6 NATIONS: Ireland defeat reigning champs, England shutout Scots & France see off Italy

In the Second round of fixtures in the Six Nations Championship it produced three pretty much clear cut victories including the current leaders Ireland, France and England as the two sides remain with a 100% unbeaten record so far.

IRELAND 26 - 3 WALES

This encounter was billed as a possible title decider too after both sides picking up victories in their respective opening round of matches. Wales wanted to put in a better performance than they did in their 23-15 win over Italy the weekend before, as they were fortunate that they didn`t come up against a stronger side as they may well have lost out. For Ireland it was a chance to gage where they was against arguably, the best side in the Northern Hemisphere and looked to be a stern test on paper against Warren Gatland`s double winning Six Nation champions.

PIC: theguardian

Sadly the game wasn`t much of a contest at all in truth, as Joe Schmidt`s Ireland from the first whistle was the much more assertive side of the two which saw them  opening the scoring with a penalty in the 7th minute after Wales was penalised for Holding on. Johnny Sexton who is the Irish equivilent of Leigh Halfpenny he converted the penalty for a 3-0 lead for the hosts and saw the Irish looking very good in the contest early on. Ireland increased their lead when Hibbard gave away another penalty after the Welshman came in from the side from the ruck. Brian O Driscoll then took a heavy hit by Scott Williams during that passage of play with Williams coming off worst in the tackle, picking up a shoulder injury that has since ruled him out the tournament.

Pic: welshrugbypics.co.uk

Sexton made it 6-0 and Ireland were showing signs that may be running away with the game much like they did against Scotland the week before. Wales then tried to graft their way back in the match as they tried to create something, but the Irish defence much like last weekend was putting in a sterling effort once again to cut out any possible Welsh attacks. Ireland then scored a try thanks to the driving maul once again coming to the fore, as a line-out five metres from the Welsh line saw Ireland win it and then power over with Flanker Chris Henry getting the ball down to make it 13-0 with extras added. Wales then gave away another penalty for 'crossing' and saw Sexton take on a 54 metre kick, but this time round saw the fly half fail to succeed as half time came around.

Pic: theTelegraph

Second half saw the continuation of Ireland suffocating the Welsh attack and drawing the reigning champions into errors across the pitch. Johnny Sexton kicked another three points to the Ireland score after Wales were caught for tackling a player that was supporting Paul O Connell in the line-out and that made it 16-0. It took the 56th minute to see Wales finally get on the board, when the Irish scrum broke down and seen Leigh Halfpenny called into action and his kick sailed through the posts for a 16-3 score that saw them narrow the gap to 13 points. That gap got reopened with a Irish penalty to see the host lead 19-3 with the conditions far from ideal with the rain really coming down in Dublin. Ireland had out classed and out played the champions in every department of the pitch and they rubbed salt in the wounds of the visitors with Ireland grabbing a try late on. Ireland`s driving maul has been a big weapon for the Irish the host side in this competition and so saw them gain 20 meters using the maul, before Conor Murray found Paddy Jackson and he went over to give the home fans in the packed Aviva Stadium a try to finish off the game, with Sexton making the final score 26-3 and see Ireland stay unbeaten.

SCOTLAND 0 - 20 ENGLAND

England beat Scotland in the Calcutta Cup game and ore importantly got their Six Nations back on track with victory up at Murrayfield, as England thrashed and dominated the Scotland side in a match played in pretty atrocious conditions with them having to deal with not only the pitch that was lacking the greenery ,but also the driving rain too. Owen Farrell showed how tricky the conditions were, when the Fly-half seemed to slip when he attempted an early penalty for England and saw kick go wayward of the target.

Pic: Daily Record

Danny Care then put in a repeat performance off last weekend with him kicking over a drop goal to give the English a 3-0 lead after their line-out in the build up. Neither kicker was pulling up trees for his team, after Farrell`s poor kick earlier in the game Greg Laidlaw the Captain of Scotland saw his penalty attempt go horribly wide as well and that drew a few disgruntled moans by the Murrayfield crowd that was wearing the Scottish colours.

England grabbed a marvellous try in the 14th minute of the game with a good quick hands led to Danny Care then making a lovely little pass to Luther Burrell and he took it over the Scottish line to give England a 10-0 lead.

