England wings Austin Healey and Ben Cohen had a field day as Ireland were put to the sword in today's Six Nations Championship clash at Twickenham. Healey scored two tries and Northampton debutante Cohen also touched down twice to complete a wholly convincing display by England in their first match since the World Cup flop. While Healey and Cohen finished off some exciting moves, it was Bath centre Mike Catt who proved Ireland's principal destroyer, running menacingly from depth and creating any number of scoring opportunities. Fly-half Jonny Wilkinson chipped in with ten points from the boot, and England were well on course to a record championship win over their visitors.
France launched their Six Nations campaign with a 36-3 destruction of Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in the last of the days first round games. Tries by Olivier Magne and Thomas Castaignede and a late score from Emile Ntamack - along with 21 points from Christophe Lamaison - left Welsh title hopes reeling. Wales' woes were completed when number eight Scott Quinnell became the first player to be sin-binned in Six Nations history. Any Welsh hopes of launching a fightback with Quinnell back on the field were left in tatters as France's backs suddenly exploded into action with two tries in as many minutes. Olivier Magne grabbed the first as Castaignede ripped through the Welsh defence before laying the ball up for the flanker to score under the posts. Castaignede then got on the scoresheet himself as Magne broke through Jones-Hughes' tackle and fed Christophe Dominici, who found his full-back on the overlap. Lamaison converted both tries as France suddenly found themselves with a huge 26-3 advantage. From their on in there would only be one winner.
Earlier, Italian prince Diego Dominguez booted Scotland into submission at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome, landing 29 points in a stunning home win. Before the game, Italy had been rated as 250-1 shots to win the Six Nations Championship in their first season. After massive hammerings by England and New Zealand during the World Cup, even those odds seemed slightly too short. However, Dominguez, the Argentinean-born star on whom Italy pin so much hope, devastated the visitors with a supreme exhibition of goalkicking.
Last night, Ireland 'A' clung on for a one-point victory over England 'A' in the precursor to today's big event. Leicester full-back Tim Stimpson hit the woodwork with an injury time conversion, which let Ireland sneak the 31-30 win at Franklin Gardens, Northampton. England had fought back from 31-18 behind with two injury time tries before Stimpson’s miss. Ireland scored four tries in the game, with Simon Easterby, Emmet Farrell, John Kelly and Dennis Hickie breaching the England defence. The U-21 side was less fortunate and suffered a 20-11 defeat to England at Banbury.
The teams at Twickenham:
England: M Perry (Bath); A Healey (Leicester), M Tindall (Bath), M Catt (Bath), B Cohen (Northampton); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), M Dawson(Northampton, capt), J Leonard (Harlequins), P Greening (Sale), P Vickery (Gloucester), G Archer (Bristol), S Shaw (Wasps), R Hill (Saracens), N Back (Leicester), L Dallaglio (Wasps).
Replacements: I Balshaw (Bath), A King (Wasps), A Gomarsall (Bedford), M Corry (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps), T Woodman (Gloucester), N McCarthy (Gloucester).
Ireland: C O'Shea (London Irish); J Bishop (London Irish), B O'Driscoll (Blackrock College), M Mullins (Young Munster), K Maggs (Bath); D Humphreys (Dungannon), T Tierney (Garryowen), P Clohessy (Young Munster), K Wood (Garryowen, capt), P Wallace (Saracens), R Casey (Blackrock College), M O'Kelly (St Mary's College), D O'Cuinneagain (Ballymena), K Dawson (London Irish), A Foley (Shannon).
Replacements: G Dempsey (Terenure College), E Elwood (Galwegians), P Stringer (Shannon), T Brennan (St Mary's College), M Galwey (Shannon), J Fitzpatrick (Dungannon), F Sheahan (Cork Constitution).
Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand).
Touch judges: Derek Bevan (Wales) and Rob Dickson (Scotland).
