France 25 Ireland 27

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Teams:

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

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

Referee:  Honiss p.

Points Scorers:

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

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

England 59 Italy 12

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Teams:

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

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

Attendance:  30000
Referee:  Lewis a

Points Scorers:

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

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

Wales 26 Scotland 18

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Teams:

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

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

Referee:  Mchugh d.t.m.

Points Scorers:

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

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

Scotland 16 France 28

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gerald Merceron converted before a brief Scottish rally.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Teams:

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

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

Referee:  Lander s.

Points Scorers:

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

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

France 28 Scotland 16

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gerald Merceron converted before a brief Scottish rally.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Teams:

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

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

Attendance:  67500
Referee:  Lander s.

Points Scorers:

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

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

Ireland 60 Italy 13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Teams:

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

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

Attendance:  40000
Referee:  Bevan w.d.

Points Scorers:

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

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

Wales 12 England 46

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Teams:

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

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

Attendance:  73500
Referee:  Fleming j.m.

Points Scorers:

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

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