Round of the Six Nations concluded on Saturday and there were wins for England and Scotland in Rome and Cardiff respectively.

In Rome, England held off a determined Italy to claim a 27-24 win.

Alessandro Garbisi, Tommaso Allan, and Monty Ioane all scored tries for the Azzurri, while Allan landed two conversions and Garbisi converted once. Allan also scored a penalty for the hosts.

England's tries came via Elliot Daly and Alex Mitchell. The flyhalf, Tom Ford, slotted one conversion, while he also sent five penalties through the uprights.

The England coach, Steve Borthwick, said his team looked rusty, but taking into account that five players were on debut, they’ll take the win.

“I think there are certainly positives to pull out of it, but it looked clunky in bits,” said the England coach, Steve Borthwick.

“It looked like a team which only had three training sessions together, but credit to Italy.

“They had a certain part of cohesion picking players from one club which sits second in the United Rugby Championship.

“But a winning start with five debutants and the ability to be in a difficult position and find your way out of it is a massive positive.

“You are always looking for change. There are certainly things to be improved and we got exposed by an Italian team that moves the ball well, but we will improve on that next week.”

Meanwhile, over at the Millennium Stadium, a brave Scotland held off a second half surge by the Welsh to claim a hard-fought 27-26 win after leading 20-0 at half time. This saw the Scots earning their first win in the Welsh capital city since 2002.

The Scots raced to a solid lead at the break following with the South African-born duo of Pierre Schoeman and Duhan van der Merwe each scoring a try, while Finn Russell converted twice and landed two penalties. Van der Merwe completed his brace with a converted try in the second stanza.

During the second forty minute period Wales nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback with James Botham, Rio Dyer, Aaron Wainwright and Alex Mann scoring tries, while the replacement Ioan Lloyd converted three times.

On Friday evening the Six Nations kicked off with Ireland beating France 38-17 at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille.

Round two will be played next week with Scotland hosting France at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, England will tackle Wakes at Twickenham in London, while Ireland will face Italy at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport