England's grand slam attempt started strongly Saturday with a 25-17 defeat of Six Nations champion France at Twickenham.
Flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson scored 20 points, taking his international tally past 600 as England won its 19th straight match at home.
PHOTO: AFP
But the shock of the tournament was in Rome where Italy beat a lackluster Wales 30-22.
It's taken three years and 14 straight defeats for Italy to win its second ever Six Nations match.
Tries by Giampiero De Carli, Carlo Festuccia and Matthew Phillips and decisive points on conversions and drop shots by fly half Diego Dominguez fired up the home team at Rome's Flaminio stadium.
"We needed this result, Italian rugby needed it," said Phillips, a New Zealand-born player who has been playing on the Italian team since last year. "But now we've got this victory hopefully we can get another one. If we were going to win a game it was going to be this one."
Italy's better points score put it at the top of the Six Nations standings -- with France at the bottom. Scotland hosts Ireland on Sunday.
At Twickenham, England won despite scoring one try to France's three.
The win was revenge for the 20-15 defeat in France during last year's competition. France was the only team to beat England last year, going on to win the Six Nations and the grand slam.
Saturday's match, on the first day of the two month competition, was billed as a tournament decider.
France was trailing 25-7 with 25 minutes to go, but recovered with tries from Damien Traille and Clement Poitrenaud. But poor kicking, particularly from Gerard Merceron, let France down.
"They scored a couple of tries and it got a bit anxious towards the end but it's a good win to start off with and against a team like France you'll take any win," Wilkinson said. "I think it was one of those games that had it's moments but lost its way."
England had a halftime lead of 12-7, with all points scored from Wilkinson penalties.
Jason Leonard earned his 100th cap with the match, but had to come off after 33 minutes because of ankle injury. He left to a standing ovation.
Leonard joined Frenchman Philippe Sella and Australian David Campese as only the third player to win 100 caps.
In Rome, Italy's Kiwi coach John Kirwan, who had predicted an Italian victory on the eve of the match, punched both hands in the air at the final whistle as the emotional players hugged and ran a lap of honor.
"We missed tackles and got the basics wrong," Wales coach Steve Hansen. "The question will have to be asked whether we had the right attitude. We will have to look at ourselves and learn from this performance.
"I know it is painful for everybody but it is two times as painful for the players. Now they will be judged by their actions."
Italy's victory, its first in nine head-to-head with the Welsh team, brought back memories of the Six Nations opener in 2000, when the Italian team scored a sensational 34-20 win against Scotland. After that, however, the team went through a streak of disheartening losses.
Italy, which led 20-17 at halftime, outplayed Wales in the second half, improving its defense and playing aggressively.
Wales led only twice, but Dominguez' kicking canceled out tries from Steve Williams, Tom Shanklin and Dwayne Peel.
Iesytn Harris, the former rugby league star who played at flyhalf because of injuries to Stephen Jones and Neil Jenkins, converted two tries and scored a penalty.
Dominguez, who had missed the previous test match against world champion Australia last November because of injury, was treated as the hero of the day as he scored 15 points to increase his career points total to 980.
On Star Sports: 8am Six Nations Championship, Italy vs. Wales
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