Six Nations 2023

Warren Gatland's Wales head to Rome hoping to avoid their first wooden spoon in 20 years.

"I just wanted to be out on the pitch with the boys. "Dafydd Jenkins is still learning his roles in terms of calling the lineouts, defensively, but he has got a bit of a hard edge about him. I've always wanted to be involved in the Wales team and have that number nine jersey. "But my son's age group were going to watch the game in the Principality Stadium with his rugby team and he asked if I could go. It is what it is, and we have to get on with things." Rhys Webb ends a six-year Guinness Six Nations absence in the Wales number nine shirt today, admitting he did not even want to watch the team play during his international exile. It was also the first time Wales under-20s had finished on the losing side in Italy, proving to be a desperately disappointing night. Wales head coach Warren Gatland revealed on Thursday that a threat of possible player strike action before the Six Nations appointment with England last month caused a significant split and tension within his squad. With the financial situation, there might be some opportunity to free up some salaries, I don't know the ins and outs of how that works. If an offer comes over it wouldn't just be about the club, I've got a young family as well, so it needs to be right for me as well. If they lose by more than 15 points, however, they will drop to a shambolic 13th place below the likes of Samoa and Georgia. Successive defeats against Ireland, Scotland and England have left Wales scrambling around the Six Nations basement, yet to break their points duck and scoring only three tries in more than four hours of rugby.

One of his vice-skippers, prop Ellis Genge, will lead the team instead. It's a bold decision from Borthwick but one he hopes will pay off handsomely as England ...

It is a bit of a mystery at the moment. I thought we would get a measure of where we are at, there is a big gap between us and the top teams in the world. We are way off where we want to be. “It was a very special game for us and we tried to make it count. “We played the way we wanted to play... "Certainly you have to give immense credit to France and they are clearly a world-class team. “That is one of our worst performances and we were punished numerous times. Thibaud Flament crossed twice, so did Charles Ollivon and the excellent Thomas Ramos claimed a try to boot. “It was great to score. It shows we’re on the right path. It’s our biggest performance in a while.” Thibaut Flament, Charles Ollivon and Damian Penaud all notched braces for France, who got a very early score from the sublime Thomas Ramos as they won by a staggering 43 points, 53-10.

Minute-by-minute report: 'Le Crunch' returns with this year's edition at Twickenham. Join Lee Calvert.

The first penalty of the match for England is despatched to touch on the France 22 by Smith. Marchand goes over the top of the lineout to Fickou, but the contact skills are poor from France and the ball is back in England hands around halfway. Smith has a short dart into the France 22 and the fast recycle finds Malins who nudges the ball with his toe into touch near the goal-line. England are disorganised in backfield and Dupont, eyes like a stocky hawk, spots this and blooters a left footed 50:22 from the base of the ruck to give his side a lineout deep in England territory. From the scrum, England finally get some quicker ball from the breakdown, but the French defence covers the phases well. A horrible restart drill from England leaves Dombrandt isolated and a huge French counter-ruck wins a penalty. The England forwards go hard at the France pack in the scrum. The scrum completes with England trying a similar move to that which led to a try vs Wales via the inside pop to Malins. France hammer the England tacklers, but again the home side are up to it, but the blue waves continue to come as the visitors’ dominance is reasserted. The ball comes loose as Smith releases it and England do nothing with it so Ollivon reaches over to press down on the ball. Itoje nabs the ball in the breakdown and puts England on the attack before the ball is lost in the French 22. As the clock ticks into the red, France have a pen on their 5m line.

Wales player ratings: Warren Gatland's Wales have been under fire so far this tournament, not favoured to win a basement battle with Italy.

[Dillon Lewis](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/dillon-lewis/) – 6.5 Cleaned up a lot of mess brilliantly including a late Italian lineout. Beard’s best performance for Wales in a while. [Dafydd Jenkins](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/dafydd-jenkins/) – 6.5 Fantastic to see Webb have a good game. Nailed an awesome 50/22 at the end of the first half. Timed a pass to Adams beautifully for a second-half break. Defensively very solid against one of the fastest attacking teams in the tournament. [Josh Adams](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/josh-adams/) – 6.5 Williams needed a solid performance and he delivered. Their performance against England was difficult to quantify, with Italy playing well but not winning – yet… Wales responded with an excellent performance and an unexpected bonus point win.

England crash to record 53-10 defeat against France at Twickenham; France score seven tries to keep Six Nations title hopes alive; Wales record 29-17 win ...

Marcus Smith's introduction to the starting XV couldn't inspire England to a result against France, who secured their first Six Nations win at Twickenham ...

That applied the finishing touches to England's biggest home loss in history (or Five and Four Nations, for that matter), highlighting a dire need for changes ahead of this year's "We played the way we wanted to play. That try illustrated the gulf in impetus between the two teams, with England lacking the alertness and physicality of their guests. It shows we're on the right path." France flexed their ingenuity for Ollivon's brace in particular, the back-rower nonchalantly reaching over England's ruck to dot down following Ramos' all-too-simple break and chip deep into enemy territory. "We got exposed today," he told Stand-in fly-half Smith briefly narrowed the lead with a paltry penalty soon after, only for France to hit back before the break. We probably have to be better in the contact area which is on the forwards." The Red Rose showed signs of blooming in an improved second half but was left with too much to do after heading in at the break 27-3 down. [Bristol](https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/bristol-rugby)'s [Ellis Genge](https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/ellis-genge) said he 'wouldn't sugar coat' his analysis after standing in as captain for the absent Farrell, praising the "brilliant" Bleus while adding England "are way off where we want to be." Charles Ollivon, Thibaud Flament and Damian Penaud each scored two tries apiece as Les Bleus banked their first Six Nations win at Headquarters since 2005. [Steve Borthwick](https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/steve-borthwick)'s [England](https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/england-rugby-union-team) revolution stalled at Twickenham on Saturday after [France](https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/france-rugby-union-team) flew to a record-breaking 53-10 [Six Nations](https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/six-nations) win in hostile territory.

