Six Nations: Five things we learnt from round three as Ireland ‘expose’ England flaws and who the fallow week favours most
France's Gael Drean, England's Ben Earl and Ireland's Caelan Doris.
Following an entertaining round three of the 2026 Six Nations, here are five things we learnt from Ireland, Scotland and France’s victories.
Ireland’s demise grossly premature
Down, out, too old and heading for a Twickenham battering. Or that’s what many thought and predicted as Andy Farrell’s men entered round three of the Championship sporting the underdogs tag against an England team that had been shown up at Murrayfield seven days prior. The script had been written for Ireland; unfortunately for Steve Borthwick and his men, Caelan Doris and co. didn’t bother reading it.
Farrell’s teamsheet didn’t inspire confidence either and understandably so, he named a matchday 23 that featured Tadhg Furlong at tighthead prop, who endured a reputation-damaging cameo off the bench against Italy, a 5-3 bench split with no second-row cover and a host of out-of-form stalwarts who have been there, done that but have lacked a killer edge since donning the red of the Lions last July. The number 10 jersey also changed hands, with Jack Crowley taking the playmaking reins, further fuelling the debates and criticism.
Shifting to the tried and tested also raised concerns but Farrell’s gamble on experience and the men that have produced time and time again for him, paid dividends.
The back-row trio of Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier and Doris produced at a world-class level once again, the former put in an absolute blinder, as he has in big Test matches time and time again. Van der Flier was back to his bruising, busy and dominant best while Doris put in one of his best performances since his gutting injury that denied him the chance to wear red.
Garry Ringrose was defensively astute again, and Stuart McCloskey was destructive as ever as he continues to make the number 12 jersey his own. All this paired with strong showings from the half-backs and second-rowers, meant that the Irish produced a cohesive, accurate, and simply brilliant display, steamrolling England in devastating fashion.
It’s the kind of performance that we haven’t witnessed or Ireland hasn’t produced in quite some time as Farrell’s men looked possessed, p***ed off and out to lay down a statement that their reports of their demise and decline have been grossly exaggerated.
Ireland were always going to be competitive at Twickenham; they always are, but even the legendary Brian O’Driscoll was left stunned by the manner in which the men in green went about their business. The result puts them back in the race for the Six Nations title and sets us up for a cracking fortnight of rugby after the fallow week.
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England flaws exposed for all to see
Borthwick’s charges headed into the Six Nations off the back of 11 successive victories and made light work of Wales during the opening weekend of action – as expected.
The winning streak came to a screeching halt in the Calcutta Cup clash against Scotland, where they were outpowered, out-thought and outplayed, and that nightmare was repeated at the home of English rugby when Farrell’s men came to town.
England’s defence out wide was repeatedly breached throughout the 160 minutes of rugby while they quite simply lost the gain-line battle, partly because of Borthwick’s back-row selections with the head coach favouring pace, athleticism, and breakdown efficiency over size, power and balance.
The contrast in the two sets of loose trios was stark. Ireland had the brute of Doris to complement the work-rate of Beirne and Van der Flier with the latter to regularly getting go-forward ball with the tanks like Joe McCarthy and James Ryan adding extra poundage. Ben Earl was able to muscle up post-contact metres and front football throughout the game but he wasn’t given much help from those around him.
Henry Pollock, earning his first Test start, is a brilliant, exciting talent but it’s clear that at the highest level, a player like that needs the hard-grafting grunt forwards to pick up some of the slack. A notion that Borthwick will certainly be considering when piecing together the team to tackle Italy. Tom Curry ticks some of those boxes but when paired with athletes like Earl and Pollock, it’s too tall an ask even for a player of his calibre.
There are simply solutions with Alex Coles partnering Maro Itoje in the second-row, allowing Ollie Chessum to slip into the back-row while a bruiser like Greg Fisilau could do the job too. England’s back-five combination lacked the balance required for an arm-wrestle Test match and that lesson surely had to be learnt over the fortnight.
