Rugby: Wales and France keeping the northern flame alive

Amid the detritus of failed hopes and ongoing disappointments that have dogged northern hemisphere rugby ever since England's 2003 Rugby World Cup win, some discernible shards of light have begun to emerge.

Last weekend's first-round matches in the 2012 Six Nations Championship were hardly of a quality to keep the likes of Dan Carter and Richie McCaw awake at night in a cold sweat. Yet there were some individual examples of skills and collective moments of team play that had true class writ large.

Wales and France offered by far the most of the Six Nations. Between them, they scored seven tries, four by the French against Italy and, more impressively, three by Wales against Ireland in Dublin. We hear a lot about inferior skill levels among northern hemisphere rugby men but the off-loading skills of Welsh players like Rhys Priestland and George North, plus the finishing of Jonathan Davies and penetrative running of Mike Phillips, caught the eye in Dublin.

Welsh desire to expand their game and demonstrate invention and decision making by individuals was a warming encouragement on a cold winter's afternoon. Having returned over the Irish Sea with an important away win, Welsh coach Warren Gatland will expect further progress by his entertaining team when they meet Scotland in Cardiff on Monday morning.

By contrast, Ireland coach Declan Kidney could be staring down the barrel of even more criticism if, as expected, his team struggles to contain an exuberant-looking French outfit at Stade de France, Paris, on Sunday morning.

Ireland, without the injured Brian O'Driscoll for the whole season, carelessly tossed away a 21-15 lead with just 10 minutes left in Dublin. They played only fitfully and impressed only rarely. France in Paris is always a tough test and the enhanced confidence of the French players under new coach Philippe Saint-Andre was clearly a factor in their runaway win over Italy.

Left wing Julien Malzieu, a lethal finisher for years with his club, scored a brilliant try yet he never even made France's World Cup squad last October. Saint-Andre has started to pick the best players in their best positions and the French look reinvigorated and dangerous.

England, too, are reinvigorated under a new coach. But, aside from their outstanding scrambling defence and impressive discipline which yielded Scotland few penalty chances, they looked a very ordinary side at Murrayfield. They go to Rome's Olympic Stadium this weekend to face Italy and can be sure the competitive Italians won't make it easy for them in front of an anticipated 75,000 crowd.

What was encouraging from England's point of view was that 15 players demonstrated their pride in wearing the jersey and determination to do everything in their power to prevail over the Scots. That wasn't always easy at times for in new No 8 David Denton, Scotland had the player of the match.

Yet England hung on and showed commendable nerve to grind out the win. They may need to do something similar to be sure of getting past the Italians.

As for Scotland, coach Andy Robinson and his players were shattered by a home defeat to England. Unless they can find an instant revival in Cardiff, they may end up fighting Italy to avoid another wooden spoon.