Rio Dyer believes that Wales will need to back themselves and build on a stunning second-half display against Scotland when they tackle England at Twickenham next Saturday.

Although Wales lost a pulsating Guinness Six Nations clash 27-26 to the Scots, it could not overshadow the vintage rugby they conjured from nowhere.

Trailing by 27 points with almost half the game left, Wales were heading towards record Six Nations defeat territory at a frightening speed.

But four tries in 20 minutes from Dyer, James Botham, Aaron Wainwright and Alex Mann, plus three Ioan Lloyd conversions, left Scotland hanging on.

“We were in our shell during that first-half, ” Wales wing Dyer said.

“We were hitting it up and getting put on the back foot, so the only thing we could do then was to kick it.

“Gats (Wales head coach Warren Gatland) said at half-time: ‘let’s actually play, let’s go out there, we have got nothing to lose now. We are under the pump, so let’s go out and show what we can actually do’.

“He was softly spoken, he wasn’t shouting at people, he just brought the boys in and said we can’t be putting out performances like that in the first-half in the first game of the Six Nations.

“I think it was amazing to see how the boys stuck together.

“We are a young squad who have only been in camp for two weeks. It is just about getting used to each other, but throughout that second-half we showed what we could do.”

More of the same is likely to be required against England, whose recent Twickenham record in the fixture is an imposing one.

Wales have lost their last seven Tests in south-west London since claiming a 2015 World Cup pool win, with just two Six Nations victories – in 2008 and 2012 – since the competition expanded 24 years ago.

Dyer added: “I think that kind of second-half should give the boys the confidence to say we can back ourselves a little bit more than we did in the first-half.

“Personally, I just think it is that confidence to play. We need to back ourselves, and that was the message at half-time before we went back out there.

“Everyone is here for a reason, everyone has got things they can do, and let’s not go into our shells.

“It is about pushing ourselves as a young squad to build the momentum on to next week.”

Changes look likely to the Wales line-up against England, headlined by a fit-again George North’s anticipated return in midfield.

And given the considerable impact made by a number of his substitutes, Gatland could easily hand starts to players like scrum-half Tomos Williams, hooker Elliot Dee and prop Keiron Assiratti.

Gatland said: “We will go there (Twickenham) with a lot of confidence we can build on that second-half and belief. That is the biggest thing, really.

“I think we can go there and say we know what we want to do.”

Ashley Young admits the responsibility is on Everton’s players to positively effect the rest of their season as the fate of their points deduction and another pending charge for a financial breach is out of their hands.

The club’s appeal against the 10-point sanction for an infringement of Premier League profit and sustainability rules was held this week but an outcome is not expected for another fortnight.

Without the penalty Sean Dyche’s side would be nine points clear of the relegation zone and while the last-gasp 2-2 draw with Tottenham briefly lifted them out of the bottom three, they will remain there for another week after Luton’s draw at Newcastle dropped them back down.

Young admits being below the line does have an impact on the players but a determined performance against Spurs was a confidence booster after Jarrad Branthwaite’s first goal of the season in the fourth minute of added time snatched a deserved point.

“I think everything is in the back of our minds but we have got a job in hand to do and that was to try and win the game,” said Young.

“Everything is out of our hands apart from what we go and do on the pitch and that is to win games. That is all we can do.

“We were losing but it showed the team spirit that we have got. Everyone is pulling in the right direction and everyone is on board with the manager’s ideas and his vision for the club.

“We want to make it tough for every team to come here. We have got to worry about what we do and not other teams and that is to get wins on the board.”

Young was playing only his second game after a six-week injury lay-off but was one of the better performers in a first half in which Jack Harrison got the slightest of final touches to deny team-mate Dominic Calvert-Lewin his first goal in 17 matches, sandwiched between two efforts from former Toffees favourite Richarlison.

The paucity of resources in midfield meant Young was freed from the right-back role he has operated in this season to play further forward and he enjoyed it.

He will be 39 this summer, when his contract expires, but has no plans to quit.

“I prefer it, actually, if you can tell the manager that. I have played there pretty much all my career,” he said of his midfield role.

“I know the job and it is more exciting than playing as a defender.

“I am just thinking about what games are coming up. It is down to the club when they want to sit down and talk to me about it. For me, it is just playing games and getting to the next game.”

Asked whether he wanted to continue playing next season, he added: “Yeah, of course I do.”

Barry Connell remains at a loss to explain Marine Nationale’s disappointing performance in the Irish Arkle at Leopardstown on Saturday.

A brilliant winner of last season’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, the seven-year-old made a foot-perfect start to his career over fences at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting and was odds-on to add a third Grade One to his CV back at the Foxrock circuit.

However, while Marine Nationale briefly threatened to challenge rounding the home turn, he found little when push came to shove and was ultimately well beaten in fifth place.

Connell feels underfoot conditions may not have been ideal for his stable star, but will conduct further tests this week to try to discover if something else was amiss.

He said: “He seems fine this morning, but we’ll have to run a lot of further tests on him this week, so we won’t know until later in the week what the full clinical picture of him is.

“He’s sound anyway and seems to come out of the race OK, so we’re still a little bit in the dark.

“I’d say the ground definitely was harder going than it was at Christmas. They had no fresh ground, so it was probably tacky, holding ground, which wouldn’t be ideal.

“We just don’t know (what happened), but the horse had an off day and it won’t be until later in the week when we’ve finalised our checks on him.”

While Marine Nationale’s odds for the Arkle at Cheltenham next month obviously drifted in the aftermath of his defeat, he remains at the head of ante-post lists and Connell is hopeful he can show his true colours on his return to the Cotswolds.

He added: “Our intention is to just put a line through and head on to Cheltenham.

“He obviously showed a lot of speed in the Supreme last year, beating the winner from yesterday (Il Etait Temps) and Facile Vega (finished third on Saturday).

“Hopefully we’ll get spring ground at Cheltenham and he’s proven his liking for the track there.

“All these horses can get beat at some stage and unfortunately that was the case yesterday. We’ll just see if anything else emerges.”

Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers is less than impressed after Saturday's win over the Dallas Mavericks meant he is set to coach in the All-Star game.

Rivers picked up his first win as Bucks coach as Giannis' Antetokounmpo's 48 points inspired Milwaukee to a 129-117 comeback victory, while Damian Lillard had 30 points on 10-of-11 shooting.

Yet that victory means the Bucks' coach is now obligated to take charge of the Eastern Conference team in the All-Star game on February 18.

That is because Joe Mazzulla, the Boston Celtics coach, is ineligible after coaching in the All-Star game last year. Given the Bucks have the second-best record in the East two weeks before the event, the task will fall to Rivers.

But after just three games in charge of his new team, Rivers – who replaced Adrian Griffin last month – was far from impressed with that outcome.

"It's ridiculously bad. It really is," Rivers said.

"Well, Adrian's going to get some money, that's for sure. And a ring. It's one of those quirky things.

"I think there should be a rule somehow that someone else does it, other than me. Maybe I'll send my staff, and I'll go on vacation.

"I'll run that by Adam Silver. Adam's a good man, I think he'll understand."

Luka Doncic finished with 40 points for the Mavericks, who lost a second straight game.

"Looking at what Milwaukee did, they just kept playing and took our best shot there in the first half and then ended the half on a positive with Dame making that three at the buzzer," Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. "We didn't take care of the ball."

England’s reputation as the most fearless chasers in the game will be put to its biggest challenge yet after they were set a record 399 to win an absorbing second Test against India.

Since the ‘Bazball’ era began, Ben Stokes’ side have won eight of their 10 fourth-innings pursuits, including a new English record of 378 against the same opposition at Edgbaston 18 months ago.

Speaking after that match, Stokes said: “There was a bit of me that wanted them to get to 450, just to see what we’d do”. Now, he is one step closer to finding out.

That it is even considered possible after England ended day three on 67 for one speaks volumes for the way this team have raised expectations, not least in Hyderabad last week where they overturned a 190-run first-innings deficit.

But the challenge of finding another 332 runs in Visakhapatnam is even steeper, with a tricky turning pitch bringing the home spinners into play and the dynamic Jasprit Bumrah leading the attack.

England lost Ben Duckett for 28 when he was well caught off bat and pad but they refused to back down, Zak Crawley reaching 29 not out and Rehan Ahmed throwing the bat in a late cameo as the so-called ‘nighthawk’.

