Ireland grab ugly win over England

Ireland are now the only team left who could land a six Nations Grand Slam, after they beat England 14-13 in a miserable encounter at Croke Park on Saturday.

Brian O'Driscoll got the crucial try with 23 minutes to go, a suitable riposte after he had twice been felled late and without arms in, well, after the process of kicking.

Ronan O'Gara missed the conversion of that, and three other shots at goal on a strange off-day for him.  Other teams would have made Ireland pay, for like O'Gara's boot, the Irish were rarely at their best.

England are not one of those other teams.  Once again, ill-discipline pervaded their efforts, never more apparent than when Phil Vickery became England's ninth yellow-card recipient in four games for killing the ball not two minutes after referee Craig Joubert had issued a stern and lengthy team warning.  Two minutes later, O'Driscoll scored.  As if the fact that you cannot win with 14 men had not been emphasized enough ...

It didn't stop there either.  Danny Care followed Vickery with ten minutes to go for an asinine shoulder charge on an innocent bystander at a ruck, helping O'Gara extend the lead to 14-6.  Two yellow cards, eight points conceded as a result, eight points the defference between the two teams going into the final minute in which England scored.  We'll leave it up to you to imagine the colour of the air around Martin Johnson in the stands.

Revitalised and rejuvenated by Declan Kidney's arrival, the mental frailties that have so often undermined Irish rugby appear to have been stamped out.

Paul O'Connell looks more certain to be Lions captain by the week, while Brian O'Driscoll is showing the form of old.  He scored a try, a drop-goal and was named man of the match.

A team so long considered Six Nations bridesmaids can start sizing up their bridal gowns.  Ireland have won three Triple Crowns in four years.  No longer will that be good enough.

Scotland lie in wait at Murrayfield in a fortnight before a trip to Cardiff on the final weekend.  Ireland have a first Grand Slam since 1948 firmly in their sights.

England spent most of a physical first half forced onto the back foot by the ferocious Irish forwards.

Under pressure, England were penalised seven times in 40 minutes and were fortunate not to be trailing after O'Gara missed two relatively simple shots at goal.

Neither side showed any real inclination to play rugby and the 81,000-plus Croke Park crowd spent long periods craning their necks to watch aimless bouts of kick-tennis.

England's early glimpses of adventure, with nice touches from Riki Flutey and Mike Tindall, came to nothing as they twice ignored overlaps.

And from the moment Joe Worsley was overwhelmed at the breakdown, it was Ireland who edged the physical battle and they enjoyed 59 per cent of the first-half possession.

O'Gara almost created the opening try with a deft chip over the top for Tommy Bowe but Mark Cueto reacted smartly to win the race and touch down.

After two simple misses, O'Gara finally nudged Ireland onto the scoreboard just before the half-hour mark as England scrambled to recover after Flood's pass had been intercepted by O'Driscoll.

England managed to draw themselves level just before the interval with a Flood penalty from their one foray into the Irish 22.

But Ireland started the second half with purpose, helped by James Haskell and then Flood conceding careless penalties.

O'Driscoll snapped over a drop-goal before Ireland built 10 minutes of virtually unbroken pressure and tempers began to fray.

A series of tit-for-tat off-the-ball barges ended with referee Craig Joubert issuing a stern warning to England captain Steve Borthwick after Armitage was penalised for taking out O'Driscoll.

Tomas O'Leary sniped to within inches of the line before Joubert's patience finally snapped and Vickery was sent to the sin-bin as England defended desperately.

Ireland opted for the scrum and O'Driscoll crashed over from close range to score his third try of the championship.

O'Gara had an off day with the boot and missed with the conversion before Johnson began to ring the changes, with Mathew Tait, Care, Goode and Dylan Hartley all sent on.

In the midst of the changes, Armitage reduced the arrears to 11-6.  England were still in with a chance -- but then Care decided to crash into Horan from behind and was yellow-carded.

England staged a late rally with Goode and Tindall's breaking through the Irish midfield before Armitage sprinted onto the grubber kick to score.

Goode landed the tough conversion but England ran out of time.  We'll see in a fortnight if Martin Johnson has run out of patience with his miscreants.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Try:  O'Driscoll
Con:  O'Gara
Pens:  O'Gara 2
Drop goal:  O'Driscoll

For England:
Try:  Armitage
Con:  Goode
Pens:  Flood, Armitage

Yellow card:  Vickery (England, 55, persistent infringement), Care (England, 70, off-the-ball tackle)

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Gordon D'Arcy, 22 Geordan Murphy.

England:  15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Joe Worsley, 6 James Haskell, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Julian White, 18 Tom Croft, 19 Luke Narraway, 20 Danny Care, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Mathew Tait.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Christophe Berdos (France), Peter Allan (Scotland)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

Scotland send Italy into tailspin

Italy will surely finish bottom of this year's Six Nations after a 26-6 defeat to Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday, and questions must surely be asked at FIR headquarters over the continued tenure of Nick Mallett as Head Coach.

Once again the Italians looked restricted by their game-plan and were full of unforced errors as well as forced ones.  They still lack a game-breaker though;  Sergio Parisse may be able to do it all from number eight, even landing a drop goal in this match, but he can't win matches on his own.

That is something you can't blame Mallett for.  When the FIR chiefs do get together and review their team's performance, they might also do well to review how many journeymen are playing their trade in Italy's Super 10 at the moment.  Italy's inclusion into the Magners League must be on a self-imposed proviso that none but Italians and maybe one or two real global stars are allowed in the teams.  Italy may be suffering from an uncomfortable marriage with Mallett's methods, but the non-emergence of the needed quality for so long is not the coach's fault at all.

This could be a catapult to better things for Scotland.  Yes, we've heard that before, but there was more than just fighting spirit about this victory, there was a cutting edge, glimmers of inspiration through the dour belligerence of recent years' triumphs.  But there's still an absent ruthlessness.

Simon Danielli scored one of the tries of the tournament so far in the first half and helped to set up Scott Gray for a decisive score midway through the second period.

But for long periods the home side laboured horribly against the Azzurri, who have won just two of their last thirteen matches -- one of those last year in Rome against Hadden's men.

