By Gavin McCLeavy (@gavinmcleavy)

It's going to be another tight Six Nations this year.

Last year it came down to points differential between Ireland, England and Wales on the last day of the competition with all three teams needing tries and a big winning margin to claim top spot. After the first weekend, expect this year's tournament to go all the way to the death again.

I told my colleagues at beIN SPORTS prior to the weekend that whoever won the Ireland v Wales game could go on to win it all. Well, a 16-16 result at the Aviva Stadium threw my predictions into complete chaos and now we just have to sit through another nail biting competition and see which missed kick or dropped ball will crush or ignite the dreams and hopes of nations. 

Ireland 16 v Wales 16

After Ireland raced off into a 13-0 lead it looked as though Wales were going to fold but from the half-hour mark they just played back to basics, ball-up-your-jersey rugby and it worked. Grinding down the Irish defense eventually tired them out and Welsh crept back into the game taking the lead at 13-16.

A review of match stats showed that almost everything was equal: tackles made and missed, scrums won and lost, etc. What did stand out was that Ireland broke the line 7 times and Wales didn't break the line once. So that back to basics, ball-up-your-jersey rugby is good but a little predictable, which made it easy for Ireland to defend phase after phase.

Wales need a bit more invention if they are to be successful when they take on England. My Man of the Match was Jonny Sexton of Ireland, who drew them all level again 16-16 with a penalty kick. It looked as though he managed that final kick with a broken rib or two. Stuff of Legends. 

Scotland 9 v England 15

Scotland couldn't score a try AGAIN against England in the Calcutta Cup. England have now won 8 Calcutta Cups in a row. Scotland's national team is perfecting the style that Vern Cottor has been trying to implement for the last couple of years, but sooner or later the style has got to start yielding results. Its great to watch but I've been holding my breath for almost 2 years and I'm about to pass out due to a lack of oxygen.

England's pack were too bulky for the Murrayfield men to handle and from that base George Kruis barged through the middle and later they went down the sideline for the young Jack Nowell to score in the corner. Owen Farrell uncharacteristically misfired in the kicking department but did enough to get them through the day. I'd have to put it down to the very loud Murrayfield crowd, it can be intimidating. Three out of 4 penalty kicks for Scotland's Greg Laidlaw was never going to be enough against a rejuvinated England side who look fresh with an injection of enthusiasm from new coach Eddie Jones.

France 23 v Italy 21

Italy took the French by the scruff of the neck and gave them and the traditionally hostile Stade de France crowd a bit of a shock. The first half was dominated by Italy even though they went in at the break a couple of points down. When they came out in the second half, promising young fly half Carlo Canna had gotten over his early nerves and slotted home a penalty to take the lead. After some impressive strongman work from Sergio Parisse and his forwards, Canna finished off a great team try.

The battle of the 8 men was a no contest as the consistently average Picamoles went off injured early in the game. Parisse dominated the back row charging meters carrying 19 times, almost twice as many times as anyone else on his team. France made a couple of changes in their forwards ten minutes into the 2nd half and all of  a sudden Italy made two or three simple handling errors in the loose and things started to fall apart.

Kicking duties for France were taken over by Jules Plisson in the 2nd half after the inexperienced young Nicolas Bezy showed couldn't handle the pressure at the international level and that did the trick for France as they went on for a  23-21 victory. Parisse apparently wanted to try everything, so after they had marched into the French half one more time in the dying minutes he tried a drop goal attempt that went wide. Had Parisse been a bit more patient, Canna could have repeated what he did earlier in the game but at almost 3 minutes past the end of the regular time, he forced it and Italy went home empty handed.