The Six Nations has reached its fallow week with two final rounds to play.

France are the only unbeaten team left in the Championship following a dominant start with victories over Ireland, Wales and Italy.

At the other end of the spectrum, England have struggled, losing away to Scotland before a record-home defeat to Ireland left their title hopes in shatters.

Read more: How to watch every minute of the 2026 Six Nations

So as we head towards the final few weeks of the Six Nations, columnist Paul Williams grades the six teams so far…

Paul Williams’ Six Nations mid-term report

France – A*

When it comes to midterm reports, France have been schooling everyone to the point where it’s almost becoming bullying – they’re three from three.

What’s particularly unusual about this French team is that they have the look of an experienced unit who have largely shunned change during this current Rugby World Cup cycle, yet some of their backs are still of university age.

When Damien Penaud was initially dropped by Fabien Galthie (who looks every inch the eccentric PE teacher with those glasses), it looked like rugby suicide. Yet with this current batch of 20-23 year old wings and centres it seems highly likely that Penaud will struggle to get the starting shirt back at all.

What’s more, France aren’t just excelling in this year’s competition, they’re doing it with an aesthetic appeal that would charm even the toughest of art teachers.

After round three France are dominating the attacking stats. They’re top for tries scored, metres run, defenders beaten and offloads – they’ve made double the offloads of the next best.

Having Antoine Dupont, Matthieu Jalibert and Thomas Ramos in the same side is a cheat code. pic.twitter.com/Pi2BignIlR

— Rugby World (@Rugbyworldmag) February 15, 2026

But France isn’t just making attacking rugby pretty, they’ve done the same with contestable kicking . They’ve almost turned the contestable kick into a hyper efficient ballet move – they’re top for kicking numbers, kicking metres and kicks retained.

All of which is being achieved with a reasonably light pack of forwards, where overt mass has been replaced by mobility –they really seem to have mastered the hybrid lock/six.

Keep it up France, you’re a joy to watch.

Read more: The Class of 2023 fuelling France’s golden generation

England – C-

England are one win from three and so far, are the team who has let their parents down the most – the parents aren’t angry, they’re just disappointed.

Having embarked on an incredible 12 game winning streak it seemed like England would be challenging France for the shiny stuff. But that hasn’t happened at all. What’s even weirder is that England’s two losses haven’t been close ‘coin flip’ losses – decided by freaky intercepts etc.

The two defeats have been uncharacteristic batterings – the type of incidents that require a visit to the school nurse. There have of course been some positives from England – Ben Earl being one.

But it’s difficult for the team to perform consistently when some of the defensive reads have been at the level of schoolboy rugby.

England have got a fantastic squad of players and much of this current panic will blow over. However, for a squad like that to have lost two from three will not have impressed the headmasters, at England rugby’s headquarters.

Italy – B-

Italy are the most improved students in Six Nations School. No longer the new pupil, they are now very much part of the ‘in crowd’.

Yes, they may have only have one win. But they’ve beaten Scotland (who beat England) and were super competitive against Ireland and France.

Italy now have a legit squad of 23 good players, not six good players – then the rest. Whilst there have been stacks of excellent individual performances from the likes of non-genetic twins Manuel Zuliani and Michele Lamaro, it’s the Italian scrum which has stunned the most.

What was once a scrum which would be one of the last to be picked off the wall during breaktime, has now become one of the first.

It’s at this point you begin to panic. pic.twitter.com/KVhmd8Nflf

— Rugby World (@Rugbyworldmag) February 14, 2026

We must also mention one of Italy’s star centres (not Menoncello or Brex who are awesome), but Leonardo Marin.

Marin, who was once viewed as a tall, but rather gangly outside half, is now hitting the gainline like the gainline just called his mother fat. To witness the growth of Italian rugby over the past 12 months, and particularly during this Six Nations, has been fantastic.

We can all feel proud of that.

Wales – E

It’s difficult giving Wales such a low mark, because as with other troubled children there’s probably a lot going on at home – which in this case, there really is. Welsh rugby is currently as dysfunctional a home life as you can get in pro sport.

