France cemented their status as the Northern Hemisphere’s most clinical force on Sunday, dismantling a struggling Wales 54-12 at the Principality Stadium. On a grim afternoon for Welsh rugby, Fabien Galthié’s new-look side delivered an eight-try blitz, securing their largest-ever victory in Cardiff and leaving Steve Tandy’s rebuilding project with plenty of work to do.
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England’s 12-game winning streak came shuddering to a halt as they crashed to their heaviest Calcutta Cup defeat in eight years at the hands of fired-up Scotland. The Scots’ four-try triumph at Murrayfield – in which England wing Henry Arundell was shown two yellow cards in the first half – was their biggest victory in the fixture since 2018. It was particularly timely for embattled head coach Gregor Townsend, who had come under intense pressure after a grim 18-15 defeat by Italy.
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Ireland survived a major scare from Italy to claim their first win in this year’s Six Nations and deny the Azzurri a first championship victory in Dublin. Hurting from last week’s thumping defeat by France in Paris, Ireland took the lead through Jamie Osborne’s unconverted try after Italy wing Louis Lynagh’s yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. But momentum shifted in Italy’s favour, and after Paolo Garbisi’s penalty and Ireland scrum-half Craig Casey’s yellow card, hooker Giacomo Nicotera crashed over to give the Italians a deserved half-time lead.
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A remorseless England piled pain and points on Wales as they began their hunt for the Six Nations title with a 48-7 victory at Allianz Stadium. Wing Henry Arundell, making his first start for his country in more than two years, scored a first-half hat-trick as England put themselves out of sight before the break. Josh Adams was picked out by Dan Edwards’ precise punt for Wales’s solitary try five minutes after the restart, but, for the most part, the one-way traffic continued to steamroll the visitors.
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Pressure mounted on Gregor Townsend as Scotland suffered a disastrous Guinness Six Nations start by losing 18-15 to Italy in rain-lashed Rome as the hosts picked up steam before their trip to Dublin next weekend. The fired-up Azzurri raced into a 12-point lead within 14 minutes and the Scots – with back-three big-hitters Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe all dropped amid question marks over their form – were unable to get their attack firing in response, while their set-piece continually malfunctioned.
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