India had a chance to bat England even further out of the game but failed to back up Shubman Gill’s century as they were bowled out for 255.

England’s inexperienced bowling attack, featuring three young spinners with three Test caps between them coming into the match, Tom Hartley leading the way with four for 77.

The trio were perfect, with the occasional drag down or full toss creeping in, but their readiness to keep rolling up to try their luck showed plenty of heart. At 211 for four, with Gill on 104, that did not look enough but they clubbed together to take the next six wickets for 44.

India turned up already 171 in front and with all 10 wickets intact, a formidable starting point if ever there was one. But it was England’s old stager James Anderson who had the first say.

At 41 – and with no other seam bowlers in the side – he showed no signs of weariness as he blew away the Indian openers.

More than half of a sold-out Sunday crowd were still queuing outside when he struck with his fourth ball of the morning, a beauty that stood up off the seam and hit the top of Rohit Sharma’s off stump as he looked ruefully over his shoulder.

Yashavi Jaiswal, following up his stunning double century, was next to succumb to Anderson’s unforgiving line and length as he flashed a drive to slip. When Gill was given lbw to Hartley with just four to his name, England seemed to be calling all the shots.

But he took a chance on DRS and seemed more surprised than anyone when replays suggested a thin edge. A few moments later he had another scare, this time saved on umpire’s call as Anderson rapped him front.

Having survived his double scare, the Punjabi added exactly a hundred more runs. In the context of the game, against opponents not easy to intimidate, it was a crucial knock.

When Anderson exited the attack, the control went with him. Gill took the lead past 200 by launching Shoaib Bashir for six and dashed to 50 with successive fours off Ahmed. He shared a stand of 81 with Shreyas Iyer but Stokes’ refusal to give up on a lost cause got England back in the struggle.

Racing 20 metres as the ball sailed over his head he tracked it perfectly, dived at full length and pulled off a magnificent take before celebrating in front of a small pocket of travelling fans.

Ben Foakes produced a smart take of his own to give England a fourth success in the morning session, staying low to snatch Rajat Patidar’s bottom edge. There runs were ticking by too though, 102 of them before lunch and another 97 in the afternoon.

Gill took a six and two fours off one Ahmed over as he took India 300 ahead and brought his third Test hundred up in 132 balls. Bashir finally got him when he gloved a sweep behind, leaving Hartley and Ahmed to share the last four wickets.

Srikar Bharat, Kuldeep Yadav and Bumrah made six between them and Ravichandran Ashwin a frustrating 29 after Crawley put him down on four.

England were left with 14 overs to face, but allowed India an important breakthrough when Ashwin had Duckett well caught by the wicketkeeper off bat and pad.

Ahmed was pushed up the order to save Ollie Pope the ordeal and showed his fearless nature with three risky shots in a row in the final over before stumps.

England’s reputation as the most fearless chasers in the game will be put to its biggest challenge yet after they were set a record 399 to win an absorbing second Test against India.

Since the ‘Bazball’ era began, Ben Stokes’ side have won eight of their 10 fourth-innings pursuits, including a new English record of 378 against the same opposition at Edgbaston 18 months ago.

Speaking after that match, Stokes said: “There was a bit of me that wanted them to get to 450, just to see what we’d do”. Now, he is one step closer to finding out.

That it is even considered possible after England ended day three on 67 for one speaks volumes for the way this team have raised expectations, not least in Hyderabad last week where they overturned a 190-run first-innings deficit.

But the challenge of finding another 332 runs in Visakhapatnam is even steeper, with a tricky turning pitch bringing the home spinners into play and the dynamic Jasprit Bumrah leading the attack.

England lost Ben Duckett for 28 when he was well caught off bat and pad but they refused to back down, Zak Crawley reaching 29 not out and Rehan Ahmed throwing the bat in a late cameo as the so-called ‘nighthawk’.

India had a chance to bat England even further out of the game but failed to back up Shubman Gill’s century as they were bowled out for 255.

England’s inexperienced bowling attack, featuring three young spinners with three Test caps between them coming into the match, Tom Hartley leading the way with four for 77.

