France 24 England 21

France confirmed that England's Rugby World Cup honeymoon is most definitely over as they held off a English fightback to collect the 2004 RBS Six Nations title, and the Grand Slam, courtesy of a 24-21 win at Stade de France in Paris.

This deciding match of the competition lived up to its top billing by delivering a pulsating, full-blooded encounter -- but England will rue the fact that they decided to join the party after half-time only.

England fans have grown accustomed to watching their side toy with their prey before going in for the kill late in the game, but it was France who did all the early toying in this game -- capitalising on some shoddy defence to rack up 21 points in the first period of the game.

England managed to find their natural second-half grit, and pulled themselves back into contention from 24-6 down -- but it was too little to late:  the horse had already bolted.

In the lead up to this game, France coach Bernard Laporte accused England of "being a machine" -- and that certainly looked to be the case, as Sir Clive Woodward's men seemed unable to power up in time, and were unable to fathom the sheer artistry of the early French raid.

Laporte's scathing remark was not the only one made prior to "le crunch", and tensions were visible on the pitch -- with Imanol Harinordoquy and Lawrence Dallaglio soon locked in an embrace unbefitting of the City of Love.

The England skipper had taken offence to his opposite number's off-side position, and Irish referee Alain Rolland agreed.  Bath youngster Olly Barkley duly stepped up to open the scoring after only two minutes, but his effort sailed wide.

The thought of playing an England side that actually missed goal-kicks seems to inspire the French, and they pushed forward, confounding the English defence with some outstanding running lines.

France had pin-pointed England's line-out for attention prior to the fixture, but it was a poor white scrum that led to the first points of the game.

England's pack were penalised for popping up the scrum in their 22 and scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili stepped up to finally get the scoreboard ticking off after 21 minutes.

France wasted no time consolidating their lead.  After a brilliant break by strapping centre Yannick Jauzion put England's defence in disarray, fly-half Frédéric Michalak was quickly in position to put in a high kick into the corner which found Harinordoquy lurking in acres on space.

With a safe bounce, the big No.8 cooly collected the ball to touch down a simple unconverted try.

France continued to pin the English back, and were soon rewarded with a penalty after Dawson was adjudged to be off-side at the scrum, and Yachvili had no trouble adding three more points.

Finding themselves in unfamiliar territory, England attempted to break out with ball in hand, but a poor Trevor Woodman pass allowed Pepito Elhorga to intercept and race behind England's startled defence.

England manage to pull down the runaway winger, but were forced to kill the ball and Yachvili punished them with another successful place-kick.

Barkley finally opened England's account with a penalty on the stroke of half-time, but English joy was to be shortlived.

Straight from the re-start, Yachvili gathered at the base of a ruck to find no one home on England's narrow side, much to the dismay of the grounded England scrum-half Dawson.  Following a neat chip and gather he was lining up a conversion from the touchline.

England gathered in a huddle as Yachvili's conversion sailed between the up-rights, and Dallaglio's words were readily understandable to anyone within 100 yards.

France began the second half looking very sure of themselves -- with Michalak using his boot to pin back the visitors.

England needed an early score after the break, which Barkley did via a penalty goal, but another Yachvili penalty cancelled it out and left the score at 24-6.

The game looked beyond England's grasp now, but Woodward played his ace by throwing on Mike Catt in place of the anonymous Will Greenwood to try and inspire some attacking.

Catt -- as he has done in the past -- answered the call by setting up a move which ended with winger Ben Cohen crashing over in the corner.

The Bath playmaker worked the ball wide after the pack had managed to turn over the ball following a rare mistake from Yachvili.  Cohen found himself on the end of the move and used the space and his imposing frame to crash over for his score.

Barkley's conversion was off target and England trailed by 13 with 28 minutes to play.

Yachvili soon missed a penalty chance to increase the French lead, and Barkley showed the tide was slowly turning by converted a kick with eight minutes remaining.

With five minutes to play, England lock Ben Kay managed to wrench the ball free of Christophe Dominici with a big hit, and the ball was worked wide to Josh Lewsey, who did well to cut inside the last defender to score.

Barkley had finally found his range, and his conversion narrowed the deficit to three points -- but despite a frantic finale the visitors could not come up with any more points, leaving France to celebrate a well-deserved Grand Slam and the English to rue what could have been ...

Man of the match:  This was definitely a game of two halves, with some inspired performances from both sides.  Scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili had a stormer, but it was centre Yannick Jauzion who showed France the gaps.  The centre's running lines made a mockery of England's fabled defensive patterns, and his face will haunt the minds of England's coaches for weeks to come.

Moment of the match:  This game was always going to be about English beef against French flair -- and nothing exemplified that more than English tighthead prop Phil Vickery's massive hit on French No.7 Olivier Magne.  The tackle lifted English morale, but Magne bounced up onto his feet, whilst Vickery limped away to receive attention to a head injury.  From that moment on it was clear that whatever England tried, France would come out smelling like roses.

Villain of the match:  The sight of Sir Clive Woodward coming down to the touchline to argue an irrelevant point concerning the position of his replacements with officials was pretty ugly -- but we cannot add to the England coach's woes by handing him this award.  Instead, We'll push it under Phil Vickery's door for his late tackle on Damien Traille that almost ended the centre's game.

The Teams:

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 William Servat, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 Fabien Pelous (c), 5 Pascal Pape, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 10 Frederic Michalak, 11 Christophe Dominici, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Pepito Elhorga, 15 Nicolas Brusque
Reserves:  David Auradou, Yannick Bru, Jean-Jacques Crenca, Clement Poitrenaud
Unused:  Thomas Lievremont, Pierre Mignoni, Julien Peyrelongue

England:  1 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson, 3 Trevor Woodman, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Danny Grewcock, 6 Richard Hill, 7 Joe Worsley, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio (c), 9 Matt Dawson, 10 Olly Barkley, 11 Ben Cohen, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Josh Lewsey, 15 Jason Robinson
Reserves:  Mike Catt, Steve Borthwick, Julian White
Unused:  Martin Corry, Andy Gomarsall, Mark Regan, James Simpson-Daniel

Attendance:  80000
Referee:  Rolland a.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Yachvili D. 1, Harinordoquy I. 1
Conv:  Yachvili D. 1
Pen K.:  Yachvili D. 4

England
Tries:  Lewsey O.J. 1, Cohen B.C. 1
Conv:  Barkley O.J. 1
Pen K.:  Barkley O.J. 3

Ireland 37 Scotland 16

Ireland secured their first Triple Crown since 1985 with a convincing 37-16 win over Scotland in their RBS Six Nations match at Lansdowne Road, although the Irish dropped short of the 50 points that would have kept alive slim hopes of a Six Nations triumph.

