I really think France should have been penalised at the end for running the man off the ball as an underhand tactic, the refereeing seemed pretty poor IMO as he gave them far too much in the way of calls and leniency

I think at one point near the end there must have been more Irish physios on the pitch than players though

Tough one - there was a bit of elbow in there, but it could be read as shoulder to shoulder and that he simply ran him off the ball. As much as I would have preferred an Irish win, I think it would be a little harsh to penalise Debaty for that - there was no way Earls was going to beat Picamoles to the grounding, so it would be a contentious way to decide the match.

True he wasn't but it doesn't matter as it's the same way that taking out a kicker after they have kicked it is a penalty regardless if the kicker would get theoretically to the ball or not. Penalty yes, try no.

+1

That was a bit of an ugly win for England - seems to be the theme for many of the matches this year. Still a win though.

Despite how brightly England started, I was a little worried because Italy's counter-rucking was fantastic for the first 15 minutes or so. Combined with England's clear desire for fast ball, they got some handy turnovers - If they had their usual pack, they could have been far more troublesome; Castrogiovanni clearly wasn't at his best today either, and England bossed the scrum.

Italy are certainly no longer the pushovers of a few seasons ago.

Well played Italy, a deserved win over a poor Irish side. The question is, who gets the spoon? I'm sure Scotland will try and do Ireland a favour tonight.

Wales v England - what a match!
Fantastically exciting to watch, but Brian Moore called it right - Wales took England to school in the second half. They were immense.

Looking forward to France v Scotland.

agree - guess that is when having all the experience counts

That is one of the best six nations performances I've seen in... well a good while anyway. Wales knew what they had to do and did it and England simply couldn't stop them in any effective way at all.

One of the pundits before the match said that if Wales hit their stride, they can beat anyone in the world. They pretty much showed that today.

my head hurts but what he said.

The Welsh had an unfair advantage, they spend all year chasing white things around a field.



(Sorry, someone texted me that!)

BREAKING NEWS

South Wales Police have asked for witnesses to come forward regarding a brutal crime against 15 English men on a recent visit to Cardiff who were robbed of a Grand Slam they had come to collect and also had their chariot badly vandalised during the visit to the Welsh capital?

.... Apparently this heinous crime was carried out by a gang of 15 Welsh guys dressed in bright red shirts in broad daylight in front of 75,439 people who gathered around the gang attack and just stood there cheering, clapping and singing hymns and arias as if they were encouraging the gang.

A police spokesmen for the South Wales force said this “This sort of attack is just sickening……..One of the victims was a young lad called Owen Farrell who was on his first trip to Wales and has been traumatized by the whole shocking experience and to make matters even worse his father was forced to watch the entire crime from start to finish and could not lift a finger to protect his son from the sickening and relentless battering meted out by the conspicuously dressed red shirted gang”.

The police spokesman continued, “We are following a number of leads and believe this crimson shirted gang may be linked to a similar attack in Twickenham a year ago”.