Scotland win 23-12 against Italy and Wales 28-13 against Argentina, whilst Ireland go down 22-26 to France in the last of the warm-up games for the Rugby World Cup for Scotland and Wales as Ireland have one more chance to end on a winning note as they host England at the Aviva Stadium next weekend.
Scotland and Wales will both take heart as they now prepare for the announcement of their 30 player squads on Monday. For Wales the good news was that their scrum smashed the Pumas up front which was somewhat unexpected. Scotland will be pleased simply to get back to scoring tries as well as kicks. Ireland need to tighten up their play as they gifted France two turnover tries.
Just to confirm the half-time scores in brackets and final scores in the three games were:
Scotland (13)23-(7)12 Italy
Wales (14)28-(3)13 Argentina
Ireland (8)22-(16)26 France
Scorers
Scotland
Tries: Dickinson, Blair
Cons: Parks 2
Pens: Parks 3
Italy
Tries: Benvenuti, Semenzato
Cons: M Bergamasco
Wales
Tries: Powell, A W Jones, North
Cons: Hook (2)
Pens: Hook (3)
Argentina
Try: Scelzo
Con: Contepomi
Pens: Contepomi (2)
Ireland
Tries: Healy, Sexton, O’Brien
Cons: Sexton 2
Pen: Sexton
France
Tries: Heymans, Trinh-Duc
Con: Parra 2
Pens: Parra 3
Drop goal: Trinh-Duc
Teams
Scotland v Italy
Scotland: R. Lamont, Evans, De Luca, Morrison, Danielli, Parks, Blair, Dickinson, S. Lawson, Low, Hines, Kellock, Brown, Barclay, Vernon. Replacements: Walker for Danielli (55), Jackson for Parks (65), Cusiter for Blair (61), D. Hall for S. Lawson (74), Murray for Low (57), Gray for Hines (61), Rennie for Vernon (72).
Italy: Masi, Benvenuti, Canale, Garcia, M. Bergamasco, Orquera, Semenzato, Lo Cicero, Ghiraldini, Castrogiovanni, Del Fava, van Zyl, Derbyshire, Barbieri, Parisse. Replacements: Bocchino for Orquera (56), Cittadini for Lo Cicero (76), D’Apice for Ghiraldini (40), Furno for Del Fava (51), Zanni for Derbyshire (62). Not Used: Bortolami, Canavosio.
Att: 20,245
Ref: Dave Pearson (RFU).
Wales v Argentina
Wales: Byrne; Halfpenny, J Davies, Roberts, North; Hook, Knoyle; James, Hibbard, A Jones, B Davies, A W Jones, Lydiate, M Williams (capt), Powell.
Replacements: Bennett (for Hibbard, 62), Bevington (for James, 63), J Thomas (for Lydiate, 58), Tipuric (for M Williams, 68), L Williams (for Knoyle, 62), Scott Williams (for Roberts, 67), Brew (for Byrne, 58).
Argentina: Rodriguez; Agulla, Bosch, Fernandez, Camacho; Contepomi (capt), Vergallo; Roncero, Ledesma, Figallo, Carizza, Albacete, Farias Cabello, Leguizamon, Fernandez Lobbe.
Replacements: Creevy (for Ledesma, 52), Scelzo (for Roncero, 69), Galarza (for Carizza, 70), Campos (for Leguizamon, 66), Lalanne, Sanchez, Jose Imhoff (for Camacho, 40).
Sin Bin: Fernandez Lobbe (54).
Att: 51,951
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Ireland v France
Ireland: F Jones; A Trimble, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, K Earls; J Sexton, T O’Leary; C Healy, R Best, M Ross; D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell; S O’Brien, S Jennings, J Heaslip.
Replacements: J Flannery for Best 60, T Court for Healy 50, M McCarthy for O’Callaghan 75, S Ferris for Jennings 60, E Reddan for O’Leary 53, R O’Gara for D’Arcy 67, L Fitzgerald for Jones 68.
France: C Heymans, M Medard, A Rougerie, F Estebanez, A Palisson, D Skrela, M Parra, J Poux, D Szarzewski, N Mas, P Pape, L Nallet, F Ouedraogo, L Picamoles, J Bonnaire.
Replacements: G Guirado for Szarzewski 53, F Barcella for Poux 40, J Pierre for Pape 60, D Yachvili for Parra 78, F Trinh-Duc for Skrela 10.
Not used: R Lakafia, V Clerc
Referee: C Joubert (South Africa)