France survive Irish scare, England win in Rome

France 43 Ireland 31
Italy 16 England 31

LONDON - France beat Ireland 43-31 in a remarkable Paris encounter while England had to work hard to subdue Italy 31-16 in Rome in the second round of the Six Nations championship overnight.

The Paris game was bizarre as France ran in six tries to lead 43-3 after 50 minutes without ever dominating. Ireland then hit back with four quick scores of their own to leave the hosts hanging on with the boos of their own fans ringing in their ears.

Events went more to form in Rome, a ground where England had averaged 51 points a game in their three previous visits. This time, however, the world champions had to settle for a flattering 31 after an attritional battle against an Italian team who can take great heart from their performance.

Holders Wales take on rejuvenated Scotland at the Millennium Stadium to complete the second round of fixtures tomorrow NZ timie.

After their woeful performance in a 20-16 defeat in Edinburgh last week France had plenty to prove in front of their own fans.

Showing five changes from that starting team, they roared into action with four first-half tries and two soon after the break to lead 43-3.

Aurelien Rougerie, Olivier Magne on his recall, and two tries for David Marty and Cedric Heymans had France on course for a record victory despite Ireland having most of the possession.

With the game seemingly won France coach Bernard Laporte threw on most of his replacements and the changes created chaos in the ranks.

Ireland cashed in splendidly with four tries in 12 minutes by Ronan O'Gara, Gordon D'Arcy, Donnacha O'Callaghan and Andrew Trimble.

The French were unable to stem the tide and with the Irish reveling in the newly available space the hosts were forced defend desperately, and often illegally, to prevent a fifth.

At the final whistle the Stade de France crowd booed the home side while giving the beaten visitors a standing ovation.

"Two of our tries came from phases we launched ourselves, our aggressive defence allowed us to score the other tries," Laporte told reporters, adding that he thought he was "watching a film" during Ireland's whirlwind comeback.

Of the complaining Paris fans he said: "We should only allow the volunteers and the amateurs in the stands. Regarding the beautiful people who get free tickets I would send them on to the pitch. Their case would resolved very quickly."

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan said: "I thought we played all the rugby out there but we made five or six errors and paid a high price for them.

"We used up our errors for the season in one game and you can't plan for that."

England travelled to Rome in confident mood after last week's impressive 47-13 win over Wales.

Italy began with their usual obduracy but, unlike in previous meetings, this time they did not wilt.

They even led 9-7 early in the second half and were within a point until the 55th minute when Charlie Hodgson scored England's second try following a nice first-half effort by Mike Tindall.

Mark Cueto weighed in with his 11th in 13 internationals but this time Italy kept their composure and defensive discipline.

They even managed a try of their own through Mirco Bergamasco, though replacement James Simpson-Daniel was gifted an injury-time score to take England to a flattering 31 points.

The tournament takes a break for two weeks then returns on February 25-26 with France versus Italy, Scotland playing England and Ireland hosting Wales.

STANDINGS
(Played, points)
1. England 2 4
2. France 2 2
3. Scotland 1 2
4. Ireland 2 2
5. Italy 2 0
6. Wales 1 0

- REUTERS