The three wins enjoyed during the heady days of Hadden's debut campaign in the Six Nations of 2006 seemed a distant memory, Scotland managing only fleeting moments of impressive rugby against Italy.

They will have to raise their performance if they are to trouble Ireland's potent mixture of youth and experience when the sides meet in Edinburgh in a fortnight's time.

Scotland were forced into an early change when stand-off Phil Godman went off with a facial injury, to be replaced in a blood-bin substitution by Chris Paterson.

It was another piece of misfortune against Italy for the Edinburgh playmaker, who was at fault for the first of these opponents' three tries in six minutes when the sides last met at Murrayfield two years ago.

Paterson -- who scored all Scotland's points in their last win over Italy at the 2007 World Cup -- was immediately into the action, slotting a penalty seconds after he entered the fray in the sixth minute to put his country 3-0 ahead.

Italy, who replaced Garcia with Andrea Bacchetti as Scotland carried out their reshuffle, conceded another penalty six minutes later -- and Paterson made no mistake to double his side's lead before making way fo Godman.

The return of their playmaker did nothing to improve Scotland's play as they continued to labour, a woeful interception pass thrown by Hugo Southwell to Italy flanker Alessandro Zanni summing up their dismal initial efforts.

Unlike in 2007, Scotland managed to scramble back to stop the try.  But Italy did get on the board from the subsequent recycled ball when number eight Sergio Parisse emulated great All Black back-rower Zinzan Brooke by landing a drop goal in the 22nd minute.

Godman failed with a simple penalty attempt but did move his side 9-3 ahead with a straightforward kick just after the half-hour.

Scotland were still by no means playing fluent rugby but were at least enjoying a greater amount of possession and territory -- and they turned that improved field position into a try of rare ingenuity and class four minutes from the break.

Mike Blair and John Barclay fed Graeme Morrison in midfield, and the Glasgow centre popped the ball inside for Danielli to hit the line at pace.

The Ulster winger scorched past Matteo Pratichetti and sauntered round under the posts for one of the tries of the tournament -- and Danielli's first for his country since 2004.

Godman converted to stretch his side's lead to 16-3 -- and with Marcato missing a long-range penalty attempt just before the break, Scotland went to half-time with a significant advantage which probably flattered them.

Less than 10 minutes had elapsed in the second period when both sides coincidentally decided to change their full-backs, Paterson coming on permanently for Hugo Southwell and Marcato replaced by Giulio Rubini.

Hadden also brought on Dougie Hall at hooker in place of Ross Ford and Chris Cusiter for captain Mike Blair.

Italy were the next to score, stand-off Luke McLean slotting a simple penalty in the 55th minute to bring his side to within a converted try and a penalty of the hosts.

However, Hadden's latest replacement did have the desired impact when Gray touched down in the 63rd minute after more good work from Danielli.

The former Bath and Borders star cut in from the left and fed fellow winger Thom Evans, who showed a welcome piece of composure to find Gray when he was stopped short of the line to allow the Zimbabwe-born flanker to dive over for his first try for Scotland.

Paterson converted to put Scotland out of sight at 23-6 and ask further questions of Italy's stamina in Test matches.

Scotland made most of the running in the latter stages, and only a fumble on the line denied Cusiter a try -- after a wonderful burst from replacement prop Alasdair Dickinson -- in the last notable piece of action.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Danielli, Gray
Cons:  Godman, Paterson
Pens:  Paterson 2, Godman 2

For Italy:
Pen:  McLean
Drop goal:  Parisse

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair, (captain), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 John Barclay, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Alastair Kellock, 4 Jason White, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Kelly Brown, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Chris Paterson, 22 Nick De Luca.

Italy:  15 Andrea Marcato, 14 Mirco Bergamasco, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Luke McLean, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Pablo Canovosio, 21 Andrea Bacchetti, 22 Giulio Rubini.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch-judges:  George Clancy (Ireland) and Romain Poite (France)

France break Wales' run

Wales' run of eight consecutive Six Nations victories came to an end in Paris on Friday, as France finally stitched all the component parts of their game together and produced a terrific second half of rugby to win 21-16.

The hosts went 51 minutes without conceding a penalty following Lee Byrne's 24th minute try which gave the Welsh a 13-3 lead, notching 18 unanswered points before holding off a fierce late Welsh onslaught.

"If we win we'll be right, and if we lose you can say that we are incompetent and pass us off as idiots," Marc Lièvremont said to reporters who had questioned the wisdom of playing with no specialist goal-kicker, no specialist fly-half starting, and an untried 20-year-old in the middle.

In the event, the fly-half did just fine before he went off injured and the 20-year-old had a more than passable debut.  As for the goal-kicker:  Morgan Parra joins Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and Dimitri Yachvili on the list of French international scrum-halves who could boot a ball through an archer's slit from 50 yards.  Lièvremont was right.  If the French back this up with similar domination of England in a fortnight's time -- not unthinkable -- it could herald a new era.

If France had all the problems and pressure before the game, Wales have a few after it.  An uncharacteristic indiscipline undermined their efforts; in that period the French didn't concede a penalty, the Welsh gave away nine.  It's not worth a panic yet -- better teams have lost in Paris when the French are on song -- but by Wales' own high standards, this was a step down.

Whatever it was to the teams, it was the game of the tournament to all of us watching, full of fluidity, endeavour, tactical nuance and surprise.  Did France win because they wised up to the lack of Welsh bodies at rucks?  Will the Welsh feel hard done-by from the referee?  How good was Imanol Harinordoquy?  Should the Welsh have speeded the game up sooner?  How much more room do the French have to develop from this point, or was this the benchmark performance Lièvremont had demanded?  All rugby fans watching had plenty to both admire and ponder, the perfect rugby experience.

Certainly the answer to the first of those questions is a resounding "yes".  In the first few minutes the Welsh got themselves into a 6-3 lead courtesy of two penalties.

The French had opted not to contest rucks in defence early on, perhaps hoping that the Welsh might over-run themselves with ball in hand and get isolated.  Instead, they were caught offside once and pinged once for playing the ball on the ground.  But eventually the Welsh were lulled into a false sense of security; the French later turned over oodles of ball by sending bodies into the thick of it in defence, blue shirts often outnumbering red by two to one.

