THE second week of the RBS Six Nations underlined what a fantastic sport rugby union is.

Ireland crushed Italy 63-10, but the other two games stumped up some phenomenal rugby that even had ardent football fans nodding their heads with approval.

While Scotland lost 22-16 in France in a cracker, the match of the weekend was England’s thrilling 21-16 victory in Wales.

It was record-breaking England’s 16th consecutive win and you’ve got to hand it to Eddie Jones – he must be doing something right.

He is certainly reaping the rewards of having inherited a talented bunch of young players, and if you wanted to prove to any newcomer just what a great game rugby union is, then this would be one of the best games to show anyone.

It had everything in it with great backs’ performances, powerful tackling and brutal forward power.

The competition returns in two weeks, but for now that’s enough on the international front.

On the local scene, a great second-half performance from eighth-placed Redingensians Rams saw them claim their third successive National Two South victory at Barnes, and they should make it four at home to Bury St Edmunds this week.

South West One East mid-tablers Reading Abbey grabbed a first win in seven in a gritty affair at home to Royal Wootton Bassett, and, just like Rams, they are eighth in their table.

This Saturday they hit the M4 bound for lowly Swindon, where another win would be very useful.

It was another bad day for my boys Reading, who lost at home to Swindon.

With seven games left to play and now 15 points from safety, I’m afraid the writing looks to be firmly on the wall.

What we really need to do is finish off with some more wins and start to build a squad that can bounce straight back next season.

Aside from us, the relegation battle is getting very tight with five sides all within five points of each other. Two more will go down with us.

Lastly, there was a BB&O Championship defeat at Harwell for Berkshire Shire Hall, but hopefully they can stun unbeaten leaders Littlemore this week.