The sin bins of Ireland back row Stephen Ferris and Wales second row Bradley Davies for dangerous tackles during the Six Nations clash at the Aviva stadium on Sunday have reignited a debate that has become a chronic issue since Alain Rolland sent off Sam Warburton in the World Cup semi-final last year, and marred what was an entertaining opening weekend in the Six Nations.

The first tackle from Bradley Davies on Ireland second row Donnacha Ryan was reckless, dangerous and without a doubt the correct decision-yellow card and a penalty to Ireland. The second from Stephen Ferris on Ian Evans was to the letter of the law a penalty-despite no clear danger on the Welsh lock and thus the absurdity of the two decisions arises with the equality of the resulting punishments-both players receiving yellow cards. The decisions would suggest that the two tackles are comparable in their severity which is almost farcical, and unless common sense prevails and the IRB clarify the ruling on what is a tip tackle, and what should be penalised, people will cavil tirelessly over something that is having drastic effects on the outcome of games.

In between the contentious decisions the two teams took part in what was a pulsating encounter weaved with skill, pace and astonishing physicality. Wales went into the break trailing 10-5 despite dominating the majority of the first half. They dominated territory with the precision of their kicking kicking game-even blindside flanker Ryan Jones demonstrated his surprisingly multi-dimensional talent with a clever grubber kick. They were eventually rewarded for their dominance with a superbly crafted try- fly half Rhys Priestland off loaded through two players to Jonathan Davies to slide in at the corner to make the score 5-3.

Wales will perhaps feel they should have been further ahead, especially when Irish wing Tommy Bowe made an incisive break to feed Rory best and put Ireland 10-5 ahead moments before half time. Their misery was compounded when prominent captain Warburton was forced off the field with a dead leg and replaced by Ospreys back Jason Tipuric.

The home side extended their lead to 13-5 early in the second half with a sexton penalty. Leigh Halfpenny responded with a penalty for Wales moments later to bring it back to 13-8, before Davies gave Wales the lead with a try under the posts after an astounding piece of play from belligerent and impressive wing George North. At 6 ft4 and 16 ½ stone,  the 19 year old wing showed why he can achieve world class status when he bounced through two Irish defenders and off loaded skilfully out of the back of his hand to Davies to score.

Ireland regained the lead once again with a penalty to make the score 16-15, before Bradley Davies was binned for his dangerous tackle and looked to have handed Ireland the initiative. Davies was fortunate not to see red-especially if Ferris’s tackle was worthy of a yellow, but this was fast forgotten when Ireland full back Rob Kearney whipped a cutting pass out to Bowe to score in the corner and make the score 21-15 to Ireland with just over 10 minutes play- surely that was the game?

For those that were watching one could not help but feel the attacking threat of the Welsh backline would surely provide the game with more points, and so it did. North was rewarded for his telling contributions throughout the game with a try of his own with a superb finish in the corner after relentless welsh pressure, but Halfpenny crucially missed the conversion and wales were still trailing. Another tip tackle offence from Ferris and Halfpenny was given another opportunity to win the game with a straightforward penalty and make Wales deserved-albeit controversial victors and the faultless fullback did just that.

The Calcutta match at Murrayfield was not the exhibition of attacking rugby that was on show at the Aviva stadium, but where it lacked in tries-a 13-6 victory for England-it most certainly did not lack in passion and intensity.  Andy Robinson will be devastated that his vastly more experienced Scotland did not win the game. Scotland made half the number tackles that England had to make-72 to England’s 142, and spent twice as much time in the opposition half. It was Scotland’s perennial problem of converting pressure into tries that once again let them down, and ironically it was a charged down Dan Parks kick that gave fly half counterpart Charlie Hodgson a rare international try and England the victory- the irony being that Parks was selected for his kicking game. There is a mountain of work for this young England squad to overcome before they can be considered title contenders, but the spirit and determination in defence will provide a valuable foundation from which to build their team, and the return of Manu Tuilagi, Courtney Lawes and Toby Flood will add cutting edge in attack to their Anglo-Saxon yeoman like grit in defense. An honourable mention should be made to Scottish number 8 Dave Denton, who deservedly got the man of the match award for his powerful and dynamic display.

It was hardly a vintage performance from the French in beating Italy 30-12 at the stade de France on Saturday, but it was always powerful and at times sublime. A four try victory against a dogged Italian team will most certainly not relieve les bleus of their favourites tag, and why should It.? Their mercurial backline was irresistible at times, and their powerful pack was well directed at the back of the scrum by monstrous number 8 Louis Picamoles, who was substituted by Imanol Harinordiquy-arguably the best number 8 at the world cup. Italy, like Scotland, struggled to create outside of their enormous pack; Sergio Parisse was the only shining light in a pragmatic but typically spirited performance that never threatened to make an Italian victory a reality.

After round one it seems that Scotland and Italy have the same problems of old, England have reinstated a sense of pride in the red rose, Ireland have confirmed yet again that Wales are their bogey team, France look like they will win the tournament and because of that they probably won’t, Wales are everyone’s second favorite team, and confusion remains over what is a hard tackle and what is a tip tackle -not much has changed in that case.

Michael Dolan