New Zealand power past Wales in Wellington

New Zealand outscored Wales to remain unbeaten in the second of the three-match Test series when they won 36-22 in Wellington on Saturday.

The win not only means that the All Blacks are 2-0 up in the three-match Test series after winning the opening Test in Auckland last week, but this victory also extends the All Blacks winning streak against Wales to 27 matches, the last time New Zealand lost to Wales was in 1953, and wraps up the series.

The home side outscored the visitors by five tries to three with Israel Dagg, Ben Smith, Beauden Barrett, Waisake Naholo and Ardie Savea getting over for the All Blacks, while it was Alun Wyn Jones, Liam Williams and Jonathan Davies who dotted down for Warren Gatland's men.

New Zealand fly-half Aaron Cruden added one conversion and one penalty before being stretchered off, before replacement Barrett slotted three conversions, which along with his try took his personal tally to eleven points.

In similar fashion to last week's loss, the visitors matched the two-time world champions once again in the opening 40 with the score level at 10-10 as the teams headed into the tunnel in Wellington.  However, like last week, it was the power of that All Blacks bench and a step up in class which allowed the home side make amends for a rather lacklustre first half performance.

Wales kept out a wave of resilient attacks from the All Blacks in the opening ten minutes deep inside their own half.  These attacks laid a solid platform for the current world champions to gain the upper hand over their opposition.  However it was the visitors who got the first points of the match when Biggar converted a penalty which handed his side a brief 0-3 lead.

The home side applied consistent pressure inside the Wales' 22 allowing them to run with confidence within striking distance after a well guided floating pass from scrum-half Aaron Smith to Malakai Fekitoa before the midfielder passed to Dagg, who was playing in his 50th Test, which allowed the full-back to dive over and with Cruden's conversion saw the home side command a 7-3 lead.

Wales talisman Jones rounded off a well-worked move to go in for Wales' first try on the stroke of half time, with Jonathan Davies heavily involved during the build-up as his an overhead pass sent the second-row, playing in his 101st Test, over the whitewash.

Biggar converted from a difficult angle as the players headed into the break with the scores locked at 10-10.

It looked like the visitors were set to score as they laid a solid foundation in the opening ten minutes when inspirational captain Sam Warburton turned over the ball deep inside his own half, only for a pass to go astray which Dagg pounced on and set up an ideal attacking position for the home side.

Ben Smith, playing in his 50th Test match, rounded off an impressive attack which replacement fly-half Barrett converted to give the All Blacks a 17-10 lead.

Moments later Barrett and Naholo crashed over for their side's third and fourth try respectively, with the fly-half only succeeding with one of his two conversion attempts, stretching New Zealand's lead to 29-10.

It was in the build up to Barrett's try, which started deep inside the home side's half after Smith sniped around a ruck, that the All Blacks' attacking prowess and slick handling skills become more evident.

Despite the home side dominating the scoreboard they were trailing in terms of the possession (44 percent) and territory (45 percent) stats as well as making 46 passes less than Wales' 187.

This conversion rate continued as replacement loose forward Ardie Savea, in front of his home crowd, finished off yet another well-worked team try and his first for New Zealand.  Barrett added the extras as the match slipped away from Wales with the scoreboard on 29-10.

Two quick tries in succession from the visitors, Liam Williams with a spectacular solo effort and then a score from Jonathan Davies, trimmed the gap somewhat, including a conversion from Biggar to reduce the home side's lead to 36-22 as the final five minutes were approaching.

The visitors' late surge was however not enough to overpower the All Blacks' discipline on defence.  However this was a much improved second half performance by Wales compared to last week.

Man of the Match:  Tough one to call as the All Blacks' team performance once again in impeccable form, however the returning full-back Israel Dagg's effort deserves a mention.  The Crusaders utility back joined the backline during attack and made valuable metres.

Moment of the Match:  An all-round performance from the All Blacks, but the impact of home side's bench cannot go unnoticed with the likes of Beauden Barrett, Ardie Savea and Seta Tamanivalu adding value both on attack and defence which allowed New Zealand to score (26) second half points.

Villian of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Dagg, Smith, Barrett, Naholo, A Savea
Cons:  Cruden, Barrett 3
Pen:  Cruden

For Wales:
Tries:  AW Jones, L Williams, J Davies
Cons:  Biggar 2
Pen:  Biggar

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Waisake Naholo, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Nathan Harris, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Seta Tamanivalu

Wales:  15 Rhys Patchell, 14 Liam Williams, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Gethin Jenkins
Replacements:  16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Rob Evans, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Ellis Jenkins, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Scott Williams

Referee:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Wayne Barnes (England)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Georgia narrowly edge past Tonga

Georgia claimed an emphatic 23-20 victory over Tonga after they scored a converted try deep into injury time at ANZ National Stadium in Suva on Saturday.

The visitors' outside centre David Kacharava crossed the whitewash on two occasions to help his side secure a rewarding win.

Both sides dotted down twice with tries for Tonga coming via Viliame Iongi and replacement forward Sione Angaelangi, while midfielder Kacharava scored both of Georgia's tries.

Full-back Merab Kvirikashvili's kicking accuracy saw him convert both tries in addition to three penalty conversions which took his account to 13 points.

The visitors fought back in excellent fashion as they overpowered and outmuscled their opponents in some facets of the game.  The Tonga pack, however, were matched by a clinical defensive effort from Georgia, who sealed the win with Kacharava's late score.

The scorers:

For Tonga:
Tries:  Iongi, Angaelangi
Cons:  Takulua, Fosita
Pen:  Takulua

For Georgia:
Tries:  Kacharava 2
Cons:  Kvirikashvili 2
Pens:  Kvirikashvili 3

Tonga:  15 Tevita Halaifonua, 14 Otulea Katoa, 13 Apakuki Ma’afu, 12 Latiume Fosita, 11 Viliame Iongi, 10 Kali Hala, 9 Tane Takulua, 8 Sione Tau, 7 Jack Ram, 6 Nili Latu (C), 5 Dan Faleafa, 4 Uili Kolo’ofa’I, 3 Sione Faletau, 2 Elvis Taione, 1 Eddie Aholelei
Replacements:  16 Sosefo Sakalia, 17 Sione Angaelangi, 18 Sila Puafisi, 19 Opeti Fonua, 20 Steve Mafi, 21 Wayne Ngaluafe, 22 Viliami Hakalo, 23 Daniel Kilioni

Georgia:  15 Merab Kvirikashvili, 14 Tamaz Mchedlidze, 13 David Kacharava, 12 Merab Sharikadze, 11 Sandro Todua, 10 Lasha Khmaladze, 9 Giorgi Begadze, 8 Beka Bitsadze, 7 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 6 Shalva Sutiashvili (c), 5 Giorgi Nemsadze, 4 Giorgi Chkhaidze, 3 Anton Peikrishvili, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Zurab Zhvania
Replacements:  16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Karlen Asieshvili, 18 Mirtskhulashvili, 19 Nodar Cheishvili, 20 Lasha Lomidze, 21 Vazha Khutsishvili, 22 Lasha Malaghuradze, 23 Giorgi Pruidze

Referee:  Nick Briant (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Pascal Gauzère (France), Faa’vae Neru (Samoa)

England Saxons edge past South Africa 'A'

The boot of pivot Danny Cipriani helped England Saxons secure their second win over South Africa 'A' by beating them 29-26 in George on Friday.

This was the second match between these two sides, Saxons were victorious in the first game when they held out for a 32-24 win in Bloemfontein last week Friday.  This week, however, the South Africa 'A' side certainly put up a much improved overall performance.

Fly-half Danny Cipriani's fine form off the tee continued from last Friday's performance, which saw the Wasps-bound pivot succeed with five from six, while this week his kicking accuracy was the difference in the end for the visitors as he managed to convert three tries and the ultimate match winning penalty from his five attempts, only missing Taylor's first try.

SA 'A' managed to crossed the whitewash on four occasions which included a brace from Sergeal Petersen and a try apiece from Jean-Luc du Preez and Francois Venter while England Saxons four tries came courtesy of a brace from hooker Tommy Taylor along with a try apiece for Matt Kvesic and Christian Wade.

Despite the home side enjoying a healthy 68 percent possession for most of the opening 40, they only managed to score two tries – through du Preez and Petersen's first try – while an unconverted try scored by hooker Tommy Taylor along with what proved to be the match winning penalty conversion from Cipriani handed the home side a slender 12-8 lead as the players headed into the tunnel.

South Africa 'A' head coach Johan Ackermann's ten changes to his side which lost last week has certainly paid off as a fairly young home side were playing like men possessed in the opening 40.

Fly-half Francois Brummer's form from the tee was rather poor, in comparison to his counterpart, as the pivot missed two easy penalty attempts, in the first half, which could have given the home side a bigger cushion than the four point half-time lead and, in hindsight, a possible win in the end.

The England Saxons' clinical defence, in the opening quarter, was too strong for the home side, the likes of Dave Ewers and speedster Christian Wade held out a wave of relentless South Africa 'A' attacks but a brilliant lineout steal from RG Snyman saw Sharks loose forward du Preez power over form close range for the first points of the game, Brummer missed the conversion.

