By Nick Powell
It’s not often that the opening weekend of a competition that so often produces tight, tense games could deliver such an entertaining and memorable opening.
Wales fought
back from the brink, Scotland eased past Italy and England produced one of the
great Six Nations upsets as they outplayed Ireland on their own soil to sit
just behind the men in green in third in the World Rankings.
There was a
lot of big stories and conclusions to draw, but which stood out?
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Italy are Improving
It was frustrating to a lot of Scottish fans how Italy were allowed to come back into the game and get a few scores in the final ten minutes of their defeat at Murrayfield, but I sensed a bit of improvement there, even if they fully deserved to lose at a ground where they have previously won.
33-3 or any worse would have been harsh on Italy, as they largely shared the possession and territory stats pretty evenly but defensively, as is often the case, they lost heart after letting their opposition get a comfortable.
It was therefore impressive and promising to see their subs give Scotland plenty to think about in the last ten minutes.
With their 28-17 win over Georgia in Autumn, the relegation door has been slammed firmly shut, and they will fancy their chances to nick a result at some point in this edition.
Italy's 18th defeat in a row is their worst Six Nations run ever, but from where they were in 2016, they seem to have improved
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France in Freefall
The team they might fancy their chances of nicking a result against will likely be France, whose second half performance was the most directionless, hopeless 40 minutes I've ever seen from an international rugby team.
France probably couldn't believe their luck that they led 16-0 and presumably sat in their changing room for 15 minutes staring at the wall wondering how they'd done it.
When they subsequently emerged for the second half, and Wales duly responded, they made basic individual errors, as well as losing any kind of attacking structure and leaving gaping holes in defence.
This represented a huge opportunity to gain a foothold in this year's Championship. Had they maintained that 16 point margin they'd be in with a shout of winning the thing.
And how they blew it...
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Wales have Spirit
As poor as France were, coming back against anyone from 16-0 down in the rain is really, really difficult. Wales were excellent in the second half and showed a lot of guts in a very difficult situation to get the win.
Wales showed tremendous guts to get the job done
They deserved to be a lot closer at half-time and that is why their fightback was all the more impressive. Against a seemingly insurmountable goal of getting points, they painfully worked their way back into the game.
They will need to play a lot better, but it's a good start and they can build on it.
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Ireland need a Plan B
Without doubt, Ireland headed into their game against England as the best team in the World and they were right to believe that they were as good as their national press had bigged them up to be.
But if their win against New Zealand was an exhibit of their strengths, this was an exhibit of their weaknesses.
Sexton struggled to have his typical impact in a tough battle
They just didn't respond to England's physicality in defence, lost the kicking battle and themselves got caught too narrow in defence and made too many errors.
With injuries, next week against Scotland will be tough and they will need to come up with an alternative plan.
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Eddie Jones has a Plan
There was near universal frustration in England at Eddie Jones' decision to pick Elliot Daly at full-back, and while he made defensive errors, he more than made up for it with his inspired attacking play that was key to the first two English tries.
The Ford-Farrell days are over, and to make a change like that just one year out from a World Cup was a huge call, but the ball-carrying 12, playmaker 13 option is beginning to take shape very nicely.
There are still questions about certain selections but whatever Jones is doing, he has a plan.
Mako Vunipola picked up man of the match with a high class performance
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Bonus Points have enhanced the tournament
I spoke last year about how much I felt bonus points had been a positive introduction, and that England's dull rugby at the time had been rightly punished as a result.
This week, they were rewarded, with their inventive and sharp attacking play getting them four tries with just one point scored separating them and leaders Scotland.
You could tell both nations had the bonus point in mind. And this is indicated by the fact that compared with the last tournament to not have bonus points, 48 more points were scored across the three games.
Initial scepticism has been blown away, and they are adding an exciting element to the competition.
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