While the kicking and aerial game has become paramount over the past 24 months or so of international rugby, winning the gain-line remains crucial as it gives the half-backs something tangible to work with and George Ford’s underwhelming showing at Twickenham proved that. The veteran fly-half had several uncharacteristic, unforced gaffes but the blame for his inability to get the attack firing should not lie solely on his shoulders.
Italy are miss the 1 percenters
Lille was always going to be a mighty assignment for the Azzurri, even after their brilliance two years ago at the venue but Gonzalo Quesada’s men really a good fist of the fixture, again.
The 33-8 final scoreline was not a fair reflection of Italy’s efforts but it is a fair reflection of the strength in depth advantage that the French have. The Azzurri entered the Championship without the services of several of their top talents in key positions, including Seb Negri, Ange Capuozzo, Ross Vintcent, Tommaso Allan, Gianmarco Lucchesi, and Jacopo Trulla. Capuozzo returned against Les Bleus and was one of the top performers in the defeat. While Italy have made huge leaps under Quesada, they are still not capable of really overcoming what is essentially an injury crisis yet or at least not in the same manner as perhaps South Africa, New Zealand or France are.
Adding to that, Juan Ignacio Brex’s absence has not aided their cause, with the sensational centre and leader of the team taking time out due to family matters.
This is no slight on the players who have stepped up to the mark for the Azzurri and proved that they are more than capable of performing at the highest level but frankly, the one per cents matter and racks up quickly in Test rugby and it’s been the difference between strong showings and better results.
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Michele Lamaro, Manuel Zuliani and Lorenzo Cannone have been sublime in the loose trio but there is no doubt it that Negri and Vintcent would add another edge and layer of depth that is just not there at the moment. It extends past the back-row with Allan being a deadly accurate placekicker and a versatile option at fly-half and full-back, before considering that he would be the most capped international in the squad too. The front-row has been a massive positive even in the absence of Lucchesi, who is comfortably one of the Azzurri’s best two hookers along with Giacomo Nicotera.
The Italians have taken a step up this Six Nations and could still very well finish in a record high placing in the Championship with clashes against England and Wales to come but it’s clear that while their depth is much, much better than it was 12 months ago, it still pales in comparison to the best of the best. That takes time to change.
Winning is a habit
A fact re-emphasised this weekend rather than one learnt. England fell out of the habit of going down to Scotland while Ireland got back into it by beating Italy and when the two collided at Twickenham, the habits continued.
However, there was no truer reflection of winning being a habit than what unfolded at the Principality Stadium in Saturday’s later kick-off. For about an hour of action, Wales were winning. Steve Tandy’s charges were taking their opportunities and denying Scotland theirs.
The forwards were winning the collisions, the backs playing in the right areas of the pitch, while the defence was desperately holding on, in a manner not seen from the Welsh team for such a long time.
Wales had lost 12 straight Six Nations matches before fronting up against Scotland and it looked as if they would finally have the beating of one of their rivals but it was not to be as Scotland simply found a way. Finn Russell and Darcy Graham inspired the comeback with a smartly taken quick kick-off, taking the wind out of Wales’ sails while the job was completed through a powerful driving maul.
After thrashing England at Murrayfield, Scotland had the belief that winning inspires and surged them to the come-from-behind win and Wales simply didn’t have that emotional driver and know-how to get the result over the line.
It’s France’s title to lose but it won’t be easy
A Six Nations Grand Slam decider was incorrectly predicted at the start of the campaign with England and France doing battle on the final day of the tournament as Borthwick’s men have already failed in their bid but Les Bleus’ bid remains very much alive with two games to go.
Fabien Galthie’s charges have made it look easy at times, making light work of Ireland and Wales but even when pressed hard by Italy on Sunday, a win never really seemed in doubt.
The break comes at a fine time for France’s next two opponents, with Scotland needing the rest after two emotionally draining Test matches while England will relish the opportunity to refocus, rebuild and realign for the final fortnight.
With a full house of 15 league points and boasting home ground advantage on Super Saturday, France are in prime position to defend their title and complete the Grand Slam heading into the fall week but both Scotland and England won’t make it easy for them. The former is still very much in the race for a first title since Italy’s addition to the Championship, while the latter is desperate to get back to winning ways.
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