In contrast to last week's opening half, the home side succeeded in starving their opponents of quality possession and territory and looked after the ball which not only frustrated an experienced England Saxons side but they were also doing all of the tackling.  The visitors having to make 58 first half tackles compared to the 14 of the hosts.

In particular for the visitors, prop Alec Hepburn was instrumental throughout as the Exeter Chiefs hardman kept the home side busy not only at the scrum time but also when he carried the ball as the SA 'A' players found it very difficult to stop him on numerous occasions.  It was from a lineout set piece that saw Taylor control the ball at the back of the maul for his first try.

Speedster Petersen showed his skill when he scored his second try, in the opening minutes of the second 40, after beating three England defenders and was once again heavily involved, moments later, in the build-up that saw his Cheetahs colleague Venter go over for the home side's fourth try after the stand-in captain squeezed in between two Saxons to get his hand first on the ball to dot down.

The visitors were somewhat stunned with this quick second half start from the hosts, but in similar fashion to his first try, front-rower Taylor collected the ball at the back of the maul to crash over for his and England's second try and along with Cipriani's conversion from up against the touchline reduced the home side's lead to 26-15.

Minutes later the visitors made it a four-point game, as the match approached the final quarter, following some persistent pressure deep inside South Africa 'A' territory which saw Gloucester back-row Kvesic scoop up a loose ball to dive over and Cipriani added the extras to make the scoreboard read 26-22.

The experience of this England Saxons side paid off after a clinical attacking passage on the try line of the South Africa 'A', a quick pass out to the flying Wade saw him dive over as Cipriani's conversion handed England a 29-26 lead with less than five minutes remaining and they held on to this three-point lead to secure a second consecutive victory over the South Africa 'A' side and claiming the two-match series, 2-0.

The scorers:

For South Africa 'A':
Tries:  Petersen 2, du Preez, Venter
Cons:  Brummer 2, Zas

For England Saxons:
Tries:  Taylor 2, Kvesic, Wade
Cons:  Cipriani 3
Pen:  Cipriani

South Africa 'A':  15 Leolin Zas, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Oupa Mohoje (c), 6 Jean-Luc du Preez, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Thomas du Toit
Replacements:  16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Lizo Gqoboka, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Ntando Kebe, 22 Howard Mnisi, 23 Travis Ismaiel

England Saxons:  15 Mike Haley 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Christian Wade, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Don Armand, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Dave Attwood (c), 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Alec Hepburn
Replacements:  16 George McGuigan, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 Mitch Lees, 20 Sam Jones, 21 Micky Young, 22 Sam Hill, 23 Sam James

Referee:  Jaco van Heerden (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Quinton Immelman (South Africa), Egon Seconds (South Africa)
TMO:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Chiefs put Wales to the sword

Six tries from the Chiefs saw them outclass Wales by 40-7 in a one-off friendly match in Hamilton on Tuesday.

The last time Wales loss to a New Zealand club side was back in 1988 against Waikato in a match which the current Wales head coach Warren Gatland scored.

This time around Gatland had less to celebrate.

The home side outscored Wales by six tries to one, with Brad Weber, Tom Sanders, Dominic Bird, James Lowe, Toni Pulu and Sam McNicol all scoring for the two-time Super Rugby champions while Kristian Dacey notched up Wales' only try.

Veteran playmaker Stephen Donald's fine form from the tee saw him add eight points through four conversions.

The loss comes just days after Wales' Test squad lost to the All Blacks in Auckland in the first of the three-match Test series.

A mismatch in the midfield saw Donald assist with a brilliant score after the skipper dummied Josh Turnbull before offloading to his half-back partner, Brad Weber, to run in for the first try of the match, Donald added the extras to give the visitors an early lead.

Despite the possession and territory being fairly poised, the home side's strike rate was better in the opening 40 and after a few exciting line breaks the Chiefs' confidence in their attacking abilities grew.

The Chiefs kept ball in hand and applied consistent pressure which handed them ideal opportunities to starve Wales from quality possession, fly-half Donald's visionary skills freeing up the dangerous Chiefs backs which saw them score three unanswered tries in the first half, Tom Sanders and Dom Bird adding to Weber's earlier effort.

The visitors came out firing after the break but they had to wait until the 55th minute to get on the scoreboard.

A well-worked lineout maul, metres from the Chiefs' try line, allowed Wales to overpower the home side as replacement hooker Kristian Dacey crashed over and Priestland's conversion made the score 21-7.

A massive 80 phases in total compared to that of the hosts' six in the second half testifies that Gatland's men gave it their all as the match was slipping away from them.

This effort from the visitors was however short-lived, as the Chiefs' patience on defence paid off after a quick lineout throw led to replacement forward Taleni Seu offloading to James Lowe for the home side's fourth try, which Donald converted from a difficult angle to make the score 28-7.

Minutes later it was the fastest man in New Zealand Rugby, according to Chiefs head coach Dave Rennie, Toni Pulu, who took the game well out of the reach of Wales after a clever grubber kick from Seu allowed Pulu to collect and crash over for his side's fifth try.

There was still time however for another score as Sam McNicol went over for the home side's sixth and final try, with the conversion taking the score to 40-7 and capping off a memorable win for the Chiefs, and a poor night for Wales.

The scorers:

For Chiefs:
Tries:  Weber, Sanders, Bird, Lowe, Pulu, McNicol
Cons:  Donald 4, Lowe

For Wales:
Try:  Dacey
Con:  Priestland

Chiefs:  15 James Lowe, 14 Toni Pulu, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Andrew Horrell, 11 Sam Vaka, 10 Stephen Donald (c), 9 Brad Weber, 8 Tom Sanders, 7 Lachlan Boshier, 6 Mitchell Brown, 5 Michael Allardice, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Hiroshi Yamashita, 2 Rhys Marshall, 1 Mitchell Graham
Replacements:  16 Hika Elliot, 17 Siegfried Fisi’ihoi, 18 Atu Moli, 19 Taleni Seu, 20 Tevita Koloamatangi, 21 Kayne Hammington, 22 Sam McNicol, 23 Latu Vaeno

Wales:  15 Matthew Morgan, 14 Eli Walker, 13 Tyler Morgan, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Tom James, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 James King, 7 Ellis Jenkins, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Luke Charteris (c), 4 Jake Ball, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Rob Evans
Replacements:  16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Aaron Jarvis, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Taulupe Faletau, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 Rhys Patchell

Venue:  FMG Stadium, Hamilton

Japan edge out Canada

Japan recorded a 26-22 victory over Canada at BC Place in Vancouver on Saturday to kick off their June international account with a triumph.

Despite being 0-5 adrift when Taylor Paris scored for Canada, Japan bounced back with a penalty from fly-half Yu Tamura that made it 3-5.

Canada added the second try of the match via hooker Ray Barkwill that scrum-half Gordon McRorie converted to push his side 3-12 ahead.

Just before the break Japan responded through hooker Takeshi Kizu to close the gap to 10-12 before Tamura kicked a penalty for the lead.

At 13-12 Japan were just ahead at the turnaround but it was Canada who struck first after the break when Jamie Cudmore made it 13-17.

But when Aaron Carpenter was yellow carded, Tamura made Canada pay with three points before the number eight returned to the action.

Japan crucially were the next scorer on 70 minutes through Kotaro Matsushima, converted by Tamura, which pushed them 23-17 ahead.

So when Tamura made it 26-17 Canada needed two scores and could only muster one via Carpenter as their June opener ended in defeat.

The scorers:

For Canada:
Tries:  Paris, Barkwill, Cudmore, Carpenter
Con:  McRorie

For Japan:
Tries:  Kizu, Matsushima
Con:  Tamura 2
Pen:  Tamura 4

Canada:  15 Matt Evans, 14 Dan Moor, 13 Brock Staller, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Pat Parfrey, 9 Gordon McRorie, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Lucas Rumball, 6 Kyle Baillie, 5 Evan Olmstead, 4 Jamie Cudmore (c), 3 Jake Ilnicki, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Djustice Sears-Duru
Replacements:  16 Eric Howard, 17 Tom Dolezel, 18 Matt Tierney, 19 Paul Ciulini, 20 Matt Heaton, 21 Alistair Clark, 22 Jamie Mackenzie, 23 Mozac Samson

Japan:  15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Mifiposeti Paea, 13 Tim Bennetts, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Yasutaka Sasakura, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Kyosuke Horie, 7 Taiyo Ando, 6 Yoshiya Hosoda, 5 Naohiro Kotaki, 4 Kazuhiko Usami, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Takeshi Kizu, 1 Keita Inagaki
Replacements:  16 Futoshi Mori, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Kotaro Yatabe, 20 Shokei Kin, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Kosei Ono, 23 Rikiya Matsuda

Referee:  Federico Anselmi (Argentina)

Japan edge out Canada

Japan recorded a 26-22 victory over Canada at BC Place in Vancouver on Saturday to kick off their June international account with a triumph.

Despite being 0-5 adrift when Taylor Paris scored for Canada, Japan bounced back with a penalty from fly-half Yu Tamura that made it 3-5.

Canada added the second try of the match via hooker Ray Barkwill that scrum-half Gordon McRorie converted to push his side 3-12 ahead.

Just before the break Japan responded through hooker Takeshi Kizu to close the gap to 10-12 before Tamura kicked a penalty for the lead.

