England’s narrow win over France was the highlight of a gripping weekend of Guinness Six Nations action, but there were also wins for Italy and Ireland.
A second successive wooden spoon awaits for a team that have not won since the 2023 World Cup and the writing appears to be on the wall for Gatland, who has fixtures against Ireland, Scotland and England to save his job.
Ousting the swashbuckling Marcus Smith from the number 10 jersey brought added pressure to his full debut and while, in his own words, he began “like a rabbit in the headlights”, by he end he was calling the shots as if a seasoned campaigner.
England head coach Steve Borthwick has been calling for greater impact from his bench and the reinforcements delivered in style against France.
This Six Nations looks like another false dawn for Scottish rugby and they head to Twickenham on Saturday week needing to produce a significant improvement on this lacklustre effort.