The Welsh in defence were even more reticent; frequently a French ruck would be marked with one Welsh tackler and two Welsh pillars, with the other twelve strung across the pitch in rigid defensive formation and five or six blue shirts piled up to secure possession.  Again, the French got streetwise and adapted, starting hitting the ball at pace and from deeper, and got the upper hand.

On the basis of all that, Wales were their own worst enemies.  Being outnumbered at a ruck in an age where referees are encouraged to whistle any attempt to steal ball that lasts longer than a nanosecond is not particularly clever.  There may be grumbles about refereeing consistency but they'll find short shrift from most watching, particularly after what Wales' defence did to England a fortnight ago.

Still, they led 13-3 after 24 minutes after a magnificent try from Lee Byrne, who sliced through a gap at full tilt on an unstoppable angle from 40m with not a fingernail laid on him.

That should have been the cue to speed things up.  France had already struggled with direct running from deep, especially from Tom Shanklin.  Instead, the Welsh backs remained infuriatingly flat, removing their ability to create such gaps.

Instead, the game belonged to France from that moment on.  They had already shown signs of their in-game development when Bastareaud's break had taken the french to the line and Harinordoquy had touched the ball down, only for the move to be whistled for excessive usage of the hand in presenting the ball -- an extraordinary harsh call given some of the leeway allowed for ball presentation at times.

That was on 21 minutes.  That was the last time the French conceded a penalty before Harinordoquy was caught going into the side of a ruck on 72 minutes.  That was the difference between the teams.

Five minutes before half-time Maxime Médard's break resulted in a penalty which Parra converted effortlessly to make it 13-6, right on the stroke of half-time Harinordoquy picked off the base of a scrum and drove to 2m out, stopped short by a brilliant tackle from Shane Williams.  Two picks and drives and a conversion later, Thierry Dusautoir and Parra had levelled the scores at the break.

Wales started the second half brighter, with a Mike Philips box-kick causing consternation in the French defence and Tom Shanklin driving close.  Here the difference became apparent again:  French bodies there tempted the Welsh to drive in off their feet and give the position away.

France took the lead on 53 minutes, swinging the ball left after Harinordoquy had made the hard yards and scoring through Heymans despite doing their best to butcher a four on two overlap.  Parra blotted his copybook with the conversion and a penalty ten minutes later, both of which shaved the post, but by now France had the game in control.

Bastareaud made another break which Heymans nearly capitalised on, Parra put his side two scores ahead with a penalty for an early tackle as Wales struggled to cope with the depth of the French support runners.

Finally the veneer of French discipline broke on 71 minutes, with Harinordoquy, of all people, caught going into the side of a ruck.  James Hook, whose introduction had been long overdue, made it 21-16.

Cue some frantic Welsh catch-up rugby -- reminiscent of four years ago at the very same venue.  Cue another mad scramble for the line off a ruck from Martyn Williams.  But there was no magical ending this time as the French piled bodies into a ruck on the line and turned the ball over.

Man of the match:  King of the line-outs and the loose, Imanol Harinordoquy was a colossus, the benchmark player of a top-notch game.

Moment of the match:  That late turnover sealed the deal, a super piece of defensive graft under heavy pressure.

Villain of the match:  Tom Shanklin was lucky not to get a yellow card for a mid-air tackle on Harinordoquy, but that bit of villainy was cancelled out by the meal the Frenchman made of his landing.  No award.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Dusautoir, Heymans
Con:  Parra
Pens:  Parra 3

For Wales:
Try:  Byrne
Con:  S.  Jones
Pens:  S.  Jones 2, Hook

France:  15 Maxime Medard, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Benoit Baby, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Sebastien Chabal, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 21 Francois Trinh-Duc, 22 Clement Poitrenaud.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Ryan Jones (c), 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Dafydd Jones, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 James Hook, 22 Gavin Henson

Referee:  Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Alain Rolland (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)

Disjointed Ireland account for Italy

Ireland followed up last week's win over France with a 38-9 victory over Italy at the Stadio Flaminio to keep the pressure on Wales at the top of the Six Nations standings.

Put the result to one side and there will be major areas of concern for both coaches, in what was a tale of two halves.  In the opening forty minutes it was Italy who controlled events whilst Ireland floundered, and then the roles were reversed after the break.

Declan Kidney will be the happier of the two coaches, after all his side came out of this brutal encounter with the win, but Nick Mallett will also draw from Italy's ability to take the game to Ireland, albeit only for forty minutes.

Paul Griffen, whilst not spectacular, showed the true worth of having a recognised half-back at this level, and Italy's game benefited for it.  How Mallett must be wishing he had never even entertained the idea of playing a flanker at nine, let along actually going through with it.

There was a fluidity to their rugby that was missing at Twickenham last week, and that coupled with Ireland's ill discipline allowed them to settle early on -- even with 14 men.  No sooner had the game started than Andrea Masi was in the sin-bin for a disgraceful swinging arm that caught Rob Kearney high.

Despite having Masi off the field Italy went about their task with plenty of vigour, perhaps a little too much at times as tempers came dangerously close to boiling over.  Hell bent on rectifying last week's forgettable forty minutes, Mauro Bergamasco was a menace at the breakdown, often slowing Ireland's ball down enough for any promising attacks to fizzle out.

Kidney will be alarmed that his side coughed up more penalties in the opening fifteen minutes of this game than they did in eighty minutes against France.  Italy had their own infringers, but Ireland were feeling the wrath of Chris White's whistle all too often.  The end result was a six point margin courtesy of Luke Mclean's boot.

Their luck changed after eighteen minutes when Tommy Bowe snapped up a loose pass, before skipping out of two despairing tackles, and showing a clean set of heals to go in under the posts.  O'Gara converted and suddenly Ireland were leading having spent the opening quarter on the back foot.  The lead didn't last though as Mclean soon slotted his third straight penalty.

With the penalties continuing to flow it was always a matter of time before we saw another yellow card, and in fact two came in quick succession.  First O'Gara went, albeit slightly harshly, for tackling a player without the ball, and then it was Salvatore Perugini's turn, his more deserved for taking Paul O'Connell out in mid-air.

