Here's my round-up from the third round of fixtures in the 2018 Natwest Six Nations tournament, in which we saw France beat Italy, Ireland beat Wales and Scotland beat England;
As always, enjoy the read!
France (11) 34
Tries: Gabrillagues, Bonneval, Bastareaud
Cons: Machenaud, Trinh-Duc
Pens: Machenaud x5
Italy (7) 17
Tries: Penalty Try, Minozzi
Cons: Allan
Pens: Allan
France had made a lot of controversial changes (following an incident on a night out in Edinburgh after their defeat two weeks ago), including the omission of the Six Nations leading try-scorer Teddy Thomas. It was certainly a new-look France, and with an Italian side wanting to show themselves on the international stage, it was going to be an interesting affair.
Brunel's side marginally missed out on a 4-try winning bonus point, scoring three tries through Paul Gabrillagues, Hugo Bonneval and the giant Centre Mathieu Bastareaud. The win marked Brunel's first win in charge of the French, with it also being the first win from an eight-game losing streak in the Six Nations.
Rémy Grosso, making just his second appearance for Les Blues, played a wonderful game of rugby - getting the French fans on their feet, at the Stade (Orange) Velodrome in Marseille, on multiple occasions with some exciting runs.
Racing 92's Maxime Machenaud completely controlled the game at scrum-half and was undoubtedly my stand-out player for the French. Bastareaud put in a dogged performance for his first game back after suspension and really should be my stand-out, but I'm not even going to acknowledge his performance for France after the abuse he gave to Sebastian Negri.
Ireland (15) 37
Tries: Stockdale x2, Aki, Leavy, Healy
Cons: Sexton x2, Carbery
Pens: Sexton, Murray
Wales (13) 27
Tries: Davies, Shingler, Evans
Cons: Halfpenny x3
Pens: Halfpenny x2
A Wales victory at the Aviva would have been heralded as a shock with the form that Ireland took into this matchup. 31 minutes in, however, Wales looked in control of the game and had a slim 13-5 lead, thanks to Gareth Davies' early try and two penalties from the boot of Leigh Halfpenny.
The hosts bounced back from the early Welsh scores, and took a narrow 15-13 lead at half-time, with a try from Connacht's Bundee Aki and the extras from Jonny Sexton (including a penalty). Further scores from Dan Leavy and Cian Healy after the break secured the bonus-point for the Irish.
The rest of the match was basically all Wales after that though, hitting back through an Aaron Shingler try before Conor Murray took over kicking duty from Sexton (after the Leinster fly-half missed a couple) and slotted 3 points for himself.
Steff Evans put Wales back in contention with just 3 minutes to go, and it looked like they had to good chance to steal the win at the last. On the contrary, Stockdale had different ideas, securing the winning try with a beautiful interception.
My stand-out was probably Andrew Porter, with the prop taking over scrummaging responsibilities from the injured Tadhg Furlong. You wouldn't have noticed Tadhg's absence, and for his first ever Six Nations start (alongside other debutant Chris Farrell), he produced a wonderful performance.
Scotland (22) 25
Tries: Huw Jones x2, Maitland
Cons: Laidlaw x2
Pens: Laidlaw, Russell
England (6) 13
Tries: Farrell
Cons: Farrell
Pens: Farrell x2
Scotland won their first Calcutta Cup since 2008, and I very much doubt that any of the Scottish players have stopped celebrating since - with the Scotland vs England rivalry meaning so much to the Scots.
England never really turned up to the game, and will take their hats off to Scotland for producing such a remarkable performance to outwit the reigning Six Nations Champions and make their job of retaining the title just a little bit harder.
It was England's 2nd defeat in 26 games, and individual brilliance from both Huw Jones and John Barclay gave England no chance of taking any points (including the losing bonus point) from this game. Jones scored some beautiful tries and ended up with a brace, and Maitland's try meant that Scotland outnumbered England by 3 tries to 1 at the end of the match.
Scotland's cutting-edge accuracy returned, something that was very obviously in their last two games, and especially their opener against Wales at the Principality. Reciprocated by great intent, physicality and ambition, it was a Scotland side that could honestly beat any of the Nations in this tournament.
England had a tough job on their hands at the start of the second, and even with a monumental effort, stood no chance of fighting their way back into the game.
England were completely outplayed in the Breakdown, with Sam Underhill eventually being sent off for the number of penalties that England were giving away there. They will no doubt have to improve in that area if they are to stand any chance of beating Ireland. On the contrary, if Scotland can take the drive and ambition fuelled by this impressive victory into their game at the Aviva, the Scots might come very close to coming out on top.
Give me your thoughts below!