Six Nations 2015: Daily Scores, Round 1 Results, Updated Table and Schedule
England kicked off their 2015 Six Nations campaign with a 21-16 win on Friday evening to take an early lead in the tournament standings and show their potential as title challengers.
Wales failed to score a single point in the second half and fell complacent, but Ireland, France, Scotland and Italy were paying attention to get a glimpse of what's to come their way.
Ireland took their time to get going in Rome on Saturday, but eventually emerged with a 26-3 win thanks to a second-half turnaround, while France scraped past Scotland 15-8 in Paris.
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| Date | Home | Score | Away |
| Friday, Feb. 6 | Wales | 16-21 | England |
| Saturday, Feb. 7 | Italy | 3-26 | Ireland |
| Saturday, Feb. 7 | France | 15-8 | Scotland |
| Position | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Tries | Points |
| 1 | Ireland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 3 | +23 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | France | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 8 | +7 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | England | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 16 | +5 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | Wales | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 21 | –5 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | Scotland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 15 | –7 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | Italy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 26 | –23 | 0 | 0 |
France 15-8 Scotland
France finished Round 1 of this year's tournament as the only home team to win in front of their own fans, although a 15-8 triumph over Scotland was far from simple.
Scottish winger Dougie Fife scored the match's only try, coming on for an injured Tommy Seymour to take full advantage of the overlap France had left exposed right before half-time:
Finn Russell's ability to dictate tempo and the work of the Scottish back row in stripping Les Bleus of possession at times will be factors taken as positives by Vern Cotter following this defeat.
However, some of the old issues remained and there was a sense of indiscipline among the visitors at times, numerous of which gave French fly-half Camille Lopez the opportunities he needed to steer his side to victory.
Things are undoubtedly improving for Scotland under Cotter, though, as Optajonny revealed the travelling outfit did manage to make some kind of history at the Stade de France:
It was only two minutes from time that Lopez found the chance he needed to take the game beyond Scotland and notch a decisive fifth penalty to make the score 15-8.
The hosts did the majority of the threatening, but Scotland simply refused to go away in what turned out to be the even, tense affair many were predicting.
Italy 3-26 Ireland
A 26-3 win in Rome saw Ireland take to the summit of the Six Nations on Saturday after a lacklustre opening 40 minutes was saved by a brace of second-half scores.
Ian Keatley was fielded by coach Joe Schmidt as the replacement for injured Jonny Sexton and the Munster did well to lead his side into a 9-3 lead by halftime, albeit showing some shaky moments himself.
Kelly Haimona was responsible for the Azzurri's only three points of the match, slotting his penalty attempt just before the break, but that would prove to be as far as their scoreboard impact went.
The Irish found it equally as difficult to open up the Italians' back line in the second period. That was until Italy hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini was sin binned for disrupting a maul, opening the chance for Conor Murray to score, per BBC Scrum V:
Italy head coach Jacques Brunel would see his hopes further demolished at that point, however, after Tommy O'Donnell—filling in after Sean O'Brien was injured in the warm-up—breezed through Italy's defence to notch a second try two minutes later.
Schmidt will know full well that his side are capable of more and will most likely show that against France in Dublin next Saturday, but the Irish won't be taking any result for granted following this display:
Wales 16-21 England
Leading into the Millennium Stadium opener, Wales and England may have been expected to produce a tense and close-run encounter, but a rapid start from the hosts saw to it that fans got their money's worth.
Full-back Leigh Halfpenny kicked Warren Gatland's side into a 3-0 lead after just 90 seconds, but it wasn't long before the Welsh really began to turn up the heat.
Bearing down on their guests with no early sign of relenting, a five-metre scrum for the home team gave Taulupe Faletau the springboard he needed to orchestrate the fixture's first try.
The No. 8 stripped away from the set piece to the right before handing possession to a screeching Rhys Webb, who glided over from short range, as shown by the official Six Nations YouTube account:
It was thanks to Faletau's superb handling that the chance arose in the first place, though, as Andy Howell of Wales Online attested:
Halfpenny again slotted his kick to boost Wales further, but with their backs against the wall England responded soon after, with Anthony Watson the man pulling them back into contention.
Mike Brown did brilliantly to shirk any sense of panic when descending upon the Welsh defence, dinking a lovely kick through for Bath's speedster to collect over the line:
An exchange of kicking pleasantries between Halfpenny and George Ford saw Wales head in after the first period with a 16-8 lead, after Dan Biggar struck a sweetly timed drop goal on the half-time whistle.
That scoreline evidently didn't sit well with the travelling outfit, who showed a great deal more desire in the opening phases of their second half, which paid off with a Jonathan Joseph try.
The latest man to be seen as a potential solution to England's centre conundrum benefited from some supreme string-pulling by recalled scrum-half Ben Youngs who wriggled his way past George North to score under the posts.
With the score poised at 16-15, Wales has reason to be upbeat, but their mood swiftly dampened once again thanks to the boot of Ford's slotting another penalty to turn the tide, 18-16, in England's favour.
It could have been worse for Gatland's team, too, were it not for James Haskell's running directly into the post rather than under or at its base.
Ticking into the final 10 minutes and with a sin-binned Alex Cuthbert back on the field, the fixture entered its tensest stages. Dave Attwood thought he'd sealed the win for England after busting his way over the whitewash, but English celebrations were cut short after the TMO decreed Nick Easter was guilty of crossing in an earlier phase.
Just four minutes later, Ford would give England their legitimate lead. Luke Charteris was found isolated in midfield and gifted a penalty to the enemy, which Bath's No. 10 converted to hand England their 21-16 win.
It took a pragmatic and patient response to the initial onslaught, but Lancaster eventually watched as his team reaped the rewards of their perseverance.
Jospeh's try will go down as the breakthrough moment, but this was a wonderfully structured victory in all regards for the English, particularly in terms of limiting the Welsh runners.
Ford picked up man of the match honours for his performance, and deservedly so after showing that in the wake of Owen Farrell's injury, he can very much be a guiding light for Lancaster.
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