The trio were perfect, with the occasional drag down or full toss creeping in, but their readiness to keep rolling up to try their luck showed plenty of heart. At 211 for four, with Gill on 104, that did not look enough but they clubbed together to take the next six wickets for 44.

India turned up already 171 in front and with all 10 wickets intact, a formidable starting point if ever there was one. But it was England’s old stager James Anderson who had the first say.

At 41 – and with no other seam bowlers in the side – he showed no signs of weariness as he blew away the Indian openers.

More than half of a sold-out Sunday crowd were still queuing outside when he struck with his fourth ball of the morning, a beauty that stood up off the seam and hit the top of Rohit Sharma’s off stump as he looked ruefully over his shoulder.

Yashavi Jaiswal, following up his stunning double century, was next to succumb to Anderson’s unforgiving line and length as he flashed a drive to slip. When Gill was given lbw to Hartley with just four to his name, England seemed to be calling all the shots.

But he took a chance on DRS and seemed more surprised than anyone when replays suggested a thin edge. A few moments later he had another scare, this time saved on umpire’s call as Anderson rapped him front.

Having survived his double scare, the Punjabi added exactly a hundred more runs. In the context of the game, against opponents not easy to intimidate, it was a crucial knock.

When Anderson exited the attack, the control went with him. Gill took the lead past 200 by launching Shoaib Bashir for six and dashed to 50 with successive fours off Ahmed. He shared a stand of 81 with Shreyas Iyer but Stokes’ refusal to give up on a lost cause got England back in the struggle.

Racing 20 metres as the ball sailed over his head he tracked it perfectly, dived at full length and pulled off a magnificent take before celebrating in front of a small pocket of travelling fans.

Ben Foakes produced a smart take of his own to give England a fourth success in the morning session, staying low to snatch Rajat Patidar’s bottom edge. There runs were ticking by too though, 102 of them before lunch and another 97 in the afternoon.

Gill took a six and two fours off one Ahmed over as he took India 300 ahead and brought his third Test hundred up in 132 balls. Bashir finally got him when he gloved a sweep behind, leaving Hartley and Ahmed to share the last four wickets.

Srikar Bharat, Kuldeep Yadav and Bumrah made six between them and Ravichandran Ashwin a frustrating 29 after Crawley put him down on four.

England were left with 14 overs to face, but allowed India an important breakthrough when Ashwin had Duckett well caught by the wicketkeeper off bat and pad.

Ahmed was pushed up the order to save Ollie Pope the ordeal and showed his fearless nature with three risky shots in a row in the final over before stumps.

England’s reputation as the most fearless chasers in the game will be put to its biggest challenge yet after they were set a record 399 to win an absorbing second Test against India.

Since the ‘Bazball’ era began, Ben Stokes’ side have won eight of their 10 fourth-innings pursuits, including a new English record of 378 against the same opposition at Edgbaston 18 months ago.

Speaking after that match, Stokes said: “There was a bit of me that wanted them to get to 450, just to see what we’d do”. Now, he is one step closer to finding out.

That it is even considered possible after England ended day three on 67 for one speaks volumes for the way this team have raised expectations, not least in Hyderabad last week where they overturned a 190-run first-innings deficit.

But the challenge of finding another 332 runs in Visakhapatnam is even steeper, with a tricky turning pitch bringing the home spinners into play and the dynamic Jasprit Bumrah leading the attack.

England lost Ben Duckett for 28 when he was well caught off bat and pad but they refused to back down, Zak Crawley reaching 29 not out and Rehan Ahmed throwing the bat in a late cameo as the so-called ‘nighthawk’.

India had a chance to bat England even further out of the game but failed to back up Shubman Gill’s century as they were bowled out for 255.

England’s inexperienced bowling attack, featuring three young spinners with three Test caps between them coming into the match, Tom Hartley leading the way with four for 77.

The trio were perfect, with the occasional drag down or full toss creeping in, but their readiness to keep rolling up to try their luck showed plenty of heart. At 211 for four, with Gill on 104, that did not look enough but they clubbed together to take the next six wickets for 44.

India turned up already 171 in front and with all 10 wickets intact, a formidable starting point if ever there was one. But it was England’s old stager James Anderson who had the first say.

