England 80 Italy 23

It took them time to get going, but hot Six Nations favourites England scored 47 unanswered second-half points to finally see off an inexperienced and unfancied Italy 80-23 in their Six Nations game at Twickenham.

England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson scored 35 of them including 30 of them with 13 successful kicks out of 14, as England recorded their biggest score in the tournament and remain along with Ireland -- who downed France 22-15 in Dublin -- the only sides capable of landing the 2001 Grand Slam.

By the time Wilkinson deservedly scored a last minute try of his own and Lawrence Dallaglio added an extra-time try England were almost playing exhibition rugby against an exhausted Italy.

But earlier Italy had refused to play the role of sacrificial victims in the first-half matching England almost score for score, the home team not looking like 150-1 odds-on winners.  Indeed England, after arrogantly spurning a kickable penalty chance in the opening minute, were made to pay when the visitors opened the scoring.

Following an England offide Italy kicked the penalty to touch for a lineout close to the England line.

Lock Andrea Gritti caught the throw, the forwards drove and the ball was fed out to Denis Dallan, who had moved across from the left to the right wing.

He burst through three tackles before touching down in the corner.  New full-back Andrea Scanavacca converted, suggesting injured points machine Diego Dominguez might not be such a big loss after all.

England responded, three minutes later through the boot of Wilkinson who was on target with all seven of his first-half kicks at goal.

Gradually England's forwards gained a measure of control, allowing the England backs to show the same quick skillis that finished off Wales in Cardiff.

Dallaglio, whose father was born in Italy, made good ground up the middle, the No.8, passing to speedy full-back Iain Balshaw.

He returned the pass before Dallaglio sent in right wing Austin Healey in the 14th minute.  A Scanavacca enalty levelled the scores at 10-10 before more flowing play from the England backs produced another try.

This time Balshaw's eleusive pace started the move after the ball had been spun wide to the right.

He passed to Healey and the Leicester man was almost over the line when he was tackled by opposing wing Luca Martin of English side Northampton.

Australian referee Stuart Dickinson was not certain Healey had grounded the ball and called on video referee Clayton Thomas to make the call.

The Welsh official took an age to decide, receiving a slow handclap from the crowd, before confirming the score.

The ever accurate Wilkinson made light of a tricky conversion and England were 17-10 ahead.  Italy, who had reshaped their backs completely after a 41-22 defeat by Ireland in Rome, came roaring back.

Balshaw knocked on centre Cristian Stoica's high kick, the rebound taken by prop and Italy captain Alessandro Moscardi.

The pack supported and the ball was moved to the blindside where No.8 Carlo Checchinato was on hand to score from close range.

After 25 minutes the scores were level at 17 apiece and England must have wondered what had hit them.

A penalty exchange saw parity maintained before another England try took them clear again.  A quick Matt Dawson tap penalty caught Italy on the backfoot and Healey's long loop pass left Balshaw with a clear run in on the left.

Scanavacca and Wilkinson then shared more penalties to leave England 33-23 up at half-time.  Almost immdediately from the restart England gave themselves breathing space when Northampton wing Ben Cohen crashed through some tired-looking tackles for a score under the posts.

Italy were physically wilting, although England were still making plenty of errors.

Front-rower Mark Regan finished off another overlap move before Italy centre Walter Pozzebon was sin-binned for persistent offside.

Substitute forward Joe Worsley added to Italy's misery when after an inside pass from Balshaw he too scored a try.

The Teams:

England:  1 Jason Leonard, 2 Dorian West, 3 Phil Vickery, 4 Danny Grewcock, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Austin Healey, 12 Mike Catt, 13 Will Greenwood, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Iain Balshaw
Reserves:  Kyran Bracken, Martin Corry, Mark Regan, Jason Robinson, Joe Worsley, Trevor Woodman
Unused:  Mike Tindall

Italy:  1 Andrea Lo Cicero, 2 Alessandro Moscardi (c), 3 Andrea Muraro, 4 Wim Visser, 5 Andrea Gritti, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Carlo Caione, 8 Carlo Checchinato, 9 Juan Manuel Queirolo, 10 Giovanni Raineri, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Walter Pozzebon, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Luca Martin, 15 Andrea Scanavacca
Reserves:  David Dal Maso, Marco Rivaro, Giampiero De Carli, Tino Paoletti
Unused:  Matteo Mazzantini, Andrea De Rossi, Ramiro Pez

Attendance:  75000
Referee:  Dickinson s.

Points Scorers:

England
Tries:  Dallaglio L.B.N. 1, Greenwood W.J.H. 1, Healey A.S. 2, Regan M.P. 1, Worsley J.P.R. 1, Balshaw I.R. 2, Cohen B.C. 1, Wilkinson J.P. 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 9
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 4

Italy
Tries:  Dallan D. 1, Checchinato C. 1
Conv:  Scanavacca A. 2
Pen K.:  Scanavacca A. 3

Ireland 22 France 15

Brian O'Driscoll lived up to his pre-match hype to star in a historic 22-15 Ireland win over France in Saturday's Lloyds TSB Six Nations clash at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, scoring the only try for the Irishmen -- albeit a dubious one -- in a fierce and committed display.

