Advertisement

Six Nations talking points

Ireland may be running in plenty of tries, 13 in the last two games including five against Wales, but they also have conceded six in those fixtures

Scotland threw the Six Nations wide open by beating defending champions England 25-13, leaving Ireland as the only team who can complete a Grand Slam after a dramatic 37-27 win over Wales. Italy's slump continued with a 34-17 loss in France. AFP highlights the key talking points from the third round of matches: - Russell rewards Townsend risk - Scotland coach Gregor Townsend could easily have decided to leave out Finn Russell following a below-par display in the opening 34-7 loss to Wales and after taking off the fly-half in the closing stages of the come-from-behind win over France. Instead he saw the Glasgow No 10 help create all three Scotland tries -- a well-judged grubber kick for Huw Jones's opening try followed by defence-splitting passes as they ended a decade of Calcutta Cup hurt. "I've heard people describe him as high risk, high reward," said double try-scorer Jones of Russell. "And he is like that. We got the reward. We want to play at pace and take opportunities when they present themselves. Gregor gives us licence to go out and, if we see something, go through with it." - Ireland defence concerns Schmidt - Ireland may be running in plenty of tries -- 13 in the last two games including five against Wales -- but they also have conceded six in those fixtures, including three to Italy. It is a worry for coach Joe Schmidt and led to questions over the defensive form of long-serving fullback Rob Kearney. Scotland, Ireland's next opponents, possess several dynamic attacking threats with fullback Stuart Hogg, who is due a big game, having scored three tries in the Celtic rivals' last two encounters. "We were caught out wide and that is a concern when Scotland have the likes of Sean Maitland," said Schmidt. "I think we helped them (Wales) a little bit we had guys doing different things but we can repair a lot of that." - Italy suffer more late woe - Italy captain Sergio Parisse insisted his side doesn't suffer from fitness shortcomings following their 34-17 defeat in France, but there was no disguising that they again collapsed in the final 20 minutes. An hour into the match at Marseille's Stade Velodrome on Friday, France held a precarious 14-10 lead but 15 minutes later the game was dead and buried following tries from Hugo Bonneval and Mathieu Bastareaud. Italy's 15th straight defeat in the competition -- their worst run since joining the Six Nations in 2000 -- means a 13th wooden spoon in 19 championships looks a certainty.