Ireland continued to struggle, as they had for much of the half, until they finally turned some pressure into points.  Italy were holding firm, with the half at an end, until Jamie Heaslip slipped a great pass to Luke Fitzgerald, and the wing did the rest.  With O'Gara off Kearney slotted the extras and Ireland went into the break with an undeserved lead.

Kidney will have been livid at half-time, and Ireland's performance after the break suggested they had taken much of what was said on board, or at least Heaslip did.  It was his surge down the middle of the pitch that lead to David Wallace scoring, although the laboured manner in which the try was eventually taken will not go unnoticed.

From there it seemed as if Italy lost their belief, at the same time Ireland began to find some success from playing to their game plan.  The structure enabled them to go through the phases and put pressure on Italy's defence, and when O'Gara slotted a penalty on the fifty minute mark it was clear there would only be one winner.

Sadly the game began to fade, as errors became increasingly more common, effectively ending the game as a spectacle and contest.  Both sides still went about their business in keeping with the physical nature of the game, just both had a sense that the game was up.  Fitzgerald's second try, and O'Driscoll's first, the icing on the cake for Ireland and the final nails in Italy's coffin.

Italy's frustrating affair with the Six Nations continues, and one wanders if they will ever compete on a weekly basis.  At present one senses they have the ability to win a one-off game, but there is little evidence to suggest they could sustain such form.

Despite claiming victory there will be cause for concern in the Ireland camp, as if they are to mount a serious challenge this season they can ill-afford to turn in such a sub-standard first-half again.  On the flip side they did what they needed to win, and really that is what matters.

Man of the Match:  Having had a stormer against France last week Jamie Heaslip backed it up with another all-action display here in Rome.  Be it bursting through tackles, doing the hard work at the breakdown, or setting up tries, all that Heaslip did had a touch of class to it.  A few more outings like this and there will be talk of a British and Irish Lions spot for him.

Moment of the Match:  With Italy starting to believe they could cause an upset in the first half the telling blow was Luke Fitzgerald's try on the stroke of half-time.  It gave Ireland the lead, despite having done little to deserve it, and left Italy trailing at the break -- a position from which they would never recover.

Villain of the Match:  Tempers were simmering over throughout, but it took just 41 seconds to hand this gong out.  Hang your head in shame Andrea Masi for a horrendous high swinging arm.  Had it not been the first minute of a Test match it would have been red.

The Scorers:

For Italy:
Pens:  Mclean 3

For Ireland:
Tries:  Bowe, Fitzgerald 2, Wallace, O'Driscoll
Cons:  O'Gara 4, Kearney
Pen:  O'Gara

Yellow cards:  Masi (1st minute -- dangerous tackle), O'Gara (32nd minute -- early tackle), Perugini (36th minute -- taking the man out in the air).

The Teams:

Italy:  15 Andrea Masi, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Luke Mclean, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Tommaso Reato, 4 Santiago Dellape', 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Giulio Toniolatti, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Andrea Bacchetti.

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mal O'Kelly, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Gordon D'Arcy, 22 Geordan Murphy.

Referee:  Chris White (England)
Touch judges:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Romain Poite (France)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)

France ease to victory over Scotland

France got their Six Nations off to a belated start on Saturday with a 22-13 win over Scotland in the Stade de France, in a game which will do little to alleviate the pressure on either coach to get their team going.

In the end, France won because their pack managed to get more of the possession and because Lionel Beauxis was a little more wily with the boot in open play;  neither principle pleased the crowd one jot.

The match was punctuated by a chorus of boos from a demanding French public beginning to develop more than a mite of irritation at their new team's inability to get it completely together.

French discipline was much better -- they didn't concede a penalty until the 26th minute and conceded only seven all game -- but it was their gameplay in general that let them down this time.  Where last week in Ireland they had conceded penalties at the rate of one every four minutes, this time the rate of handling errors exceeded that mean, certainly in the first half.

Scotland weren't much better with their handling errors, so it was a frustrating match of rugby to watch.  Both sides promised much but delivered very little.  Both coaches will have to knuckle down under a hail of criticism and spend the next fortnight on execution lessons: neither game-plan was flawed, neither side lacked quality, neither side seemed capable of catching a train, never mind a rugby ball.

Max Evans and Simon Danielli justified their selections by being the brighter sparks outside the Scottish scrum;  they benefitted from the openness of the Scottish game-plan which saw the visitors try to open the ball from side to side even when ensconced in their own 22.

The French also limited their use of the boot to start with, although as the first half wore on and frustration at the lack of continuity grew, a number of garryowens became the plan B.

Both sides looking to open the ball, neither executing with mnuch success.  So what separated the two teams was the set piece skirmish, and once again the Scots scrum let itself down, being turned this way and that, once being memorably driven some 10m backwards and generally being dominated.

Had the French line-outs been anything like as good as the scrum the men in white could have been further ahead than just 6-3 at the break, but Dimitri Szarzewski was imprecise with his throwing, Jim Hamilton, Jason White and later Kelly Brown eager with the contest, so French line-out became a source of Scottish possession more often than not.

The clearest opportunity either team had to score a try in the first half was when Lionel Beauxis hacked through a dropped ball in the French midfield, but when he tried to hack ahead the second time, the ball took an unruly bounce over his boot and the danger was thwarted.

Beauxis also missed two easy shots at goal which could have had France in a comfort zone.  He landed two out of four to Phil Godman's one from one: 6-3 at half-time it was, after a forgettable half of rugby.

France opened the second half with more of the same: a dire line-out, the defence forcing a handling error from the Scots, a hack ahead by Médard where the bounce cost the French a try.

Moments later though, we did have a try as Médard jinked his way through and offloaded to Fulgence Ouedraogo for the score.  Beauxis found his range, 13-3.

Godman replied with a penalty on 50 minutes after some handbags from Szarzewski and at last, blessed relief!  The game began to open up!  France's backs found their rhythm and Médard was once again nearly on the end of a chip kick.  On 53 minutes, Benoit Baby was high-tackled in midfield and Beauxis landed his kick from 50m to make it 16-6.

Scotland butchered the best move of the game by gawping at their own ability to do something good.  John Barclay and Mike Blair exchanged four passes between each other as they shredded the French midfield, the nearest Scottish support man was about 20m behind.  Barclay was tackled and held on, France cleared from the penalty.  On the hour mark, the Scottish scrum creaked too much for referee George Clancy's liking and Beauxis made it 19-6.

Thom Evans emulated his brother's try-scoring feat of last week by slicing through the 10-12 channel after a series of Scottish rucks near the French line with twelve minutes to go, with Paterson bringing the Scots back to touching distance at 19-13.

Three minutes later, Beauxis clipped over his fifth to put his side more than two scores ahead again, and seal the deal.

Man of the match:  Max Evans was Scotland's brightest spark, with Mike Blair and John Barclay also playing well.  For France, Maxime Médard was a source of creativity, but it was Imanol Harinordoquy whose work-rate kept his side going forward.

Moment of the match:  The inter-passing move between Mike Blair and John Barclay that petered out for lack of support.  Super handling and running angles, something few others managed all afternoon.

Villain of the match:  The French crowd deserves to be frustrated, but to boo so vociferously when your team is winning?  Come on ...

The scorers:

For France:
Try:  Ouedraogo
Con:  Beauxis
Pens:  Beauxis 5

For Scotland:
Try:  Thom Evans
Con:  Paterson
Pens:  Godman 2

The teams:

France:  15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Maxime Medard, 13 Benoît Baby, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Renaud Boyoud, 18 Sebastien Chabal, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Maxime Mermoz, 22 Julien Malzieu

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 John Barclay, 6 Al Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Jason White, 3 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Moray Low, 18 Kelly Brown, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Chris Paterson ), 22 Nick De Luca.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Wayne Barnes (England), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

Wales break brave English hearts

Wales held off a much improved England side to record their second consecutive Six Nations victory of the season, running out eventual 23-15 winners at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

It was meant to be a cakewalk for Wales, but England had different ideas, very different ideas.  The question must be asked, was this England finally turning the corner from what has been a long straight road of directionless rugby, or was this England spurred on by the occasion -- Wales in Cardiff?

The opening twenty minutes suggested not much had changed from last week, in either camp.  Wales were full of endeavour and organised attack, whilst England were a little lost, all too dependent on the boot and up to their old tricks with a lack of discipline.  End result, Wales 9-0 to the good and seemingly in position to kick on and record the comfortable victory most had them down for.

And then, rather unexpectedly England came to life and began playing with something that looked suspiciously like structure, and more than a fair share of direction.  Joe Worsley, deployed to shackle Andy Powell and Jamie Roberts, worked himself into the ground.  Even Mike Tindall, ten minutes in the bin aside, was making his hits and stopping quick ball for the Welsh.

It was his desire to slow Welsh ball down that got him ten in the bin, but that is when England were at their best.  Once Stephen Jones slotted the resulting penalty the Tindle-less England scored against the run of play.  Riki Flutey showed a glimpse of his brilliance before sending Andy Goode free, and Paul Sackey won the race to the chip ahead.

When Goode slotted a drop goal on the half hour mark Wales looked shell-shocked.  It was as if they had believed all the pre-match hype, billing them as clear favourites and runaway winners, and forgotten to play rugby in the process.  Their insistence of attacking the same way until the space was gone worked against them on several occasions, too many players waiting for the swing in action and not enough in the rucks.

Credit to England, who for so long have lacked anything other than yellow cards (although they got their usual two this time out), for it was their aggression at the breakdown that caused Wales their problems.  Suddenly with a lack of quick ball Wales didn't look so clever, lacked a little shape and consequently lost control of the game.

Goode handed the hosts a perfect start to the second half, as he was sent to the bin and Wales made England pay the ultimate price.  First of all Jones slotted the resulting penalty, and then seconds later Leigh Halfpenny, who seems to know no bounds, was racing away for a great try from turnover ball.  Was that to be the spark Wales needed?  Was that to be the start of what we had all expected?  The answer was a resounding "no".

In fact England grew in stature as they realised they had a fighting chance, and when Delon Armitage broke free to dive in under the posts there only seemed to be one winner.  Wales were looking lost with Powell nullified, hence he was withdrawn on the hour, and Roberts being contained, just.

Although with Roberts under the microscope Tom Shanklin was left to roam free.  Shanklin has never needed a second invite, and once again he proved to be a real threat with ball in hand.  In fact he was one of the few Welsh players to make an impact on England's resolute defence, a defence that finally looked worthy of the Test arena.

Whilst the record books will show an English defeat, this could be the turning point a nation has been hoping and praying for.  Or it could be a much improved performance fuelled by passion and emotion.  Either way it will keep the wolves from the door for another week, and with their barks getting increasingly louder of late the peace will be welcome.

For Wales there is plenty to ponder, and they will be glad this wake-up call came now, for if they went to France in this state it could be a messy day.  We now know there isn't much when the ball is slow, which means Gatland and co.  need to devise "plan B".  "Plan A" is good, and works well, now lets see what Wales can do when not given free reign and quick ball.

Man of the Match:  First let's give Jonathan Kaplan a well deserved mention.  A lot has been said of the standard of the officials of late, but this was a fine display from the South African.  He controlled the breakdown and allowed the game to flow.  Well done sir, take a bow on behalf of referees.  Now to the real heroes.  Andrew Sheridan answered his critics in style, whilst Riki Flutey finally showed he can play Test rugby.  Honourable mentions for Jamie Roberts and Leigh Halfpenny, but the award is split between Tom Shanklin and Joe Worsley.  Shanklin was Wales' rock, in attack and defence, with plenty to offer.  Worsley, question marks over his ability as an international openside, turned in one of his best ever England performances.  He tackled like a man possessed and enabled England to play to a gameplan, something they haven't done since 2003!

Moment of the Match:  Two moments stick out the most, England's yellow cards.  Had it not been for the yellows England may have won this game.  When Tindall was off they won 5-3, but when Goode was off, and the game was in the balance, they coughed up ten points.  One day England will learn it is very difficult to win a Test match with fourteen men for sixty minutes.

Villain of the Match:  Nick Kennedy had a few wild swings, which thankfully amounted to nothing more than air shots, and apart from that this was a good old fashioned game of rugby.

