Here are the latest rugby evening headlines on Sunday, February 13.
Shanklin calls for Davies to play against England
Former Wales centre Tom Shanklin believes Jonathan Davies made such an impact against Scotland that he deserves a starting berth against England at Twickenham.
Wayne Pivac's men head to English rugby headquarters in a fortnight - on Saturday, February 26 - off the back of a tense 20-17 win over Scotland in Cardiff.
The 33-year-old Scarlet Davies, who earned his 100th Test cap on Saturday, made a big impact off the bench when brought on after 67 minutes and crucially ripped the ball from Duhan van der Merwe to stop one dangerous looking Scotland foray.
While Shanklin doesn't believe Davies deserves a start based on Scarlets form pre-Six Nations, he believes he did enough during his 13-minute cameo to justify lining up from the off at Twickenham.
"He probably doesn't deserve to start at the moment if you're talking about club form," he explained on the Rugby Union Daily podcast.
"Yeah, there'd be loads of credit in the bank but there's probably players in the United Rugby Championship that are playing better than him, but it just shows what experience he has.
"He comes on, he takes the ball off Van Der Merwe straight away but it's also the stuff he does without the ball. There was a clear difference in line speed when he came on, in those outside channels, something that Wales lacked.
"Owen Watkin, Nick Tompkins - maybe they just don't have the confidence to rush up out of the line and get into players' eyelines because they think they're going to expose themselves. He did it and he forced Finn Russell, he forced Blair Kinghorn back inside to where the heavy traffic was that was clear.
"In that small space of time, he's probably done enough to start against England, because that's something that Wales lack."
Former Scotland captain Rory Lawson added: "I think when you consider the word 'experience' with Jon Davies, when you think about the world-class attacking players that he's had to defend against and therefore understanding how you back yourself, how you position yourself physically, how you create that defensive line and screen to essentially put/pull off the attack, it takes a lot of guts.
"The last tackle that led to the Wales turnover penalty was influenced by Jon Davies. He's an incredible rugby player who has bundles of experience and is playing in the most difficult position on the field to defend in."
England nil Italy in Rome
England have bounced back from defeat against Scotland to deal Italy their 99th defeat in the Six Nations with a bonus-point victory.
Eddie Jones' men ended the game at Rome's Stadio Olimpico 33-0, having been 21-0 ahead at the break.
Five tries came from the visitors: two from Jamie George and one apiece from Marcus Smith, Elliot Daly and Kyle Sinckler.
Man of the match Smith converted four from five attempts.
Italy have now lost their last 34 Six Nations matches.
France Grand Slam talk premature - Dupont
France star Antoine Dupont insists talk of a Six Nations Grand Slam is premature, despite Saturday's thrilling 30-24 victory over Ireland.
Les Bleus significantly boosted their chances of a first championship title since 2010 by halting Ireland's winning run at nine games with a spell-binding performance in Paris.
Fabien Galthie's table-toppers are the only team still in contention for a tournament clean sweep heading into a two-week break before round three.
But captain Dupont - who sparked a pulsating Stade de France encounter with a try after just 67 seconds - is not getting carried away.
"We're not going to talk about a Grand Slam for now," said the reigning world player of the year.
"We're going to focus on the next match, we know the challenge, we have our work cut out, we're going to rest for a while and then prepare for the match."
France travel to Scotland on February 26 and then have a trip to Wales before hosting England in the tournament finale.
Les Bleus have finished runners-up in the past two championships after damaging defeats to the Scots on each occasion.
Scrum-half Dupont is determined to make amends at Murrayfield in a fortnight's time.
"I think we have all learnt from the last two editions where we maybe lost the tournament after defeats to Scotland," said the 25-year-old.
"We know their team well. We will prepare this match, hoping we will be able to play for something nice in a month's time."
Scotland star insists team remain in Six Nations hunt
Stuart McInally maintains Scotland remain in the Six Nations title hunt despite failing to end their long wait for a Cardiff victory following Saturday's 20-17 defeat to Wales.
Dan Biggar's late drop goal condemned Scotland to an 11th successive Test defeat against Wales in Cardiff - a sequence which stretches back 20 years.
Scotland had beaten England seven days earlier and next meet France - the only unbeaten side in the Championship after two rounds - at Murrayfield on February 26.
Edinburgh hooker McInally said: "The initial feeling after a loss is devastation and disappointment, you want to deliver for the group and for the people of Scotland.
"You saw last week how it important it was for the whole of Scotland when you get the win.
"Hoggy [captain Stuart Hogg] spoke to the group really well after the game.
"It's disappointing, but the Championship's still wide open.
"We've got France at home next and we'll go into that full of belief. We've had some good results over them recently and we can't wait to move on."
Reigning Six Nations champions Wales went into the game low on confidence after being humbled by Ireland in Dublin on the opening weekend.
But Scotland failed to take advantage of Welsh fragility and indiscipline cost them dear as Northampton fly-half Biggar, making his 100th Test appearance, kept the scoreboard moving.
McInally said: "It wasn't good enough. The referee's arm was going out too quick. We weren't disciplined enough around the breakdown. Ultimately we stopped tries, but they were just kicking three points and keeping that scoreboard ticking.
"We couldn't get away from them and they were better than us. We were buzzing on the back of last week. But It's a long time since we've won here and we were under no illusion how hard it was going to be.
"Although we give a lot of credit to Wales for playing well and seeing that game out, we really feel we were sub-par. We know the opportunity we've missed. It's heart-breaking."
Ireland still have title hopes despite crushing loss
Scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park insists Ireland have not given up on the Six Nations title but concedes "serious teams win big away games" following a damaging defeat in France.
The Irish were on the back foot from the beginning of a pulsating evening in Paris after conceding a try to Antoine Dupont inside 67 seconds and trailed 22-7 early in the second period.
Gibson-Park's converted score moved Andy Farrell's men to within a single point with half an hour remaining but they were unable to complete a stunning comeback victory, eventually losing an enthralling encounter 30-24.
Ireland have now had five defeats from seven away games under head coach Farrell, including two at Stade de France, leaving Les Bleus in pole position for the championship.
Ireland next play at home against Italy on February 7 before travelling to England and then hosting Scotland.
"It's without a doubt the biggest game of my life, and there will be a lot of lessons to take from it," Gibson-Park said.
"They are a serious team and they've outdone us, but I think there's still hope in the competition.
"We'll recover well for Italy, and all we can do is try and win the rest of our games and see how the competition plays out, but we're still hopeful.
"Serious teams win big away games and we didn't quite get there, but we'll get another crack later on in the championship [at Twickenham]."
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