A strong performance from England saw them defeat Scotland 38-18 at Twickenham to retain the Calcutta Cup.
The hosts enjoyed large portions of possession in both halves and arguably should have come away with more points, despite racking up four tries through Chris Ashton, debutant Billy Twelvetrees, Geoff Parling and Danny Care.
Scotland were not without their moments — a brilliant break from full-back Stuart Hogg leading to the first try of the afternoon for the visitors — but they were forced into defence too often and conceded needless penalties at the breakdown when momentum was behind them.
Owen Farrell produced one of his best displays yet in international rugby, a long pass securing England's third try, whilst Twelvetrees lived up to the billing he has been given in recent weeks in the build-up to the beginning of the Six Nations.
The victory means that England will travel to Dublin with confidence, but also aware that there is plenty to work on if they are to finish this year's championship with a title.
A burst from Ben Morgan set England on their way early on, winning the penalty phases later which Farrell converted for a 3-0 lead after two minutes.
England controlled the opening phases, going close with attacks from Wood and then Ashton with little errors causing them to lose possession — but it was a stunning break from Hogg that brought Scotland into the game as he scorched though frozen English tacklers and ended up close to the line.
Scotland controlled possession metres out before Greig Laidlaw drew the tackle of Geoff Parling to put Sean Maitland in the corner to score on debut.
Farrell responded with a penalty to give England a 6-5 lead. A loose pass from Richie Gray then put Scotland under intense pressure on their own 22, England winning the penalty at the breakdown for Farrell to add another three points.
England were immediately penalised from the restart for entering the side of a ruck, handing Laidlaw a penalty chance on the edge of the 22 which he duly converted to narrow the gap to a single point at 9-8.
The hosts struggled to convert several chances in the red zone before a chargedown off the back of Farrell created another opening — Twelvetrees gliding through a gap before Chris Ashton squeezed under two tacklers to score England's first try.
Neither side was able to establish a foothold in the opposition's half during the closing stages of the opening 40 minutes, until a high tackle on Morgan led to another penalty for Farrell to send through the posts.
Johnnie Beattie responded with a powerful run for the Scots which ended in a penalty nearly 30 metres out, Laidlaw converting to leave the score at 19-11 at the interval.
England started the second half with a bang — Billy Twelvetrees eventually crashing over for a try on debut after a great pass from Ben Youngs.
Farrell continued to turn up the pressure in an assured performance, pinning Scotland back into their half. Any momentum generated by the Scots a few minutes later was then killed off for a simple penalty, putting England back on the attack.
The hosts fluidity and power eventually proved too much for Scotland to handle, with Joe Launchbury appearing to cross over for a third try before the play was called back for a high tackle.
A burst from Ben Youngs however threw England back into Scottish territory, Farrell spinning a brilliant wide pass to Geoff Parling to go over in the corner for England's third try.
Scotland's defence continued to struggle throughout the second half, but a turnover near their own life breathed life into their attack, Alex Goode was wrapped up by four blue shirts to concede a penalty in his own half with Jackson kicking to the corner.
Their efforts though were in vain as replacement David Denton knocked on heading for the try line. The resulting scrum did not go England's way and Scotland had another chance, but their efforts once again were undone at the breakdown.
England continued to show the greater invention in attack but a breakaway score from Hogg gave Scotland hope — Maitland's kick gathered by the rapid Hogg who scored in the corner with Laidlaw converting.
An error from Mike Brown then saw him penalised for holding on inside England's 22, handing Scotland an opportunity with a five metre lineout which they failed to make the most of.
England switched the momentum back their way and finished things off with a fourth try in the 80th minute, replacement Danny Care sniping around the fringes to leave the final score at 38-18.
Man of the match: Excellent handling, pace and kicking from Billy Twelvetrees on debut saw him cap it off with a try on debut.
Moment of the match: After being disallowed a third try, Ben Youngs had Scotland scampering and ultimately led to the score from Geoff Parling, putting the game out of reach.
Villain of the match: Scotland's 19 missed tackles meant that today was always going to be a struggle.