In combination with the equally cunning Rob Henderson in the centres, O'Driscoll's outstanding run down the left wing early in the second-half was reward for a varied display from the Irish, which also saw five penalties for stand-off Ronan O'Gara.

France applied pressure at stages, but were an incohesive and often wasteful unit when in possession, although their two second-half tries from Pelous and Bernat-Salles set up a thrilling end to a superb advert for Six Nations rugby -- often derided for its predictability.

A fiery and fascinating first 40 minutes produced no tries, but plenty of drama as Ireland dominated possession and territory, but crucially could not reflect their dominance fully in the score, going to the interval at only 9-3 in front.

France's excursions in to the Ireland half were restricted mainly to the long punts of Christophe Lamasison, that was before his sin-binning in the 32nd minute for a high arm in the face of Tyrone Howe -- which in truth was more clumsy than malicious as Howe changed direction and the reflex grab from the Agen stand-off saw him catch the Ulster wing in the face.

A typically noisy sell-out Lansdowne Road crowd had to wait all of four minutes for their first score of the day, when Ronan O'Gara struck a penalty, but a cagey first 20 minutes from both sides saw Lamaison tie the game at 3-3 after 18 minutes, before Ireland really started to carry out their threats to throw the ball around in their potent backs division.

O'Gara missed a kickable penalty on 20 minutes, before Brian O'Driscoll gave the fans their first glimpse of his lightning acceleration, jinking with quick feet through the French back line before streaking away down the left wing.  With support dwindling though, he was forced to punt forward, and although an impressive kick found the corner, Ireland ultimately came away scoreless.

O'Gara put his side six points up in first-half injury time with a hammer blow of a kick, a penalty from fully 50 metres which flew over with some to spare -- and for once the Dublin wind did not have much to do with it as the sides went in with Ireland 9-3 up, and in the ascendancy.

The Munsterman started the second half where he had left off the first, striking over another penalty to nudge Ireland further past an increasingly disorganised and apparently stunned French side.

But the biggest break was yet to come.  From midfield just inside the France half, the ball was worked right through the hands to inside centre Rob Henderson -- whose hat-trick put Italy to the sword last week.

Henderson jinked his way past one tackle before having the good sense to wait and recycle the ball back as the numbers came.  From the crowd of bodies Brian O'Driscoll suddenly burst clear, with that trademark acceleration plain for all to see, and as he burnt away down the left wing it looked as if he would be bundled in to touch.  However the Leinster man ducked under the attempted tackle and apparently downed the ball before taking the corner flag with him in to touch.

The video referee controversially confirmed the crowd's view of the replay -- which appeared to show O'Driscoll bounce the ball as he went to touch it down, and Lansdowne Road exploded in to life as Ireland led 19-3 after O'Gara's outstanding conversion from the touchline.

Another O'Gara penalty saw Warren Gatland's side extend their lead, but with the French resolve apparently gone, they summoned up a try of true Gallic grit, turning down a kick at goal from short range to go for a powerful rolling maul, which also needed video adjudication before captain Fabien Pelous could claim the score, with lamaison converting to set up a thrilling last 20 minutes at 22-10 down.

With a try now vital if they were to salvage anything from the match, France coach Bernard Laporte brought in strike runner Christophe Dominici for the last ten minutes, and from virtually the play after the visitors nearly scored, when scrum-half Carbonneau -- in for the suspended Galthie -- broke from five metres out, but kicked when it looked like the try was on and wasted the chance.

France did however get the crucial try a minute later when the ball was worked right to the lively Bernat-Salles, who in the same manneras last week against Scotland, accelerated in to the corner from ten metres out for a try, and in the same blow almost doubled the average blood pressure in Dublin with the score at 22-15 and five minutes to go, but Lamaison scuffed the conversion from the touchline to slightly ease the pressure as Ireland summoned on Kevin Maggs to tighten the midfield for the impressive but tired Rob Henderson.

Ronan O'Gara missed another penalty attempt as France piled on the pressure, but Ireland's willingness to run the ball saw them keep the majority of possession as injury-time approached.

Australian referee Scott Young finally put the Lansdowne Road crowd out of their misery after nearly four minutes of added time, in a game which saw Ireland firmly establish themselves as the main rivals to England in the quest for the Six Nations Championship, with the March 24 meeting between the two sides in Dublin pencilled in already as a potential championship decider.

Ireland coach Warren Gatland, who has repaid the faith shown in him by the selectors after many were demanding his head when Ireland conceded 50 points to England in last year's Six Nations opener, was understandably elated.

