France eye Slam as Six Nations climax approaches

RUGBY: World Cup hosts France have been left on their own as the only member of European rugby union's elite who have the chance of preparing for the showpiece tournament by completing a Six Nations Grand Slam.

"Les Bleus" 32-21 win over Wales in Paris on Saturday meant they were the only team left with a perfect record after three rounds of this year's Six Nations.

But the greatest long-term significance was in Italy's dramatic 37-17 victory against Scotland at Murrayfield - the Azzurri's first away victory in the Six Nations.

Elsewhere, Ireland re-established their credentials as World Cup contenders with a 43-13 thrashing of England - the world champions' conceding their highest points tally in any Five or Six Nations match as talk of a successful title defence after wins over Italy and Scotland was put into perspective.

Although not as spectacular as Ireland's win, France's latest victory augured well for their World Cup prospects ahead of their March 11 match against England at Twickenham. They demonstrated a collectively cool head under pressure when Wales scored two quick tries. In this their pack was greatly helped by David Skrela's assured display at outside-half.

Not only did Skrela miss just one-goal kick on his way to a personal haul of 19 points, he showed good judgment in open play readily releeasing the talented backs outside him but, when the attacking move wasn't on, kicking astutely for territory instead.

"We were calm, precise and that's what we have been working at in training," said France captain Raphael Ibanez.

Defeat left Wales firmly rooted to the bottom of the table after a third straight loss piled the pressure on coach Gareth Jenkins, still looking for his first win against a major nation since taking charge of the national side.

In recent years Wales have conjured some dramatic wins despite living off scraps. But this is not a sustainable long-term strategy and with the French pack dominant, Jenkins was well aware of the key challenge facing his side ahead of what will be an equally physical encounter away to Italy on March 10.

"If we could have had more than 40 percent of possession we could have got something out of the game," Jenkins reflected.

Italy received some much overdue luck in their win against Scotland. Few teams in Test history can have been gifted three tries in the first seven minutes by a combination of a charged-down kick and two interceptions as the Azzurri were at Murrayfield.

But Italy still had to be sufficiently alert to take their opportunities and given how they so often seem to be on the wrong end of refereeing decisions, few would begrudge them their good fortune in Edinburgh.

Crucially, they held their nerve and in this they owed much to the wise guidance of veteran scrum-half Alessandro Troncon, who made sure his pack's efforts didn't go to waste and no sense of panic set in. "I think that we had a very good start but the most important thing was to manage this situation well in the last 60 minutes," said Italy captain and Gloucester lock Marco Bortolami.

Stunned Scotland wing Sean Lamont admitted: "We killed ourselves by giving them three tries in the opening few minutes."

Ireland's display was both inspiring and frustrating. Inspiring in the way they completely dominated England in all areas but frustrating in that hopes of a first Grand Slam since 1948 had disappeared a fortnight earlier with a 20-17 defeat against France.

This time the return of inspirational captain Brian O'Driscoll and a masterful display by outside-half Ronan O'Gara combined to deliver a victory that featured four well-worked tries.

"I don't know if it is our best performance since I became coach but it is certainly right up there," said Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan, whose side now travel to Scotland. England stand-off Jonny Wilkinson, all but sidelined at Croke Park, said: "Ireland got out of the blocks quicker than we did and as painful as it feels, we must take the lessons we have learnt from the defeat as we prepare for the France game."

In the build-up to the match, much was made of it being England's first game at Croke Park where British troops killed 14 people during the 'Bloody Sunday' of 1920.

However, after the game the fact that most comment focused on Ireland's fourth straight win over England spoke volumes about the state of the two countries' current relationship.

LONDON, Monday, AFP