The Scorers:

For Wales:
Try:  Halfpenny
Pens:  S.Jones 5, Halfpenny

For England:
Tries:  Sackey, Armitage
Con:  Flood
Drop goal:  Goode

Yellow cards:  Tindall (15th minute -- slowing the ball down), Goode (42nd minute -- killing the ball).

The Teams:

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Mark Jones, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Ryan Jones (captain), 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Dafydd Jones, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 James Hook, 22 Andrew Bishop.

England:  15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Joe Worsley, 6 James Haskell, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Julian White, 18 Tom Croft, 19 Luke Narraway, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Mathew Tait.

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
TMO:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Wales conquer Murrayfield

Wales navigated the potential banana skin of Scotland at Murrayfield with ease on Sunday, opening the defence of their Six Nations title with a confident 26-13 victory over the luckless locals.

It was the near-perfect start for the reigning champions and they will return home to plot England's downfall with heads and tails held high.

Scotland will rue what might have been.  Two game-ending injures in the first half coupled with a yellow card to debutant prop Geoff Cross killed off what had been an enterprising start and any real chance of an upset.

Much has been made of Wales's confidence following their Grand Slam heroics of 2008 and they showed their mettle by shrugging off the eleventh-hour loss of their captain, Ryan Jones, to gallop to a 21-3 lead in just over 40 minutes of rugby.

But perhaps Wales are just a little too confident at present.

With the game all but won they coasted home in second half, allowing the Scots back into the game.

Shaun Edwards's face bent into apoplectic rage as Max Evans snatched a consolation try for the men in blue.  It was a vivid indication that such bouts of navel-gazing will be beaten out of the Welsh in the next few days -- sides better equipped than resource-challenged Scotland would have taken full advantage of such complacency.

But perhaps also the Welsh are entitled to feel good about themselves.  Their handling skills, game perception, defence, organisation and fitness are a cut above everything else we have seen this weekend.

Indeed, the only discernable chink in the red armour seems to be the line-out.  It is a weakness that England will seek to exploit at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday -- it could be their only hope.

The Scots exploded into the game, making mincemeat out of the Welsh in the game's first scrum.  But it proved to be an illusion -- Scotland's pack doubled and creaked without the twin tonnage of the injured Nathan Hines and Euan Murray.

The visitors, who have won only once on their last five visits to Edinburgh, soon settled into the stride, with Lee Byrne causing the locals all sorts of problems with his sinewy lines of running.

Simon Webster came off his wing to kill a promising raid with a great hit on Martyn Williams, but the Scotsman came off second best -- and the intervention led to a penalty which Stephen Jones duly dispatched between the upright.

It was a passage of play that summed up the hosts' day:  plenty of hearty endeavour but precious little reward.

And worse was to come.

This time it was Cross who came off second best in a challenge.  He took out the airborne Lee Byrne and earned concussion and a yellow card for his troubles.

Webster was then ordered off the pitch after a delayed reaction from his own knock saw him introduce his lunch to the Murrayfield turf during the break in play.

Wales made the most of the Scotland's woes by scoring immediately after the resumption of play, launching a flowing back move that saw Shane Williams and Byrne link menacingly before Tom Shanklin powered over in his usual inimitable fashion.

Jones botched the conversion attempt, yet Wales were good value for their 8-0 advantage during what had been a stop-start affair during the first 25 minutes.

And matters soon deteriorated further for Scotland, as Wales cashed in on disrupting the seven-man blue scrum to launch a Stephen Jones-inspired raid before scrum-half Mike Phillips delivered the scoring pass to Alun-Wyn Jones.

Chris Paterson, on for the stricken Webster, opened Scotland's account with a penalty nine minutes before the break, but Wales were in no mood to concede further points.

A Welsh defence that conceded just two tries during last season's entire Six Nations tournament thwarted Scottish adventure, highlighted through a stunning try-saving tackle by number eight Andy Powell on Paterson.

With the ball failing to emerge from the ensuing melee, Scotland were awarded a scrum on the red line.  Manna from heaven for any attacking team -- but not a under-powered Scottish scrum.  Ross Ford won the hook but Wales simply shunted the Scots off the ball and Powell ran to safety from the base of the accelerating scrum.

Wales charged upfield in pursuit of their ramapaging anchorman and Stephen Jones struck his second penalty with the half's final kick, securing a 16-3 interval advantage.

Wales began the second half as they ended the first, with the impressive Jamie Roberts cutting a line down the middle of the field.  The ball was sent right at pace and a delicious back-door pass from Shane Williams offered up the line to Leigh Halfpenny and the youngster touched down in the corner with textbook precision.

Stephen Jones missed the conversion but it hardly mattered:  Wales had clear water and the Scots were all at sea.

Inevitably, Shane Williams soon got in on the act, sneaking through following a period of sustained pressure.  Again, Stephen Jones failed to add the extras.

With the job done, Wales boss Warren Gatland rang the changes.  It seemed the stationary warm-up bicycles would offer the Welsh replacements more of a work-out than the Scots, but the hosts had other ideas.

They mounted a late challenge with Martyn Williams in the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-down and a consolation try duly arrived on 71 minutes with the impressive Evans wriggling through to score.

The try lifted the crowd and their team continued to press.  Paterson almost scored, but he could not ground the ball ahead of a scrambling Byrne.

The truth is that a second Scottish try would have added nothing but cosmetic value -- Wales had comfortably done enough, winning a Test match they never remotely looked like losing.

Man of the match:  Not much from the Scots, to be painfully honest -- but one senses that they are just a game or two away from getting it together -- one has sensed that for a while, actually.  All the usual stars shone for Wales, but it was the intelligent play of the unsung Jamie Roberts that stood out.  How Scotland must envy their victors' deep reserves of talent!

Moment of the match:  Surely the demolition of Scotland's scrum on the Welsh line -- it was a hammer blow to any lingering Scottish hopes.

Villain of the match:  Alain Rolland was reluctant to wave a yellow card over the prone body of Geoff Cross and we are reluctant to hand him this hideous gong.  It might have been a tad cynical, but we'll put it down to over-exuberance -- his tears during Flower of Scotland showed just what a first appearance for his country meant to him.  It seems a pity that he won't remember any of it!  No award.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Try:  Evans
Con:  Paterson
Pens:  Paterson 2

For Wales:
Tries:  Shanklin, AW Jones, Halfpenny, S Williams
Pens:  S Jones 2

Yellow card(s):  Cross (Scotland) -- dangerous tackle, 20;  M Williams (Wales) -- deliberate knock-down, 66.

