The Six Nations Rugby Championship kicked off this weekend.

It’s the dawn of a new era for The Boys In Green (Ireland). Former head coach Joe Schmidt and captain Rory Best have stepped out. Andy Farrell and Jonny Sexton have stepped in.

The tournament got going in Cardiff with a Welsh demolition of Italy, 42-0.

Poor old Italy. If only rugby leaned more towards pizza, pasta and gelato then they would surely do a little better.

Alas, it is not so.

Next up were our lads squaring up to the men from The Land of Haggis (Scotland). We managed to stumble over the line 19-12, thanks in no small part to a helping nervy hand from Scottish captain Stuart Hogg when he strangely decided to drop the ball rather than touch it down for a try.

Maybe he needed to get more haggis inside him.

The big game of the weekend saw the lads from The Land of Zidane (France) take on The Sweet Charioteers (England).

The French in Paris are usually a formidable foe. England were coming in on the back of going close to World Cup glory.

English grit squaring up to French flair.

And it turned out to be the day for the men in blue to shine. Maybe the English had done too much Brexit celebrating.

So it is Wales, France and Ireland who top the table after the first round of matches.

Next up for The Boys In Green are the Welsh.

It won’t be easy.