At 13-12 Japan were just ahead at the turnaround but it was Canada who struck first after the break when Jamie Cudmore made it 13-17.

But when Aaron Carpenter was yellow carded, Tamura made Canada pay with three points before the number eight returned to the action.

Japan crucially were the next scorer on 70 minutes through Kotaro Matsushima, converted by Tamura, which pushed them 23-17 ahead.

So when Tamura made it 26-17 Canada needed two scores and could only muster one via Carpenter as their June opener ended in defeat.

The scorers:

For Canada:
Tries:  Paris, Barkwill, Cudmore, Carpenter
Con:  McRorie

For Japan:
Tries:  Kizu, Matsushima
Con:  Tamura 2
Pen:  Tamura 4

Canada:  15 Matt Evans, 14 Dan Moor, 13 Brock Staller, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Pat Parfrey, 9 Gordon McRorie, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Lucas Rumball, 6 Kyle Baillie, 5 Evan Olmstead, 4 Jamie Cudmore (c), 3 Jake Ilnicki, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Djustice Sears-Duru
Replacements:  16 Eric Howard, 17 Tom Dolezel, 18 Matt Tierney, 19 Paul Ciulini, 20 Matt Heaton, 21 Alistair Clark, 22 Jamie Mackenzie, 23 Mozac Samson

Japan:  15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Mifiposeti Paea, 13 Tim Bennetts, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Yasutaka Sasakura, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Kyosuke Horie, 7 Taiyo Ando, 6 Yoshiya Hosoda, 5 Naohiro Kotaki, 4 Kazuhiko Usami, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Takeshi Kizu, 1 Keita Inagaki
Replacements:  16 Futoshi Mori, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Kotaro Yatabe, 20 Shokei Kin, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Kosei Ono, 23 Rikiya Matsuda

Referee:  Federico Anselmi (Argentina)

Argentina get the better of Italy

Argentina got their international campaign off to a fine start when they claimed a deserved 30-24 win over Italy in Santa Fé on Saturday.

In an evenly contested clash, momentum between the two sides ebbed and flowed for large periods, especially in the first half, and both sides scored two tries apiece.

Argentina's had the better of the exchanges during the second half, however, with Nicolas Sanchez, who finished with a 20-point haul via six penalties and a conversion, leading the way with a commanding allround performance.

Italy, who were playing their first match under new coach Conor O'Shea, were competitive throughout but conceded too many penalties and when it was within goalkicking range, Sanchez made them pay.

Both sides gave the ball plenty of air during the opening exchanges but had little to show for their enterprising efforts.  Nicolas Sanchez opened the scoring from the kicking tee in the 11th minute but Carlo Canna drew the visitors level with a penalty of his own three minutes later.

The home side were in the ascendancy, however, and Sanchez soon made it 6-3 when he slotted his second penalty in the 18th minute.  Argentina's dominance continued and five minutes later Manuel Montero gathered a kick from Sanchez before crossing for the opening try.

Sanchez failed with his conversion attempt and the hosts were then dealt a blow when Guido Petti was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle on Andries van Schalkwyk on the half-hour mark.

Canna narrowed the gap to five points with his second penalty before Sanchez restored parity when he added his third penalty shortly afterwards.

Italy soon made their numerical advantage count and struck back via a Leonardo Sarto try, five minutes later.  The five-pointer was set-up by a mazy run from Simone Favaro who bamboozled the los Pumas defence with a superb turn of speed.

Favaro was eventually brought to ground inside the home side's 22 but Michele Campagnaro did well to offload to Sarto, who dived over despite having a defender on his back.

Sanchez and Canna both added a penalty apiece which meant los Pumas held a slender 17-16 lead at half-time.  Canna gave the visitors the lead for the first time when he landed his fourth penalty three minutes into the second half and for the next 15 minutes the Azzurri did well to keep the home side at bay before Sanchez put his side back in the lead with another three pointer from the tee.

Sanchez then made a superb line break before drawing in a couple of defenders close to Italy's 22 and offloaded to Juan Martin Hernandez, who got a pass out to Matías Moroni who dived over in the left-hand corner.

Sanchez added the extras and slotted his sixth penalty shortly afterwards to give his team a 30-19 lead.  To their credit Italy didn't surrender and five minutes later, Favaro crossed for their second try from a rolling maul close to the homeside's try-line.

Although that score meant they still had a chance to snatch victory, Argentina had the better of the closing exchanges and did well to secure the result.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Montero, Moroni
Con:  Sanchez
Pens:  Sanchez 6
Yellow Card:  Petti

For Italy:
Tries:  Sarto, Favaro
Con:  Canna
Pens:  Canna 4

Argentina:  15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Juan Martin Hernandez, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Thomas Lezana, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Nahuel Chaparro Tetaz, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Santiago García Botta
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Felipe Arregui, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Javier Ortega Desio, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 23 Ramiro Moyano

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Tommaso Boni, 11 David Odiete, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Andries van Schalkwyk, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Abraham Steyn, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Sami Panico, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Valerio Bernabo’, 20 Robert Barbieri, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Giovanbattista Venditti

Referee:  Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Luke Pearce (England), Joaquín Montes (Uruguay)

14-man Ireland secure first-ever win in SA

A heroic defensive effort propelled Ireland to a first-ever win in South Africa by 26-20, despite a red card in the first half to CJ Stander.

Stander's sending off, midway through the opening half, was the big talking point of this match.  It came after he knocked Springbok fly-half Pat Lambie out cold while attempting to charge down a chip kick from the pivot.

Referee Mathieu Raynal, after consulting the television match official, Jim Yuille, gave the South African-born back-row his marching orders, although television replays showed that it was a harsh decision with a yellow card probably the right call.

But despite playing with 14 men for most of the match, and even with 13 at one stage, when Robbie Henshaw was yellow-carded late in the same half, Ireland kept their structure, dominated for large periods and held on for a deserved victory.

The Boks looked disjointed throughout and committed a plethora of handling errors and conceded several turnovers, while their decision making also left a lot to be desired.

Ireland's fly-half Paddy Jackson deserves plenty of credit for his game-management in this victory.  He was under pressure going into this Test – after getting a place in the starting line-up when first-choice pivot Johnny Sexton withdrew shortly before the tour due to injury – and despite having one of his passes intercepted, from which the Boks scored a try, finished with a 16-point haul via three penalties, two conversions and a drop goal.

The visitors made the brighter start and were on the attack from the kick off when JP Pietersen was penalised for taking Devin Toner out in the air on the edge of the visitors' 22.

Lambie had a chance to open the scoring as early as the fifth minute, however, after Ireland were penalised for an indiscretion at a ruck, but his shot at goal was wide of the target.

Ireland held the upper hand for the next five minutes and although they kept play mostly amongst the forwards they were eventually rewarded when striking out wide with their backs, with Jared Payne crossing for the opening try in the 11th minute when he gathered a Luke Marshall grubber kick behind the Boks' try line.

Jackson added the extras and to add insult to injury for the hosts, Lood de Jager was yellow carded for pulling down a maul in the build-up, after Raynal had penalised the Boks repeatedly for similar offences earlier on.

The Boks eventually opened their account via a Lambie penalty in the 15th minute but Jackson restored parity four minutes later with a three-pointer of his own, from the kicking tee.

Ireland were in the ascendancy, but Stander's red card brought the home side back into the match.  Elton Jantjies came on to replace Lambie, who left the field on a stretcher, and shortly after the Lions fly-half's introduction he slotted his side's second penalty.

The home side were soon camped inside their opponents' half for large periods, but Ireland did well to keep them at bay although it was only a matter of time before the Boks would make their numerical advantage count.

And Jantjies would play a leading role in doing just that, setting up Lwazi Mvovo for the Boks' opening try in the 31st minute with a delightful inside pass to the flyer, who showed a tremendous burst of speed which took him clear of the cover defence before diving over.

Ireland suffered a further setback when they were reduced to 13 men after Henshaw was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Jantjies in the build-up.

But despite playing with two extra players, South Africa failed to capitalise and it was Ireland who scored the only points during this period with Jackson landing a drop goal in the 36th minute which meant the sides were deadlocked at 13-13 at half-time.

The visitors continued to dominate and from the restart they were soon inside the Boks' 22.  And after setting up a couple of phases with their forwards, Conor Murray spotted a gap, before burrowing his way over the try-line.

Jackson's conversion meant the visitors were now leading 20-13 and although the next 20 minutes turned into a slugfest, with no points being scored, the situation suited the visitors.

Jackson gave his side a ten-point lead in the 67th minute when he slotted another penalty but from the restart Pieter-Steph du Toit intercepted a pass from the Irish pivot before scoring under the posts.

Jantjies slotted the conversion and with the score at 20-23, the Boks were back in the match, although time was running out on the clock.  They upped the ante on attack but continued to make mistakes and in the 74th minute Jackson added another penalty after Frans Malherbe entered a ruck from the side.

The closing minutes was a frantic affair as the hosts launched several attacks and just before full-time JP Pietersen had a chance to score what could potentially have been the winning try, but he was bundled into touch by three defenders, as Ireland made history.

Man of the Match:  Ireland's entire team deserve credit for this result but the performance of captain Rory Best at the coalface of their forward effort should not be underestimated.  The hooker led from the front and his decison-making, especially after Stander's sending off, helped pave the way to a memorable and historical Irish victory.