"We justified the confidence shown in us and showed real backbone when we came under pressure for 15 minutes in the second-half," the 37-year-old Kiwi said.  "I am delighted both with the result and the manner in which we achieved it," added the quietly spoken former All Black reserve hooker.  His French counterpart Bernard Laporte, who is faced with a second successive Six Nations failure, suggested rather lamely that if O'Driscoll had been in their side they would have won.  "The Irish have an extraordinary attack and put us under a lot of pressure," the bespectacled 35-year-old said.

"However, if O'Driscoll had been on our side then we would have won the match," he added.  Laporte, did, though praise his side in the excellent defence they mounted against a furious Irish onslaught.

"We gave away too many balls particularly in the first-half but I thought the defence did really well in stopping the Irish attacks," he said.

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 John Hayes, 4 Mick Galwey, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 David Wallace, 7 Alan Quinlan, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Rob Henderson, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 14 Tyrone Howe, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Gary Longwell, Emmet Byrne, Kevin Maggs, Andy Ward
Unused:  David Humphreys, Brian O'Meara, Frankie Sheahan

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 David Auradou, 5 Fabien Pelous (c), 6 Olivier Magne, 7 Christophe Moni, 8 Christophe Juillet, 9 Philippe Carbonneau, 10 Christophe Lamaison, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Franck Comba, 14 David Bory, 15 Xavier Garbajosa
Reserves:  Abdelatif Benazzi, Serge Betsen Tchoua, Christian Califano, Christophe Dominici
Unused:  Olivier Azam, Gerald Merceron, Christophe Laussucq

Attendance:  50000
Referee:  Scott Young (Australia),
Touch Judges:  Chris White (England), Iain Ramage (Scotland).

Points Scorers:

Ireland
Tries:  O'Driscoll B.G. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 1
Pen K.:  O'Gara R.J.R. 5

France
Tries:  Bernat-Salles P. 1, Pelous F. 1
Conv:  Lamaison C. 1
Pen K.:  Lamaison C. 1

Scotland 28 Wales 28

Murrayfield witnessed one of the great international comebacks on Saturday, when Scotland fought back from 25-6 down to earn a memorable 28-28 draw with Wales in the Lloyds-TSB Six Nations Championship.

Duncan Hodge held his nerve to strike the decisive conversion with only one minute to go, after Ian McGeechan's Scotland side produced a monumental effort to come up with two tries in the last five minutes when the game looked well beyond them, with Wales' man-of-the-match Neil Jenkins conceding afterwards, "We blew it."

James McLaren and Tom Smith earned the two last gasp tries, adding to Chris Paterson's earlier effort, but it was the poor kicking display of Scotland's Kenny Logan which will have the Murrayfield crowd rueing the one that got away.

On at least three occasions Logan missed easy shots at goal, and when the decisive shot came up at the death he passed the buck to Duncan Hodge to take the applause.

Wales scored only one try on the day, with Mark Taylor's interception score coming just after the break, which had seen his side go in at 18-6 up.

Speaking after the game, Scotland scrum-half and captain Andy Nicol hailed the "never say die" attitude of his battlers.

"This team has a lot of belief, and we're disappointed we didn't win," said the Glasgow Caledonian Reds star.

"Giving Wales a big lead made it very difficult, but we showed a lot of guts."

Wales fly-half Neil Jenkins -- who hit 23 of Wales' 28 points with the boot spoke of the despair in the Welsh dressing room after going in to such a big lead.

"We blew it, absolutely blew it," he said.

"We thought the game was under control, but we let ourselves down defensively again.  No disrespect, but we lost it rather than Scotland winning it.  Hopefully we can build on this."

The difference between the two kickers was obvious right from the start of a try-less forst half, with Jenkins drop-goal in the very first minute flying over to set the scoreboard in motion, and Kenny Logan's first penalty attempt for Scotland going wide, when in truth it was an eminently kickable chance.

It was the two kickers who dominated the first half, or to be more precise one kicker -- Neil Jenkins.  His penalty on seven minutes put Wales 6-0 up, hit back with a penalty from straight in front outside the 22.

Possibly learning their lessons from their Cardiff abomination against England, Wales took the points when they were on offer, with a second drop-goal from Jenkins following, before a third penalty and then another drop goal as the backs struggled to engineer gaps.

One of the attacks which may have yielded the first try was stopped illegally by giant lock Richard Metcalfe, when he curtailed Scott Gibbs' chip-and-chase by body checking him as he ran to retrieve the ball.

In a fairly scrappy half the last word went to Kenny Logan who pulled the scores slightly back with an easy penalty from inside the 22 for an 18-6 half-time score.

The second-half saw both teams come out with tries in mind, and it was Scotland's willingness to throw the ball around in the backs which led to the first try of the match -- unfortunately it went to Wales.