Scotland, meanwhile, had to make do with the Wooden Spoon, but the score was not a fair reflection of the match, with the visitors putting in a fiery display -- no doubt fuelled by some inflammatory comments made during the build-up to the match.

Ireland oozed confidence from the very first shrill of the whistle and captain Brian O'Driscoll and company were full of running, only to be thwarted early on by a brave and passionate Scotland defence.

The Irish backline was slick and well-drilled, but they failed to finish off some promising move and all thoughts of the expected runaway victory took a back-seat for the first 30 minutes of the game.

Scotland, meanwhile, hit Ireland hard from the outset and captain Chris Paterson put his team in the board early on with a sweetly-struck penalty goal.

Ireland immediately spread the ball wide, looking to stretch the Scotland defence to breaking point, and they immediately had the Scots under pressure with some precision passing and well-angled runs.

They pulled the lead back with a Ronan O'Gara penalty, but it took them 18 minutes before they crossed the Scotland line.

O'Driscoll rallied his troops out wide and fired a long, flat pass out to midfield partner Gordon D'Arcy, who cut through the gap and steamed over for the try.  O'Gara, who seemingly left his kicking boots in his kit bag, missed the relatively simple conversion.

The Scots rallied on, however, and began to spread the ball wide, playing Ireland at their own game, and in patches looked promising, but some resolute Ireland defence made sure it never amounted to five points.

Paterson then closed the gap to just two points with a penalty, but O'Gara soon re-established the lead with one of his own, before Scotland fly-half Dan Parks pulled it back again with a drop-goal.

Ireland were stung into action and they gave the Lansdowne Road faithful something to cheer about on the stroke of half-time when they stretched the ball wide to put winger Geordan Murphy over for a try in the corner.

O'Gara again failed to find the middle as Ireland went into the break 16-9 up.

Scotland's second half got off to the worst possible start when their star No.8 Simon Taylor was stretchered off with a knee injury, but they quickly put it behind them and hit back -- also silencing the loud Irish fans in the process.

The visitors threw themselves into the game and moved inside the Ireland 22.  They stayed there for the next 10 minutes, battering the Irish defence, until flanker Allister Hogg -- a late replacement for the injured Cameron Mather in the starting line-up -- dived over for the try.

Paterson brought the scores level with the conversion.

Ireland hit back almost immediately as they stormed back into the Scotland half and then poor discipline from the Scots gifted the hosts with a line-out in the corner -- courtesy of an O'Gara kick.

They kept it tight and charged at the Scotland line, the defenders battled bravely to keep them at bay, but flanker David Wallace broke off the ruck and trotted over for the try.

O'Gara slotted the conversion to give the hosts some breathing space.

Scotland continued to battle away and they came close soon after, but Ireland closed up in defence and pushed them backwards.

The hosts took control and barged their way forward, knocking the Scottish defenders backwards for livewire scrum-half Peter Stringer to dart over for just his third international try.

O'Gara, who had found his radar during the break, found the middle of the posts to extend the lead to 14 points.

The two teams continued to slug it out, but a late try to D'Arcy and the conversion from O'Gara ended Scottish hopes and sent the Triple Crown into the waiting arms of the Irish.

Scotland never gave up, but as both coaches sent on the substitutions the game soon lost its edge, which was unfortunate because it had delivered so much before the seemingly obligatory wave of replacements was made.

Man of the match:  Gordon D'Arcy has proved to be the find of the international season to date and he has consistently overshadowed his more illustrious partner in the midfield -- Brian O'Driscoll -- and he is continuing to grow with each performance.

Moment of the match:  Both teams played positive rugby and there were some fantastic tries, but nothing could beat the roar that erupted from the stands when the final whistle was blown -- signalling Ireland's Triple Crown.

Villain of the match:  The game was played mostly in good spirits, but Scotland winger Simon Webber's stamp on O'Driscoll's head was silly and totally uncalled for, but then the constant booing from the crowd every time the bald winger touched the ball was hardly edifying either.

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 John Hayes, 2 Shane Byrne, 3 Reggie Corrigan, 4 Malcolm O'Kelly, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 David Wallace, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Shane Horgan, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 14 Geordan Murphy, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Victor Costello, Guy Easterby, David Humphreys, Marcus Horan, Kevin Maggs, Donncha O'Callaghan, Frankie Sheahan

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Allan Jacobsen, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Allister Hogg, 7 Jason White, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Chris Cusiter, 10 Daniel Parks, 11 Simon Webster, 12 Andrew Henderson, 13 Tom Philip, 14 Simon Danielli, 15 Chris Paterson (c)
Reserves:  Michael Blair, Nathan Hines, Gavin Kerr, Brendan Laney, Jon Petrie, Derrick Lee, Robbie Russell

Attendance:  42750
Referee:  Williams n.

Points Scorers

Ireland
Tries:  D'Arcy G.M. 2, Murphy G.E.A. 1, Stringer P.A. 1, Wallace D.P. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 3
Pen K.:  O'Gara R.J.R. 2

Scotland
Tries:  Hogg A. 1
Conv:  Paterson C.D. 1
Pen K.:  Paterson C.D. 2
Drop G.:  Parks D.A. 1

Wales 44 Italy 10

Wales rounded off their 2004 RBS Six Nations campaign with a resounding 44-10 win over Italy in Cardiff, wingers Rhys and Shane Williams grabbing two tries apiece in the victory.

