France cemented their status as the Northern Hemisphere’s most clinical force on Sunday, dismantling a struggling Wales 54-12 at the Principality Stadium. On a grim afternoon for Welsh rugby, Fabien Galthié’s new-look side delivered an eight-try blitz, securing their largest-ever victory in Cardiff and leaving Steve Tandy’s rebuilding project with plenty of work to do.
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England’s 12-game winning streak came shuddering to a halt as they crashed to their heaviest Calcutta Cup defeat in eight years at the hands of fired-up Scotland. The Scots’ four-try triumph at Murrayfield – in which England wing Henry Arundell was shown two yellow cards in the first half – was their biggest victory in the fixture since 2018. It was particularly timely for embattled head coach Gregor Townsend, who had come under intense pressure after a grim 18-15 defeat by Italy.
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Ireland survived a major scare from Italy to claim their first win in this year’s Six Nations and deny the Azzurri a first championship victory in Dublin. Hurting from last week’s thumping defeat by France in Paris, Ireland took the lead through Jamie Osborne’s unconverted try after Italy wing Louis Lynagh’s yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. But momentum shifted in Italy’s favour, and after Paolo Garbisi’s penalty and Ireland scrum-half Craig Casey’s yellow card, hooker Giacomo Nicotera crashed over to give the Italians a deserved half-time lead.
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Erling Haaland scored a dramatic 93rd-minute penalty as Manchester City pulled off a stunning comeback against Liverpool to keep the Premier League title race alive. A battling win for Pep Guardiola’s second-placed side cut Arsenal’s lead at the top to six points, with 13 games remaining. Bernardo Silva’s 84th-minute equaliser had initially cancelled out Dominik Szoboszlai’s superb free-kick 10 minutes earlier. Then in added time, Matheus Nunes was bundled over inside the box by Liverpool keeper Alisson allowing Haaland to convert the spot kick.
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A remorseless England piled pain and points on Wales as they began their hunt for the Six Nations title with a 48-7 victory at Allianz Stadium. Wing Henry Arundell, making his first start for his country in more than two years, scored a first-half hat-trick as England put themselves out of sight before the break. Josh Adams was picked out by Dan Edwards’ precise punt for Wales’s solitary try five minutes after the restart, but, for the most part, the one-way traffic continued to steamroll the visitors.
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