Another dramatic weekend in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations saw Scotland retain the Calcutta Cup – yet again – handing England their first defeat of the Championship. That result ensured Ireland remain the only side left with a chance of the Grand Slam.
Andy Farrell’s men had recorded another resounding win earlier in the day, with each of their victories coming by 20+ points so far this year. In contrast, the remaining six matches in the Championship in 2024 have been decided by a combined margin of 19 points.
The tightest match of all in this year’s Six Nations took place on Sunday, with France and Italy playing out a draw in Lille. It was a case of what could have been for the Azzurri, as their rushed, last-minute kick to win the game hit the post, denying them just a third win in the last 10 years.
Our experts from OptaJonny dive into the key facts and post-match data from the third round of Six Nations 2024 fixtures to see where each game was won and lost…
Ireland 31-7 Wales
- Ireland have now won their last 11 matches in the Six Nations, the joint most by any team in the history of the Championship (inc. Home/Five Nations), equalling England’s run of 11 victories between 2015 and 2017.
- Ireland have now won each of their last 18 Test matches on home soil, their longest ever such run in Test rugby. Only England (22 between 1999 & 2003) and New Zealand (30 between 2003 & 2008 and 47 between 2009 & 2017) have recorded longer winning runs at home in men’s Tier 1 Test rugby.
- Wales conceded 12 penalties against Ireland, three more than they conceded across their first two matches of this year’s Six Nations combined (Nine in total, four vs Scotland, five vs England).
- Ireland’s Dan Sheehan scored his fourth try in this year’s Six Nations and his seventh in the competition overall, making him the outright top try-scoring hooker since Italy joined the Championship in 2000 (previously tied with Jamie George).
- Ireland captain Peter O’Mahony made his 50th appearance in the Men’s Six Nations; becoming the ninth Ireland player to reach that milestone in the Championship (Rory Best, Ronan O’Gara, Brian O’Driscoll, Cian Healy, Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray, John Hayes, Paul O’Connell).
Scotland 30-21 England
- Scotland have won four consecutive Men’s Six Nations home matches against England for the first time since 1893-1896 (incl. Home/Five Nations).
- Scotland have now lost just one of their last seven Six Nations matches against England (W5 D1), having gone winless in nine against them previously (D1 L8).
- England have trailed at half-time in each of their last five Men’s Six Nations matches, their longest ever run of half-time deficits in the Six Nations era.
- George Ford scored just the third drop goal in the Men’s Six Nations this decade (also Dan Biggar vs Scotland in 2022 and Thomas Ramos vs Ireland in 2023). It was Ford’s second successful drop goal attempt in the Championship (also vs Ireland in 2015).
- Duhan van der Merwe became the first player to score a hat-trick against England in the Six Nations era and the first to do so in any match against England since New Zealand’s Julian Savea in June 2014.
- Duhan van der Merwe has scored six tries against England in the Six Nations, twice as many as he has against any other team in the Championship. He’s now scored 26 tries overall for Scotland, overtaking Darcy Graham, Ian Smith and Tony Stanger (24 each) as Scotland’s second top try-scorer in men’s Test rugby, just one behind Stuart Hogg (27).
France 13-13 Italy
- France and Italy played out the eighth draw in the Men’s Six Nations and the first since 2019 (England 38-38 Scotland). It was France’s third draw in the Championship (also vs Ireland in 2012 and 2013) and Italy’s second (also vs Wales in 2006).
- France have failed to win a home Test match against Italy for the first time since March 1997 (32-40) and for just the second time overall (W25 D1 L1).
- France have failed to win their last three home games (D1 L2), their longest run without victory on home soil since a run of four games between 2017 and 2018 (D1 L3).
- Cyril Baille won his 50th cap for France in this match, while teammate Romain Taofifenua also came off the bench to win his 50th cap for Les Bleus.
- Charles Ollivon scored his 16th try for France in this match, with 14 of those tries coming since the beginning of 2020 – Ardie Savea is the only Tier 1 forward to have scored more so far this decade (15).
- Meanwhile, Ange Capuozzo scored his 11th try for Italy since making his debut in 2022, more than any other Azzurri player in that period.
Enjoy this? Check out our other Rugby Union content on Opta Analyst. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.