With the home side scoring a total of six tries, it was a fitting send-off for outgoing Welsh coach Steve Hansen who, after two years in charge of the Dragons, is handing the reins over to successor Mike Ruddock to return to his native New Zealand.

It has certainly been an eventful time during his regime and Wales have much be to be thankful to the self-effacing Kiwi for, with plenty of positives flowing from his handling of the team.

While their set-piece still needs much attention -- here, as through much of this championship this area of their play badly misfiring, particularly at scrum-time -- the Welsh have found a unique style to base their play around, one centred on fast ball transfer and attacking, positive rugby.

Wales's intentions were clear from the outset of this match as they immediately went on the offensive, attempting to strike from deep against Italy, fly-half Stephen Jones and fit-again inside centre Iestyn Harris showing deft distribution skills to get the ball wide.

These tactics paid dividends in the opening quarter as the Italian defence crumbled under such intense pressure, the Azzurri forwards giving away a series of penalties to enable Wales to take an early lead through the boot of Stephen Jones, the No.10 slotting two kicks at goal in the 10th and 15th minutes.

Jones missed with an ambitious third attempt at goal after another Italian indiscretion in the 20th minute, but Wales were to make their first major breakthrough of the match a few moments later.

After another typical long-range attacking move, Wales found the Italian defence in disarray as Shane Williams streaked down the left-hand touchline.

Spurning the three men outside him in support, Williams decided to take on the Italian cover defence to stretch for the touchdown.  While it looked touch-and-go to the naked eye, the video ref duly awarded the try and Wales were on their way to a comprehensive victory.

Jones could not kick the tricky conversion, but Wales had their tails up after this early incursion and moments later there was another score for Williams -- this time of the Rhys variety -- the No.14 rounding off a superb blindside move started by livewire scrum-half Gareth Cooper from the base of the scrum.

The No.9 breached the first line of defence before finding fullback Gareth Thomas marauding up the right.  Thomas drew the defence and gave a perfect pass to Williams who stretched his legs and, avoiding the desperate tackle of Italian skipper Andrea De Rossi, touched down for his side's second try.

That made it 16-0 and Wales came close to stretching that lead even further just before the break, Mark Taylor coming desperately close to scoring in the left-hand corner, but crucially, just failing to put downward pressure on the ball.

The second half began much more promisingly for Italy, their forwards putting the squeeze on Wales in scrum and line-out to push the Dragons back into their own territory.

And, indeed, with fly-half Roland De Marigny kicking an early penalty for his side after a Welsh indiscretion at a ruck, an Italian revival looked in prospect, especially when Italy gained another kickable penalty three minutes later.

But De Marigny could not convert this second chance into points and that let-off seemed to galvanise the Welsh side who then produced a devastating flurry of points to secure the victory.

It was tireless fullback Gareth Thomas -- perhaps Wales' most consistent performer in this championship -- who put his side on the road to a certain win, slicing through after a defensive hole was conjured up by Harris.

That try puts him top of the all-time Welsh try-scorers' list -- overtaking former great Ieuan Evans -- and the crowd favourite was afforded a fitting ovation by the delighted Wales supporters.

Then, five minutes later, replacement Tom Shanklin -- having only just trotted out onto the pitch to take over from Harris -- took a magnificent line up the middle of the pitch to score on his first touch.

While Italy did at least have the consolation of scoring a try in the final quarter, Andrea Masi showing tremendous strength to touch down, Wales were not to be denied and finished off the match in style, those Williams boys -- Rhys and Shane -- demonstrated once more their superb finishing skills to score one more try apiece.

With the game in the bag, all that was left was for the crowd to bid farewell to Hansen who, on this showing, leaves a healthy legacy to his successor.

Man of the match:  Plenty of contenders for this honour -- not least wingers Rhys and Shane Williams and inspirational skipper Colin Charvis.  But for his deft distribution skills and fine tactical vision, we'll go for inside centre Iestyn Harris, who has emerged this season as a fully-fledged international Union player.

Moment of the match:  The ultimate team man, Gareth Thomas has long been a tower of strength for Wales through too many difficult years to mention and here, once again, produced an almost faultless performance -- not least his second-half try which put the game out of Italy's reach and propelled this servant of Welsh rugby to the top of his country's all-time try-scorers' list.

Villain of the match:  No crimes to report -- only minor misdemeanours in an encounter played in the best of spirits by both sides.  Instead, we'll point the finger at the Welsh Rugby Union for failing to organise a formal send-off for outgoing coach Steve Hansen at the end of the match.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Duncan Jones, 4 Michael Owen, 5 Gareth Llewellyn, 6 Colin Charvis (c), 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Dafydd Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Rhys Williams, 12 Iestyn Harris, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Shane Williams, 15 Gareth Thomas
Reserves:  Mefin Davies, Dwayne Peel, Alix Popham, Tom Shanklin, Robert Sidoli, Ceri Sweeney, Ben Evans

Italy:  1 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Andrea Lo Cicero, 4 Santiago Dellape, 5 Carlo Del Fava, 6 Marco Bortolami, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Andrea De Rossi (c), 9 Paul Griffen, 10 Roland De Marigny, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Andrea Masi, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Nicola Mazzucato, 15 Gonzalo Canale
Reserves:  Roberto Mandelli, Silvio Orlando, Simon Picone, Rima Wakarua-Noema, Mirco Bergamasco, Salvatore Perugini
Unused:  Carlo Festuccia

Attendance:  72500
Referee:  Lawrence m.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Thomas G. 1, Williams G.R. 2, Williams S.M. 2, Shanklin T. 1
Conv:  Jones S.M. 4
Pen K.:  Jones S.M. 2

Italy
Tries:  Masi A. 1
Conv:  Wakarua-Noema R. 1
Pen K.:  De Marigny R.J. 1

France 31 Scotland 0

Bravery was not enough for Scotland as France beat them 31-0 at Murrayfield in a RBS Six Nations match which had few moments of elegance or beauty.

The French, who were often uncharacteristically cumbersome, scored three tries and go home to France to await the English and the possibility of a Grand Slam next Saturday.