The teams:

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Simon Webster, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 John Barclay, 6 Ally Hogg, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Jason White, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Alastair Dickinson, 18 Kelly Brown, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Chris Paterson, 22 Max Evans.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams (c), 6 Dafydd Jones, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 James Hook, 22 Andrew Bishop.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Chris White (England), Rob Debney (England)
TMO:  Geoff Warren (England)

Ireland turn the tide

Ireland got their 2009 Six Nations campaign off to a winning start on Saturday with a 30-21 victory over France in an enthralling, high-paced encounter at Croke Park.

Despite playing entertaining rugby and having the lion's share of possession, France were unable to repeat their last-minute victory of two years ago at the same venue as Ireland triumphed over Les Bleus for the first time in six years.

Declan Kidney's team cashed in on every opportunity that came their way to outscore their visitors three tries to two.

In stark contrast to England's dour display at Twickenham earlier in the day, no one could complain that the teams didn't entertain.  France came good on their promise of playing enterprising rugby and Ireland's backs finally came up with the spark that has been missing for so long.

As expected, Ireland's win was built on the hard graft of their ever-efficient pack, but a few flashes of class from the likes of Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Gordon D'Arcy kept the scoreboard ticking over.

But it was the Irish loose trio that stood out.  A try for Jamie Heaslip was just reward for a tireless effort.  On numerous occasions, possession was ripped from French hands at vital times.

Ronan O'Gara opened the scoring for the home side after just two minutes with a penalty from 35 metres out after Lionel Faure was penalised for not rolling away.

France had not yet touched the ball and were three points down but dominated possession for the rest of the half.

The visitors scored the first try on the quarter-hour mark with a piece of flowing rugby.

Maxime Médard had the Irish defence scrambling with a chip down the left touch line and Sébastien Tillous-Borde had the presence of mind to send a long cross-field pass out to Sebastien Chabal.  The big lock rumbled forward before finding Julien Malzieu, who did well while skirting the touchline to offload to Imanol Harinordoquy and the French number eight charged over to put his side ahead.

Lionel Beauxis' conversion was almost immediately countered by a second penalty from O'Gara, when Dimitri Szarzewski was adjudged off-side.

Apart from the opening foray, it had been all France for twenty minutes, but the home side were just one point adrift.

Five minutes from the half-time a break from Kearney turned the game on its head.  The full-back beat a couple of tackles as the Irish back-line produced it's most fluid move in many moons.

Kearney's break led to the supporting Tommy Bowe carrying on the charge.  The recycled ball found Jamie Heaslip, and a big step from the number eight wrong footed the defence before he sprinted over for a vital score.

Being behind didn't put France off their enterprising game as Chabal made a barnstorming run to put his team back on the attack.  With the referee playing advantage for an Irish offside, Beauxis struck one of his trademark drop goals from 40 metres out to make the score 13-10 to the hosts as the teams trotted off at half time.

Ireland started the second period in perfect fashion to move further ahead as skipper O'Driscoll scored a fantastic try.  It was classic BOD -- straight running to beat his man -- Beauxis -- followed by a clean step to get around the last line of defence- Julien Malzieu.

France struck right back as Maxime Médard scored thanks to an inch-perfect cross-field kick-pass from Beauxis after Harinordoquy had grabbed a loose ball.

Beauxis followed up with his second drop goal.  Three points it might have added, but one could not help feel that it was a waste of quality possession at that moment.  What exactly the fascination with drops is in French rugby is beyond me, overkill is the word that springs to mind.

At 20-18 it was anyone's game but Ireland once again nicked the advantage.  A clever chip ahead from O'Driscoll put the blue line-out jumpers and their fly-half under pressure, setting up an attacking line-out for the home side.

D'Arcy rounded off a few phases from the heavies by twisting himself over the line for a well deserved try.

A penalty from Beauxis with four minutes to play made the scores 27-21, setting up a tense finale.  But O'Gara's sixth successful place-kick a minute later put the game out of the visitors' reach.

France will head home obviously disappointed with the result, but showed enough to maintain hopes of victory in this year's tournament.

For Ireland, their first victory in eight games against France has confirmed their status as genuine title contenders.  A fascinating month awaits us -- as does that game in Cardiff on March 21!

Man of the match:  Imanol Harinordoquy was the stand-out player for the visitors with an excellent display in both the line-outs and loose play.  Sebastien Chabal deserves a mention, as does Beauxis in his first game in Blue since the World Cup.  For Ireland Brian O'Driscoll silenced his critics with his best display in a long time and Rob Kearney was exciting on attack.  But Jamie Heaslip gets our vote.  His try was awesome but his night was summed up by winning a penalty for O'Gara to slot in the dying minutes by wrapping up Cedric Heymans, who was forced to hold on in the tackle.

Moment of the match:  Both O'Driscoll and Heaslip's tries were gems, but Gordon D'Arcy's try on 66 minutes put the Irish ahead at a vital time and forced the French to loose their composure a little.

Villain of the match:  No serious mischief to report.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Heaslip, O'Driscoll, D'Arcy
Cons:  O'Gara 3
Pens:  O'Gara 3

For France:
Tries:  Harinordoquy, Medard
Con:  Beauxis
Drops:  Beauxis 2

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mal O'Kelly, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Gordon D'Arcy, 22 Geordan Murphy.

France:  15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Lionel Nallet (c), 4 Sebastien Chabal, 3 Benoit Lecouls, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Nicolas Mas, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Benoit Baby, 22 Cedric Heymans.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges:  Dave Pearson (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
TMO:  Giulio de Santis (Italy)

England stumble to lifeless win

England got their Six Nations off to the anticipated winning start on Saturday, with a 36-11 win over an Italian side hamstrung by both injuries and backfiring tactical ploys.

But make no mistake, this was not the dawn of a new England era.  It was not even bright enough for a false dawn.  It was, in fact, dull enough to make a chink of light seem rabbit-paralysingly bright.

