A try by scrumhalf Danny Care spurred England to a nerve-jangling 13-10 victory over Ireland at Twickenham yesterday to create a four-way tie at the top of the Six Nations table.

Holders Wales, who beat France in Cardiff on Friday, the French, England and Ireland all have four points after three matches.

Attacking runs from the fullbacks opened up the match in the second half after England led 3-0 at the interval from the first of flyhalf Owen Farrell’s two penalties.

Ireland number 15 Rob Kearney touched down under the posts early in the second half after taking a short pass from number eight Jamie Heaslip, with flyhalf Jonny Sexton making the easy conversion.

A further Sexton penalty put Ireland ahead 10-3 with 30 minutes remaining before Farrell narrowed the gap with his second penalty.

England went back in front when a midfield break by fullback Mike Brown from captain Chris Robshaw’s pass set up Care and Farrell extended the lead to three points with a conversion in front of the posts and the hosts held on to claim the victory.

In Rome, a last-gasp drop goal from Duncan Weir helped Scotland to a dramatic 21-20 win over Italy and ended two weeks of soul-searching following their whitewash by England.

Centre Alex Dunbar scored two second-half tries for Scotland who fought back from 13-3 down at the interval to secure their first win of the tournament and relieve the pressure on under-fire coach Scott Johnson.

Italy’s Tommaso Allan contributed 13 points in the first half at the Stadio Olimpico and Joshua Furno crossed for a try 10 minutes from time to put the Italians 20-18 ahead.

But the Scotland forwards set up a solid attacking position and with seconds remaining Weir slotted over a drop goal to send the thousands of Scottish fans in Rome wild.

The victory secured Scotland their first points of the campaign in a match billed as a potential wooden-spoon decider and was the perfect response from the hosts to their meek 20-0 loss to England at Murrayfield last time out.

Standings
Ireland (2-0-1) 4; England (2-0-1) 4; Wales (2-0-1) 4; France (2-0-1) 4; Scotland (1-0-2) 2; Italy (0-0-3) 0.

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