At 41 – and with no other seam bowlers in the side – he showed no signs of weariness as he blew away the Indian openers.

More than half of a sold-out Sunday crowd were still queuing outside when he struck with his fourth ball of the morning, a beauty that stood up off the seam and hit the top of Rohit Sharma’s off stump as he looked ruefully over his shoulder.

Yashavi Jaiswal, following up his stunning double century, was next to succumb to Anderson’s unforgiving line and length as he flashed a drive to slip. When Gill was given lbw to Hartley with just four to his name, England seemed to be calling all the shots.

But he took a chance on DRS and seemed more surprised than anyone when replays suggested a thin edge. A few moments later he had another scare, this time saved on umpire’s call as Anderson rapped him front.

Having survived his double scare, the Punjabi added exactly a hundred more runs. In the context of the game, against opponents not easy to intimidate, it was a crucial knock.

When Anderson exited the attack, the control went with him. Gill took the lead past 200 by launching Shoaib Bashir for six and dashed to 50 with successive fours off Ahmed. He shared a stand of 81 with Shreyas Iyer but Stokes’ refusal to give up on a lost cause got England back in the struggle.

Racing 20 metres as the ball sailed over his head he tracked it perfectly, dived at full length and pulled off a magnificent take before celebrating in front of a small pocket of travelling fans.

Ben Foakes produced a smart take of his own to give England a fourth success in the morning session, staying low to snatch Rajat Patidar’s bottom edge. There runs were ticking by too though, 102 of them before lunch and another 97 in the afternoon.

Gill took a six and two fours off one Ahmed over as he took India 300 ahead and brought his third Test hundred up in 132 balls. Bashir finally got him when he gloved a sweep behind, leaving Hartley and Ahmed to share the last four wickets.

Srikar Bharat, Kuldeep Yadav and Bumrah made six between them and Ravichandran Ashwin a frustrating 29 after Crawley put him down on four.

England were left with 14 overs to face, but allowed India an important breakthrough when Ashwin had Duckett well caught by the wicketkeeper off bat and pad.

Ahmed was pushed up the order to save Ollie Pope the ordeal and showed his fearless nature with three risky shots in a row in the final over before stumps.

Stephen Curry was left frustrated after having no win to show for his 60-point haul in the Golden State Warriors' loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

Curry scored a season-high 60 points, while recording six rebounds and four assists, but the Warriors went down 141-134 in overtime on Saturday.

The Warriors are now 21-25 for the season, and 12th in the Western Conference.

Having fallen just two shy of his career-best 62 points, Curry became the 10th player in NBA history to register multiple 60-point games.

Yet the four-time champion was left with a sour taste in his mouth after watching Trae Young lead the Hawks to a fourth straight win with his 35 points.

"It sucks to not have something to show for it," Curry said.

"It's frustrating, obviously, not coming away with the win knowing a couple plays here, a couple plays there could have been a different outcome. It just adds to our frustrating season."

Draymond Green chipped in with seven points, six rebounds and eight assists for the Warriors, and despite the result, he was delighted to see Curry shine.

"It just seems he continues to get better, which is special at his age," Green said of Curry, while coach Steve Kerr added: "We competed like crazy but just couldn't get over the hump."

Young and Curry embraced on the court after the game, with the latter offering some advice to the Hawks star, who is averaging 27.3 points per game but missed out on an All-Star pick.

"I told him after the game it will all come back to him if he continues to approach the game in the right way," said Curry.

Scotland captain Finn Russell reflected on a range of emotions after his team ended their Cardiff hoodoo by thwarting an astonishing Wales fightback at the Principality Stadium.

A nerve-shredding 27-26 victory was Scotland’s first win in the Welsh capital since 2002, but it did not come before they were left staring at a 12th successive defeat as Wales threatened arguably the greatest Six Nations recovery act.

Having helped orchestrate a 27-point lead two minutes into the second half, Russell could have been excused for thinking it was a case of job done.

But Wales had other ideas, scoring four tries during 20 minutes of mayhem that included yellow cards for Scotland pair George Turner and Sione Tuipulotu, transforming what had been a hopelessly one-sided encounter.

Scotland also conceded 14 successive penalties, such was the ferocity and unrelenting nature of Wales’ all-court game.