With Scotland in possession in midfield John Leslie saw the space out wide and launched a loop pass, but Wales and Swansea centre Mark Taylor had anticipated the mistake, and as Leslie's pass failed to clear Taylor he stuck his arms in to the air and claimed the ball for a free run-in from the halfway line for the try, which Jenkins converted from under the posts.

Scotland hit back virtually straight away when fullback Chris Paterson set away down the left wing from halfway, but with men to beat it looked as if his progress would be limited to the 22.  A shocking attempted tackle by fullback Rhys Williams -- a late addition for the injured Stephen Jones -- saw Paterson breeze in under the posts for the converted try, and the was deficit brought back to 25-13.  All this in the five minutes after the break.

Normality was soon restored to Murrayfield as Logan went about missing his third kickable penalty of the afternoon, but he got the next one with 20 minutes left on the clock as Scotland applied the pressure.

The normally reliable Jenkins then proved that Logan was not the only player capable of missing easy points, as he sliced a penalty wide of the posts, and there was a real charge on from both teams, but Jenkins composed himself to slot over his fourth penalty as the match went in to the last 10 minutes with Graham Henry's Wales 28-16 up.

Scotland probed the Welsh line, and after the video referee had denied them a score from a pile-up over the Welsh line, it was down to centre James McLaren to do the honours with a crashing try as he barged over the line on the burst after the the ball had been moved left, but again, Logan produced a diabolical kick to miss the extra points.

Scotland were not done though, and as prop forward Tom Smith broke down the left from the Welsh 22 it seemed incomprehensible that he could beat Llanelli flyer Mark Jones for pace, but the British Lion threw a dummy and accelerated past the wing for a precious try -- but Scotland were still two points down.

Kenny Logan shirked the responsibility of the testing conversion from between the posts and the left touch line, and it was down to Duncan Hodge to strike the extras to tie the game.  The Edinburgh star sent Murrayfield in to delirium as he nailed the kick, but missed a late drop goal which could have won the match outright.

One man who will be feeling the strain from Murrayfield is Wales coach Graham Henry, who spoke after the game of the mood in the Welsh camp.

"We've come a long way in a week, and we've got to be positive, but yeah we're disappointed," he said.

"It's always a worry when you concede that many points, and we need to work harder.  There's no magic wand though."

Att:  67,500
Referee:  Steve Lander (Eng)
Touch Judges:  Steve Walsh (New Zealand), Joel Jutge (France).

The Teams:

Scotland:  1 Tom Smith, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Richard Metcalfe, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Jon Petrie, 9 Andy Nicol (c), 10 Duncan Hodge, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 John Leslie, 13 James McLaren, 14 Cammie Murray, 15 Chris Paterson
Reserves:  Gordon McIlwham, James Craig, Stuart Grimes
Unused:  Alan Bulloch, Bryan Redpath, Steve Scott, Jason White

Wales:  1 Darren Morris, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Ian Gough, 5 Andrew Moore, 6 Colin Charvis, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley, 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Mark Jones, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Dafydd James, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Spencer John, Rupert Moon, Craig Quinnell
Unused:  Geraint Lewis, Allan Bateman, Garin Jenkins, Gareth Thomas

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  McLaren J.G. 1, Paterson C.D. 1, Smith T.J. 1
Conv:  Hodge D.W. 1, Logan K.McK. 1
Pen K.:  Logan K.McK. 3

Wales
Tries:  Taylor M. 1
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 1
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 4
Drop G.:  Jenkins N.R. 3

France 16 Scotland 6

Biarritz wing Philippe Bernat-Salles managed to produce the only moment of excitement at the Stade de France, Paris, as his try helped France to an uninspiring and error-ridden 16-6 win over Scotland in the Six Nations Championship.

Bernat-Salles' try immediately after half-time had looked like bringing to life a poor advert for rugby, which yielded 28 handling errors, 33 turnovers and 27 penalties, but unfortunately failed to do so, as a capacity 80,000 crowd showed their disapproval by booing their victorious side on the final whistle.

Harsh critics may lay some blame with Australian referee Stuart Dickinson's apparent pedantry, but in truth it was an inept 80 minutes of rugby from every player on the pitch which conspired to produce one of the dullest and most incohesive Six Nations matches in recent memory.

Scotland defied their tag as extreme underdogs by holding Les Bleus 6-6 at the interval, but with France tipped as England's main rivals for the championship, Clive Woodward's men can sleep easy if France play out the rest of the competition in the manner they did this game.

Speaking after the game, Scotland coach Ian Mcgeechan spoke of where exactly the game was lost:  "We had one casual minute after half-time, and that was ultimately the difference.  We're all very disappointed, and thought we played well.  We created opportunities in the first-half, and thought we were very competitive, but it didn't show on the scoreboard.

"The crowd weren't too happy about what was going on, and that worked in our favour."

