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Ireland overcame a resurgent Wales in Cardiff, England squeezed past Scotland after Finn Russell’s late missed kick, and France scored 11 tries to hammer Italy.

After scoring four tries to three against France, Steve Borthwick instructed his players to keep playing quickly and aggressively.

England were outscored three tries to one, with a heavy reliance on their kick-kicking ability, despite winning the Calcutta Cup 16-15 to return for the first time since 2020.

England kicked away 69% possession and had a 2.7 pass-to-kick ratio, which means after less than three passes they reverted to the boot, compared to Scotland’s 9.7.

Former Wales captain Sam Warburton stated on BBC’s Six Nations Rugby Special, “It is not a team that looks like they want to play.” “England are playing off nine rugby a lot of the time.”

England made nine line breaks in the first half against Scotland, seven of which came in the wider channels, where Scotland’s wing Duhan van der Merwe had a lot of joy.

Although I believe England’s defense is sparse frequently, Warburton said, “I think it could be fixed.”

“Maybe England deliberately gave teams that space because Ireland and Scotland did it in the wider channels.”

” Their one-on-one tackling has to get better and has hurt them. “

Borthwick isn’t concerned about his game plan always looking good on the eye, despite defense errors and a lack of free-flowing attacking rugby.

Russell was unable to convert any of his three conversion attempts, despite Scotland scoring more points than England in tries.

With 10 minutes left, England’s full-back Marcus Smith was successful with all three of his kicks, and his name-sake Fin Smith nailed a significant penalty from halfway.

Russell had the chance to extend Scotland’s winning streak over England to five games with Van der Merwe’s late try in the corner.

Former Scotland hooker Fraser Brown, who was a former player for Scotland, said: “It was a difficult kick from the touchline and he will ruin the two earlier kicks that were much easier.”

Finn will be very disappointed if Scotland loses, not because they went nil from three.

Russell only missed one kick during the Six Nations last year, but 38% of the time is being kicked this campaign and by the British and Irish Lions.

Ugo Monye, a former England wing, claimed Van der Merwe needed to do more to get closer to the posts when crossing for Scotland on the third try.

Van der Merwe is “running away from the sticks at an angle,” according to Money.

He responds, “You can see that he doesn’t appear to be celebrating scoring the winning try.”

He must do more to increase the margins between how far he has run out and how much it has been missed.

One Six Nations game stood out when it first became available: Ireland vs. France in round four.

You believed the game would decide who won the title, Warburton said when the fixtures were released.

Over the last three championship games, both teams have placed in the top two and will play one of the greatest Six Nations games in 2023.

Ireland have won three straight games to advance to a potential Grand Slam title, which would make them the eventual winner.

France’s last-gasp defeat by England prevented a potential Slam decider, but their 11-try thrashing of Italy gives Les Bleus momentum heading to Dublin on 8 March.

France, with a superior points difference, are three points behind Ireland, making the fixture a potential Six Nations decider.

When asked for his prediction, Warburton chose to win in Ireland, while Barclay chose France.

In an effort to create one of the biggest shocks in Six Nations history, interim head coach Matt Sherratt only had three training sessions when Warren Gatland left his position as Wales boss.

Wales were just a few minutes away from potentially taking the lead in the 73rd minute when Ellis Mee nearly completed a miracle finish in Cardiff when the country faced Grand Slam-chasing Ireland.

The boot of 22-year-old fly-half Sam Prendergast helped Ireland close out the game 27-18.

While Wales ended up falling to a 15th successive Test defeat, the performance of Sherratt’s side succeeded expectations.

Sherratt made eight changes to his squad, including adding Gloucester duo Max Llewellyn and Gareth Anscombe, after their disappointing defeat to Italy in round two.

Warburton believes Sherratt’s changes in personnel and style brought big improvements.

” The nine-10-12-13 combination have all worked and played together under Sherratt, and are the best players for their position, “Warburton added.

” He freshened the boys up, so they were full of beans for the game and he imprinted, so quickly and impressively, his attacking game plan, which was night and day from what we’ve seen the last 12 months.

In January, it was announced that this year’s Six Nations will use 20-minute red cards for the first time.

According to lawmakers, the 20-minute red card trial is intended to “punish the player rather than the team,” with players able to replace players after 20 minutes as opposed to playing the game with 14 while the teams are still in the game.

When Wales’ Ben Thomas was hit hard in the first half, Ireland centre Garry Ringrose’s high tackle was later red. He then got his timing wrong.

Wales’ best match of the match came when Tom Rogers scored a superb try in the corner with Ireland down to 14.

Bundee Aki assumed the role of Ringrose in the 20th minute, and she immediately assumed her place.

“Ringrose is an exceptional player and defends so physically,” Barclay said. “Those collisions need to be stopped.

That player has chosen to fly in, they say. In my view, and a lot of other people, that should be a straight red card”.

Since he retired in 2018, Warburton claims that players’ behavior has not been sufficiently altered.

He claimed that “individuals off the field must be subject to much harsher punishment.” Ringrose will do that again if he receives a one or two-week ban.

After a “mad month” at the club, Swansea City’s clincher victory over Blackburn Rovers has eased the pressure on the players, according to Ben Cabango.

After being fired by Luke Williams, Zan Vipotnik, Myles Peart-Harris, and Liam Cullen helped Alan Sheehan’s second spell as caretaker manager get off to a winning start against Rovers.

And Swansea’s first home win since 2025 is felt by club captain Cabango, 24, who is 24 years old.

“It feels like a lot of pressure’s been relieved after this win, I think it’s come at a great time and the manner of the win is massive”, said the Wales defender.

There is no hiding behind it; the results and the gaffer continue to be effective. It has been a difficult couple of weeks.

After Williams’ exit, Swansea scored three goals in a game for the first time in 2025, and Cabango was quick to applaud interim manager Sheehan for his contribution to the training ground.

” Football is just a mad game, “added Cabango.

” Sheehan’s come in and the whole week he’s been positive, he’s spoken about us being on the front foot.

Cabango was named the club’s new skipper after Matt Grimes left for Championship rival Coventry City in January.

After a run of eight defeats in ten games since the start of the year, Williams then abruptly quit the Swansea.com Stadium on February 17.

After what has been a turbulent time at the club, Cabango claims he enjoys taking on the leadership of the team.

“It’s been a mad month, in January with Grimesy going, it was a shock to everyone and then the manager leaving”,said Cabango.

“I think as a team we’ve just stuck together. Today it shows we’ve got a good team, even though it’s been a tough couple of weeks, we really stood tall today and gave a good performance”.

On captaincy, Cabango said: “I think I’ve always been a leader, I’m always vocal on the pitch and I try to help others.

” There’s a bit more responsibility, I want to be the person they look to and make sure the standards are right constantly. “