Just when it was required, though, Scotland showed courage and composure during the closing minutes to dominate territory and go close to claiming a bonus-point fourth try.

“We had a really good first half and a brilliant start to the second, then a bit of complacency crept in,” Russell said.

“We had discipline issues in the second half which led to two yellow cards and them really getting on the front foot.

“But it showed that we’ve come quite a long way that we managed to win the game in the end. We held tough and did not allow them to get anything towards the end.

“I am probably a little bit disappointed with the second half, but overall it is a great start to the tournament for us. We’ve not won here in 22 years.

“We managed to dig it out in the end, but it shows how tough a place it (Cardiff) is to come. Wales never went away, and that was the pressure the team put us under, but also that the crowd getting involved.

“I’ve played in games with Scotland like that when we have lost, and that was the most pleasing thing, that we managed to find a way to win even though momentum, the crowd, everything was against us towards the end.

“There was loads of good stuff in that first half. With the way everything unfolded in the second half, I am a little bit down, a little bit frustrated, but when we look back there will be loads of positives to take.

“It (the second-half performance) was nowhere near where we need to be. But that is something we will address on Monday and we will build on the back of it and get ready for France (next weekend).”

Les Bleus will arrive at Murrayfield following a crushing defeat against Ireland, and Scotland can also take heart from beating France five times out of the last seven attempts in Edinburgh.

Their mission, though, will be undertaken without lock Richie Gray, who could miss the rest of this season’s Six Nations due to a biceps injury.

And flanker Luke Crosbie is a major doubt after hurting his shoulder, with Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend stating: “Both are in a lot of pain.

“Richie and the medics knew straight away it was a biceps injury. So that doesn’t look good for this Championship.

“Luke was a shoulder injury. It’s a painful one and that might settle. Let’s hope he has not done any significant damage there.”

Harvey Barnes is refusing to give up on Newcastle’s quest for a second successive top-four finish after drawing a line under his injury misery.

The 26-year-old had not kicked a ball in anger since September 24 after damaging a toe in the Magpies’ 8-0 Premier League win at Sheffield United just seven appearances into his career on Tyneside following a £38million summer switch from Leicester.

There were eight goals once again on his return, but thanks to his intervention they were shared evenly as Eddie Howe’s men, who had led 1-0 and 2-1, fought back from 4-2 down to snatch a 4-4 draw courtesy of his equaliser on a remarkable afternoon at St James’ Park.

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Asked afterwards if Newcastle – currently 13 points off fourth – could still make a push for the Champions League places, Barnes said: “This team is capable of great things, as we showed last year.

“We have shown it in spells this year too. When we are on top of our game, we can go on a great run and climb the table quickly.”

The Magpies, who ended a run of four successive Premier League defeats with a 3-1 win at in-form Aston Villa in midweek, looked to be on their way to another when Sean Longstaff fired them ahead and then after Gabriel Osho had levelled, restored their advantage.

However, with wide man Chiedozie Ogbene tormenting full-back Dan Burn from the off, the lead was never comfortable.

Ross Barkley made it 2-2 before the break, and Carlton Morris’ twice-taken penalty and a fourth from Elijah Adebayo had the Hatters in dreamland with 62 minutes played.

Howe chose to introduce Barnes in the aftermath and after Kieran Trippier had reduced the deficit, it was he who ultimately rescued a point with 17 minutes remaining as late flurries at both ends came to nothing.

Asked what his instructions had been, Barnes said: “I was just told to go out and make an impact. I’ve been out that long.

“This has been my toughest period in football, how long I’ve been out. Signing for a new club and being hit with injury is a hard thing. I have been working hard.

“It was great to get a goal, but disappointing not to get three points.”

Barnes’ return, along with that of striker Callum Wilson, provided Howe with a welcome boost, but Anthony Gordon’s half-time departure with an ankle injury and the concession of 10 goals in his side’s last three home games provided further food for thought.

Howe said: “The last few games here have been far from ideal defensively and it’s certainly something that we’ll go away and look at and try to find answers to.”

If Howe’s emotions were mixed, so too were those of opposite number Rob Edwards, whose disappointment at not hanging on to the lead was tempered by his pride in the performance.