From start to finish there was no doubt who was going to win.  The French had the match and it was only a matter of how many points they were going to score.  That they did not score more was possibly due to a lack of rhythm on the one hand and directness on the other.

Apart from a flurry just before half-time, the first half belonged to France and it was astonishing that the score at half-time was only 11-0 in their favour.  There was no doubting Scottish bravery.

In that half the French line-outs were rickety, their scrums firm enough and the tackle ball went with the tackler.

Damien Traille chipped.  Pepito Elhorga caught it and went to ground against their right-hand touchline.  The ball came back quickly and sped the width of the field as the referee played advantage.  On the left-hand touchline Olivier Magne controlled a clumsy pass and sped ahead, beating off Chris Paterson's attempted tackle to score.  That made it 5-0 after seven minutes.

It was all one-way as Frédéric Michalak and Yannick Jauzion did clever things till a penalty for off-side gave scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili a straight-forward kick at goal to make it 8-0.

Just after this the Scottish fullback Derrick Lee was sent to the sin bin for a gross tackle on Yachvili while the scrum-half was well off the ground.  Off Lee went for 10 minutes.  During his sojourn on the touchline, France failed to score a single point.  They went in for lots of passing and the Scots went in for passing, but neither side looked like getting anywhere until Elhorga came desperately close as he chased a Nicolas Brusque grubber into the Scottish in-goal.  Simon Webster did his best to stop him getting to the ball and Elhorga knocked on, left to wonder why there was no action against Webster for tugging his shorts.

The flurry late in the second half came after strong running by muscular centre Tom Philip and surging blindside flank Jason White backed by a forward drive.

The second half belonged to France except for a flurry just before the final whistle.  Two penalties had the Scots driving at the line over and over, bash upon bash.  The Television Match official was given some work.  A five-metre scrum gave the Scots more bashing opportunities till a knock-on ended the match.

The half started with three replacements -- largely anonymous Julien Peyrelongue for Michalak at fly-half, Mike Blair for Chris Cusiter at scrum-half and Allister Hogg for Cameron Mather on the flank.

Hogg gave away the first penalty, which Yachvili slotted to make the score 14-0.  It became 17-0 when No.8 Simon Taylor was penalised at a tackle.

The match meandered along till Yachvili stole a Scottish ball at the back of a scrum.  The French won it quickly at a ruck and Traille ran a good little angle to send Jauzion dancing through a gap for a try at the posts.

Jauzion got the only other try of the half when France tapped a free-kick and Serge Betsen broke going left.  Dominici protected the ball as he was tackled and France flung the attack right.  Substitute loose forward Julien Bonnaire took out two tacklers to send Jauzion over.

This was the first time in 26 years that Scotland failed to score a single point at Murrayfield.

Man of the match:  For Scotland, Simon Taylor was full of activity, Chris Paterson intent and Simon Webster the best of the four wings on view.  For France, Olivier Magne started off like a house on fire, as if set on proving that dropping him had been a ridiculous error but he faded just a bit as the match went on.  Dimitri Yachvili put his kicks over and the French front row was far too good for the Scots.  But our Man of the match is Yannick Jauzion, strong on his feet, hard in the tackle and he scored two tries by running the clever angle at the right time.

Moment of the match:  There was Olivier Magne kneeling before his hat as if venerating a religious relic.  There was the whole-hearted Scottish onslaught on the French line and the unyielding defence of the French at the end of the match.  But the best moment was that little step by Damien Traille and the sympathetic pass that sent Yannick Jauzion through the gap.

Villain of the match:  Certainly Derrick Lee for that tackle on Dimitri Yachvili.  It looked so calculated as he lined him up and drove into his airborne knees.

The Teams:

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 William Servat, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 Fabien Pelous (c), 5 Pascal Pape, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Thomas Lievremont, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 10 Frederic Michalak, 11 Christophe Dominici, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Pepito Elhorga, 15 Nicolas Brusque
Reserves:  David Auradou, Yannick Bru, Jean-Jacques Crenca, Julien Bonnaire, Julien Peyrelongue
Unused:  Vincent Clerc, Clement Poitrenaud

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Allan Jacobsen, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Cameron Mather, 7 Jason White, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Chris Cusiter, 10 Chris Paterson (c), 11 Simon Webster, 12 Andrew Henderson, 13 Tom Philip, 14 Simon Danielli, 15 Derrick Lee
Reserves:  Michael Blair, Nathan Hines, Gavin Kerr, Daniel Parks, Allister Hogg, Robbie Russell
Unused:  Brendan Laney

Attendance:  66324
Referee:  Young s.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Jauzion Y. 2, Magne O. 1
Conv:  Yachvili D. 2
Pen K.:  Yachvili D. 4

Ireland 19 Italy 3

Ireland did just enough to beat Italy 19-3 in horrendous conditions in the RBS Six Nations match at Lansdowne Road in Dublin.  A brace of tries by Ireland late in the first half proved to be the difference as the Azzurri failed to break the Irish defence.

The weather proved to be the biggest factor at Lansdowne Road as neither side truly came to grips with swirling winds and scattered rains in a grey and dreary Dublin.

Ireland fly-half Ronan O'Gara did well to control his kicks in the latter half of the game, but his Italian counterpart, Roland De Marigny, looked out of sorts with a number of his clearance kicks failing to find touch.

De Marigny, in fact, got the game off to a strange start as he chose to relinquish possession at the kick-off by gifting the Irish with a scrum on the half-way line thanks to a half-hearted grubbered kick-off.  What his reasons for doing so remain to be seen, but the resultant penalty awarded to Ireland was surely not one of them.

Ireland fly-half Ronan O'Gara failed with the conversion of the kick, however, with the wind interfering and sending his long-range effort well wide of the mark.

The wind stamped its mark on the game immediately as both teams really battled in the horrendous condition early on, with Ireland, in particular, looking to swing the ball wide despite the strong, swirling wind hampering their efforts.

The home side looked far more controlled when keeping the ball in-hand and in the forwards -- driving their way up towards the line as they took advantage of their dominance up front.

Italy's cause was not helped when hooker Fabio Ongaro was issued a yellow card for collapsing an Ireland maul close to the line after the Irish had threatened to smash through the Azzurri defence from 15 meters out.

