LONDON - Ireland and Wales recorded impressive away victories over Scotland and Italy respectively on Saturday to both make it two wins out of two in the 2005 Six Nations.
Ireland recovered from a sticky start to thump Scotland 40-13 at Murrayfield while Wales overwhelmed a below-par Italy 38-8 in
Rome.
Italy's coach, New Zealander John Kirwan, was understandably less happy as all the good work of last week seemed to be undone.
"If we play under our level, we will get beaten," said the former All Black.
Ireland, seeking their first title in 20 years and second grand slam, now face back-to-back home games against England and France, who meet at Twickenham on Sunday.
Wales last won the tournament 11 years ago -- the last time they won their opening two games -- but face a real test of their improvement when they play France in Paris on February 26.
Ireland, who beat Italy last week, turned on the style in the second half after their forwards had taken control of the match midway through the first following an early Hugo Southwell try and a Chris Paterson penalty for the hosts.
Tries for Malcolm O'Kelly, in his Irish record 70th appearance, and fellow lock Paul O'Connell, together with the boot of first five-eighths Ronan O'Gara put them 18-8 ahead at halftime.
Second-half tries for winger Denis Hickie, prop John Hayes and replacement winger Gavin Duffy, just a few minutes after coming on for his international debut, confirmed Ireland's dominance.
"Once we were into the game we got the rhythm we were looking for and scored at crucial times on each side of half time" said Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan.
O'Kelly said while Scotland had come out firing, Ireland knew it was only a matter of time before they stamped their authority on the match.
"It was tough to begin with and we really had to stick to our guns," said O'Kelly. "We went out to play a really simple game but we showed a bit of flair at the end.
"We are delighted and can go on with a bit of confidence. "
There was no shortage of that in the Wales team, who, following last week's 11-9 Cardiff win over England, swarmed all over Italy from the start.
Wingers Shane Williams and Hal Luscombe combined in the sixth minute to hand flanker Jonathan Thomas the opening try.
First five-eighths Luciano Orquera poached a chargedown try soon after but it was only a temporary respite in the face of sustained Welsh forward pressure, which led to centre Tom Shanklin catching a Gavin Henson kick to score in the corner.
Italy looked a shadow of the team who pushed Ireland last week and in missing three early kicks at goal they echoed that performance before Wales made it 19-5 at the break with a score by flanker Martyn Williams.
It remained mostly one-way traffic in the second half when locks Brent Cockbain and Robert Sidoli scored either side of a slick Shane Williams try.
Wales now travel to Paris with their fans talking about the championship, but coach Mike Ruddock was remaining calm.
"To be honest I've not really thought about it yet. We're concentrating on one match at a time," he said.
"France are next and they have a great history of winning championships and grand slams, so I assume it will be tougher. "
- REUTERS
LONDON - Ireland and Wales recorded impressive away victories over Scotland and Italy respectively on Saturday to both make it two wins out of two in the 2005 Six Nations.
Ireland recovered from a sticky start to thump Scotland 40-13 at Murrayfield while Wales overwhelmed a below-par Italy 38-8 in
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