England hammered Italy 41-18 before Wales again benefited from an opposition red card in a 25-24 comeback Six Nations win over 14-man Scotland.
Louis Rees-Zammit’s try double helped hand Wayne Pivac claim his first away win as Wales coach as they hit back from a 14-point halftime deficit to stun 14-man Scotland 25-24 at Murrayfield in the Six Nations.
Earlier on Saturday, England had put last week’s Scotland defeat behind them with a six-try, 41-18 victory over Italy at Twickenham which featured a dazzling score from Jonny May and was soured for coach Eddie Jones only by a serious-looking knee injury to flanker Jack Willis.
In Edinburgh, Wales, who had also benefited in last week’s win over Ireland when their opponents had Peter O’Mahony sent off, prevailed again after a crackling encounter which this time saw Scottish prop Zander Fagerson dismissed.
Scotland had stormed ahead with winger Darcy Graham darting onto a clever chip from Ali Price to score the first try, before their effervescent captain Stuart Hogg collected his own kick through to add another.
After barely firing a shot in the first period, however, Wales fought back with tries from Louis Rees-Zammit and Liam Williams. Prop Wyn Jones thudded over after a driving maul to score a third.
A 54th-minute red card for Fagerson appeared to seal Scotland’s fate. He had come crashing into a ruck and smashed into the face of Jones, who was attempting to rip the ball away.
It was a similar incident to the one that led to O’Mahony’s 14th-minute red card for Ireland last week, and the same fate befell Fagerson after multiple video reviews.
Yet Scotland were not finished, Hogg reclaiming the lead for the home side with yet another brilliant score.
But the last laugh belonged to Wales in a breathless finale, however, as Rees-Zammit scored his second try via his own brilliant chip-and-chase.
In the England match, Anthony Watson scored twice and Willis came off the bench to score one of England’s tries only to be carried off on a medical cart soon after with his knee injury.
Italy had taken a shock second-minute lead with a try by Monty Ioane, the nephew of Australian international Digby Ioane, but England eventually took complete control by halftime with tries by Johnny Hill, Watson and, via an American-football style dive over a defender, May.
May’s “absolutely brilliant” try reminded coach Jones of some of the most acrobatic NRL tries he’d seen back home in Australia.
After Watson scored an interception try and Willis also struck after the break, Italy did grab a second try through Tommaso Allan but England hit back with a sixth try from Elliot Daly.
Kane
Roar Guru
What I dislike is when teams give away regular infringements on their line and if the attacking team scores the referee ignores any infringements that had just happened. When Hogg scored his last try the Welsh had been penalised about 4 times all within a couple of minutes and all within 5m of their goal line. From the scrum Liam Williams and a player outside him were almost on top of the referee when the ball came out. They were at least 2-3m offside. If Hogg hadn't scored it would've likely had been a penalty and yellow, Just because he scored doesn't mean Williams shouldn't have been binned?
GibbonRib
Roar Rookie
Nice to see Wales get a couple of wins after a dismal 2020, but they barely deserved either of them, and will struggle if England and France play anywhere near what they're capable of. One thing to say in their defence is that they've got a horrendous injury list (23 players out at the last count). But there's clearly more to it than that. Pivac is still to get them playing a coherent game, and a lot of senior players nearing the end at the same time. I'm not expecting them to win it, but would be happy with seeing some signs of progress
Harry Jones
Expert
Trips to the Eternal City.
Bentnuc
Roar Pro
Wales scotland was a brilliant match. Geat display of attacking kicking from both sides too
AndyS
Guest
Georgia is the one I've heard touted most often, then Romania. So I'm not sure where that supposed stat comes from...they've played Georgia twice ever, both times in Italy and neither runaway romps. They've only played Romania three times this century outside the World Cup, and the one game they dared play away they lost...?
jcmasher
Roar Rookie
Yeah but every time they play Georgia or anyone else touted to replace them they win. I guess 3 games in a weekend and no bye brings in more money
mzilikazi
Roar Pro
"the Welsh defensive line consistently up waiting ahead of the last mans foot." Yes, and in the case of Wales first three points, the Scotland defensive line was penalised for offside...and they clearly were not. Ref. is watching ball till is lifted at the ruck, and only then looks up, sees one Scot a bit ahead of the rest, and guesses he is offside ! Those three points won the game, can be argued.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Gotta wonder. Do they bring much revenue?
Ben
Guest
As for Italy...what are they doing in this comp? Theres been no marked improvement for years. Quite frankly...theyre fr!kn useless.
Ben
Guest
Interesting to see how Wales go 15 v 15 cos they really dont look like 6 nations champs, struggling to put two teams away 15 on 14. Both games were almost pinched at the end by the 14 man side. What annoyed me was watching that last 10 mins when Scotland had the ball phase after phase, and the Welsh defensive line consistently up waiting ahead of the last mans foot. Touchies, ref did nothing. Its no wonder teams opt to kick the ball away when your always getting hit behind the advantage line and end up going backwards ball in hand.