Six Nations 2016: Updated Table, Results and Round 3 Fixtures

England rounded off the second phase of the 2016 Six Nations by moving top of the table on Sunday, as they put Italy to the sword with a comprehensive 40-9 victory at the Stadio Olimpico.

Eddie Jones’ men were a little shaky in the early exchanges despite coming into the game off the back of an impressive victory over Scotland in Round 1, but Jonathan Joseph’s impressive second-half hat-trick gave the visitors a deserved triumph.

Two wins out of two leaves England on four points and ahead of France in the table on points difference. Here’s a look at the Six Nations standings after the completion of Round 2, plus Round 3 fixtures as the tournament starts to heat up.

Date	Fixture	Result
February 13	France vs. Ireland	10-9
February 13	Wales vs. Scotland	27-23
February 14	Italy vs. England	9-40

Pos	Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	PD	Points
1	England	2	2	0	0	37	4
2	France	2	2	0	0	3	4
3	Wales	2	1	1	0	4	3
4	Ireland	2	0	1	1	-1	1
5	Scotland	2	0	0	2	-10	0
6	Italy	2	0	0	2	-33	0

Date	Fixture
February 26	Wales vs. France
February 27	Italy vs. Scotland
February 27	England vs. Ireland

England Too Good For Italy

Andrew Medichini/Associated Press

While England were always hot favourites to win in Rome, they were less than convincing at the start of the encounter.

Italy captain Sergio Parisse was pulling the strings from the off, and after Carlo Canna kicked over after nine minutes, the hosts took a deserved 3-0 lead.

But the Italians than started to lose their composure. They were guilty of making sloppy errors on several occasions, and after Alessandro Zanni’s fumble gave away possession, the English were level.

A powerful scrum forced a penalty, and Owen Farrell made no mistake to put three points on the board for the visitors.

Andrew Medichini/Associated Press

It was then Ornel Gega’s turn to have a moment of stupidity, as he held on to the ball for too long and gifted England a penalty, which George Ford converted.

Canna then levelled up the scores at 6-6 with another excellent kick, but Italian joy was short-lived, as England racked up the first try of the day on the 24-minute mark.

After sustained pressure, the ball broke to Farrell from a ruck, and he brilliantly found Ford out wide to make it 11-6. Former England star Kyran Bracken commented on Farrell’s excellent vision:

Unfortunately, the English fly-half’s vision then evaded him, as he failed to convert the resulting kick.

Still, England had a lead from which to build, and although Canna reduced arrears with another kick before half-time, you got the sense that the visitors were clicking into gear.

That, and the fact that Italy were running low on resources, with several players forced to withdraw through injury. Harlequins’ Nick Easter reflected on the huge task facing Italy in the second period:

And it proved to be too much of a task for them, although they contributed to their own downfall.

Leonardo Sarto decided to try to run the ball out of his own 22 in a moment of madness, and his pass was intercepted by Joseph, who had the easy job of dotting down.

ESPN’s Tom Hamilton said just how much of a gift it was for England:

Joseph wasn’t done there, though, as he added two more tries in explosive fashion to give England a healthy victory.

Farrell’s expert kicking put the icing on the cake, but it was clear who was the real match-winner in Rome. Ex-England international Will Greenwood was impressed with Joseph’s scoring ability:

It was a great all-round performance from England in the second half. Keeping Italy off the board is no mean feat, while adding 29 points in 40 minutes is very impressive.

Following the match, man of the moment Joseph said that although England took time to get settled, they produced the goods when they needed to, per England Rugby.

"Once we got into the game we showed what England can do," he said. "We had to come out firing in the second half and managed to eradicate our mistakes."

Italy were brave on Sunday—as they generally are against the big boys—but England’s class just shone through in the 40-9 victory, and they’re now in a great position heading into Round 3.

Jones’ side welcome Ireland to Twickenham on February 27, and with the Irish desperate for a win to bolster their chances of Six Nations glory, England have to be switched on from the offset.

Italy, meanwhile, take on the Scots at the Stadio Olimpico, where if they manage to cut out sloppy individual errors, they’ll have a great chance of picking up a point or two.