Ireland and England both opened the Six Nations with unconvincing victories Saturday. Defending champion Ireland showed only flashes of its best in a 29-11 win over Italy, while England took advantage of Wales' indiscipline and survived a late scare before winning 30-17 at Twickenham. Ireland failed to add tries to first-half efforts by Jamie Heaslip and Tomas O'Leary, and even handed Italy its only touchdown of the game with an uncharacteristic error by Ireland fullback Rob Kearney. But Ireland also started slowly last season before winning its first Grand Slam since 1948 and shares the early lead with an England side that marked the 100th anniversary of international rugby at Twickenham with three tries. It was only with Wales lock Alun-Wyn Jones off the field for a cynical trip on Dylan Hartley that England overcame a scrappy opening with two tries in less than 10 minutes either side of halftime. James Haskell charged through a gap on the line for the first and Danny Care weaved through for the second. Adam Jones and James Hook brought a full-strength Wales side back to within three points of the home side before Haskell touched down again to spark raucous celebrations from a home crowd starved of tries after just one in three November matches. England still has plenty of work to do to avoid embarrassment in what could be a challenging match at Italy next weekend. Despite his try, Care made two big mistakes that could have cost points and England again gave away a string of needless penalties at the breakdown. “There's every chance there we could have folded and lost the game,” England team manager Martin Johnson said. “So there's lots and lots to improve. There's no one getting carried away with that.”
