  However much like in 2007 and 2009, it was an early storm that needed weathering for the Irish.

Brian O'Driscoll it was who turned things around for Ireland with a try on 44 minutes, but even he endured a difficult day as a couple of try-scoring passes went astray.

It was that sort of game for Ireland.  Frustrating and stuttered.  But the job was done ahead of a home clash with France next week, as a possible Grand Slam decider moves a step closer when England arrive on Saturday, March 19.

Our preview had sighted the battle at number eight at being one to watch and that was an early eye-catcher when Sean O'Brien showed power and pace to elude a couple of Italian chasers.  But he was to outdone soon after by Sergio Parisse who, back in the Six Nations after a year's break, showed his worth by winning his side a penalty on seven minutes.

Ireland looked a tad rattled and were throwing many wayward passes while struggling to penetrate the blue defensive wall.  The Azzurri were showing a lot of hunger and even with the departure of injured number nine and organiser Edoardo Gori, they were streetwise.

On 20 minutes, the change in momentum finally came for Declan Kidney's side as Luke Fitzgerald's break down the left from halfway saw him step inside and feed Jonathan Sexton.  However, the latter Leinsterman couldn't keep hold, leading to a lesson being handed to the Irish front-row by Martin Castrogiovanni and company.

Ireland eventually levelled matter eight minutes later as Kris Burton started to miss his touch-finders but that did not stop Italy going in at the break in front thanks to Bergamasco.

If truth be told, the first 40 was hardly memorable.  The second was.  Ireland had obviously been given a rollicking by their coaching staff and promptly took it on board as Denis Leamy ran hard to set up a score just three minutes after half-time.

Back and forth Ireland went on the Azzurri ten-metre line before the ball came out to O'Driscoll, who spotted a mismatch against Castrogiovanni.  There was only one winner and it looked as though the procession of last year was about to be repeated.

A successful conversion from Sexton made the scores 10-6 but the game proved far from done when a lovely flowing move from Italy saw Luke McLean go over right in the corner.  Unfortunately for the Rome faithful, Bergamasco's extras went painfully left of the upright and that proved costly as substitute O'Gara sat back when it mattered to break home hearts.

Man-of-the-match:  An extremely tough decision as no one really stepped up for Ireland but for his solidity under the high ball and decent running, it goes to Luke Fitzgerald.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Try:  McLean
Pen:  Bergamasco 2

For Ireland:
Try:  O'Driscoll
Con:  Sexton
Pen:  Sexton
Drop:  O'Gara

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Andrea Masi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Kris Burton, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (capt), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Carlo Del Fava, 19 Valerio Bernabo, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Gonzalo Garcia.

Ireland:  15 Luke Fitzgerald, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (capt), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Sean O'Brien, 7 David Wallace, 6 Denis Leamy, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Shane Jennings, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Paddy Wallace.

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees:  Jérôme Garces (France), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Geoff Warren (England)

Wales sunk by promising England

Six Nations favourites England got their 2011 campaign off on the right foot on Friday as they defeated Wales 26-19 at the Millennium Stadium.

Much of the midweek talk had been about the props, line-out and that man Dylan Hartley but in truth those three facets of this one were swamped by the men out wide as Chris Ashton's brace of tries saw the Red Rose silence a hostile Cardiff.

Victory on the road for the last instalment of the Friday night experiment will slide down even sweeter for England in the knowledge that they now have three games at Twickenham -- a venue they seldom lose at in the championship.

Wales had come out of the blocks hell bent on proving a point to their bitter rivals.  However, the English stood tall and weathered an early assault before launching one of their own that ultimately brought the first points on fourteen minutes.  Toby Flood was the architect, ghosting through a hole on the home 22 before feeding Northampton winger Ashton who swan-dived under the uprights.  The conversion made the scores 0-7.

Flood extended the lead further before the quarter before Stephen Jones succeeded where James Hook had failed twice earlier from distance.  The Scarlet knocked over a couple of three-pointers after English indiscretions, the latter offence seeing Louis Deacon binned.

The man advantage didn't result in much joy for Wales though, who struggled to recapture that sustained possession they'd enjoyed in the opening stages.  In fact, England were the ones who came out of the ten-minute spell on top in terms of the scoreboard if one discounts Jones' kick while Leicester's Deacon departed for the walk of shame.

And so with a seven-point margin at the break, England were most definitely the happier of the two as Flood was completely on top of his opposite number in terms of creativity.

Wales did have their moments though, but too often they wasted promising attacking positions through poor kicking when keeping ball in hand would have proved a more threatening option.

Jones completed his penalty hat-trick within three minutes of the restart, yet indiscipline then surfaced as Craig Mitchell was carded for a technical infringement.

It was the last thing Wales wanted, and another Flood strike put England 16-9 in front before Ashton poached his second try after Tom Palmer's powerful run spread-eagled Wales' defence and Mark Cueto sent his fellow wing across.

Wales looked down and out, yet they struck back right on cue when Morgan Stoddart took Davies' scoring pass after England centre Shontayne Hape blasted out of the defensive line.

The try gave Wales renewed hope, and an air of anticipation surrounded Hook's move to fly-half after Jones went off with thirteen minutes left.

Hook's first act was to kick a penalty, leaving Wales just four points adrift, but England reverted to their forwards, Lee Byrne conceded a penalty and Jonny Wilkinson did the rest.

Man-of-the-match:  Ben Foden was a real threat when in possession while two tries from Chris Ashton deserves a mention.  But fly-half Toby Flood was the director of matters.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Try:  Stoddart
Con:  Jones
Pen:  Jones 3, Hook

For England:
Tries:  Ashton 2
Con:  Flood 2
Pen:  Flood 3, Wilkinson

Wales:  15 James Hook, 14 Morgan Stoddart, 13 Jamie Roberts, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Matthew Rees (capt), 1 Paul James.
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Ryan Jones, 19 Jonathan Thomas, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 Rhys Priestland, 22 Lee Byrne.

England:  15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nick Easter, 7 James Haskell, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Joe Worsley, 20 Danny Care, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Matt Banahan.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)