Moment of the Match:  One can't look past Stander's red card in the 23rd minute.  But although it meant the visitors were reduced to 14 men for most of the match it had the reverse effect on his team-mates who played like men possessed for the rest of the match to secure a memorable result.

Villain of the Match:  When scratching the surface, Robbie Henshaw deserves this dubious honour for his ill-timed yellow card, especially considering the fact that his side were already down to 14 men.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Mvovo, Du Toit
Cons:  Jantjies 2
Pens:  Lambie, Jantjies
Yellow Card:  De Jager

For Ireland:
Tries:  Payne, Murray
Cons:  Jackson 2
Pens:  Jackson 3
Drop Goal:  Jackson
Yellow Card:  Henshaw
Red Card:  Stander

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Warren Whiteley, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Jesse Kriel.

Ireland:  15 Jared Payne, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Mike Ross, Rory Best (c), 1 Jack McGrath.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Finlay Bealham, 18 Tadgh Furlong, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Craig Gilroy.

Referee:  Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referees:  Angus Gardner (Australia), Matthew Carley (England)

Samoa and Georgia held to draw

Samoa and Georgia couldn't be separated after 80 minutes at Apia Park on Saturday, with both sides forced to settle for a 19-19 draw.

Three penalties apiece from Samoan fly-half Patrick Fa'apale and Georgia full-back Merab Kviriashvili meant that both sides were tied up at 9-9 by half-time.

Samoa though were the first side to break the try line, veteran winger and Samoa captain David Lemi crashing over and Fa'apale converting to make it 16-9.

Credit to Georgia however for responding, the power of their rolling maul allowing them to hit back with their first try as flanker Giorgi Tkhilaishvili was credited with the score, Kvirikashvili converting to level the scores.

Fa'apale and Kvirikashvili traded further kicks to make it 19-19 but a late drop goal chance Lasha Khmaladze went wide, leaving the two sides level on points.

The scorers:

For Samoa:
Try:  Lemi
Con:  Fa'apale
Pens:  Fa'apale 4

For Georgia:
Try:  Tkhilaishvili
Con:  Kvirikashvili
Pens:  Kvirikashvili 4

Samoa:  15 Albert Nikoro, 14 Faatoina Autagavaia, 13 Reynold Lee Lo, 12 Faialaga Afamasaga, 11 David Lemi (c), 10 Patrick Fa'apale, 9 Dwayne Polataivao, 8 Jeff Lepa, 7 TJ Ioane, 6 Alafoti Faosiliva, 5 Teofilo Paulo, 4 Faatiga Lemalu, 3 James Johnston, 2 Motu Matuu, 1 Sam Aiono
Replacements:  16 Seilala Lam, 17 Nuuuli Lene, 18 Jake Grey, 19 Talaga Alofipo, 20 Oneone Faafou, 21 Danny Tusitala, 22 D'Angelo Leuila, 23 Malu Falaniko

Georgia:  15 Merab Kviriashvili, 14 Giorgi Pruidze, 13 David Kacharava, 12 Merab Sharikadze, 11 Sandro Todua, 10 Lasha Khmaladze, 9 Giorgi Begadze, 8 Lasha Lomidze, 7 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 6 Shalva Sutiashvili (c), 5 Giorgi Nemsadze, 4 Giorgi Chkhaidze, 3 Irakli Mirtskhulava, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Karlen Asieshvili
Replacements:  16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Zurab Zhvania, 18 Anton Peikrishvili, 19 Nodar Cheishvili, 20 Saba Shubitidze, 21 Vazha Khutsishvili, 22 Lasha Malaghuradze, 23 Tamaz Mchedlidze

Referee:  Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Andrew Lees (Australia), James Leckie (Australia)

Brave Wales downed by New Zealand

New Zealand recovered from being 15-18 down at the break to win 39-21 in their opening Test against Wales in Auckland on Saturday.

It was almost a shock result in the first international of this series as the All Blacks continued their run of struggling in their June opener.

But in the end they clicked in spells in the second half with tries from Waisake Naholo, Kieran Read and Nathan Harris adding to first-half efforts from Julian Savea and Naholo again.  Aaron Cruden kicked 14 points on the night.

In reply Wales' scorers were Taulupe Faletau and Rhys Webb to go with Dan Biggar's 11 points in an improved effort after losing to England.

It was an open and entertaining first half in Auckland with line breaks aplenty leading to the likes of Liam Williams and Naholo starring.

New Zealand almost took the lead inside two minutes when centurion Alun Wyn Jones was penalised for hands in a ruck, but Cruden struck the upright from distance before Wales held off the ensuing attack.  Cruden though made no mistake three minutes later to put his side in front.

Williams then came to the party as he gave Savea the slip down the right wing before recycled ball to the left saw the basics done well as slick passing shifted the ball out to Faletau, who dived over.  Biggar was wide with the conversion but Welsh fans were smiling at 3-5.

Cue a response from New Zealand, and how.  Wales wing Hallam Amos gave himself some on-the-job training when he showed Naholo too much room down the right wing and the All Black duly took it, racing to the 22.  Cruden would then smartly kick cross-field to Savea who made it 8-5.

They weren't done as then full-back Ben Smith showed his class, claiming Biggar's high kick on his 22 before setting off to the Welsh ten-metre line and finding Naholo on his right.  The Highlanders combination worked and with Naholo racing over, suddenly New Zealand were 15-5 up.

Credit to Wales though as after Biggar had made it 15-8 and then 15-11 with penalties, it was Williams again causing havoc in New Zealand's defence.  He split through, this time on halfway, and had Webb on his shoulder for the try as they went into the break in front.  Remarkably this was the first time a nation had led against the All Blacks at half-time at Eden Park since the Wallabies way back in 2009.

The big question was whether the Welsh could maintain their lead in the second-half and Steve Hansen was clearly not happy with his side, taking off Savea for Beauden Barrett in the 42nd minute.  That meant Ben Smith moved to the right wing as Barrett slotted in at full-back.

It didn't take long for New Zealand to move level as Cruden kicked a penalty on 48 minutes, but Wales were back ahead soon after when Webb was the recipient of a late hit.  Biggar made no mistake this time after an earlier miss as confidence continued to grow in the Welsh team.

Defence not attack was always going to be critical under the expected All Black onslaught and with front row pair Gethin Jenkins and Ken Owens leading by example, Wales managed to keep New Zealand at bay on the hour mark.  One wondered, however, how long the wall would stand.

Not that long was the answer, as on 63 minutes the hosts turned down a kickable penalty with scrum-half Aaron Smith inviting wing Naholo to barge his way over.  Cruden added the simple extras as New Zealand hit the front at 25-21.  Wales would now need to find a moment of magic.

But it was the All Blacks who put the seal on the come-from-behind victory as replacement lock Patrick Tuipulotu set up Read under the posts on 68 minutes to make it 32-21 with Cruden's successful conversion.

That crucially put Wales two scores behind and it could have been worse but for Wayne Barnes adjudging Cruden's pass to TJ Perenara to be forward.  The television match official argued otherwise, as did the vast majority, but Barnes decided to go with himself.

Wales, still fighting, could have set up a grandstand finish but it was their turn to be denied as Faletau was in front of the kicker before he raced over, with New Zealand then going up the other end to seal the result when Harris finished off wide out ahead of Cruden coolly slotting the extras.

Man of the match:  A few men on both sides put their hand up for this award as Liam Williams and Taulupe Faletau stood out for Wales while Waisake Naholo and Kieran Read were impressive in black.  But we go for Ben Smith, who again showed his importance to this New Zealand side.

Moment of the match:  When the Welsh scored through Taulupe Faletau in the tenth minute, it set the tone for a brilliant game to start this June series.

Villain of the match:  We don't like to pick up on an error in such an entertaining game but Wayne Barnes calling Aaron Cruden's pass to TJ Perenara forward was one for the archives.  Despite several replays and advice from elsewhere Barnes stood by his decision.  An amazing call.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Savea, Naholo 2, Read, Harris
Cons:  Cruden 4
Pens:  Cruden 2

For Wales:
Tries:  Faletau, Webb
Con:  Biggar
Pens:  Biggar 3

New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Nathan Harris, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Seta Tamanivalu

Wales:  15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Gethin Jenkins
Replacements:  16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Rob Evans, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Jake Ball, 20 Ellis Jenkins, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 Scott Williams

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Will Houston (Australia)

England Saxons hold off South Africa 'A'

England Saxons outscored South Africa 'A' four tries to three to hang on for a 32-24 win in Bloemfontein on Friday.

The Saxons looked primed to give South Africa 'A' a thrashing based off their clinical first half, leading 22-3 at the break.

Nick Tompkins, Mike Haley, Matt Kvesic and Alec Hepburn were all excellent for the visitors as they punished the South Africans on turnover ball.  Their handling and offloading also deserves plenty of credit once they settled into the game.

By contrast South Africa 'A' felt completely disjointed.  Time and again the carelessly tried to attack from the wrong areas of the pitch and when the ball consequently went loose, they were punished.

A better second half from the hosts turned a one-sided affair into an actual contest, tries from Francois Brummer, Piet Van Zyl and Sikhumbuzo Notshe trimming England's lead to just a point with the clock running out.