Despite their obvious dominance in the forwards Ireland persisted in sending out long passes down the backline and they wasted a number of opportunities early on before veteran lock Malcolm O'Kelly, playing in his 63rd Test to equal the record set by Ireland legend Willie John McBride, made the breakthrough in the 24th minute.

The big second rower took advantage of a short Italian line-out throw when he snaffled the ball in mid-air and went crashing over the line for the try.  O'Gara over compensated for the wind, however, and failed to stretch his side's lead.

Ireland began to take control of proceedings for the remainder of the half as the Azzurri began to buckle under the pressure laid down by the relentless Irish attack.

Captain Brian O'Driscoll put together a moment of brilliance seven minutes from the break when he darted across the Italian defence and the bewildered Azzurri could look on only as the star midfielder created a gap and darted through it for the try.  O'Gara read the conditions perfectly to stretch the lead to 12 as the rain began to fall.

Italy began the second half with the wind behind them and, in truth, the Azzurri read the conditions far better than their favoured Irish counterparts had done in the first half as they pushed the Ireland forwards backwards with some well-weighted and aimed kicks.

The Azzurri spent the first 10 minutes camped in the Irish half, but they could not find any way through the seemingly impenetrable defence of the Ireland team.

Ireland absorbed the pressure and soon hit back as they countered and surged back into the Italian 22.  The Irish again took advantage of their forward domination, sucking in the Italian defence close to the line and O'Gara sent Shane Horgan away underneath the posts for the try.  The Irish fly-half, however, slotted the conversion and ultimately sealed the win for the hosts.

Amazingly the Irish saw little of the ball for the remainder of the half, with the Azzurri enjoying the bulk of the possession and spending much of that time camped on the Ireland line.

The Azzurri came close to pulling the Ireland lead close after an exceptional build-up saw winger Denis Dallan put away with the tryline beckoning, only for the veteran Italy star to lose control of the ball.

O'Driscoll was issued a yellow card for a high tackle on Azzurri scrum-half Paul Griffen in the 63rd minute and emotions came close to boiling over as the Italians looked to exact some vengeance.

The loss of their captain did little to deter the Irish from the job at hand, however, and the brave Italians were made to make do with a penalty kick by De Marigny as they failed to breach the resolute Ireland defence.

The Azzurri continued to attack until the end, but it proved far too little as the Italians, who continue to show vast improvements each and every week, are still some way off the likes of Ireland, England and France.

Man of the match:  Centres Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Driscoll proved a handful and lock Malcolm O'Kelly was a rock in the forwards, but Italian scrum-half Paul Griffen stood tall for Italy with some darting breaks and put in a massive work-rate in defence.  The New Zealand-born halfback may be filling the boots of Alessandro Troncon, but the latter will have his work cut out for him when he returns if he hopes to crack the nod.

Moment of the match:  Not the best of matches with the weather playing a large part in dampening both teams attacks, but Brian O'Driscoll's solo effort proved to be the highlight of an otherwise drab afternoon.

Villain(s) of the match:  We were tempted to give this to Brian O'Driscoll for his tackle on Griffen, but in the end the weather was the true villain here as mother nature played a wicked hand in ruining what could have been a great game of rugby.

Yellow card(s):  Fabio Ongaro (Italy, 17), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland, 63)

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 John Hayes, 2 Shane Byrne, 3 Reggie Corrigan, 4 Malcolm O'Kelly, 5 Donncha O'Callaghan, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Keith Gleeson, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Shane Horgan, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 14 Geordan Murphy, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Victor Costello, Guy Easterby, David Humphreys, Gary Longwell, Marcus Horan, Kevin Maggs, Frankie Sheahan

Italy:  1 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Andrea Lo Cicero, 4 Marco Bortolami, 5 Carlo Checchinato, 6 Andrea De Rossi (c), 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Scott Palmer, 9 Paul Griffen, 10 Roland De Marigny, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Matteo Barbini, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Nicola Mazzucato, 15 Gonzalo Canale
Reserves:  Carlo Festuccia, Roberto Mandelli, Simon Picone, Mirco Bergamasco, Santiago Dellape, Andrea Masi, Salvatore Perugini

Attendance:  49250
Referee:  Deaker k.

Points Scorers

Ireland
Tries:  Horgan S.P. 1, O'Driscoll B.G. 1, O'Kelly M.E. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 2

Italy
Pen K.:  De Marigny R.J. 1

Wales 21 England 31

England returned to the top of the RBS Six Nations table, albeit briefly, after managing to subdue a lively second-half resurgence from Wales to record a 31-21 win in a pulsating encounter at Twickenham.

Sir Clive Woodward's men will now travel to Paris knowing victory against France could see them crowned champions -- but such thoughts will not be enough to block out the knowledge that this performance was not quite the one England had promised to deliver following their defeat to Ireland a fortnight ago.

The visitors clearily fancied picking up were their Celtic cousin left off and, leading by 21-16 with less then 15 minutes to go, managed to silence Twickenham and turn an anxious Sir Clive the colour of an England shirt.

The England coach's pallour was understandable -- Wales had managed to overcome a crippling handicap up front to sneak in two fine tries in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

But -- to England's credit -- they managed to find the bottle they lacked against Ireland, and stole back the lead (and the day) by squeezing the life out of the visiting pack.

But Wales certainly took some pinning down -- they were in town to commit an act of regicide, and a slicing break by Tom Shanklin (a late replacement for Iestyn Harris) during their opening salvo set the alarm bells ringing in English ears.

Wales looked to test England's resolve by running them ragged, whilst the hosts seemed keen to do exactly the same as if to prove to their critics that their self-belief was still intact.

After only five minutes of play, England wing Ben Cohen cloaked his side's fans in a false sense of security by scoring an impressive try in the same corner that gave him a spot of bother against Ireland.

Cohen had plenty to do when he received Will Greenwood's pass 25 metres out, but he bounced out of Gareth Thomas' tackle and held off another Thomas, Jonathan this time, to dot down.