France player ratings: No matter what the fortunes of either side going into it, England-France in the Guinness Six Nations is always a...

Monstered [Ellis Genge](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/ellis-genge/) on 40 minutes which directly lead to Ollivon’s try. Sipili Faletea’s star turn two weekends ago wasn’t quite followed up here, with Genge getting into him at the setpiece. No quarter was shown to the English at the breakdown and the La Rochelle man won pretty much every moment in which he was involved. Did brilliantly at the less glamourous stuff, pouncing on a loose ball that had questionably popped out of an English ruck saving France’s jambon with English moving ominously towards their try line. Made a telling open-field contribution for France’s first try and got one of his own after accelerating onto a fine Dupont pop pass close to the English line. Latched onto Lewis Ludlum for a timely jackal that led to an attacking lineout for France. Used as an effective carry option twice in the opening three minutes. So effortlessly cool that he looks bored most of time. Bar one shanked effort, he kicked well with ball in hand. No box office moments this week even if his mere presence seemed to unnerve a feverish English midfield, who were suffering the effect of severe ball starvation. Showed his mettle in the frequent high-stakes kicking battles that littered the first half. Worryingly bad from England and frightening good at times from France.

England will be hoping to put pressure on Ireland at the top of the Six Nations standings as they take on France in Le Crunch at Twickenham.

To be able to have Owen [Farrell] to come on and finish the game' But England undo their hard work conceding a penalty for handling the ball on the floor. But play is called back by the referee as England have the advantage and kick to the corner with the resulting penalty. England recover the ball and clear their lines. France have certainly got off on the front foot, with England making several mistakes. According to Opta, their 24-point lead is the largest any side has had at half time over England in the Six Nations. The home side have not quite mounted a fluid attack yet. I thought it was a well selected team [England], I thought it was the best selected team he could have put out. But just the physicality and the athleticism of the French team was amazing. It looks as though the French openside Ollivon may have scored with the TMO checking now! Fickou's excellent vision see's Alex Dombrant mismatched against Penaud on the wing, and while Dombrant gets the tap on the France 14, he can't quite bring him down. I think I sugar-coat it, probably one of the worst performances we’ve had.

England player ratings vs France as Steve Borthwick's men looked to make it three wins in a row in the 2023 Six Nations.

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England player ratings live from Twickenham: This was savage, a brutal record beating as England were blown away by France.

[Henry Arundell](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/henry-arundell/) – 3.5 Quickly upped the tempo and gave the assist for Steward. An awful day ended with Penaud leaving him for dead for the first of his late tries. Was the other player involved in not preventing the offload on halfway that got France up and running with their opening score. Similar to Sinckler, he badly fell foul of referee O’Keeffe in the opening 15 minutes and was always on the back foot from there. Looked to be improving during February, but this display was a dire collapse as he was outfought by the opposition grunt. First-time captain endured a horrible experience in which he contributed to his team’s slow start with a deflating 12th-minute knock-on. That gave the French a soft mark to clear from their 22. His 60-minute appearance went from bad to worse after that. No one could quibble that he didn’t deserve his place, but he was blown away here and hooked on 46 for Farrell. That tick has now been well and truly inked, the swashbuckling Les Bleus’ winning at English Rugby HQ for the first time since 2005. All that palaver was marked absent in a filthy rout where their back row essentially never got off the bus.

England crash to record 53-10 defeat against France at Twickenham; France score seven tries to keep Six Nations title hopes alive; Wales record 29-17 win ...

Meet the referee in charge of the Scotland v Ireland Six Nations game at Murrayfield Stadium.

You can watch the match live on Pearce is a regular referee in the English Premiership and has refereed games at European level since 2019. Ireland on the other hand will want to keep their momentum going off the back of a 20-34 victory over Italy. As with the November tests and The Rugby Championship, the Guinness Six Nations represents another opportunity for a talented group of match officials with a superb work ethic to help facilitate more excellent tests in what is probably the most competitive period in men’s rankings history.” Talking about the selection process ahead of the tournament, Whether decisions go your team’s way or not, there’s a good chance the referee will become a talking point of Saturday’s game.

Everything you need to know about the crucial Scotland vs Ireland Six Nations 2023 match at Murrayfield. (FILES) In this file photo taken on February 4, ...

But they face a huge obstacle to that goal in the form of Josh van der Flier and Peter O’Mahony. Their chemistry has been on show this year and with Russell inside them, their line-breaking abilities are being given the perfect platform to shine. As burly as they may be, Italy found success in heading straight for the outside channels. Tries have become a natural byproduct of their front foot ball and flawless execution; they have become All Blacks-esque under Farrell and it can be near impossible to handle. Regardless of Ireland’s preparation and defensive structure, the possibility of the Racing 92 fly-half splitting them apart at times is entirely real. Johnny Sexton returns to the Ireland starting line-up after a groin injury ruled him out of the Italy match, with his Leinster understudy Ross Byrne standing in.

France's first Championship win at Twickenham in 18 years was as big as it was historic, and social media was loving the French flair on show.

Just a thought. [March 11, 2023] Now, realise it’s a big ask – but if you could just hold back on getting the bonus point. Know a couple of million of people who would greatly appreciate it.

Updates from Saturdays Six Nations round four matches; Italy host Wales at Stadio Olimpico (2.15pm), before England tackle defending champions France at ...