Six Nations 2020 LIVE rugby results: France vs Italy and Scotland vs England reaction

1/52
George Flood9 February 2020

Welcome to the Evening Standard’s live Six Nations commentary of France vs Italy.

The second round of fixtures concluded in Paris this afternoon as Les Bleus beat the Azzurri 35-22 to make it back-to-back triumphs under new head coach Fabien Galthie.

Italy were much improved after a 42-0 shellacking on opening weekend, yet were powerless to prevent their run of Six Nations defeats from stretching to 24 matches. They have not won a game in the tournament since 2015.

On Saturday, England battled to a Calcutta Cup victory in stormy weather against Scotland at Murrayfield after Ireland ended Wales' hopes of a second successive Grand Slam in Dublin.

Follow all of the action live this weekend...

Six Nations results and fixtures

Round one

Wales 42-0 Italy - Principality Stadium, Saturday 1 February

Ireland 19-12 Scotland - Aviva Stadium, Saturday 1 February

France 24-17 England - Stade de France, Sunday 2 February

Round two

Ireland 24-14 Wales - Aviva Stadium, Saturday 8 February

Scotland 6-13 England - BT Murrayfield, Saturday 8 February

France 35-22 Italy - Stade de France, Sunday 9 February

Round three

Italy v Scotland - Stadio Olimpico, Saturday 22 February

Wales vs France - Principality Stadium, Saturday 22 February

England vs Ireland - Twickenham, Sunday 23 February

Round four

Ireland vs Italy - Aviva Stadium, Saturday 7 March

England vs Wales - Twickenham, Saturday 7 March

Scotland vs France - BT Murrayfield, Sunday 8 March

Round five

Wales vs Scotland - Principality Stadium, Saturday 14 March

Italy vs England - Stadio Olimpico, Saturday 14 March

France vs Ireland - Stade de France, Saturday 14 March

1 February 2020

Scotland team

Starting XV: Hogg; Maitland, Jones, Johnson, Kinghorn; Hastings, Price; Sutherland, Brown, Fagerson; Cummings, Gray; Ritchie, Watson, Haining

Replacements: McInally, Dell, Berghan, Toolis, Du Preez, Horne, Hutchinson, Harris

1 February 2020

Ireland team

Starting XV: Larmour; Conway, Ringrose, Aki, Stockdale; Sexton, Murray; Healy, Herring, Furlong; Henderson, Ryan; Stander, Van der Flier, Doris

Replacements: Kelleher, Kilcoyne, Porter, Toner, O'Mahony, Cooney, Byrne, Henshaw

1 February 2020

Scotland team news

AFP via Getty Images 

Scotland's Adam Hastings deputises for Finn Russell, whose participation in the entire tournament remains unclear.

Gregor Townsend also has a debutant at no8 in the form of Edinburgh's Nick Haining, while Hamish Watson and Jamie Ritchie complete the back row with Magnus Bradbury sidelined due to a thigh strain.

There are 10 changes in total to the side that lost to Japan in October, with Stuart Hogg succeeding Stuart McInally as captain.

1 February 2020

Ireland team news

AFP via Getty Images 

Andy Farrell is set to hand Leinster no8 Caelan Doris a senior international debut against Scotland, with CJ Stander switching to blindside flanker and Josh van der Flier on the opposite side as Peter O'Mahony starts on the bench.

Jordan Larmour is deemed fit enough to take his place at full-back, Conor Murray gets the nod over John Cooney at 9 and Bundee Aki - whose World Cup campaign ended prematurely with that red card against Samoa - is preferred to Robbie Henshaw in the centres.

Rob Herring is in at hooker following the retirement of former captain Rory Best, with the uncapped Rory Kelleher named among the replacements.

Johnny Sexton leads the side from fly-half.

1 February 2020

Italy team

Starting XV: Minozzi; Sarto, Morisi, Canna, Bellini; Allan, Braley; Zilocchi, Bigi (c), Lovotti; Zanni, Cannone; Negri, Polledri, Steyn

Replacements: Zani, Fischetti, Riccioni, Lazzaroni, Budd, Licata, Palazzani, Hayward

1 February 2020

Wales team

Starting XV: Halfpenny; McNicholl, North, Parkes, Adams; Biggar, T Williams; Wyn Jones, Owens, Lewis; Ball, AW Jones (c); Wainwright, Tipuric, Faletau

Replacements: Elias, R Evans, Brown, Hill, Moriarty, Webb, J Evans, Tompkins

1 February 2020

Italy team news

AFP via Getty Images 

Italy's starting line-up features two fly-halves, with Tommaso Allan at 10 and Carlo Canna in midfield.

Niccolo Cannone wins his first cap in the second row and Leonardo Sarto is recalled on the wing.

There is no Sergio Parisse for the Azzurri, with the iconic no8 - who has been succeeded as captain by hooker Luca Bigi - only set to feature in one or both of Italy's home matches against Scotland and England as he bids farewell to international rugby.

He was originally supposed to retire at the World Cup, only for a final appearance to be cancelled as a result of Typhoon Hagibis.

Following the departure of former head coach Conor O'Shea to the RFU, Italy are under the interim management of South African Franco Smith, who played for and later spent six years in charge of Treviso between 2007-13.

1 February 2020

Wales team news

AFP via Getty Images 

Wales are without a host of players for the duration of the tournament including Jonathan Davies, Gareth Anscombe, Hallam Amos and Tomas Francis, while Liam Williams and Josh Navidi miss out today.

George North is selected to play at outside centre with Scarlets' Johnny McNicholl making his international debut on the wing and Saracens' former England youth international Nick Tompkins earning a spot on the bench.

Rhys Webb is also named among the replacements with his Wales eligibility restored after leaving Toulon early, but Tomos Williams gets the nod at scrum-half and Dillon Lewis is drafted in at tighthead prop.

After an injury nightmare that has seen him ruled out of international rugby since early 2018, Taulupe Faletau is back at no8, though there is no room in the squad for uncapped Gloucester wing Louis Rees-Zammit.

1 February 2020

Opening weekend fixtures

Getty Images 

Our first port of call today is Cardiff, where defending Grand Slam champions Wales take on Italy.

That match kicks off at 2:15pm GMT.

Then it's off to Dublin, where the Andy Farrell era begins for Ireland at 4:45pm against a Scotland outfit crucially missing maverick fly-half Finn Russell.

England kick off their campaign against a youthful France in Paris on Sunday afternoon...

31 January 2020

Hello and welcome to Standard Sport's LIVE coverage of the 2020 Six Nations!

Latest updatesOlder updates