Bath youngster Olly Barkley (a late replacement for the injured Paul Grayson) had the nerve to slot a superb kick from out wide, and normal Twickenham service appeared to have been resumed.

Wales hit back with two Stephen Jones penalty goals -- but England's pack were keen to absolve themselves of their Irish sins and strong-armed their opponents into conceding a number of penalties, and Barkley was soon given the chance to answer back with a brace of place-kicks his own.

England were now running the show, but never managed to turn the pressure into the kind of points they were looking for, and went into the break leading 16-9 after the fly-halves had exchanged further penalties.

But Wales weren't buried yet -- they shocked their hosts by hitting back with a long-distance try in the opening minutes of the second half after props Gethin Jenkins and Duncan Jones combined to send Gareth Thomas over in the corner for a try.  (The fullback's splendid 33rd Welsh touchdown finally brought him equal with Welsh record-holder of Ieuan Evans.)

Jones slotted the difficult conversion to bring the scores level, but soon missed an opportunity to put Wales in front with a sliced penalty attempt.

Whilst England -- clearly still the dominant party -- looked to each other for answers, Wales struck yet again.

A poor kick from Barkley allowed Wales to counter, and a brilliant reverse pass out of trouble from Dafydd Jones saw Shane Williams draw Jason Robinson before putting veteran centre Mark Taylor over in the left corner.

The reversal in fortunes clearly stumped the English players, a lesser team could have frozen up but the whites decided to turn the screw up front -- right where it would hurt the Welsh the most.

As the match entered the final quarter England, pushing the Welsh pack this way and that, laid siege to the Welsh line only to be denied by some superb last-ditch defence.

Cohen finally broke the stalemate by stretching over the line at the fringe to score his second try from close-range after Phil Vickery and Matt Dawson were both held up short.

Barkley's conversion regained the lead at 23-21 and he added a further penalty before a soft late try from replacement Joe Worsley killed Wales' hopes dead.

There was more English relief than joy at the final whistle, the grim realisation was that England had struggled to beat a side unable to compete up front.  France will be licking their lips.

Man of the match:  It says a lot for England's embarrassment of riches that they can call on their fourth-choice fly-half and still get a player of superlative ability.  Olly Barkley wins our award not so much for delivering all that England asked of him, but for pulling off a confident display (in his first England start) after coming in at the 11th hour.

Moment of the match:  There were plenty of scintillating breaks from both sides, but this game was settled up front.  Nothing epitomised England's forward dominance more than Steve Thompson's charge at Brent Cockbain.  The English rake took the ball into the Australian-born lock's midriff and literally picked Cockbain off his feet and drove him back 10 yards!  Thompson has got a lot of flack since his line-out nightmare against Ireland, but here was response to all those who called for his canning:  "I'm more than just the bloke who throws the ball back into play!"

Villain of the match:  Wales were guilty of slowing up English ball early in the game, but -- such was England's dominance in the tight -- there was little else they could do.  They were duly punished by both referee Andy Cole and Olly Barkley, so we'll let them off with a warning.  No villains this time.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Duncan Jones, 4 Brent Cockbain, 5 Michael Owen, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Colin Charvis (c), 8 Dafydd Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Rhys Williams, 12 Tom Shanklin, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Shane Williams, 15 Gareth Thomas
Reserves:  Dwayne Peel, Ceri Sweeney, Ben Evans, Gareth Llewellyn, Martyn Williams
Unused:  Mefin Davies, Jamie Robinson

England:  1 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson, 3 Trevor Woodman, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Danny Grewcock, 6 Richard Hill, 7 Chris Jones, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio (c), 9 Matt Dawson, 10 Olly Barkley, 11 Ben Cohen, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Josh Lewsey, 15 Jason Robinson
Reserves:  Mike Catt, Joe Worsley, Julian White
Unused:  Andy Gomarsall, Mark Regan, Steve Borthwick, James Simpson-Daniel

Attendance:  72200
Referee:  Cole a.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Thomas G. 1, Taylor M. 1
Conv:  Jones S.M. 1
Pen K.:  Jones S.M. 3

England
Tries:  Cohen B.C. 2, Worsley J.P.R. 1
Conv:  Barkley O.J. 2
Pen K.:  Barkley O.J. 4

Wales 22 France 29

France kept their hopes of a Grand Slam alive with their 29-22 victory over Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, but at the end they were hanging on by their fingernails as the Welsh attacked frantically.  Only one team can now win the Grand Slam -- France -- but to do so they will have to beat England at Stade de France on the last day of Six Nations 2004.

The weather was great, but the ground carried on cutting up as it had done in 1999.  It meant the odd loose divot, the odd stumble and the suspicion that a better surface may make for better rugby.

It was above all at scrum time that it suffered -- as did the Welsh increasingly as the game went on and their scrumming disintegrated -- twice with disastrous effect.

On one occasion, the Welsh won the dilapidated scrum and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde got a foot to the awkward ball.  Serge Betsen picked up and ran before smuggling a pass in the tackle to Elissalde, who ran some 50 metres to score the try that made it 26-12 and made the game safe for France.

Safe?  Not quite as the spirited Welsh fought back and came closer and closer on a splurge of penalties in their favour.  Twice, surprisingly given the way they were battling, they offered for the scrum.  At the second, five metres from France's line and close to their posts, with fullback Gareth Thomas inexplicably playing left flank, Thomas failed to control the ball and it squirted out to Elissalde who hoofed the ball 50 metres down field.

The penalties flowed on in Wales's favour in those last frantic moments until a tap and run, a runaround by Stephen Jones and a sweet give by replacement Ceri Sweeney gave another replacement, Martyn Williams, a try that took the score to 29-22.

More penalties and more frantic Welsh attack till Martyn Williams battled to control the ball on the ground, the French won it back and replacement French halfback Dimitri Yachvili hoofed the ball out and his side into the possibility of a Grand Slam.

The first half was bitty.  In fact, much of the game was bitty, with little continuity as the French line-out was a near disaster, the Welsh line-out was not much better, the Welsh ruled the loose and the French massacred the scrums.  But the Welsh looked like going into the break leading.