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Edwards said: “It’s nice to be able to come to a huge ground like this, a huge football club, a team that’s been competing in the Champions League this year, a team that’s competing to get in the Champions League again this year and take the game to them.

“That’s pleasing and that’s good to see, but it doesn’t surprise me. We’ve been showing it now for quite a while.”

Ireland, England and Scotland made winning starts to the Guinness Six Nations on a dramatic opening weekend that provided many twists and turns.

Here, the PA news agency examines five things we learned from round one.

England broaden their horizons

While a too-close-for-comfort victory over Italy hardly paints a flattering picture of their performance in Rome, tactically the game was a welcome change in direction for England.

True to the word of Steve Borthwick and Jamie George, their head coach and captain, greater ambition was shown in attack than at the World Cup.

Marauding wing Tommy Freeman roaming the Stadio Olimpico provided the most obvious evidence of a change in thinking, but the sight of scrum-half Alex Mitchell taking on defenders in a way not seen at a kick-heavy France 2023 was possibly more telling.

Italy’s near miss

Italy making an encouraging start to the Six Nations before falling away in the later rounds is a familiar theme, but in Rome there were many impressive moments from the tournament’s perennial strugglers.

Not only was it the smallest margin of defeat in their 31 Tests against England, but the inspired Azzurri were sharp in attack with Tommaso Allan’s first-half try brilliantly constructed and finished.

They led 17-14 at the interval and outscored England 3-2 on the try count and should march into round two with a renewed sense of purpose even if it is Ireland they face.

A star is born

What Ireland’s rivals would give to have their own ‘Big’ Joe McCarthy, the hulking second-row who laid waste to France’s pack in a remarkable victory in Marseille.

A man-of-the-match performance on his Six Nations debut was evidence of his nation’s depth at lock with even the outstanding James Ryan unable to force his way into the starting XV.

McCarthy’s physicality was a throwback to old school tight five forward play and he took on the role of enforcer by bossing the collisions and breakdown as well as carrying hard. Every team should have one.

Les Bleus in post-World Cup limbo

The question of how France would recover from the crushing disappointment of exiting their home World Cup in the quarter-finals was answered emphatically at the Stade Velodrome.

Their hangover from the tournament was most visible in a passive defence, which was breached easily by Ireland.

It could be a long Six Nations unless Fabien Galthie finds the right buttons to push psychologically as well as providing a new sense of purpose in the wake of their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity being snatched away by a one-point defeat by South Africa.

The great entertainers

Scotland feature heavily in the recent Netflix documentary on the Six Nations and they are undoubtedly box office, although not always for reasons they would appreciate.

From amassing a sensational 27-0 lead against Wales in swashbuckling fashion to almost falling victim to the greatest comeback in Championship history, they can dazzle and confound in equal measure.

And with magician fly-half Finn Russell – the self-anointed Lionel Messi of rugby – pulling the strings, you can not take your eyes off them.

England boss Gareth Southgate watched from the stands as Jordan Henderson made his “special” Ajax debut in a 1-1 draw against PSV Eindhoven.

Former Liverpool captain Henderson played the full 90 minutes at the Johan Cruyff Arena as Steven Berghuis’ opener for Ajax was cancelled out by Luuk de Jong.

Henderson joined Ajax in mid-January after spending less than six months at Saudi Arabian club Al-Ettifaq, but his first appearance was delayed while he waited for a work permit.

The England midfielder said of Southgate’s visit: “Hopefully he picked a good game and he enjoyed the game.”

He added: “The atmosphere was incredible. Obviously it was a special day for me and my family.

“To represent this football club for the first time. That was special. And to play in this stadium was really special.”

De Jong equalised for PSV before half-time after Berghuis had given Ajax a 19th-minute lead.

Ajax trail runaway leaders PSV by 21 points in the Eredivisie table, but Henderson was delighted to have made his first appearance.

“I think there’s still a lot to improve on, but it’s been a privilege and an honour to play for this club,” Henderson told a post-match press conference.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t finish it in the end. But we’ve got a point to move on from.

“PSV have an amazing team, they’ve been unbeaten all season. But I thought we had some good chances to win the game towards the end. But unfortunately we couldn’t find the back of the net.”