England's shape and structure was as robust as damp flint:  often crumbly, threatening to be sharp but never dangerously so, and with very few bright sparks.  What gave the score its imbalance was the sheer awfulness of Italy, exacerbated by the misery endured by Mauro Bergamasco in the number nine jersey.

Bergamasco was not just thrown into the deep end, he was thrown into a hurricane-whipped Atlantic.  He never had a chance.  He was culpable for all three of England's first three tries, a number which could have been five if England had not been so rubbish.  I won't go on, for he's a terrific player, but playing him at nine is an experiment that should be consigned to camera 101.

The first gave Andy Goode roughly four minutes of redemption, four minutes in which English fans dared to think that he might yet be able to transpose his undisguiseable talent onto the international stage.  Goode took the ball three phases after Fabio Ongaro had overthrown his first line-out by a mile, grubbered through, sprinted on and scored, converting for good measure.  Had Bergamasco been running a usual scrum-half defensive line, Goode would never have been near a try, but fair play for seeing the gap.  Goode had an excellent first four minutes back;  he spent the next 76 minutes lumbering some way below that benchmark.

The second try came because -- not for the first time -- Bergamasco had obeyed his rucking instincts and joined into the breakdown contest.  the ball squirted out the side, and with no scrum-half there to mop it up, James Haskell nicked it and popped it up for Harry Ellis who stormed home.

The third was the coup de grace for Bergamasco's scrum-half career, a long looping floating pass to his fly-half which found the gap between ten and twelve and was hacked ahead and dotted down by Riki Flutey.  That -- plus two Goode conversions -- made the score 19-0 after half an hour and was the end of the game as a contest.

The other area of worry for Italy was the line-out, where Ongaro often seemed to be aiming for a jumper on the other side of the pitch, so far did he occasionally throw it.  It would have been a problem in a close game.

Back to England, for they have much more to worry about.  Considering Italy's disarray, the white pack ought to have clambered in and set the bulldozers rolling.  It should have been attacking practice.  Instead, Italy won the last ten minutes of the first half 6-3 as England conceded penalty after penalty and kicked away possession after possession.

Typifying the disinterested arrogance was Haskell's trip on Andrea Marcato and subsequent ludicrous pantomime display of petulant arm and head-shaking as he was admonished and yellow-carded for his sin.  It was like watching an eight-year-old being denied his daily can of tartrazine, a playground bully being chastised by his own mother.  Pathetic on every level, not the actions of a man who would seek to be a British and Irish Lion.

The second half was no less turgid than the first.  Bergamasco was put out of his misery by the introduction of Giulio Toniolatti, whose debut was perfectly respectable and made you wonder why on earth he was not given a go in the first place.

Italy's scrum kept up its good work, the defence tackled with its usual tenacity.  England continued to kick heir way down into Italy's half and then attempt to break the Italian line with unwieldy mallets rather than surgical scalpels.

Goode aded to a catalogue of first-half misses -- two penalties and a conversion -- with a skied drop goal on 50 minutes, which was all England could muster until Italy gave away a try by attacking.  A terrific counter-attack led by Masi and continued by a sweeping move left where Mirco Bergamasco should have been given the ball to finish off, instead ended up being turned over in the middle by England's defence.  Ellis took it off the fringe and scampered home from 50m.

A catalyst for improvement?  An inspiration to bigger and better things?  The key that unlocked England's desire to play, crunch and run their ragged opponents silly?

Good grief.  Goode and Ellis continued to kick away ball after ball despite England's complete physical domination.  Shane Geraghty, on for barely five minutes, was sin-binned for a mid-air tackle that even superseded Haskell's trip for stupidity.  Not one of the matchday 22 stood up and took control.  Pub teams playing with ashtrays on the way home after closing time have communicated and handled better.

In the end, Italy finished stronger, snapping round the fringes well, the pack forging hard yards forward.  Parisse's cheeky pass nearly yielded a try for Alessandro Zanni, but for Zanni's ball-in-hand blinkers, it could have been a try for someone else.

With ten minutes to go, Luke McLean -- who was a much improved figure from the bedraggled young debutant in Cape Town last year -- made a terrific break to the left corner but just didn't have the gas to take Delon Armitage.  Out the ball went right to Gonzalo Canale, then Kane Robertson, and finally to Mirco Bergamasco who got a try that he most likely dedicated to his misused brother.

Mark Cueto finished off a late score that added some undeserved brasso to the scoreline.

Man of the match:  Tempting not to give one at all for such a poor game, but if forced, we'd probably say that Sergio Parisse was the one looking to get the most going.  A couple of cheeky bahind-the-back passes, one chip and regather, a couple of storming runs and steps all tallied up to a few bright moments on a gloomy afternoon.

Moment of the match:  Mirco Bergamasco's try finished off the best move of the match.

Villain of the match 1:  Take a slapped wrist/stand in the corner/go to your room/no pocket money for a week James Haskell.  For goodness' sake, grow up and act your age, and don't let us ever catch you tripping someone like that again.  And for crying out loud, stop sulking like that!

Villain of the match 2:  The idiot, the dribbling, cloth-brained, soccer-watching idiot, who feels it necessary, every time England score, to pump out music that would be dismissed in one of Tenerife's least reputable nightclubs as a monotonous caterwaul.  If we want to cheer, we will, and we will do it properly.  Don't you trust us to do so?  Are you worried people might not think England are good or something?

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Goode, Ellis 2, Flutey, Cueto
Cons:  Goode 2
Pen:  Goode

For Italy:
Try:  Mirco Bergamasco
Pens:  McLean 2

Yellow cards:  Haskell (37, tripping), Geraghty (64, dangerous tackle)

England:  15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 James Haskell, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Julian White, 18 Tom Croft, 19 Joe Worsley, 20 Ben Foden, 21 Shane Geraghty, 22 Mathew Tait.

Italy:  15 Andrea Masi, 14 Kane Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Andrea Marcato, 9 Mauro Beragamasco, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellapé, 3 Martin Castrogiovani, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 Tommaso Reato, 19 Jean-Francois Montauriol, 20 Giulio Toniolatti, 21 Luke McLean, 22 Matteo Pratichetti.

Referee:  Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Joel Jutge (France), Peter Allan (Scotland)
TMO:  Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)