England are best placed to take advantage of any final-day slip-up by Six Nations leaders France after they moved up to second in the Six Nations table with a seven-try victory over Italy at Allianz Stadium. Wing Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice in an ultimately comfortable victory, but the hosts were made to sweat early on with Italy scoring two superb tries to stay within four points at half-time.
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Five-try Scotland overcame a hugely spirited Wales in a frenetic Six Nations contest at Murrayfield, condemning the visitors to a 16th defeat in a row. The Scots looked at ease for large parts of the game, only for Wales to threaten a jaw-dropping comeback late on and ensure they at least left with some reward. In the last 18 minutes, the visitors scored three unanswered tries – all converted – to turn a cakewalk into a struggle for the Scots, whose edge blunted incredibly in the second half.
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Rampant France took control of the Six Nations title race as they scored 34 unanswered points to thrash Ireland in Dublin and end the home side’s Grand Slam hopes. Despite losing captain Antoine Dupont to a suspected “serious” knee injury after 30 minutes, France scored three second-half tries to move two points clear of Ireland at the top and avenge last year’s defeat in Marseille.
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Ireland veterans Peter O’Mahony, Cian Healy and Conor Murray have confirmed they will all retire from international rugby after this year’s Six Nations. While O’Mahony and Healy, Ireland’s most capped player, will step away from club and country at the end of the club season, Murray will head overseas in the summer. All three players have won over 100 caps for Ireland and won five Six Nations titles including two Grand Slams.
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Munster have turned to New Zealand in their search for their next permanent head coach with Chiefs boss Clayton McMillan taking the reins as Graham Rowntree’s successor next season on a three-year contract. Current attack coach Mike Prendergast will step up to the role of senior coach under a new team management structure while interim head coach Ian Costello will become general manager.
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