Guinness Men’s Six Nations: England break Scotland curse as Ireland march on

After a week off, the Guinness Men’s Six Nations roared back into action over the weekend.

England claimed the Calcutta Cup as they finally ended their hoodoo by beating old rivals Scotland, while Wales’ woes continued in another defeat against Ireland. There are now just two gameweeks to play and Ireland look set to win the competition for the third time in a row. Can anyone stop them?

Guinness Men’s Six Nations Table

Ireland survive scare to claim Triple Crown

Wales 18-27 Ireland

Ireland avoided a potential banana skin as they produced a phenomenal second-half comeback to pile more misery on Wales. The Irish followed up wins against England and Scotland to secure the Triple Crown and continue their march towards another title.

Considering Wales’ recent form, Ireland would have felt that they were in for an easy afternoon in Cardiff. The hosts didn’t make it comfortable but class ultimately prevailed as Ireland powered through to condemn them to a 15th consecutive defeat.

Ireland centre Garry Ringrose was shown a 20-minute red card in the first half, which allowed Wales to dream of a famous upset as they led 13-10 at half time. The visitors may have felt their hopes of a record third consecutive Guinness Men’s Six Nations title were falling away, particularly as Wales edged further ahead after the break, leading 18-10.

But second-half tries from Jack Conan and Jamie Osborne masterminded a triumphant comeback to continue their course towards another Grand Slam. The Irish face their trickiest test this weekend with a home clash against France.

If they come through that game unscathed, another Guinness Men’s Six Nations title will be within touching distance. Meanwhile, Wales are looking to avoid another wooden spoon after finishing bottom of the pile last year – they face Scotland and Wales in their final two games.

England see off Scotland to win Calcutta Cup

England 16-15 Scotland

History will eternally show that England finally broke their curse against Scotland on Saturday – but it could have been oh so different had Finn Russell’s last minute conversion kick been a few inches to the right.

Scotland were in control from the off and found themselves three points ahead at the break thanks to tries from Ben White and Huw Jones. The visitors looked set to continue their chokehold on England, having beaten them in each of their last four Guinness Men’s Six Nations meetings.

But England edged into the lead thanks to some phenomenal kicking, with two confident penalties from Marcus Smith and an incredible Fin Smith effort from the halfway line. Despite their professional display, Scotland looked to have won it late on when record try scorer Duhan van der Merwe went over to put them just a point behind.

All Scotland needed was a conversion to break English hearts once again. As the bulk of the Allianz Stadium resigned themselves to yet another defeat to the Scots, Russell’s misjudged kick narrowly missed the posts and London erupted as the Scots were condemned to a second defeat in as many games.

The win secured England the Calcutta Cup for the first time since 2020 and they now trail Ireland by four points in the table. The good news for Steve Borthwick’s side is that they’ve got their trickiest fixtures out of the way, with Italy and Wales to come.

But they’ll need France to do them a favour against the Irish this weekend. Meanwhile, Scotland face Wales next before travelling to France on the final weekend.

France put Italy to bed in ruthless performance

Italy 24-73 France

With France’s clash against Italy not taking place until Sunday afternoon, there may have been some nerves among the players and fans alike. They would have watched Ireland grind out yet another win the day before and they knew they had to match it to stand any hope of winning this year’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations.

But they needn’t have worried. The 2022 champions were imperious in Rome, putting the hosts to the sword in a ruthless performance. France scored a phenomenal 11 tries, including two from star man Antoine Dupont who has shown his side exactly what they were missing this time last year.

In any other game, Italy would have been proud of the points they managed to get on the board, with three tries and some confident kicking earning them a respectable tally. But those points are meaningless when they’re so emphatically dwarfed by the dominance of their opponents.

France will now be full of confidence going into next week’s vital clash against Ireland. The winner of that game will feel they have one hand on the trophy – although a France win could be good news for England.

Meanwhile, Italy will be licking their wounds as they look to bounce back at Twickenham. England may not be as free scoring as the French but they’ll be hard to break down and will make it tough for their Italian visitors.

Guinness Men’s Six Nations week four fixtures

Ireland v France – Saturday 8th March, 14:15
The Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Scotland v Wales – Saturday 8th March, 16:45
Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium Edinburgh

England v Italy – Sunday 9th March, 15:00
Allianz Stadium, London

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