The Guinness Six Nations was back with a bang this weekend, with plenty of thrills and spills all over the continent as the 2021 Championship got underway.
France got the action started on Saturday afternoon, as Fabien Galthie’s side turned on the style to romp to a 50-10 victory over Italy at Stadio Olimpico, with Antoine Dupont putting on a masterclass at scrum-half.
All eyes turned to London later in the day, with Scotland producing a performance for the ages at Twickenham, as they recorded a first victory at the famous stadium in 38 years thanks to Duhan van der Merwe’s first-half score.
We had to wait until Sunday for Ireland and Wales to get their campaigns underway, but there was no shortage of drama in the meeting between the two at Principality Stadium, with Wayne Pivac’s side coming from behind to defeat their 14-man opponents.
As ever, there were plenty of high-quality tries for rugby fans to enjoy across the weekend, and you get the chance to vote for which you thought was best, with the choice of the four contenders below.
There can’t be many better ways to announce yourself on the Guinness Six Nations stage how Duhan van der Merwe did on Saturday evening, with the Scotland international helping to rewrite the history books in his first ever Championship start.
You had to go back to 1983 for the last time that Scotland emerged from Twickenham with a victory, but the Edinburgh winger’s first-half effort made sure that run came to an end this weekend, as well as securing the Calcutta Cup.
Sean Maitland’s excellent reach to claw Finn Russell’s high bomb gave the Scottish side some threatening field position to work with, before the ball was flung from right to left in the blink of an eye.
But even when the ball landed in the 25-year-old’s hands, he still had plenty of work to do to make it to the try line, with a sea of English shirts standing in his way.
But in his typical manner, van der Merwe bounced off of a number of would-be tacklers to barge his way to the line, leaving the hosts grasping at thin air before touching down to score.
You can always rely on Antoine Dupont to produce the goods when the Guinness Six Nations comes around, and the scrum-half wasted no time in getting going in this year’s Championship, with an all-round excellent display in Rome.
The 24-year-old seemed to be involved in everything that the visitors did well at Stadio Olimpico, as he sidestepped and shimmied his way past the Italian defence, setting up four tries for his teammates in the process.
And he eventually got on the scoresheet himself in the second half, as France scored their fifth try of the game with a frankly superb effort which started with a lineout on halfway.
From there, the ball went through the hands of Matthieu Jalibert and Gael Fickou, before Teddy Thomas put on the afterburners to leave the home defence for dead.
With just the full-back to beat Thomas only had to look to his right for support, where that man Dupont was ready and waiting, giving him the routine task of going under the posts for a well-deserved five-pointer.
It may not have been Italy’s day on Saturday, but that didn’t stop them from producing one of the moments of highest quality in Round 1.
With the ball working its way out to the right-hand side, quick hands gave Luca Sperandio the time and space to venture down the flank, before putting boot to ball.
With the French defence caught unawares, the Benetton wing collected his own kick on the full before seeing off the attention of Brice Dulin to cross the whitewash.
It certainly wasn’t a bad way to get your first Guinness Six Nations try and was just a taster of what we can expect from the Azzurri in this year’s Championship.
Despite playing against 14-men for the majority of the game in Cardiff, Wales didn’t have things all their own way against Ireland, with Andy Farrell’s men clinging onto the lead until midway through the second half.
It looked as if it was going to take something special for the hosts to find the breakthrough at Principality Stadium and it was Louis Rees-Zammit who stepped up to the plate with a sumptuous effort to put his side into the lead.
Wales were piling on the pressure as the game reached the hour mark, with Gareth Davies playing the ball from the ruck just metres from the Irish try line.
But quick as a flash, the ball went from Davies, to George North, to Leigh Halfpenny and finally into the hands of the 20-year-old Championship debutant, with the whitewash at his mercy.
And despite the efforts of Tadhg Furlong on the line, Rees-Zammit managed to acrobatically get the ball to ground while keeping himself out of touch, to give Wales a well-earned win in their first match of the 2021 Championship.
