England won, but questions remain.

By Reece Killlworth

I'd say it's an absolute certainty that week two of the 2004 Six Nations was far from Johnny Nash's thoughts when he observed that 'There are more questions than answers'.

But the title of the hit song provides a perfect summary to the scenes witnessed at the Stade de France, Murrayfield and Lansdowne Road this weekend.

Kicking off the second 'round' of fixtures were Italy and France, with the latter the team expected to run World Cup winners England all the way to the wire in the tournament.

Yet Bernard Laporte's men were far from at their best as they struggled to a 25-0 victory over the gallant Italians.

England, as everyone has been only to happy to point out, doubled that tally in Rome the previous weekend.

So where was the France everyone had expected to turn on the style and sweep John Kirwan's men aside?

Where was the Gallic genius we have become accustomed to, particularly at the World Cup?

Is this a sign of a deep-rooted decline in France's performances, or was this just a one-off?

Of course, only time will tell and England's clash in Paris in late March still looks like being the match that will decide the destination of the title.

But what of Sir Clive Woodward's men?

Well, they weren't exactly at their best in beating Scotland...but then they didn't have to be.

Paul Grayson did a pretty good impression of Jonny Wilkinson with a towering display at fly-half - but was Woodward right to claim England would still have won the World Cup had the Northampton man been called upon?

One question that was answered - and done so emphatically - was whether the 'bag of bones' Chris Jones was good enough for England.

After his tryscoring debut as a replacement against Italy, the Sale man got the chance from the start at Murrayfield and let no-one - least of all himself - down.

In an unfamiliar position on the flank of the scrum, Jones covered every blade of grass and gave England extra options at the line-out.

Yet his splendid performance leaves Woodward to ponder whether Joe Worsley should return against Ireland.

The smart money, I should add, says no.

For Scotland, the performance was an improvement on their defeat by Wales on the opening weekend.

But played two, lost two does not make pretty reading for new coach Matt Williams and many pundits reckon his men must be seen as favourites for the wooden spoon.

So is this just a transitional phase for Scottish rugby, or are the problems deeper than that?

Next up it's Italy in Rome, but is that good news or bad news for the Scots?

If both sides play like they did against England, Scotland should win.

But the Italians know that in all likelihood this will be their only chance of a victory so they will be fired up.

One team that were certainly up for the battle were Ireland against Wales on Sunday afternoon.

The big damage was done up front with Shane Byrne claiming a couple of tries, but why couldn't Ireland hit these heights against France?

And what happened to the Wales team so impressive against Scotland last weekend?

Was the performance at the Millennium Stadium a one-off, or was it this week's efforts - that sent Steve Hansen back to the drawing board - that won't be repeated again?

All these questions and more from just three matches and with a week's break now as we return to domestic action, we face a frustrating wait until all the answers are known.