The first round of the 2017 Six Nations championship is in the back with Scotland, England and Wales all recording victories, with Ireland and France picking up losing bonus points and Italy sitting bottom without a point to their name.

Scotland secured the result of the round, beating Ireland 27-22 at Murrayfield to kick the tournament off with a bang and end Irish hopes of securing a Grand Slam victory at the first hurdle.

England followed up by fighting back against France to triumph 19-16 at Twickenham, although the reigning champions were far from their best and will need to up their game when they travel to Wales next weekend.

Sunday’s encounter saw the Welsh stage a second half performance to remember as they beat Italy 33-7, despite trailing the home side at the break. Both Wales and England started off slowly, but neither paid for their casual starts and were able to open their accounts with victories.

The same cannot be said for Ireland and France, who now need to win all of their remaining matches and hope that one of the three weekend victors slips up elsewhere to have a realistic chance of winning the championship.

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