With round two of the Six Nations complete, it is Wales who lead the way following their emphatic victory over a brave Scotland in Cardiff on Sunday.

After an absorbing but largely unexciting first half, which ended at 3-3, Wales, led by stand-in skipper, Ryan Jones, raised the standard of the Six Nations in the second half, to a level that the Scots simply could not live with.

Unfortunately for Scotland, the momentum that allowed Wales to run away with the game was self inflicted; a mistake from the second half kick off by Chris Cusiter, led to a Wales line out, intense pressure and a somewhat inevitable first try, scored by impressive winger Alex Cuthbert.

It also inadvertently led to two yellow cards which effectively reduced Scotland to 14 men for 20 minutes of the second half.

Leigh Halfpenny scored two tries as well as kicking three conversions and two penalties in a great all round performance.

Scotland did at least score a try in return but were ultimately no match for the home team. Greg Laidlaw, nephew of former Scottish scrum Half, Roy Laidlaw, showed an astute touch when touching the ball over following a ruck.

This try however only came after a gilt edge opportunity was wasted by winger Stuart Hogg who was adjudged to have knocked the ball on when just a couple of metres from the Welsh line.

All in all however, Wales looked to be back playing to the level they showed at the World Cup and will go to Twickenham in a fortnight’s time confident of beating England on the back of this 27-13 win that put them top of the Six Nations table.

England meanwhile stuttered and stumbled their way past a determined Italian side in Rome, coming from behind to win thanks to a second successive Charlie Hodgson charge down try and a top class kicking display from his Saracens team mate, Owen Farrell.

The final score of 19-15 to England reflects just how close the ‘Azzurri’ came for a first ever Six Nations victory England and there would be few who would argue that the moral victory was at least an Italian one.

Once again, England struggled at half back, with Hodgson and Ben Youngs unable to cement a smooth partnership. This led to much unpredictable and untidy play, particularly at the back of the scrum where in an overall sense the Italians had the better unit.

Italy’s two tries were both scored with more than a degree of help from England mistakes, the first coming from Venditti who scoped the ball up from the floor after Burton’s kick had rebounded off full back, Ben Foden’s chest and the second try was scored by Bevenuti who intercepted Foden’s horrendous pass.

England’s Interim Head Coach, Stuart Lancaster, will of course, in some respects at least, be pleased that for the first time since 2008, England have won their opening two away games.

However, he will also look at the fixtures with some trepidation as he knows that England’s easiest two games are over and his inexperienced team will be put through three severe examinations in their remaining games, starting with Wales in a fortnight’s time at Twickenham before travelling to PAris to take on France before finishing at home to Ireland on 17th March.

The France v Ireland games set for Stade de France on Saturday night was called off ten minutes before kick-off due to the weather. It has yet to be confirmed when it will be re-arranged but the likely date is the first weekend in March when a bye week was scheduled.