Six Nations: Ireland dominate Wales, while England slump to defeat
- Sean Fisher
- 5 February 2022
Week one of the Six Nations saw in-form Ireland pick up a huge win in their opener against Wales, while England were narrowly beaten by Scotland.
Week one of the Six Nations saw Ireland go head-to-head with reigning Champions Wales, while England took on Scotland at the Murrayfield Stadium.
Italy take on France on Sunday afternoon, with the match kicking off at 15:00 GMT.
Ireland 29-7 Wales
Ireland headed into the tournament in great form, and they were high in confidence for Saturday's showdown against reigning champions Wales.
Roared on by a packed-out Aviva Stadium, Ireland dominated the entire game from start to finish, with Bundee Aki's early try giving them a deserved lead.
A second-half brace from Andrew Conway and Garry Ringrose's solo score helped seal the win, with captain Johnny Sexton also adding nine points with his boot.
Wales can somewhat attribute the defeat to their lack of players, including a host of absent stars, and although Taine Basham's late try proved to only be a consollation, it stopped the Dragons from being whitewashed in the tournament for the first time.
Following the match, Sexton admitted he would've "snapped your hand off" for five points in Ireland's opener.
"Against the reigning champs to come away with five points I'd have snapped your hand off at the start of the game."
Welsh player Dan Biggar admitted he was disappointed at the result, but credited Ireland for a superb performance.
"We didn't get much right, credit to Ireland they played really well, they played the conditions well, strangled us, physically dominated us and they were good value for their win today."
Scotland 20-17 England
An inexperienced England side started well at Murrayfield, but Scotland regained their composure to stamp their authority on the clash.
Two early free-kicks and a penalty gave the Three Lions a deserved lead early on, but once Scotland cut out their mistakes, their class shone through and they clawed themselves back via Ben White's try.
Even after Scotland scored, England continued to impress, and were unlucky to find themselves 10-6 down at half time, with Finn Russell's penalty adding to their lead before the break.
Marcus Smith continued to shine for England after the break, with the 22-year-old finding the posts twice more - he scored all of England's 17 points.
England looked set to claim an important win against Scotland, but Luke Cowan-Dickie made a crucial mistake on the 66th minute as he batted the ball into touch and denied Graham a certain try.
The referee, Ben O'Keefe, decided to send Cowan-Dickie to the sin-bin and awarded Scotland a penalty try. Down a man, with the scores levelled at 17-17, momentum lay with the hosts.
Russell booted a late scrum penalty to give Scotland the lead again, and they held on to deny a young England side the Calcutta Cup.
Scotland captain Stuart Hogg was delighted with his side's performance, but insisted they'll work hard to achieve similar results next week
"I'm chuffed to bits, for us to be able to come out here and put on a show and show what we're about. At times we were up against it, England are a fantastic side, so we're absolutely delighted with that.
"We're not going to get carried away, we'll be back to the drawing board on Monday and make sure we work incredibly hard to try and back it up."
