England 13 Scotland 19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Teams:

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

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

Referee:  Thomas c.

Points Scorers:

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

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

France 42 Italy 31

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Teams:

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

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

Attendance:  77000
Referee:  Deluca p.

Points Scorers:

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

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

Wales 23 Ireland 19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Teams:

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

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

Attendance:  40000
Referee:  Cole a

Points Scorers:

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

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