Then, on the stroke of half-time, France snatched the lead from a Welsh side which had probably had the better -- not by much -- of the half.  Most impressive were the Welsh forwards at tackle and maul.  Most unimpressive was the French line-out which lost them five of their own throws.  But the worst of Wales in the half was the penalty count.  They had conceded nine penalties to France's five.

Because Wales were attacking better for most of the half, their five penalties produced four kicks at goal and 12 points for Stephen Jones who in so doing went past Paul Thorburn as Wales's second highest points-scorer after Neil Jenkins.

France scored first when Colin Charvis unbound prematurely from a scrum and Elissalde goaled.  Then Imanol Harinordoquy went off-side and Jones goaled from about half a metre inside the French half to make it 3-3.  Jonothan Thomas hung on to a tackled player and Elissalde made it 6-3.

Then Jones kicked another three -- twice against Sylvain Marconnet.  Wales were then ahead 12-6.

There had been moments of movement in the tight half.  William Servat had a charge after a pop-pop at the front of a French line-out.  Shane Williams had a run and a grubber to force the French to yield a line-out not far from their line.  Yannick Jauzion made the best break of the match and a delicate chip by Frédéric Michalak boded ill till brave Gareth Thomas gathered the bouncing ball and cleared.

The try had an innocent beginning.  France won a line-out and for once got a drive on.  When that petered out the ball came lobbing back to Michalak going left.  He stopped, ran back to his right where the forwards were.  He gave to Vincent Clerc who stepped inside Gareth Copper and gave to Imanol Harinordoquy on the wing where he scored.  It was the third time in this Six Nations that the tall loose forward has disguised himself as a wing and scored.

France were better in the second half, getting quicker ball from the tackle.  Christophe Dominici had a dart and Michalak a clever run.  Wales were penalised twice at the tackle and Elissalde made the score 19-12.  Stephen Jones got three points back for Wales when Jauzion was penalised at a tackle.

Then came Elissalde's try and the signal for the start of the replacements/substitutes.

Olivier Magne came off the bench for his 75th cap, won two line-outs and had a good run with Harinordoquy.  He replaced starting No.8 Thomas Lièvremont who had a hesitant return to Test rugby.

When the Welsh front row, digging in for survival, was penalised, Elissalde made it 29-15.

Then came Wales's best period of the match as Martyn Williams got a try to make it 29-22 and with a draw beckoning the Welsh attached with hwyl, only for the final whistle to deflate their efforts.

Man of the match:  On the Welsh side Stephen Jones was clever, cool and effective and he made the try.  Colin Charvis, blood and all, was heroic and big Michael Owen put himself about.  Gareth Thomas is an everywhere man -- at times in too many places where he is less effective than in his selected place.  For France Jean-Baptiste Elissalde scored 24 points, but his service was too slow and clumsy.  Pieter de Villiers was the only one of that destructive French front row to play out the match.  Fabien Pelous was all things manful.  Our Man of the match is Serge Betsen -- putting on pressure, making tackles and running incisively.

Moment of the match:  There may have been doubts about its legality, but that little flip from Betsen in the tackle which sent Elissalde's speeding down the touchline was and exciting moment.  But really the play that stopped the breath was that final frantic Welsh attack in wave on wave when a draw seemed just possible.

Villain of the match:  There was none.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Mefin Davies, 3 Iestyn Thomas, 4 Brent Cockbain, 5 Michael Owen, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Colin Charvis (c), 8 Dafydd Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Rhys Williams, 12 Iestyn Harris, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Shane Williams, 15 Gareth Thomas
Reserves:  Huw Bennett, Dwayne Peel, Tom Shanklin, Ceri Sweeney, Ben Evans, Gareth Llewellyn, Martyn Williams

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 William Servat, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 Fabien Pelous (c), 5 Pascal Pape, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 8 Thomas Lievremont, 9 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 10 Frederic Michalak, 11 Vincent Clerc, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Nicolas Brusque
Reserves:  Yannick Bru, Jean-Jacques Crenca, Olivier Magne, Dimitri Yachvili
Unused:  David Auradou, Cedric Heymans, Aurelien Rougerie

Attendance:  72500
Referee:  Dickinson s.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Williams M.E. 1
Conv:  Jones S.M. 1
Pen K.:  Jones S.M. 5

France
Tries:  Elissalde J-B. 1, Harinordoquy I. 1
Conv:  Elissalde J-B. 2
Pen K.:  Elissalde J-B. 5

Scotland 14 Italy 20

A try from Italy hooker Fabio Ongaro and 15 points from the boot of fly-half Roland De Marigny were enough to secure the Azzurri a famous 20-14 over Scotland in Rome.  The winless Scots are now in grave danger of ending the 2004 RBS Six Nations as Wooden Spoonists.

Neither side showed much desire to run the ball as they battled to avoid the unsightly kitchen utensil and the first half became a battle of the boot between the two team's respective fly-halves -- De Marigny for Italy and Scotland's Chris Paterson.

The two pivots traded penalties -- three apiece -- and looked to gain territorial advantage rather than release their outside backs, and the sides went into the break level at 9-9.

It was the Italians, however, that dominated the opening exchanges of the second half with their forwards, with Andre De Rossi, in particular, out-muscling his Scotland counterparts.

The Azzurri forwards made it count immediately after the restart when a lucky bounce gave them an attacking line-out inside the Scottish 22.  The result was Ongaro's try and although television replays brought the score into doubt -- the referee had no doubts and the try stood.

Denis Dallan came close to crossing a few minutes later, but the Italian left-wing did not have the legs -- losing out in a foot-race to Scotland winger Simon Webster.

Paterson had a chance to narrow the Italians lead with a penalty, but the Scotland skipper dropped his kick too short.  It proved to be a costly miss because De Marigny had soon stretched the lead further with a successful penalty 11 minutes from time.

The South African-born fly-half, in his first game at No.10 for Italy, sealed the win for the Azzurri with two minutes left on the clock with his fifth penalty goal.

Webster crossed for Scotland's only try of the match on the stroke of full-time, but it proved to be too little too late for the Scots, and they look set for a winless campaign, with matches against France and Ireland unlikely to yield favourable results.

