Ireland stayed in with an outside chance of retaining the Six Nations Championship with a tense 20-16 victory over England at Twickenham Saturday. Two tries for Tommy Bowe and another for fellow winger Keith Earls to a pushover effort by Dan Cole made the difference. France, with three wins out of three, remains favorite for the title but the Irish, who lost in Paris, are still in with a chance with home games against Wales and Scotland to come. Italy beats Scotland In Rome, Italy beat Scotland 16-12 for its first win in the Six Nations Saturday since it beat the same side at the same Stadio Flaminio almost two years ago. The Azzurri thus ended the string of seven defeats. Italy's fourth victory over the Scots in six years left the winless visitor contemplating the tournament's wooden spoon, with remaining matches against England at home and Ireland away. Chiefs perfect In Perth, All Blacks winger Lelia Masaga scored a try off a lost lineout by the Western Force to clinch Waikato's 37-19 victory and keep the Chiefs perfect after three rounds of rugby's Super 14. The loss was the Force's third in a row. The last-place side is the only team in the tournament without a point after three rounds. In New Zealand, hooker Andrew Hore scored a brilliant second-half try to lift the Wellington Hurricanes to a 33-18 win over South Africa's Lions Saturday. The victory gave Wellington its third win in as many games and a bonus point. The Johannesburg-based Lions are 0-3. In Brisbane, the Auckland Blues scored three second-half tries and played strong defense in often heavy rain to beat the Queensland Reds 27-18. The Reds were playing their first match at Ballymore, their traditional home stadium, in five years. In Bloemfontein, South Africa, Otago held off a late charge from the Cheetahs to win 31-24 Saturday for its first victory of the new Super 14 season. In Pretoria, the Bulls recovered from an early 17-point deficit Saturday to beat the New South Wales Waratahs 48-38 and extend its home winning run to 13 games.
