Wales secure Six Nations Grand Slam, England rescue a late draw against the Scottish, Rebels’ unbeaten streak halted by the Lions, and the Reds scrape past the Sunwolves. Check out match highlights and five talking points from this weekend in rugby.
High drama as England rescue late draw against Scotland
England scored a late converted try to rescue a 38-38 draw against a bitterly disappointed Scotland in the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham on Saturday.
It was a quite stunning 80 minutes on Saturday as the Scots appeared to have done the unthinkable when they came back from 31-0 down to go 38-31 in front with four minutes remaining on the match clock. But George Ford had other ideas with time up in the clash to save English blushes.
Wales make light work of Ireland to claim Grand Slam
Wales were far too good for Ireland in Cardiff on Saturday, as they secured their third Grand Slam under the stewardship of Warren Gatland with an outstanding 25-7 victory.
Saving their best performance for the final game, they were magnificent, opening up an early 7-0 advantage through Hadleigh Parkes’ try, before Gareth Anscombe carried on their good work by kicking three penalties for a 16-0 lead.
In contrast, Joe Schmidt’s team were abysmal. Ill-disciplined and lacking any creativity, they never particularly looked like breaching the hosts’ stout defence. Instead, it was the Welsh that looked assured in difficult conditions and Anscombe added three more three-pointers to complete a wonderful campaign.
Lions mount stunning fightback to beat Rebels
The Lions fought back from 33-5 down to beat the Rebels 36-33 courtesy of an incredible second-half comeback at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The Rebels looked to have done enough to secure victory after a dominant first-half performance, but the Lions were able to produce an incredible four-try blitz in the final half hour to draw level, before substitute Gianni Lombard converted the winning penalty after the hooter to complete the dramatic turnaround.
Reds scrape past Sunwolves in Tokyo
The Queensland Reds mounted a superb second-half comeback to clinch a 31-34 Super rugby victory over the Sunwolves in Japan on Saturday.
The Reds left it late, though, as Hamish Stewart converted a 79th-minute penalty to help the visitors claim their first win of the Super Rugby campaign and move off the foot the overall standings.
Highlanders v Crusaders game postponed
The Highlanders versus Crusaders game was on Saturday cancelled after Friday’s terror attacks in Christchurch which saw 49 people killed.
New Zealand Rugby’s Chief Rugby Officer Nigel Cass said the decision to cancel the match was made after urgent meetings with both teams, venue management, police and community organisations involved in responses to yesterday’s terrorist attacks in Christchurch.