Man of the match:  For Scotland, scrum-half Chris Cusiter put in another confident display with some incisive breaks, but the award was always going to go to an Italian.  Our pick?  Captain and back row star Andrea De Rossi, who stood tall and led his men forward all afternoon.

Moment of the match:  In a match that will win no beauty pageants, Ongaro's try stood out for its drama value.  The debate as to whether it was or was not legitimate will rage into the Roman night.

Villian of the match:  Despite the stakes, no takers -- all good clean fun.

The Teams:

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Allan Jacobsen, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Allister Hogg, 7 Jason White, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Chris Cusiter, 10 Chris Paterson (c), 11 Simon Webster, 12 Brendan Laney, 13 Tom Philip, 14 Simon Danielli, 15 Ben Hinshelwood
Reserves:  Michael Blair, Nathan Hines, Gavin Kerr, Jon Petrie, Andrew Henderson, Derrick Lee
Unused:  Robbie Russell

Italy:  1 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Andrea Lo Cicero, 4 Marco Bortolami, 5 Santiago Dellape, 6 Andrea De Rossi (c), 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Sergio Parisse, 9 Paul Griffen, 10 Roland De Marigny, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Manuel Dallan, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Nicola Mazzucato, 15 Gonzalo Canale
Reserves:  Carlo Festuccia, Silvio Orlando, Rima Wakarua-Noema, Mirco Bergamasco
Unused:  Simon Picone, Carlo Checchinato, Salvatore Perugini

Attendance:  21340
Referee:  Whitehouse n.

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  Webster S. 1
Pen K.:  Paterson C.D. 3

Italy
Tries:  Ongaro F. 1
Pen K.:  De Marigny R.J. 5

Ireland 19 England 13

Ireland pulled the rug from under the feet of the world champions by battling their way to a famous 19-13 victory over England in RBS Six Nations action from Twickenham.  A try by fullback Girvan Dempsey and 14 points from the boot of Ronan O'Gara were enough to bring England's 22-match winning streak at home to a clattering end.

It's been seven long years since England last lost a championship game at Twickenham, and a cheer will go up from John O'Groats to Sicily after a determined Irish side exposed some glaring weaknesses within the newly-crowned rugby kings.

England's famous forwards collapsed under the immense pressure put upon them by the Irish pack, and the running repairs performed by England coach Clive Woodward could not hide their deficiencies.

England's line-out simply fell apart under the close scrutiny of the visitors, and their pack failed to find answers to Ireland superiority in the rucks, scrums and the mauls.

But it looked like business as usual for England after O'Gara missed a sitter in the opening minutes -- yet the Munster fly-half did well to recover his composure to slot two trickier penalties soon afterwards.

Moments later, however, a rare creak in the Irish scrum saw Peter Stringer hassled off the ball, which went loose -- Paul Grayson collected and fed to Matt Dawson who touched down under the posts for a converted try.

The Twickenham crowd duly erupted, but Ireland refused to bow to the "inevitable", even after a Grayson penalty, fighting back to claim a deserved half-time lead of 12-10 courtesy of two further O'Gara penalties.

The World Cup winners' home-coming party was going badly, and England exploded out of the slips after the break, only to be denied a try after the video ref ruled -- quite correctly -- that Ben Cohen was guilty of a double movement in the act of scoring.

The let-off seemed to inspire Ireland and Gordon D'Arcy -- unquestionably the find of the tournament thus far -- left the England defence standing with a superb break.

After the ball was spread wide, Leinster fullback Dempsey came onto the end of the last past to cross over in the corner.  O'Gara added a brilliant conversion to leave every Englishman in attendance visibly shocked.

The home side finally upped the tempo and substitute Mark Regan thought he had crossed the Irish line, but he was pushed into touch before he could ground the ball.

Grayson added a penalty to make the score 19-13 and -- despite some late pressure -- England continued to make basic errors in the face of their very stubborn guests.

Ireland managed to hang on, and found the energy to perform a jig of pure delight once referee Paul Honiss blew for full-time.

The message on their beaming faces was clear:  England are fallible and "Fortress Twickenham" is no more.

Man of the match:  Gordon D'Arcy deserves a mention for some fabulous breaks, and Ronan O'Gara conducted the game wisely -- playing the percentages and making England suffer.  But our award goes to all the Irish forwards, who showed up their English counterparts with a passionate and committed display.

Moment of the match:  England's defensive coach Phil Lader can watch the break by Gordon D'Arcy that lead to Ireland's try as many times as he likes, but there really aren't any provisions to be made for an attack like that -- it was simply magic!

Villain of the match:  Bizarrely, several of the England players felt that questioning practically every decision made by referee Paul Honiss would get them somewhere -- there really isn't any place for back-chat in rugby and they were lucky that Honiss decided against punishing the more talkative members of the losing side.  But, with our own whinge out of the way, we push this award towards Ben Cohen, who went into Girvan Dempsey's midriff feet-first as the Irishman slid across the line for his try.

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 John Hayes, 2 Shane Byrne, 3 Reggie Corrigan, 4 Malcolm O'Kelly, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Keith Gleeson, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Tyrone Howe, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Kevin Maggs
Unused:  Victor Costello, Guy Easterby, David Humphreys, Gary Longwell, Simon Best, Frankie Sheahan

England:  1 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson, 3 Trevor Woodman, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Steve Borthwick, 6 Richard Hill, 7 Joe Worsley, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio (c), 9 Matt Dawson, 10 Paul Grayson, 11 Ben Cohen, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Jason Robinson, 14 Josh Lewsey, 15 Iain Balshaw
Reserves:  Mark Regan, Olly Barkley, Chris Jones, James Simpson-Daniel
Unused:  Neil Back, Andy Gomarsall, Matt Stevens

Attendance:  72000
Referee:  Honiss p.

Points Scorers

Ireland
Tries:  Dempsey G.T. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 1
Pen K.:  O'Gara R.J.R. 4

England
Tries: 
Dawson M.J.S. 1
Conv:  Grayson P.J. 1
Pen K.:  Grayson P.J. 2