Pic:  Zimbo

Scotland was given a chance to respond quickly soon after conceding a try, when Laidlaw saw his kick this time bounce back off the post and seemed it was going to be a long night for the Scots. England was then themselves awarded another penalty after Sean Lamont was penalised at the ruck and seen Farrell once again fail miserably with the boot and if he had been on song for England, then could really have been out of sight by now. The England man had a chance to redeem himself with another penalty a bit later and this time saw him slot it through the uprights for a 13-0 score and Scotland was on their way to another hiding.

England pressurised the Scotland back line and their scrum. Not for the first time Scotland gave away another penalty and not for the first time either, Farrell missed once more as he wasted three fairly easy penalties for the England kicker. With constant penalties by the home side, the patience of the referee Jerome Garces of France was pretty much wearing thin now and seen him send Alex Dunbar to the sin bin for a 10 minute and that saw him put his side down to fourteen men.

Pic: Zimbo.com

 Despite the extra man advantage, England couldn`t seem to find any way through till a play down the left flank saw Mike Brown evade a tackle by the touchline and run freely to see the visitors finally break through and score a try to make it 20-0 and see England get back in the hunt for the championship. Their next game is a tough home opener against current leaders Ireland and one that will need to them raise their level as they have been average at best so far, For Scotland the games get no easier for the Scots, as they face the French back at Murrayfield in a fortnight.

FRANCE   30-10  ITALY

France kept their unbeaten record in the competition going after they faced a tough nut to crack in the form of the Italian side at the Stade de France.

Jean- Marc Doussain blew a couple of early penalties for the hosts after his first effort was a horrible kick and the second attempt saw him fall short of the posts which led to a half chance for the French, when Pape ripped the ball from the Italian forward and saw Plisson then attempt a drop goal but that went wide of the sticks and Italian breathed a sigh of relief.

Picamoles gets try for France: Pic: Rugby365

France was in always in full control of the game, but saw Italy putting up a stern defensive display to quell the French attacks in the game. Tomasso Allen had a penalty for the away side go begging as his 50m kick fell short of the target and left us scoreless since after twenty minutes of play. Italy was head and shoulders above France in the scrum department and it showed, as they struggled to deal with it or mainly Domingo couldn`t handle the power by Castrogiovanni. It led to Italy getting another crack with a penalty, which was taken by Gonzalo Garcia and he too was unable to score, which was incredible as neither side was able convert a penalty in the opening 23 minutes of play.

It took the 27th minute of play before we saw any points on the board, until Doussain managed to successive convert a penalty for the French, before Allan responded in kind with three points himself to see him level the game at 3-3. Allan had the chance to kick Italy in front for the first time in the game, but this game was by far from a master class at kicking ability and seen the youngster kick wide with another poor attempt it has to be said. Jean -Marc Doussain then kicked two penalties over for France to give them a 9-3 lead at half time and did just enough to edge the game in the first forty.

Fofana leaps for try: Pic: BBCSPORTS

France grabbed the game`s opening try after a scrum by the French saw them then push the Azzurri backwards and seen Louis Picamoles break away from the maul and stretch out to ground the ball down for a try and after the TMO said it was fine after reviewing the referee awarded the try much to the joy of the French public. France scored their second try instantly, with Fofana braking down the blindside touchline and after he fended off a couple of tackles he had the easy task of putting the ball down for a score to make it 23-3 with Doussain adding the conversion.

The Hosts then piled on the agony for the away side with another try by the White shirted French saw them go 30-3 points up, after Fofana raced up field before passing to Huget and then in turn found Bonneval and he went over the try line to see the home side to victory in the 54th minute of play, as Italy was done by now.

Slimanai & Rizzo head to locker rooms Sent off: PIC: telegraph.co.uk

When saw a couple of minutes from the end both sides losing their heads. As with time and the game winding down, Sebastien Vahaamahinaa was sin binned for kicking the ball away once Italy was awarded a penalty. Then we saw Italy`s Michele Rizzo and France`s Rabah Slimani both get their marching orders after Rizzo head butted the French player who then retaliated in the same way and saw fists flying and players coming together.

Italy had the final word in the game as Tomasso Iannone scored a try for the Italian`s after a maul that went on for a bit then saw Sergio Parisse pass out wide to Iannone and he dived over in the corner to see them score and make it 30-10.

RBS 6 Nations Championship

	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Points
1	Ireland	2	2	0	0	54	9	4
2	France	2	2	0	0	56	34	4
3	England	2	1	0	1	44	26	2
4	Wales	2	1	0	1	26	41	2
5	Italy	2	0	0	2	25	53	0
6	Scotland	2	0	0	2	6	48	0