Ollie Devoto's try though sealed the win for England in the final few minutes.  The two sides will meet again in George next Friday.

Several scrums within the opening ten minutes highlighted the number of handling errors coughed up by both sides as they tried to build some familiarity between combinations.

England's forwards wasted no time in getting acquainted with Garth April, the rising star with the Sharks taking some heavy tackles early on.  However he stepped up to land a long-range penalty attempt off the kicking tee to put the hosts ahead 3-0.

Half breaks for Nic Groom and Nizaam Carr for South Africa 'A' went to waste but they remained well in control of possession and territory as England's penalty and tackle counts continued to rise.

The first try though went to the Saxons.  Tompkins and Danny Cipriani tore up the the ground after an interception from the outside centre, made by Semesa Rokoduguni's pressure in defence, and recycling from the ruck Dan Robson's flat pass to Alex Lewington gave England the space for prop Hepburn to finish.  Cipriani converted to make it 7-3.

Turning down a kickable penalty after the Saxons went offside, Scarra Ntubeni then overthrew at the lineout to throw away another big chance.

England were less frivolous, Francois Venter tackling a man without the ball for Cipriani to knock over a penalty and make the score 10-3.

Robson came so close to following those points up with a wonder try, created by Cipriani's flat pass to Rokoduguni to make the break, but in the process of chasing his own kick ahead he appeared to pull up.

There was no catching Rokoduguni a few minutes later though, released down the outside after England attacked on turnover ball, won by Kvesic, before his sublime chip and chase left Leolin Zas trailing behind.

Just as South Africa 'A' thought they were putting something together through Travis Ismaiel they were ripped open again, Robson showing remarkable patience and footwork to dance rings around Venter for England's third try.  Cipriani couldn't convert, but England held a commanding lead at 22-3.

Robson, already struggling, then limped off to be replaced by Micky Young, but England barely seemed to lose a step.  With their back row dominating the breakdown and South Africa 'A' showing little in attack, the visitors comfortably led at half-time.

Seeking a spark Johan Ackermann hauled off April and the entire SA 'A' front row, minutes before the hosts grabbed their first try after returning to the corner before Brummer crashed over, which he converted to make it 10-22.

Cipriani responded with a second penalty to stretch the gap on the scoreboard to 15 points.

Twice the hosts turned down kickable penalties and twice they came up with nothing, allowing England's tiring pack to move away from their own 22 in the process.

South Africa 'A', steadily improving in the second half, were soon over again through replacement scrum-half Van Zyl as he sniped around the edge of the ruck, Brummer's extra two points making it then 17-25.

However getting on top of replacement loosehead Ross Harrison the South African scrum began to play more of a role.

The hosts also had far more steam, finishing off a brilliant counter-attack from well within their own 22 through the excellent Notshe, who started it all with a chip and chase deep in his half and had the pace to finish it off after the final pass from Carr.

Brummer's conversion meant England's 19-point advantage from half-time had been trimmed to just one, and based off the momentum of the second half the game looked like the South Africans' for the taking.

England though came through, Cipriani's low kick and the flick on from Christian Wade setting up an offload off the ground for Devoto to score their fourth try, and the winner, which Cipriani converted to make it 32-24.

South Africa 'A' did their best to fashion a consolation try, but England once more turned it over to secure a deserved win.

The scorers:

For South Africa ‘A’:
Tries:  Brummer, Van Zyl, Notshe
Cons:  Brummer 3
Pen:  April

For England Saxons:
Tries:  Hepburn, Rokoduguni, Robson, Devoto
Cons:  Cipriani 3
Pens:  Cipriani 2

South Africa ‘A’:  15 Leolin Zas, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Garth April, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Oupa Mohoje (c), 6 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Thomas du Toit
Replacements:  16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Francois Brummer, 23 Lukhanyo Am

England Saxons:  15 Mike Haley, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Sam Jones, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Don Armand, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Dave Attwood (c), 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Alec Hepburn
Replacements:  16 George McGuigan, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 Mitch Lees, 20 Dave Ewers, 21 Micky Young, 22 Sam James, 23 Christian Wade

Referee:  Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa), Jaco Kotze (South Africa)
TMO:  Marius Jonker (South Africa)

Five-try England put Wales away

England saw off Wales at Twickenham by scoring five tries in a 27-13 win on Sunday ahead of both sides' respective tours to Australia and New Zealand.

Rob Evans' try and two penalties from Dan Biggar handed Wales a 13-10 half-time advantage, despite England crossing twice through Luther Burrell and Anthony Watson.

But the match turned through two quick tries by Ben Youngs and Jack Clifford, the latter to the dismay of Wales after a possible knock-on was dismissed by the TMO, before Marland Yarde's score gave England a sizeable lead which they never surrendered.

Concern was equally shared between both camps – Wales watching captain for the day Dan Lydiate go off in the first half with an injury, while George Ford stumbled his way through an unconvincing afternoon with missed kicks off the tee and poor execution.  He finished with one from seven attempts.

Eddie Jones though will understandably be the happier coach heading to Australasia, especially after Joe Launchbury, the Man of the Match, and Clifford impressed, along with having watched his side finish with five tries.

Wales however on the basis of this outing look set for a torrid time in New Zealand.

Defence coach Shaun Edwards will have been seething at the sight of England getting behind the defensive line time and again and after that impressive opening they never settled into a groove.  They also were scoreless in the second half.

Even stoking up the fire of the Anglo-Welsh rivalry wasn't enough for this Test match to really be taken seriously.  For that to happen both team sheets would need to be as close to first-choice as possible.

But with no Mako Vunipola, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Chris Robshaw, Billy Vunipola, Owen Farrell or Jack Nowell for England – all starters when the Grand Slam was won in Paris – and no Sam Warburton, Jonathan Davies or Luke Charteris for Wales, something was amiss.  Biggar opting to kick for the corner rather than taking three points after 13 minutes was a good example.

Patience around the fringes from Wales led to the opening try, Evans flopping over off a short pass by Rhys Webb with Dan Biggar converting to put Wales ahead 7-0.

Clear rustiness in England's attack then resulted in Jamie Roberts hacking the ball upfield and Biggar a couple of minutes later adding three more points.

England's response might have been swift had Ford not missed a penalty well inside Welsh territory, keeping the gap at ten points, but after Wales were penalised again less than ten metres from the their line England opted for a maul, sucking in defenders before feeding Burrell to crash up through Biggar's tackle attempt to score.  Ford couldn't convert with a straightforward enough attempt.

Line breaks weren't an issue for either side but with England re-grouping after a Hallam Amos burst Wales butchered an almighty overlap, going instead to the one man on the left who was consequently bundled into touch.

A second penalty from Biggar stretched the gap to 13-5 but it was against the run of play, with England on top in the territory stakes and cutting Wales open only to then lose possession.

A score though was coming, and this time in little space near the touchline Ford and Joseph combined to release Watson, who broke the tackle of Liam Williams and despite losing his footing had the speed to get back up and finish after confirmation from the TMO.

Again, Ford's conversion was wide, bringing his total of missed points for the day to seven.

Wales' time in possession since that first score had been scarce but successive penalties against England presented them with another chance to attack through their rolling maul from five metres out, only for Teimana Harrison to emerge with the ball out the other side, England keeping the gap to 10-13 by half-time.

After an unconvincing first 40 minutes it was Youngs who put England ahead for the first time, scampering his way through the Welsh defence off a lineout for England's third try.

Ford again missed but his nightmare was soon over, a 50-metre break from Clifford seeing the number eight outpace Scott Williams to go over and allowing Ford to convert from right out in front.

Wales were incensed, Biggar confronting referee Marius Mitrea after the TMO review ruled that Dan Cole hadn't knocked on when the ball went loose before Clifford raced away, and awarded the score.

England now led 22-13 and after Yarde rounded Amos to finish another impressive English attack, the contest looked settled.

Handed an opportunity to increase the gap on the scoreboard from a penalty Ford missed again, his total of missed points rising to 14, but it had no impact on the result.

A surprisingly big win then for England, with new caps handed out to Harrison, Tommy Taylor, Ellis Genge and Ollie Devoto in front of a crowd of over 80,000.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Burrell, Watson, Youngs, Clifford, Yarde
Con:  Ford

For Wales:
Try:  Evans
Con:  Biggar
Pen:  Biggar 2

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jack Clifford, 7 James Haskell, 6 Teimana Harrison, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Matt Mullan
Replacements:  16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Danny Care, 22 Ollie Devoto, 23 Elliot Daly

Wales:  15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Dan Lydiate (c), 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Scott Baldwin, Rob Evans
Replacements:  16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 James King, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Gareth Anscombe

Referee:  Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Assistant Referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), George Clancy (Ireland)
TMO:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Grand Slam glory for England

England ended a 13-year wait for a Grand Slam by coming out on top of their battle with France in Paris, winning 31-21.

Outscoring their hosts by three tries to none, England held their nerve when it has let them down so often in the past.  The best side in this year's Six Nations now have a Grand Slam to their name.

France were kept in the contest both by their willingness to play, typified by Virimi Vakatawa and Scott Spedding, and the metronomic boot of Maxime Machenaud who scored all of their 21 points.

