Wales continued their record-breaking run of terrible form, while France yet again came up short when it really mattered.
Have England finally turned a corner or was Steve Borthwick just lucky?
This week, plenty of players and teams saw themselves put in surprisingly good or bad performances, here are some of the biggest stock risers and fallers from the weekend.
Risers
Fin Smith
In his first Test start he was simply outstanding, and his boot gave England a massive platform to build from.
Two assists from kicks and a perfect rate from the tee, he was unplayable in possession and France did not have any answers.
He showed great intelligence and after the Cadan Murley performance against France, gives fans hope that there is a group of Test ready players coming up through the ranks.
Steve Borthwick
A lot of scrutiny is given to Borthwick, and one result will not completely change that, but he has won a lot of credit for the way he set the team up.
Tactically they were equal to France and while there was fortune involved in the win due to errors from the visitors, they stuck to the gameplan.
One swallow does not make a summer, but this could be a game which is looked back on as the turning point of Borthwick’s tenure.
Ireland’s half backs
Sam Prendergast and Jamison Gibson-Park ran the show against Scotland and both deserve equal amounts of credit.
They both showed great intelligence in all aspects of their play and proved too much to deal with.
Having multiple threats at half back gives uncertainty to the opposition which ends up freeing up space elsewhere, which is what happened in this game.
Should Ireland go on to win the Grand Slam, these two will be staking their claim as the best duo in World Rugby.
With Jack Crowley on the bench, even the depth is unbelievable.
Simon Easterby
After Andy Farrell’s decision to focus on Lions duty and not take the helm at Ireland for the Six Nations, people questioned whether Simon Easterby would be good enough to lead them to glory.
It looks as if he was a great appointment as interim and he seems to be getting the best out of the players and continuing with the Farrell style of play.
In what could have been a banana skin for Ireland, his team eased past Scotland, which is testament to the coaching.
Lorenzo Cannone
Italy’s backrow all had very good games against Wales, but Cannone was a cut above.
The saying goes that 71% of Earth is covered by water, the rest by Lorenzo Cannone.
He was absolutely everywhere and his stats were absurdly good.
16 tackles, 12 carries, four defenders beaten and 67 metres made sum up the fact that he was unbelievable in basically everything that an eight needs to be good at.
Some player.
Fallers
Antoine Dupont
A slightly controversial one because one game does not define a player, but Dupont was disappointing against England.
Still obviously amongst the best in the world, his lack of impact was astounding against what was supposed to be a weak England team.
He dropped a hugely catchable pass on the way to the try line which cost his side.
Despite being the best team on paper in the competition for a few years now, this golden generation of French talent really know how to mess things up, Dupont included.
Scotland’s depth
Before the competition, there were talks that Scotland could make a potential push for the title, but it has become abundantly clear that this is not going to happen this year.
The starting XV is not far off any team, but it is the lack of depth which kills them.
Off the bench, it is hard to see anyone who is going to particularly change a game, and should they have a better set of replacements, they may have run Ireland close.
WRU and Warren Gatland
Wales’ problems run deeper than Warren Gatland, but he must take some of the blame for the position they find themselves in.
The WRU need accountability for letting the game stagnate and it seems like the organisation as a whole needs wholesale changes.
It is their worst spell ever and sad to see for neutrals, as well as devaluing the competition as right now there is a huge gap between them and even Italy.
With only five games per year, having a team so far behind means that 20% of the games are effectively meaningless.
Italy have been that team in the past but are at least on an upwards trajectory.
Change is needed.
