LONDON – An action-packed 6 Nations Saturday saw Ireland monster a luckless Italian side while France kicked their way to victory over a determined Scotland.
Starting in Rome, the Italians defended stoically in the rain before being overcome 26-3 by a tidy Ireland team who are looking to defend their 2014 6 Nations title. While there were positive signs for the home side in the loss, their key players failed to dot the i’s and cross the t’s and they let chances slip in the soggy weather.
The Irish team will be relieved to be leaving Rome with a solid victory as well as a good points difference after failing to make inroads early in the match. Ireland were gifted the ball a number of times as Italy continued to try and use their kicking game to pin back the visitors. However a deep back three combined with some inaccurate kicking meant Ireland enjoyed over 65% of possession with scrumhalf Conor Murray and flanker Tommy O’Donnell scoring Ireland’s tries.
In France, the tale of the tape was told by Camille Lopez’s boot as a sparkling kicking performance saw the home side edge the Scottish 15-8. The visitors scored the only try of the match through Dougie Fife and for a moment, it looked like Scotland would turn the tables on their reputation for being notoriously slow starters in the 6 Nations.
However with a 12-8 penalty count in favour the the hosts, Lopez was more than willing to knock them over from anywhere in their attacking half. And so it proved with 5 penalty goals seeing them home