The band's decision to play two verses of "Flower of Scotland" before the match caught players and fans alike by surprise, but a bigger shock was on the cards for the Scots as the game got underway.

Cameron Murray chipped ahead down the right wing in to the French 22 after only two minutes, and from the resulting ruck near the line, their creative centre-piece Gregor Townsend felt the full weight of the French pack, with his knee buckling, and an early exit for the Castres fly-half, who spent the remainder of the game under ice on the bench.

Duncan Hodge was summoned on to fill the breach, and the more structured conservative approach of the Edinburgh star may have helped Ian McGeechan's side, as the French struggled to break them down from the first and second phase, and Hodge probed the French fringes around the base of the rucks.

Scrum-half Andy Nicol shouldered much of the attacking burden for the Scots, breaking succesfully on more than one occasion with a dummy and burst of pace, but ultimately resulting in no first-half tries, with the sides going in tied at 6-6 at the break.

On paper that score may well have flattered Scotland, but in an atmospherically lacking Stade de France they were every bit as threatening as their opponents, taking the lead after 11 minutes with a Kenny Logan penalty.

Christophe Lamaison -- largely deprived of quick ball from Fabien Galthie -- levelled the scores minutes later, only for Logan to once again put Scotland ahead with a penalty.

Nicol's sniping runs got the large Scottish travelling contingent going midway through the half, and when he broke from the 22 to face a one on one with fullback Garbajosa it looked as if a score might be on, but with support visibly lacking he threw away possession for France to counter through the strangely quiet Olivier Magne, who worked the ball in to the Scotland half and subsequently inside down the right.

It fell to Bernat-Salles who thought he had a shout for a try, but a superb last ditch intervention from Kenny Logan's left thigh meant that the video referee had no option but not to award the score.

A penalty from Lamaison brought the scores to 6-6 minutes before the break, but the last act of the first-half was the sin-binning of flanker Martin Leslie for Scotland after what at first appeared to be a blatant clothes-line on Bernat-Salles near the Scottish line, but on later inspection revealed a spot of amateur dramatics from the Frenchman, who although collared was merely tackled at shoulder height.

Lamaison missed the chance to send his side in ahead at half-time with the resulting penalty, but the first minute of the second period saw that elusive French spark finally rear its head.

Stade Francais' Franck Comba broke from midfield outside the 22, and after a weaving crossfield run found the lively Bernat-Salles outside him on the right flank.  Looking like the Scottish cover would be enough to bundle him in to the advertising hoardings, the Biarritz flyer side-stepped Kenny Logan and then jinked his way past Stuart Grimes over the line for the try, converted by Lamaison for a 13-6 lead.

A huge up and under from Lamaison caused further tremors in the Scotland rearguard, with the impressive Chris Paterson taking his eye off the ball on the edge of the 22, and Andy Nicol scurrying back to touch down under pressure from the French runners.

France rang the changes, and the presence of former captain Abdelatif Benazzi inspired the pack, as Magne charged for the Scotland line from the 22.  He was held short and Bernat-Salles tried to pick up and dive over but to no avail.  With a whole back line waiting Scotland sensiby conceded a penalty by killing the ruck, and as the wedge failed to break down the now organised Scotland, the danger was averted.

Captain Fabien Pelous was the next to have a go, when he threw a dummy on the 22 and broke for the line.  When a direct sprint for the try seemed the more fruitful option, Pelous looked out wide for the added gas of Bernat-Salles, but the looping pass gave the Scots time to regroup, and the winger was bundled in to touch.  Referee Stuart Dickinson -- unnecessarily pedantic on a number of occasions -- went back for an earlier penalty, which Lamaison struck wide from the right touch line.

Scotland had to endure the last 15 minutes without their scrum-half and captain Andy Nicol due to injury, with Sale Sharks' Bryan Redpath on to try and spark some life in to what had materialised in to an extremely dull and error-ridden match.

Kenny Logan went about trying to do just that, breaking from halfway through the French centres and offloading to Chris Paterson at pace down the left wing.  Paterson snaked inside and as a gap opened up for Jon Petrie, the Glasgow No.8 couldn't hold on for what could well have been a try, with Garbajosa's frailties at fullback once again exposed as he slipped over for Paterson to glide past him.

The Toulouse fullback went some way to making up for 78 minutes of ineptitude when he tore away from the defence down the left wing from 40 metres out.  With only Paterson to beat, the Scotsman raced across the pitch to bundle him in to the corner flag, followed by Olivier Magne clattering in to Cameron Murray as he shaped up to take a quick lineout.

The French crowd finally came to life at the end of the game as Lamaison slotted over an 85th minute penalty, only to boo their side, who had won the game, but lost French respect after a dull and unco-ordinated showing.

