On the opening day of 2022 Guinness Six Nations action, Ireland overcame Wales in a comfortable 29-7 win at Aviva Stadium, while Scotland edged England 20-17 at BT Murrayfield.
Ireland led 10-0 at the break courtesy of Bundee Aki’s try, but they flew out to a 29-0 lead after Andrew Conway’s brace and Gary Ringrose’s score.
Taine Basham scored late on for Wales in what proved to be nothing more than a consolation.
In the second match of the Championship, Scotland came back to beat England 20-17 and secure back-to-back Calcutta Cup wins for the first time since 1984 after their historic triumph last year.
Ben White had the dream start to his international career, replacing Ali Price as an HIA replacement and scoring in the first half as Scotland led 10-6 at half-time.
When Marcus Smith scored for England, it seemed like the game had flipped in their favour, but Luke Cowan-Dickie was deemed to have slapped the ball into touched and a penalty try was given, before Finn Russell slotted over a winning penalty.
And with all of that action, there was plenty of social from some of rugby’s biggest names and more.
It was certainly an impressive start to the Championship from Ireland.
It all started with this finish from Bundee Aki in the corner.
Conway may have scored twice but it was his fellow winger on the other side that really caught the eye, as Mack Hansen was awarded the Player of the match on his Ireland debut, which impressed one ’90s music fan.
And Connacht winger Hansen spoke about his dream debut.
While former England and British and Irish Lions winger Ugo Monye also enjoyed the performance of Hansen.
Conway’s second score came off the back of an excellent set-piece set-up, something that Tommy Bowe enjoyed.
And his first score wasn’t bad either!
Meanwhile, Scotland’s impressive victory at BT Murrayfield was certainly a bit of history.
Scrum-half White’s score was the cherry on the cake in another dream debut.
And the win caught the attention of players and pundits all over the world.
While Jim Hamilton enjoyed it too, with a nice tribute to Scotland captain Stuart Hogg.
Andy Nicol was another former Scottish great who particularly enjoyed the performance of his side.
Meanwhile, despite defeat, Marcus Smith still impressed for England, scoring all 17 points for his side, including a try.
And at half-time, Gabby Logan appeared to turn into a magician, raising fires from her seat.
It was also Brian Moore’s final match in charge of Guinness Six Nations commentary, and he was rightly showered with gratitude.
While his wife Belinda was emotional at his final words on air in the Guinness Six Nations.
As Sonja Mclaughlan and all the other BBC matchday stars posed for one last photo with Moore as part of the team.