For the first time in the Eddie Jones era England were made to sweat for a full 80 minutes, and as they have been throughout the tournament, they were good — in fact very good — but never quite excellent.

The missed tackles will have irritated defence coach Paul Gustard, while their penalty count is bound to have rattled Jones as it has all tournament.

But those are the negatives.  England were more clinical.  They hounded France at the lineout with steals from Maro Itoje and George Kruis, with both locks outstanding.  And now they have won five games out of five.

France produced their best half of the tournament in the first 40 minutes but still went in trailing, not capitalising on the holes they found in the English defence as Vakatawa's moments of promise ended without points.

Two quick penalties against Anthony Watson and Itoje set Machenaud up to knock over the first points, as France took a 3-0 lead.

Farrell responded instantly after Watson was taken around the neck from the restart, knocking over his penalty off the post.

France's rolling maul looked effective, just like the flying Vakatawa as he broke a tackle from Jack Nowell on an early charge.

Les Bleus were hungry, a sharp break and pass from Spedding to Vakatawa deserving more than a ball into touch.  Chances such as those had to be taken.

Danny Care was less wasteful.  Spotting the gap around the side of the ruck he always had too much speed for the chasing Jefferson Poirot, fending him off to sprint away for the game's first try.

The loss of François Trinh-Duc rubbed salt in the wound after Care's score, but first blood at the scrum went France's way after Mako Vunipola dropped his bind.  Machenaud obliged, making it 6-10.

With their use of Vakatawa and Spedding from deep France were finding space and making real ground in their own half, and yet again, England were the next try scorers.

This time it was Dan Cole, quite literally rolling his way over the line after not being held as England finished a stint in France's 22 which all started from a cross-field kick by George Ford to Watson.

France and their supporters beseeched referee Nigel Owens to chalk it off for obstruction on Guilhem Guirado, although he had no interest even with the input of the TMO.  A longer look may have produced another outcome, as Farrell's conversion meant England led 6-17.

Guirado responded by winning a kickable penalty at the breakdown for Machenaud to knock over, closing the gap to eight, and another Machenaud penalty, this time against Chris Robshaw, made that 12-17 having denied England down the other end.

England could have had the final say of the half but Farrell pushed a penalty wide to the left of the posts, keeping England ahead by five after missing 15 tackles in the first half.

Forced to turn to their scramble defence England did just enough to hold France out after yet another burst from Vakatawa, as Machenaud moved to five from five with another penalty, but France immediately conceded after giving Farrell a soft penalty to make it 15-20.

But again France reeled the visitors back in, Machenaud with his sixth penalty, as the contest grew chaotic with turnovers on each side.

Momentum for England had been rare when it came to their ball carrying until Vunipola at last began to motor from the back of a scrum.  The damage done from his burst freed up Ben Youngs, a replacement for Care, to scamper ahead, before his delicate grubber kick to the wing was met by Watson who held off Fofana to finish.

Machenaud though wouldn't let England get away, knocking over penalty number seven.

A long stoppage for treatment to Dylan Hartley gave both sides pause for thought with only 12 minutes remaining, England forced to try and finish the job without their captain with their lineout having run at 100 percent.

With a high tackle from Paul Jedrasiak on Youngs, Farrell had a chance to stretch England's lead out to seven again from a long way out, landing it superbly to make it 21-28.

Xavier Chiocci's yellow card and Farrell's subsequent penalty then put the stamp on the win England have craved for so long.

England are not just Six Nations champions, but Grand Slam winners too.  Deserved?  Absolutely.

Man of the Match:  So often France looked likely to score, and then George Kruis would pop up with a crucial steal.  He has come of age in this tournament.

Moment of the Match:  Owen Farrell's kicking wasn't perfect on the night but his long-range strike to make it 28-21 was absolutely vital.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For France:
Pens:  Machenaud 7
Yellow Card:  Chiocci

For England:
Tries:  Care, Cole, Watson
Cons:  Farrell 2
Pens:  Farrell 4

France:  15 Scott Spedding, 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Loann Goujon, 7 Bernard le Roux, 6 Damien Chouly, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Alexandre Flanquart, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements:  16 Camille Chat, 17 Uini Atonio, 18 Xavier Chiocci, 19 Paul Jedrasiak, 20 Wenceslas Lauret, 21 Sébastien Bézy, 22 Jules Plisson, Maxime Médard

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 George Ford, 9 Danny Care, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 James Haskell, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements:  16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Jack Clifford, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Manu Tuilagi, 23 Elliot Daly

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Ireland end Six Nations on a high

Ireland ended the 2016 Six Nations with a second win after overcoming Scotland in Dublin with a 35-25 victory.

Four tries from last year's champions built upon 15 points from the boot of Jonathan Sexton as Ireland ensured a tough tournament would end on a high.

A battle for mid-table dominance had an extra edge with Scotland eyeing up three straight Six Nations wins, but aside from a brief period after Stuart Hogg's special try they were always chasing the scoreboard.

Their frustrations too with the officating by the end began to boil over in a spiky finish.

Following on from their thrashing of Italy the week before Ireland were full of running and Sexton, off the back of a fine tournament, shone with the ball in hand or on his boot, but drew heavy criticism for appealing for a card after he was flipped on his back by Alex Dunbar, and also finished his Six Nations in the sin-bin.

Scotland were full of energy and have certainly made strides in this Six Nations, but yellow cards for John Barclay and Dunbar in each half proved incredibly costly on each occasion as their game management left something to be desired.

Having 81 percent possession in the first half only produced an eight-point advantage for Ireland by the break, with Scotland having been penalised incessantly at the breakdown by referee Pascal Gauzère.

It was Sexton's boot after Scotland strayed offside which opened the scoring, although he oddly missed a straightforward effort minutes later.

That first penalty however moved him into second in Ireland's all-time points scoring rankings ahead of David Humphreys, with only Ronan O'Gara ahead of him.

Sexton made no mistake with his third kick after Scotland were penalised for a high tackle, all within the first 12 minutes, before Laidlaw finally put Scotland on the board at 6-3.  Sexton struck once more to restore the six-point gap before Ireland were stunned by a magical solo score from Hogg.

Arguably the premier full-back in this Six Nations, Hogg spotted a gap between Rory Best and Mike Ross before cantering through it into space and hitting the accelerator to score a magnificent solo try.

Laidlaw's conversion put Scotland ahead for the first time at 10-9 but Scotland paid for their earlier indiscipline with the loss of Barclay, on his 50th cap, to the sin-bin for coming in at the side.

In Barclay's absence Ireland pummelled the Scottish defensive line, eventually breaking it, through CJ Stander for his second Test try in a week, and Ireland were over again almost instantly.

Sexton's clever kick, off his left foot, found a gap in the defence and a calamitous mix-up from the Scottish defence allowed Keith Earls, also celebrating his half century, to gratefully scoop up and score.

Sexton couldn't convert and Scotland captain Laidlaw had the final say of the half with a penalty to make it 21-13.

Turning to their maul after the break Ireland notched up try number four, Conor Murray with a trademark snipe from close range catching out the tired Scottish defence as Ireland built an imposing 28-13 lead.

A response from the visitors was needed fast and it came through Richie Gray, the towering lock hitting the right line as he found a sizeable gap in Ireland's defence after Scotland had sucked in the tacklers to one corner, Laidlaw converting to close the gap to eight.

Scotland noticeably tried to lift the tempo but they were hamstrung by Dunbar's daft moment of indiscipline flipping Sexton over the horizontal, for which he saw yellow.

Ireland went to the corner from the resulting penalty and eventually Devin Toner crashed over for try number four before a scrap off the ball afterwards.

Scotland's frustrating afternoon was starting to spill over but a persistent stint in Ireland's 22, with Sexton yellow carded for coming in at the side, ended eventually with a try for Dunbar.

It was too late though for a fightback, Ireland rounding out a chippy contest with another victory as each side looks forward for better fortunes on their overseas tours later this year.

Man of the Match:  Jamie Heaslip again impressed but his back-row colleague CJ Stander will be waking up pretty sore on Sunday after a remarkable number of carries.  What a find he has been for Joe Schmidt.

Moment of the Match:  One of the tournament's top tries from Stuart Hogg, who once again showed his class with a special break to put his side ahead in the first half.

Villain of the Match:  Really poor from Alex Dunbar flipping Jonathan Sexton onto his back at the ruck at a pivotal moment, for which he was yellow carded, although the reaction from Sexton was also poor.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Stander, Earls, Murray, Toner
Cons:  Sexton 3
Pens:  Sexton 3
Yellow Card:  Sexton

For Scotland:
Tries:  Hogg, Gray, Dunbar
Cons:  Laidlaw 2
Pens:  Laidlaw 2
Yellow Card:  Barclay

Ireland:  15 Simon Zebo, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements:  16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Nathan White, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Fergus McFadden

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 John Hardie, 6 John Barclay, 5 Tim Swinson, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson
Replacements:  16 Stuart McInally, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Moray Low, 19 Rob Harley, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Sean Lamont

Referee:  Pascal Gauzère (France)
Assistant referees:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), Alexandre Ruiz (France)

TMO:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Nine-try Wales dispatch Italy

Wales made sure of second place in the Six Nations with a high-scoring demolition of Italy, winning 67-14 in Cardiff.

