Six Nations: England defeat Scotland to keep Grand Slam hopes alive

I’ll start with the weekend’s first match, which turned out to be it’s biggest shock: Italy beat France in Rome 22-21. It must be said that this game saw a significant decline in the quality of French play and they provided Italy with just enough room to put in a passionate and spirited performance.

Nevertheless, it cannot be understated just how huge this historic win is for the Italians and that their ever-improving displays in this competition since their inclusion in 2000 have evidently been building towards this. The match was incredibly tense and, despite the low standard of rugby, probably the most exciting one of the weekend. As with any underdog victory, I’m very happy for Italy (especially as they got the big win under Nick Mallet, a coach deserving of any rugby fan’s respect) ... I can only hope that in years to come, they’ll be viewed as at an equal standard to the rest of the field.

The other match on Saturday was Ireland’s clash against Wales at the Millennium Stadium. The game itself was actually relatively unentertaining, with general sloppy play and errors all round. The only thing that made Wales’ 19-13 victory interesting to watch was the fact that it was a closely contested affair.

I still maintain that this Welsh side are underperforming (it’ll become more obvious in the World Cup) and that Warren Gatland should be held responsible for the overall cluelessness of his team.

It was great to see Brian O’Driscoll equal the championship’s record number of tries (24) and even though the controversial Welsh try that basically won them the match has clearly been proved have been illegal, there’s nothing that can be done other than lamenting a poor decision by the referee.

I may have voiced my displeasure at the way that Wales have been using Shane Williams recently (he works best as part of the team - nobody can just create tries on their own), but I’d like to say farewell, as Saturday’s was his final Six Nations match (he’s quitting the international game after the World Cup), to one of the true greats of the Welsh game.

Scotland’s match against England was always going to be a tough one; the history between the two sides is one full of close contests that have been hard-fought - anyone remember 2008’s horrendous game at Murrayfield?.

It’s undeniable that England are this year’s favourites, but it’s also clear that they are far from the finished article. As England have gradually improved, so have Scotland, and it’s definitely worth remembering that this isn’t a bad Scottish team, just one that’s been playing poorly.

England may have managed to win 22-16 at Twickenham on Sunday but it was an obviously difficult clash and a highly physical one. Scotland knew exactly how to shut down England’s key players, and it was only with some personnel changes at half-time that the English were able to begin to put some distance between them and their opponents.

The main cause for worry is the breakdown and the fact that England had the overwhelming majority of the possession and territory, yet made very little of it. At the end of the day, though, a win is a win, and the English go forward as Grand Slam contenders.

After this weekend, everything remains quite fascinating as we head into the final set of games on Saturday, dubbed “Super Saturday”. After improvements for both teams, Scotland play Italy at 2.30pm. England will face Ireland in Dublin for a Grand Slam decider at 5pm and France are set to battle it out with Wales at 7.45pm.

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