The scorers:
For England:
Tries: Ashton, Twelvetrees, Parling, Care
Cons: Farrell 3
Pens: Farrell 3
For Scotland:
Tries: Maitland, Hogg
Cons: Laidlaw
Pens: Laidlaw 2
The teams:
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Brad Barritt, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (capt), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Courtney Lawes 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Toby Flood, 23 David Strettle.
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Sean Lamont, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Kelly Brown (capt), 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Moray Low, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Alastair Kellock, 20 David Denton, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Max Evans.
A dire performance from Wales in the opening 40 minutes left them with a mountain to climb in the second-half, at which they threw everything to bounce back from a 30-3 scoreline to 30-22 in an utterly dominant half.
The loss meant that Wales, the current Grand Slam champions and World Cup semi-finalists, fell out of the top-eight seeds for RWC 2015, the draw for which takes place on Monday.
New Zealand responded to a 15-0 defecit with scores from Julian Savea and Kieran Read, before England took charge thanks to three of their own from Brad Barritt, Chris Ashton and Manu Tuilagi in an astonishing second-half performance.
The visitors crossed the whitewash on five occasions with Wyles bagging a brace, while Andrew Suniula, Paul Emerick and Takudzwa Ngwenya also added their name to the scoresheet.
Three penalties from Pat Lambie and a bizarre try from Willem Alberts handed the visitors the win, with Toby Flood and Owen Farrell accumulating five penalties between them.
Ireland led from start to finish in a dominant display, outscoring their visitors seven tries to two.
Unlike their convincing successes over Australia and Argentina this month, victory didn't come easily for the French, who were trailing the Islanders going into the final quarter.
Predictions the All Blacks' attack would incinerate Wales' defence came to fruition in the first half especially. However even though the scoreline may read otherwise, it was a much better effort from the Welsh - the second half especially.
Scotland led 6-3 at half-time but second-period tries from Tukulua Lokotui and Fetu Vainikolo saw the Pacific Islanders earn their first ever Test triumph on the European stage
A superb second half fightback almost saw the home side pulling off a draw but a penalty from their fly-half Luciano Orquera, in the 79th minute, sailed just wide of the posts.
In a lacklustre but testy match, the Maori scored two tries to one plus 22 points from Willie Ripia.
Winger Fetu'u Vainakolo grabbed the opening score for the Islanders with a try after ten minutes, before the USA's Luke Hume looked to have levelled the scores only for this try to be ruled out for a forward pass.
A dominant first-half performance saw the visitors take a 14-3 lead into the interval thanks to Strauss's first try — off a rolling maul that Scotland failed to deal with — and three penalties from Pat Lambie.
With England, Wales, Scotland and Italy losing to southern opposition this weekend — Ireland were playing in a non-cap international — the French confirmed their status as the top European team in the world rankings.
The result is Canada's third consecutive win over the Bears.
Gilroy was the star of the show while Fergus McFadden grabbed two tries and Sean Cronin, Darren Cave and Luke Marshall added the gloss.
In front of a packed crowd at Twickenham, England opened the scoring with a penalty from Toby Flood with two minutes gone, but it was Australia who held the edge early on in terms of territory and possession.
The world champions led from start to finish to maintain their perfect record against Italy, who put up a solid challenge in the first half but ultimately couldn't match the visitors' attacking firepower.
Samoa sent Six Nations holders Wales crashing to their fifth consecutive loss after the visitors secured a 26-19 win at the Millennium Stadium on Friday.
In spells it was a performance that showed once again why the All Blacks are considered the finest exponents of attacking rugby in the game. It also backed up the importance of all players - from 1 to 15 - being comfortable in any position as forward duo Luke Romano and Wyatt Crockett proved.
Both sides conceded penalty tries in a three-minute span, Romania deliberately collapsing a maul, and Japan collapsing a scrum, to leave Japan leading by one with eight minutes to go.
The result brings an end to Australia's five-game winning streak against les Bleus and puts France in pole position in the chase for the all-important fourth place in the world rankings ahead of the World Cup pool draw next month.