Still dissecting their oddly subdued first 50 minutes at Twickenham and trying to put a week spilling over with off-field distractions behind them, Wales started fast and never looked back in an open game where they offloaded perhaps more than throughout all of the four previous games in this year's Six Nations.

Italy, hampered by injuries, lacked the discipline and consistency to keep Wales at bay on a long afternoon where they rarely controlled possession and were outscored nine tries to two.

Jacques Brunel's last game in charge was a grim one.  His counterpart Warren Gatland meanwhile will have taken note of the performances of a returning Rhys Webb and early replacement Ross Moriarty as he begins to plan for Wales' tour to New Zealand later this year.

His side were never troubled, despite the absence of key leaders in Alun Wyn Jones and regular captain Sam Warburton.

For a contest with nothing riding on it — Wales unable to win the title, Italy unable to avoid the Wooden Spoon — this certainly wasn't dull.

Wales should never have had their first try allowed given their backs were offside ahead of the kick through by Dan Biggar, leading to a lineout from which Rhys Webb sniped over from close range to close the circle on his own personal nightmare.

It was against Italy on the same pitch that Webb suffered the injury which ruled him out of the Rugby World Cup, and despite Gareth Davies impressing his return is certainly welcome.

The visitors tried to fire back from a kick to the corner only to fail with their execution, Wales instead marching back up the field and adding three points through Biggar's boot.

Italy were labouring under Welsh pressure on their defence and set-piece, eventually paying the price when promising scrum-half Guglielmo Palazzani was sin-binned.  Rather than turn the screw, Wales surprisingly opted to kick three more points through Biggar.

Through a combination of Wales' failure to execute and some impressive defence Italy held out with Palazzani off the field, only for Wales to strike immediately on his return.

A one-two from Dan Biggar and Jamie Roberts, after Davide Giazzon's missed tackle put Biggar through a gap, allowed the fly-half to run under the posts for his first Test try, adding the conversion, before a length-of-the-field move starting in Wales' 22 produced the best try so far as Jonathan Davies finished off a sweeping passage of play with Wales putting the ball through the hands.

Biggar's conversion made it 27-0, and it should have been more, while injuries for Italy to Mattia Bellini and Andrea Pratichetti compounded a horrible first half for the Azzurri.

Patient build-up in Italy's 22 then ended with a try for Roberts out wide, from a nice offload by George North, for a simple finish.

North went from provider to scorer not long after, pinning his ears back to tear through a gaping hole in Italy's defence before cutting in superbly to finish by the posts.

Italy at last had something to smile about through a try for Palazzani off the back of his pack's good work with the rolling maul but it was only a small reprieve, with Liam Williams adding to the Welsh tally with try number six.

Gonzalo Garcia, one of Italy's best players in the tournament, added more respectability to the scoreboard with his converted try to make it 46-14, but in truth the next try from Wales was never far away.

Having replaced the injured Justin Tipuric early on Moriarty finished off a driving maul attack for Wales to produce their next score, as Italy looked weary.

A second for Moriaty and final score from Gareth Davies, with the clock red, rounded off a record win for Wales in the Six Nations.  Not enough to make up for last week perhaps, but a fine performance.

Man of the Match:  A world-class finish for his try and George North was the pick of the Wales backs.  His fourth straight try after scoring against Scotland, England and France equalled the record set by Shane Williams.  Immense.

Moment of the Match:  Having ridden out the sin-bin period Italy conceded instantly through Dan Biggar's try to open the floodgates.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  Webb, Biggar, J Davies, Roberts, North, L Williams, Moriaty 2, G Davies
Cons:  Biggar 5, Priestland 3
Pens:  Biggar 2

For Italy:
Tries:  Palazzani, Garcia
Cons:  Haimona 2
Yellow Card:  Palazzani

Wales:  15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Dan Lydiate (c), 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Rob Evans
Replacements:  16 Ken Owens, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Jake Ball, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Gareth Anscombe

Italy:  15 David Odiete, 14 Mattia Bellini, 13 Andrea Pratichetti, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Leonardo Sarto, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Valerio Bernabo, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Davide Giazzon, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Matteo Zanusso, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Jacopo Sarto, 20 Abraham Steyn, 21 Alberto Lucchese, 22 Kelly Haimona, 23 Luke McLean

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

England win Six Nations after Scotland beat France

Scotland's 29-18 win over France at Murrayfield means that England have won the 2016 Six Nations with one round to go.

Scotland scored three tries, and secured consecutive Six Nations victories for only the third time in history, with a belligerent triumph over France in Edinburgh.

The visitors were largely beleaguered, errors stifling their attacking play, but crossed early through Guilhelm Guirado, and again when Gaël Fickou scored with the clock red at half-time.

On his 50th cap, skipper Greig Laidlaw kicked 11 points, but it was Stuart Hogg who stole the show.

The full-back bagged a neat try, a sublime assist, and boomed over a long-range penalty with Duncan Taylor and Tim Visser also touching down.

Everywhere you look in the championship, this Scotland team battles desperate statistics.  Victory in Rome arrested one barren run of defeats, a solitary loss short of their all-time record.

This time, having never in the tournament's 133-year tenure lost eight successive home matches, having not beaten France in ten years, and only once in the last 18 meetings, and having failed to win back-to-back Six Nations matches in all but two from 16 attempts, the burden of history remained.

In the opposition camp, for too long have France employed a monotonous bludgeoning approach, perpetuated by players capable of such magnificence.  It's akin to buying a luxury Rolls Royce and driving it like a tractor.

Their opening try though was an exercise in timing and flair, Virimi Vakatawa striding up the touchline into Scotland's 22, finding Wesley Fofana on his inside shoulder, who flipped on to captain Guirado in turn to plunge over.

Finn Russell, the Scots' cherished young pivot, was concussed in the build-up, and as François Trinh-Duc hooked the conversion wide, Russell was replaced by Peter Horne.

It was Horne who was caught offside from a lineout with 10 minutes gone, allowing Trinh-Duc to line up a straightforward shot at goal.  Again, the fly-half pulled his effort wide.

Alexandre's Flanquart's slowing down of the ball allowed Laidlaw to bang over Scotland's first points.

And as Guirado buckled under the Scottish eight's squeeze in the scrummage, the skipper slotted his second to nudge the hosts ahead.

With Russell gone, the playmaking duties fell to Horne and Stuart Hogg, the gifted full-back.

With seven minutes of the first half remaining, the former stepped and jinked his way towards the French posts, offloading to the towering Richie Gray, and from the next phase, Hogg cut sharply inside Fickou to reach the whitewash.

Laidlaw's conversion attempt faded wide, but then came a moment that saw Murrayfield erupt — as much in surprise as euphoria.

From a tap penalty near halfway, Taylor, the Saracens centre, caught France cold, striding dynamically from Vakatawa's grasp and sprinting all the way home down the right touchline.

Referee Glen Jackson consulted his TMO amid suspicions Laidlaw had tugged back a covering defender.  He allowed the try to stand, and this time, the captain was accurate from the tee.

Scotland ought to have carried the precious 18-5 lead they held into the break.  A maddening ruck transgression, though, stifled their impetus and allowed France one final assault in the home 22.

The hulking French forwards laid the platform with a barrage of punishing carries, Fickou capitalising to arc in at the corner, and Maxime Machenaud, kicking instead of the faltering Trinh-Duc, converted.

Hogg restored Scotland's two-score lead with a thunderous penalty from inside his own half seven minutes after the interval.

Machenaud soon cancelled out that strike when Ross Ford entered a ruck at the side, and failed to stay on his feet.

And the French heavy artillery came within inches of a try after Scott Spedding barrelled down the left flank in pursuit of his own kick.  They earned a penalty, kicked for touch, and again assembled the monsters of the pack.  Scotland held firm.  Machenaud was caught, the ball fumbled, and the hosts cleared.

That wayward handling became a feature of the French attack, but Machenaud cut the gap to three points with another penalty as the final quarter beckoned.

Guy Novès turned to the brutes lurking on his bench.  In this French team, perhaps more so than anywhere else, big is beautiful.  On rumbled Uini Atonio and Sébastien Vahaamahina, over 260kg between them.  But it was a game-breaking intervention from Hogg that wedged Scotland firmly in the driver's seat.

With Scotland deep in French territory, the full-back produced a sumptuous volleyball-style tip over his own head, leaving Visser with a clear dash to the corner.

Laidlaw's conversion fell just short, but Vern Cotter's side harried and pestered France in their own 22, eventually grinding out a penalty Laidlaw decisively curled over.

The French behemoths mobilised for a final raid on the Scottish line with time ticking away, but their maul was infiltrated and the ball cocooned.  There ended their hope.

It's been an awfully long time — 37 months, in fact — since Murrayfield has had a Six Nations victory to savour.  At last, the cavernous bowl rocks to the sweet sound of success.

Man of the Match:  Undoubtedly, Stuart Hogg.  With Russell absent, his involvements were timely and precious.

