Guinness Men’s Six Nations: England stun France and Ireland win again

After the second week of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, all signs are pointing to it being Ireland’s year once again as they strolled to their second win in a row.

Despite losing to the reigning champions in week one, England will harbour ambitions of topping the table after a dramatic win over France. Meanwhile, things continue to look bleak for Wales after yet another defeat.

Guinness Men’s Six Nations Table

Are Wales destined for another wooden spoon?

Italy 22-15 Wales

After a disastrous 2024, things have gone from bad to worse for Wales. Warren Gatland’s side suffered their second successive defeat in this year’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations, this time at the hands of Italy who they would have had in their sights as a target to put their poor form behind them.

It was Wales’ first defeat in Rome for 18 years and they’ve now lost 14 consecutive matches. They look set to finish bottom of the table once again and things don’t get much easier – they face reigning champions Ireland next time out.

For Italy, it was a much-needed win after they started their campaign with a defeat to Scotland. They were almost out of sight at half-time as they led 16-3 thanks to Ange Capuozzo, who scored their only try in style.

Tommaso Allan was also key with his boot, scoring five penalties and a conversion in the game to alleviate Wales’s signs of a second-half comeback. An Aaron Wainwright try and a penalty try for the visitors threatened a resurgence but the hosts held on to pile more misery on Gatland, whose position as boss is now hanging by a thread.

While Wales’ job only gets harder, Italy also face a tough test next time out. They meet France, who will be out for blood after suffering late heartbreak against England at the weekend.

England leave it late to stun France

England 26-25 France

England’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations campaign came alive in dramatic style at the weekend as they enjoyed a late late show against France. Elliot Daly was the man of the moment, going over to score a try in the 79th minute, which Fin Smith duly converted to give England a one-point victory.

It was Smith’s first start at fly-half and he repaid Steve Borthwick’s faith in him by stepping up when it mattered. A cagey first half was littered with sloppy play, poor handling and plenty of errors as it took until the 29th minute for the first points to be recorded.

The game finally roared into life when Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored the opening try, which was quickly cancelled out by Ollie Lawrence to keep things level at the break. England found themselves 18-12 behind but would have felt they were in a good position to win when Fin Baxter scored to put them ahead.

A second Bielle-Biarrey put the visitors in the ascendancy and England may have felt that it wasn’t to be their day. But they never stopped fighting and finally got their reward when Daly stormed home to steal the win in a dramatic afternoon in south west London.

With a weekend off, both sides will be looking to regroup as they look ahead to week three. Next time out, England are aiming to win the Calcutta Cup for the first time since 2020. They take on Scotland, who have had their number in each of their last four Guinness Men’s Six Nations meetings.

France suffered a blow in their quest to win the title for the second time in four years. They’ll regroup as they prepare to face Italy – they’ll need Ireland to trip up at some point if they want to finish top of the table.

Ireland cruise to another win

Scotland 18-32 Ireland

Ireland are targeting a third Guinness Men’s Six Nations title in a row and they’ve already got one hand on the trophy. They’ve won their first two games of 2025 and after France slipped up against England, it’s now very much in Ireland’s hands.

After beating England themselves in week one, Ireland continued to purr at the weekend with a confident win over Scotland. They claimed another bonus point thanks to tries from Calvin Nash, Caelan Doris, James Lowe and Jack Conan.

The visitors stormed into a 17-0 lead and only a Duhan van der Merwe try at the end of the first half gave the Scots credit at the break. Ireland continued to dominate in the second half and looked out of sight, with Ben White’s second-half try slightly reducing the arrears.

It was Ireland’s 11th consecutive win since losing to England in last year’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations. That game prevented a second Grand Slam in a row and they’ll be looking to make up for that this time around. With Wales up next, they’ll expect to win comfortably and will then only be two games from yet another title.

Guinness Men’s Six Nations week three fixtures

Wales v Ireland– Saturday 22nd February, 14:15
Principality Stadium, Cardiff

England v Scotland– Saturday 22nd February, 16:45
Allianz Stadium, London

Italy v France– Sunday 23rd February, 15:00
Stadio Olimpico, Rome

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