Man of the match:  Philippe Bernat-Salles (France)

The Teams:

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 David Auradou, 5 Fabien Pelous (c), 6 Olivier Magne, 7 Christophe Moni, 8 Christophe Juillet, 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Christophe Lamaison, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Franck Comba, 14 David Bory, 15 Xavier Garbajosa
Reserves:  Abdelatif Benazzi, Serge Betsen Tchoua, Christian Califano, Gerald Merceron
Unused:  Olivier Azam, Philippe Carbonneau, Christophe Dominici

Scotland:  1 Tom Smith, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Richard Metcalfe, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Jon Petrie, 9 Andy Nicol (c), 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 John Leslie, 13 James McLaren, 14 Cammie Murray, 15 Chris Paterson
Reserves:  Gordon McIlwham, Alan Bulloch, Stuart Grimes, Duncan Hodge, Bryan Redpath, Robbie Russell, Jason White

Referee:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch Judges:  Scott Young (Australia), Mark Lawrence (South Africa)

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Bernat-Salles P. 1
Conv:  Lamaison C. 1
Pen K.:  Lamaison C. 3

Scotland
Pen K.:  Logan K.McK. 2

Ireland 41 Italy 22

The opening game of the 2001 Six Nations saw Ireland rally in the second-half to a 41-22 win over Italy in Rome, with a hat-trick from centre Rob Henderson.

After a first-half which saw Italy stun Ireland with a try from wing Corrado Pilat, centre Rob Henderson got one in injury time before the break for a half time advantage of 19-15 to the visitors.

Ireland recorded their first opening day win since 1988, and afterwards their coach Warren Gatland said:  "We came here to get a result and we got a result.  Obviously we are happy -- we would have been happy with a one-point win.  We nearly let it slip before half time."

Captain and hooker Keith Wood added:  "I'm pretty bloody happy.  We got a win."

The pre-match news that talismanic fly-half Diego Dominguez was absent from the Italian line-up must have Ireland licking their lips, and as deputy Ramiro Pez -- also born in Cordoba, Argentina was visibly nervous, it looked as if an Irish romp was on the cards.

Not to be though in the first-half, as a penalty exchange from Italian wing Pilat, and Ronan O'Gara for the visitors saw Ireland nosing ahead at 6-3 after a scrappy opening ten minutes.

The loss of Dominguez was an expensive one, for as well as Diego Dominguez kicks usually and kicked in the opening Six Nations match in 2000 so Italy kicked poorly in this match.  Indeed Italy were behind at half-time only because of failed kicks.  By half-time Italy had scored two tries to Ireland's one.

Italy were surprisingly better than Ireland in the forwards.  They were better at set pieces -- putting pressure on Ireland at scrum time, winning their own line-outs and pinching two of Irelands -- and in driving play.  But outside of the forwards Italy were no match for the Irish, even without start centre Brian O'Driscoll who was out because of injury.  At first O'Gara used a barrage of Garryowens to upset the Italians but it was the Irish running which finished them off.

The first scoring was came from penalties to make the score 9-3 to Ireland when Christian Stoica, the Italian centre a suprise selection at fullback for this match, cut through the Irish defence and despite Ireland's manful efforts to recover, he was there to take a return pass and then float one out to Corrado Pilat on the Italian right wing.  Pilat scored in the corner.  He was injured in the effort and replaced.  He had also been Italy's first-choice kicker for the match and was replaced by Pez for the rest of the match.

At this stage Italy lost prop Alejandro Moreno to the sin bin after a report from touch judge Bob Dickson.  While he was away, Rob Henderson, the man of the match, burst through the fragile Italian middle on a long surging run for a try which Ronan O'Gara converted.  O'Gara added another penalty to make the score 19-8, and it looked as if Ireland was running away with it.

But the Italians, sparked by stocky scrumhalf Alessandro Troncon, came back and eventually went over in a bundle.  Jonathan Kaplan was unsighted and referred to the television match official, Ed Morrison.

The process was long but eventually the telly ref found that Paulo Cecchinato had scored, to the roared approval of the Italian supporters.  Pez converted and half-time brought a score of 19-15 to Ireland, not a comfortable lead.

Warren Gatland, the Irish coach, probably had harsh things to say to the Irish at half-time for they came out firing in the second half.  In no time Henderson was over for his second try, which O'Gara again converted.  Then some clever play by Tyrone Howe on the left wing brought Henderson his third.  First Howe skilfully beast his man.  Then confronted by Stoica he kicked a beautifully weighted kick some 30m into the Italian in-goal area where Henderson outstripped the Italians to score.  Stoica in the meantime had blocked Howe's passage with a dropped shoulder.  The try was the result of good advantage by the referee, Jonathan Kaplan.

The Italian forwards continued to strive manfully and the Irish backs continued to score skilfully.  It was not long before Shane Horgan was over on the right wing.

Peter Clohessy, not for the first time in his career, incurred the referee's displeasure and a yellow card for putting studs on an opponent's body.  Malcolm O'Kelly was fortunate that the same fate did not befall him for the same reason at the same incident.