Moment of the Match:  Tim Visser's try propelled Scotland two scores ahead with ten minutes to play.  Overturning that deficit was a task too great for this embattled French outfit.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Hogg, Taylor, Visser
Con:  Laidlaw
Pens:  Laidlaw 3, Hogg

For France:
Tries:  Guirado, Fickou
Con:  Machenaud
Pens:  Machenaud 2

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Josh Strauss, 7 John Hardie, 6 John Barclay, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson
Replacements:  16 Stuart McInally, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Moray Low, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Sean Lamont

France:  15 Scott Spedding,14 Virimi Vakatawa, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Wesley Fofana, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Alexandre Flanquart, 4 Yoann Maestri, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements:  16 Camille Chat, 17 Vincent Pelo, 18 Uini Atonio, 19 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 20 Loann Goujon, 21 Sébastien Bézy, 22 Jules Plisson, Maxime Médard

Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

England on course for Slam after Wales win

England set their sights on winning a first Grand Slam since 2003 next week in Paris after a 25-21 win over Wales at Twickenham.

Billed as revenge for their World Cup humbling, perhaps no victory could make up for that disappointment, but instead England delivered what had all the makings of an impressive win before a late surge from Wales left them clinging on.

Manu Tuilagi's key tackle into touch on George North made sure of a result that England deserved, but nearly let slip.

Wales for the most part were dire — slipping off tackles, penalised incessantly by referee Craig Joubert at the breakdown and generating little through their one-dimensional attack — until they threatened to suckerpunch England all over again with late tries from George North and Taulupe Faletau.  They turned up all too late.

Their first points in the 53rd minute came from an England error through Dan Biggar's chargedown try rather than anything creative and even that effort could only make it 19-7, before England looked to have pulled away thanks to the boot of Owen Farrell who finished with 20 points.

Maro Itoje, named Man of the Match, produced a truly outstanding display, his first half stats alone worthy of honours after multiple turnover and lineout steals to go with his assist for Anthony Watson's try.

Eddie Jones did his best before his debut to quell the hype around the Saracens 21-year-old lock but good luck to him doing so moving forwards, because the secret is out — he is a very special talent.

Wales by contrast were abject early on, appearing lost with little to no energy about them in one of the worst halves of Warren Gatland's tenure during the first 40 minutes when they missed 19 tackles.

England's attack led to those figures but the hosts should have led by more than 16-0 at half-time given the number of chances they created, twice correctly denied by the TMO.

First blood at the scrum after levels of obscene hype throughout the week went the way of Wales, although against Dan Cole rather than the world's most-watched prop in Joe Marler.

Illegally slowing the ball down at the ruck allowed Farrell to put England ahead with a first penalty.  Dictating territory, England's forwards unleashed a set of short-range drives at the Wales line with Cole ultimately ruled to be held up by the TMO.

Forcing a penalty out of the following five-metre scrum allowed Farrell to double England's tally and the centre made no mistake again after Dan Lydiate failed to release Billy Vunipola to make it 9-0.

England's back three — Jack Nowell, Watson and Mike Brown — continued to skip through tackles suggesting a score wasn't far away, but instead it was Itoje, carrying round the corner and freeing up his arms after sucking in the Welsh defenders who released Brown, in turn giving Watson the time and space to get away from Liam Williams for the game's first try.

Farrell's finely struck conversion from out wide allowed England to take into half-time a 16-0 advantage which they more than deserved, with Wales yet to turn up.

A fourth penalty by Farrell maintained his perfect record after the break prior to Wales at last coming to life.

Spending minutes camped in England's 22 proved fruitless until having done all the hard work, Ben Youngs' poor pass combined with a forced kick under pressure from George Ford allowed Biggar to rush up for a chargedown try as he calmly grounded the ball.  Out of nothing, suddenly Wales had a sniff.

Any comeback was going to have to happen without their captain after Sam Warburton was stretchered off following a lengthy stoppage in play.

Moments of indecision from Ford threatened to cost England again before he was replaced by Manu Tuilagi after 60 minutes, to the an almighty roar from the home supporters before from his first carry he won a penalty, Farrell converting to make it 22-7.

A sixth penalty from Farrell gave England an 18-point cushion but they were left to finish the match with 14 men after a yellow card to Dan Cole having conceded a run of penalties in their own 22.

Wales' next immediate chance of a score was wiped out after a penalty against Tomas Francis for making contact with the eyes of Cole, with a citing no doubt to follow, but they crossed not long after through George North to close the gap at 25-14 after clever handling from Jonathan Davies.

Now bursting with energy Wales crossed again through Taulupe Faletau, Priestland converting as the whole of Twickenham tensed fearing another disaster whilst watching the clock.

Instead a tackle into touch by Tuilagi on North settled it, forcing the winger out with Danny Care booting the ball to touch from the resulting lineout.

England now advance to four wins out of four, and having pocketed the Triple Crown and with their eyes on more silverware next Saturday.

Man of the Match:  Coming-of-age Test for Maro Itoje, whose athleticism offers England something different in their pack.

Moment of the Match:  Turning what seemed an unlikely comeback into a very real one, Taulupe Faletau's try set up a nervous finish for the home supporters.

Villian of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report given that at present we don't know whether Tomas Francis' contact with the eyes of Dan Cole was intentional or not.

The scorers:

For England:
Try:  Watson
Con:  Farrell
Pens:  Farrell 6
Yellow Card:  Cole

For Wales:
Tries:  Biggar, North, Faletau
Cons:  Biggar, Priestland 2

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Anthony Watson, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 James Haskell, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Joe Marler
Replacements:  16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Jack Clifford, 21 Danny Care, 22 Manu Tuilagi, 23 Elliot Daly

Wales:  15 Liam Williams, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Rob Evans
Replacements:  16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Gareth Anscombe

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Mathieu Raynal (France)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Ireland run Italy ragged

Ireland delivered a nine-try hammering on Italy in Dublin on Sunday to pick up their first win of the Six Nations with a 58-15 victory.

Ireland's first win of the tournament came all too late with the title set to head elsewhere, but this was a welcome respite after a punishing opening trio of matches.

Italy frankly imploded, producing the kind of performance many feared before the start of the tournament when their squad looked short on quality.

Early optimism after they pushed France close in Paris has now completely gone.  This really was a shambles.

Operating at a faster tempo and producing more offloads than we've seen so far in the tournament enabled Ireland to pick Italy apart at will, and their head coach Joe Schmidt will have been happy to watch Ireland play with plenty of confidence after coming up short at Twickenham.

The result truthfully looked like a certainty well before half-time.

Gonzalo Garcia's drag of a foot across the touchline prevented Italy from getting the perfect start as Ireland's scrambling defence reached the centre before he could cross the line.

Garcia couldn't make the hosts pay for a slow start and they responded well, Leonardo Sarto's mad decision to bat the ball backwards after a high kick being pounced upon by Payne, before Ireland recycled to put away Andrew Trimble for a score in the corner.

All the momentum now was Ireland's, as a Robbie Henshaw grubber kick handed Ireland the territory which ultimately led to their second try through Jack McGrath from a short pick-and-go, Sexton converting for a 12-0 advantage.

A breakdown penalty enabled Edoardo Padovani to knock over three points on his first start for his country but it was Ireland, full of running, who always looked poised to score the next try with Sexton in full flow.

The fly-half released Keith Earls into space off an inside ball to position Ireland five metres out, before CJ Stander did the rest from close range.

Italy were on the verge of being cut adrift down 20-3 prior to half-time but their efforts were thwarted, with Ireland going up the other end to produce the try of the tournament so far.

All starting from Zebo's break inside his own half, the full-back combined with Sexton and Trimble before Ireland spread the ball to find Heaslip in the corner.

Sexton couldn't convert but Ireland still held a dominant 22-point advantage going into half-time.

Italy didn't exactly help themselves when a gift of a loose pass from Padovani was snapped up by Payne for one of the easiest tries of his career, the returning centre running under the posts for try number five.

Heaslip added to the rout with his second try as Ireland felt comfortable enough up 39-3 to withdraw Sexton before the 50-minute mark.

Sean Cronin, replacing captain Rory Best, sauntered through a gap for Ireland's seventh try through some unacceptably poor tackling as the scoreline ticked over in the hosts' favour.

David Odiete's in the corner offered Italy some consolation although it was only a brief respite, Ian Madigan grabbing Ireland's eighth try to take them over the half century.

Sarto and Fergus McFadden both crossed for late scores as Ireland completed an enormous triumph over an Azzurri outfit who deservedly look set to finish bottom ot the table.

Man of the Match:  All about attitude and Jamie Heaslip backed up his wise words in the week with a two-try performance.

Moment of the Match:  The sublime break by Zebo up the touchline which after going through multiple sets of hands set up Heaslip for a spectacular try in the first half.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Trimble, McGrath, Stander, Heaslip 2, Payne, Cronin, Madigan, McFadden
Cons:  Sexton 3, Madigan 2
Pen:  Sexton

For Italy:
Tries:  Odiete, Sarto
Con:  Padovani
Pen:  Padovani

Ireland:  15 Simon Zebo, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Finlay Bealham, 18 Nathan White, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Fergus McFadden

Italy:  15 David Odiete, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Edoardo Padovani, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 George Biagi, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Davide Giazzon, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Matteo Zanusso, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Quintin Geldenhuys, 20 Abraham Steyn, 21 Alberto Lucchese, 22 Kelly Haimona, 23 Luke McLean

Referee:  Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees:  Romain Poite (France), Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)