5 talking points from round one of the Six Nations

Bath Boys deliver for England

In an England team that included four Bath players in the starting line up, they all put in impressive performances in England’s 21-16 win over Wales. In the second row Dave Attwood had a fine game alongside George Kruis and was impressive in the lineout.  His club mates also had impressive games in the backline with Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph getting tries on their Six Nations debuts while Ford who was named man of the match didn’t have his best day in front of the posts but was a constant threat all night.

New centre partnership bodes well for Ireland

In what was the first time since 1999 that Ireland started a Six Nations campaign without O’Driscoll and D’Arcy there was big pressure on Henshaw and Payne to deliver. The new look centre partnership picked off from where they left off with their performances against South Africa and Australia and worked well together all afternoon. The Italians might not have been at the races  but the pair worked well together in defence and were a constant threat in attack.

Italy already look likely for wooden spoon

It was another frustrating start to a Six Nations for Italy. Against an Ireland side missing many of their first choice players, Joe Schmidt's side were there for the taking. However the Italians really never got going. They were able to compete with Ireland in the first half only going into the break 9-3 down but they never turned up for the second half. They conceded tries to Murray and O’Donnell which ended their hopes of a major scalp but they never really looked like scoring a try with their attack continuing lack any cutting edge. Unless there is a huge improvement in next weeks game against England it looks likely Italy will be collecting the wooden spoon come the end of the championship.

Scotland no longer the whipping boys

Scotland will be disappointed with their 15-8 defeat to France but they should be proud of their performance in Paris with Vern Cotter’s side now looking like serious challengers for the Six Nations. On some of their most recent trips to Paris they were blown away leaving France with heavy defeats but that was not the case on Saturday. They were in the game until the final  few minutes thanks to Dougie Fife getting the only try of the game. They will be disappointed to have given away so  many penalties but will take positives from the game as they look to bounce back with a win against Wales next weekend.

Wales fail to turn up for second half

Warren Gatland will wonder what happened to his side in the second half after throwing away a 16-8 lead. England were second best throughout the first half with Wales putting them on the backfoot and with Biggar’s drop goal just before the break giving them an eight point lead they looked to be on their way. However their performance dropped in the second half and they only have themselves to blame for giving away sloppy penalties and also some poor defending for Joseph’s try with England in the end securing a 21-16 win. The defeat now puts huge pressure on them to get a result in Murrayfield against a Scotland side who will be confident of causing an upset.

Ciaran Fallon