The Italians went one better in ill-discipline.  Peter Stringer pulled Alessandro Trocon's jersey as the Italian scrumhalf was striving to get close to the action not far from the Italian goal-line.  Troncon swung round, swung a punch and laid Stringer out.  For this Troncon was given a red card.

Ireland enjoyed his absence, and O'Gara, who had had a wonderful afternoon, tiptoed through the Italian defence to make the score 41-15.

Just before the end, the strong Italian flank, Mauro Bergamasco, burst straight down the field from a maul to score, untouched by the fanned Irish defence, under the posts.  Pez converted to make the final score 41-22 to Ireland.

Afterwards Keith Wood said:  "We are bloody pleased to have won."

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 John Hayes, 4 Mick Galwey, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 David Wallace, 7 Alan Quinlan, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Tyrone Howe, 12 Rob Henderson, 13 Mike Mullins, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Jeremy Davidson, David Humphreys, Brian O'Meara, Emmet Byrne, Kevin Maggs, Frankie Sheahan, Andy Ward

Italy:  1 Andrea Lo Cicero, 2 Alessandro Moscardi (c), 3 Andrea Muraro, 4 Wim Visser, 5 Carlo Checchinato, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Carlo Caione, 8 David Dal Maso, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 10 Ramiro Pez, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Luca Martin, 13 Giovanni Raineri, 14 Corrado Pilat, 15 Cristian Stoica
Reserves:  Filippo Frati, Ezio Galon, Walter Pozzebon, Giampiero De Carli, Giuseppe Lanzi, Tino Paoletti, Aaron Persico

Referee:  Kaplan j.

Points Scorers:

Ireland
Tries:  Henderson R.A.J. 3, Horgan S.P. 1, O'Gara R.J.R. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 2
Pen K.:  O'Gara R.J.R. 4

Italy
Tries:  Bergamasco M. 1, Checchinato C. 1, Pilat C. 1
Conv:  Pez R. 2
Pen K.:  Pilat C. 1

Wales 15 England 44

Will Greenwood helped himself to a hat-trick of tries in half an hour on Saturday as England empahtically put Wales to the sword in the Six Nations clash at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, running out 44-15 winners.

Had it not been for Scott Quinnell's second-half try then it would have been a record, but even so, the manner of this defeat must send shudders through the Welsh Rugby Union, as a clinical, organised, and more importantly attacking England seemed to back up Wales coach Graham Henry's claims that they are now truly among the elite of world rugby.

It took England only 11 minutes to register their first score of the day, when man of the match Greenwood touched down in what was to be the start of an avalanche of tries in the first half, which saw England 29-8 up at half time, after Greenwood's first two, and a pair for scrum-half Matt Dawson, who was a constant threat in the No.9 shirt.

The only cheer of the day from the Welsh fans was when Neil Jenkins reached the 1000 point mark in Test rugby (including his 41 for the Lions), but by then the result was well beyond their reach.

Clive Woodward's men proved that their autumn wins over Australia and South Africa were no flukes, with the other try on the day coming from Northampton wing Ben Cohen, whose pre-match build up had been dominated by the repercussions from that "Shane who?" quote about Shane Williams -- who did not earn a place in the squad this time round.

Wales themselves salvaged two tries from the game, both as a result of scrum-half Rob Howley's acceleration at the base of the ruck, with one try for the man himself, and one created by him for Scott Quinnell in the second half.

England manager Clive Woodward denied after the game that it had been a completely one sided affair, saying:  "We expected Wales to come out hard, and they did.

"Will Greenwood and Mike Catt were outstanding for us, and it's refreshing to talk about the England back line for a change.

"We gave full respect to Wales, and it was a brilliant start for England, although we could have got a couple more in the second-half."

Hat-trick hero Will Greenwood said after his afternoon to remember:  "We knew the kitchen sink would come at us right from the start, and we had to take the crowd out of the equation.

"Jonny Wilkinson got right in their faces, and made a lot of space out wide.  All of my tries were team tries, and it was a lot of fun out there.  We're building a good squad at the moment, but we're not going to go around saying how good we are."

Despite the end result, Wales nearly got the ideal start when after two minutes of solid pressure in the England 22, Scott Gibbs floated over a delicately weighted chip which caught the England defence on the back foot.

The ball took a vicious backspin when it landed in the try area, and as Balshaw scurried back he appeared to fail to ground it properly, and with Dafydd James for Wales and Ben Cohen for England both going down on the ball in a heap, it was down to the video referee to adjudicate that Cohen had got the first downward pressure, saving his side from conceding an early score.

Neil Jenkins tried to break the deadlock on his home patch with a 52 metre penalty, but unfortunately for the Welshman it dropped just short.

