Five talking points from opening Six Nations games

Holders Ireland started well against England, France’s Antoine Dupont kicked off the Six Nations with a bang against Wales, and Scotland won the match against Italy with a hat-trick of tries.

After taking early in the second half of the 2024 campaign, England struggled to recover, and that pattern continued against Ireland on Saturday.

Steve Borthwick’s side were 10-5 ahead at the interval in Dublin, but the hosts scored 22 second-half points on their way to a 27-22 victory.

John Barclay, a former Scotland back rower, claimed England had “certainly positives” to offer.

“I thought they defended much better. You can see how chaotic the environment was when they were defending in particular in the fall. They defended very well [against Ireland] and provided excellent individual performances throughout the breakdown.

Former Ireland winger Tommy Bowe questioned whether England could maintain a high-tempo effort for the entire 80 minutes of the BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly podcast, and whether the replacement bench’s decision-making skills and effectiveness were under scrutiny.

In his BBC Sport column, 2003 World Cup winner Matt Dawson outlined how England’s gameplan was” perhaps too demanding”, but added that there was enough in their first-half display to” maintain positivity “before France visit Allianz Stadium on Saturday.

On Rugby Special, ex-Wales captain Sam Warburton added:” I don’t think England need to reinvent the wheel. I believe that some players off the bench made some poor and poorly disciplined decisions.

Since Italy joined the expanded Six Nations tournament in 2000, Ireland are aiming to win three straight men’s titles.

With Andy Farrell gearing up to take the British and Irish Lions to Australia this summer, interim head coach Simon Easterby put together a strong second-half performance to ensure that the quest for victory arose.

“If I’m Ireland, I’m probably quite enjoying everyone saying we’re maybe past our peak”, said Barclay. “It was 27-10 realistically, England came away and scored a couple of]late] tries.

” Ireland weren’t at their best either and they won convincingly, that’s the reality.

“They’ve got serious quality coming back, so do it at your own risk if you criticize Ireland at this point.”

Ireland face Scotland away next, and Bowe said: “Murrayfield is a difficult place to go, it’s always really confrontational. Scotland are incredibly dangerous if they can obtain parity in the first place and unleash their backs.

While Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham played pivotal roles in setting up Jones’ first two scores, Barclay described co-captain Rory Darge’s performance in the back row as “world class,” while Jones’ treble grabbed the headlines.

” In a top team, which Scotland are now, you need players who can just do something, “said Warburton”. We’ve seen other teams who don’t have that spark, but they have it. “

Graham’s second-half run – beating a series of defenders before sending Jones clear – was the moment of the game.

” The game was in the balance at 19-19, “added Warburton”. Although some questioned defending was done, you need excellent footwork, pace, and great footwork to do that.

“And then he’s got the presence of mind]to pass to Jones] and he makes it look easy. There are “a lot of guys making the line break before butchering that last pass.”

Dupont chose to focus on representing France in rugby sevens at the Paris Olympics last summer instead of the 2024 Six Nations.

The Toulouse scrum-half’s remarkable performance earned the host nation gold in one of the Games’ most memorable moments.

Dupont put together some magic in a 43-0 thrashing of Wales at Stade de France on Friday.

Theo Attissogbe scored the opening try with an inch-perfect chipped kick out wide, and Dupont danced and soared through the Welsh backline for the second try.

The result was beyond doubt by half-time and, early in the second period, he was withdrawn to allow him to rest up for Saturday’s match at Twickenham.

Barclay said: “His rugby IQ sits on a different level. When was the last time we had a player who is still playing, who is 28 years old, and we’re saying, ‘ Is this the best player we’ve ever seen play the game? ‘”

According to Warburton, “Law changes have been implemented to allow them to play more.” It’s going to make him even better.

Wales lost their 13th successive Test match in Paris, marking their first consecutive defeat since the tournament expanded in 2000.

In order to avoid finishing second in the table for the second year in a row, they are now focused on a potentially crucial match against Italy in Rome on Saturday.

On ITV’s coverage of the loss to France, former fly-half Dan Biggar said the Italy game was the” biggest in Welsh rugby for 15-20 years”.

Warburton said:” I don’t think it’s their biggest game – they’ve had Grand Slam games and semi-finals.

The consequences, in my opinion, could be some of the biggest consequences in the past 15 years.

” If they lose that game, they’ve then got Ireland, Scotland and England – it’s tricky to see where the win’s going to come and I think that’s why people are pinning so much pressure on this game.

From a staffing standpoint, “if they lose, there will be no changes during the Six Nations.”

” But if they lose to Italy, that’s 14 in a row and they’re staring down the barrel of 17 losses in a row, which is just unheard of for Welsh rugby.