However, we must mark them as they have performed in the first three weeks of exams – without too much sympathy. Wales are bottom of the table, three losses from three, with a negative points differential three times higher than anyone else in the competition – which is almost ‘special measures’ time in educational terms.

But as grim at the base grades look, there are some glimmers for the future. Wales were far more effective in their third game, against Scotland and could easily have won it. Eddie James is finally becoming the dominant gainline centre that many thought he would – he has forearms, the size of six arms.

Read more: What is the longest losing streak in men’s Six Nations history?

Dafydd Jenkins is getting though workloads which can break a GPS unit and Alex Mann is looking every inch a test player. Rhys Carre, who whilst still not able to deliver 55 mins of test rugby excellence is delivering plenty in the 45 mins that he’s currently playing.

Plus, of course there is Louis Rees-Zammit who looks elite in every possible definition of the word – as does the ever-immaculate Aaron Wainwright. Wales have a long way to go before they can be considered competitive again, but Steve Tandy does at least have a spine on which to build the rest of his classroom skeleton.

Scotland – B

Labelled as the annual underachievers by many in the media and most of their own supporters, Scotland are still the entertainers in the class.

They’ve won two from three, and have and yet again beaten England – in what is becoming the type of long-term comical jape that you’d find in the Beano or Dandy annual.

Yes, Scotland are a bit erratic and you’re never quite sure when they’re going to turn up with a note excusing them from fully participating, but their individual moments are still enough to deliver incredible individual results.

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In Rory Darge, Scotland have one of the finest backrow forwards in the competition (top for attacking turnovers ) – his ability to clean up on the floor only matched by some species of Amano shrimp.

Kyle Steyn is arguably the form player of the competition and at 32 years of age proves that linear career paths at test level aren’t always necessary.

He has become the poster boy of contestable kicking and when landing back on the ground has enough speed, power and lateral movement to devastate most defences in the 15 channel.

The sort of stuff that could make someone want to play rugby. pic.twitter.com/b8FX0Q0oqc

— Rugby World (@Rugbyworldmag) February 14, 2026

Then there’s Finn Russell. He’s never going to be the teacher’s pet, but secretly, in the staffroom, they all love him. His restart over the head of James Botham can be added to a massive list of unorthodox thinking which must feature in all defence coaches’ anxiety dreams. 

Ireland B+

Certain stupid rugby writers said that this current Ireland team was too old to realistically compete in this year’s Six Nations – one of which I see regularly whilst brushing my hair.

Turns out they aren’t, they’ve won two from three. Top of their list of performers has been Stuart McCloskey – the one-man pod system and a centre who has been Ireland’s understudy for far too long.

Another (and possibly the best) angle of Stuart McCloskey taking down Marcus Smith! 😍#GuinnessM6N #Since1883 pic.twitter.com/SyffsoF4rj

— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 23, 2026

He’s way faster than he looks (just ask Marcus Smith), requires a stun gun/ net to stop fully and offloads like prime-time LeBron James – he’s also second top for attacking turnovers after three rounds in the Six Nations.

Many have labelled him as a one-dimensional player, when he has always been far from that. He is virtually impossible to stop if you tackle high, so most set their feet and go low – where he then has his hands free do what he likes.

Read more: Why do Ireland and Wales no longer play each other in green and red?

Robert Balaounce is another player who falls into the same bracket as McCloskey, in that he’s not exactly young at 27 but has been largely held back through many factors – mostly injury.

Along with Tommy O’Brien (who is also 27), Ireland’s wingers aren’t exactly newbies but feel fresh as daisies – it’s like buying something in original, unopened packaging from Vinted.

Yes, the Irish scrum has suffered and some of their props have been ejected through scrummaging’s sunroof. Plus, they have had some issues with their defensive completion – the lowest in the comp so fast. But Ireland are still very much a top four team in the world and reports of their demise have been premature at best – stupid at worst.

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