England had just the answer to silence the Millennium Stadium crowd, and when Jonny Wilkinson broke from halfway, the Welsh defence magnetically drew to him as he streaked away down the left wing.

Wilkinson had the composure to look round and assess the support, and it was the timely inside run of Will Greenwood which caught Wilkinson's eye as he lobbed an inside pass over the head of the retreating Welsh in to the arms of the Harlequins centre to breeze under the posts for the converted try.

Before Wales had even had chance to draw breath the misery was compounded even further, as a run from England fullback Iain Balshaw down the right wing saw him beat his opposite number for pace, before being hauled back five metres short of the line.

Once again it was the superb support play of Will Greenwood which saved the day, as it was he who had started the move in midfield with a long loop pass.  Balshaw presented the ball for Greenwood on a plate, and with shouts of "double movement" from the crowd, Greenwood legally grounded the ball just over the line, with Wilkinson missing the conversion, and hitting a penalty soon after.  But Wales had a trick up their sleeve as the game restarted.

Scrum-half Rob Howley picked up from the base of a ruck on the England 22 and shaped to pass out wide on the right.  Both Phil Vickery and Richard Hill took the bait, and as Howley held on himself, he accelerated through the gap at a speed the critics doubted that he still had, with a diagonal burst in to the right corner sealing the try, which Jenkins failed to convert for his 1000 points in Test rugby (including British Lions).

It was Howley's opposite number Matt Dawson who touched down the next try of the game on the half hour, in what was shaping in to a more expansive England game.

Wilkinson changed the direction of play ten metres out with a long pass to Mike Catt, but with the Wales defence offside the penalty was given just right of the posts.  Dawson turned down the kickable three points and tapped quickly to go himself from five metres.  Chris Wyatt on the Welsh line went in too high for the tackle as Dawson slid under him for the try, which Wilkinson had no problems in converting.

Neil Jenkins then once again missed the 1000 point mark as his long penalty struck the left upright, and England cleared with the midfield ruck seeming to bring play to a halt.  Not so as Dawson picked up from the base, and like Howley ten minutes before sucked in the Wales forwards with a calculated dummy.

From fully 50 metres he raced away, and with only new fullback Stephen Jones to beat stepped first off the right foot, then the left, leaving Jones in a hypnotic daze as the Llanelli man fell backwards, with Dawson jogging in to place the ball for his second try of the half, and England's fourth as Wilkinson converted for a 29-8 half-time lead.

Wales weren't given any breathing room as the second-half started, when only two minutes in a charged down clearance by Wales was snapped up by Ben Cohen, who found Greenwood in space for the centre to complete his hat-trick and go over for the try in the right corner, with Wilkinson missing the conversion.

England were flying, with passes finding men out wide, and a renewed imagination from Clive Woodward's side, demonstrated perfectly when Austin Healey dropped two sidesteps on halfway before the ball found its way to Iain Balshaw on halfway down the right wing.

The Bath star chipped ahead and made a mockery of opposite number Stephen Jones in a footrace to the ball under the posts.  With the attentions of Colin Charvis the only obstacle between Balshaw and that dream try, the England man hacked in to the try area but made a hash of the touchdown as he dived, palming the ball, but unfortunately for England not in to the ground.

Another penalty from Wilkinson nudged England further ahead with 24 minutes to go, before Ben Cohen steamed through the Wales back line on a diagonal run to power over for another try.

With Wales well and truly on the rack, they produced a spark of inspiration to earn one of the truly great milestones in Rugby history.

With a seemingly innocuous scrum just inside their own half, Howley broke from the base and sped through the dawdling England line.  With the defence flocking round him Howley threw a superb reverse scissors pass for Scott Quinnell on the burst from 30 metres out to run the try in.

With the scoreline irrelevant, Neil Jenkins finally kicked over his 1000th point in Test rugby, a monumental landmark for a player whose consistency has never wavered, but a brief aside from this otherwise dour afternoon for the Welsh game.

Man of the match:  Will Greenwood (England)

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Darren Morris, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Ian Gough, 5 Chris Wyatt, 6 Colin Charvis, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley, 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Dafydd James, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Stephen Jones
Reserves:  Mark Jones, Allan Bateman, Spencer John, Rupert Moon, Andrew Moore
Unused:  Geraint Lewis, Garin Jenkins

England:  1 Jason Leonard, 2 Dorian West, 3 Phil Vickery, 4 Danny Grewcock, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Dan Luger, 12 Mike Catt, 13 Will Greenwood, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Iain Balshaw
Reserves:  Martin Corry, Austin Healey, Matt Perry, Mike Tindall, Trevor Woodman
Unused:  Mark Regan, Julian White

Referee:  Dume j.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Howley R. 1, Quinnell L.S. 1
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 1
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 1

England
Tries:  Dawson M.J.S. 2, Greenwood W.J.H. 3, Cohen B.C. 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 4
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 2