Scotland's first win at Twickenham since 1983 was the most complete and authoritative Scottish performance I have seen in my life.

England were not at the races in their Six Nations opener because Scotland did not let them get to the races.

It was not because England were dropping the ball or kicking poorly. England just could not get in the game because of what the opposition were doing.

Scotland were physical, their set-piece was great in attack and defence. The error count was low. The discipline was good. They made England stutter and lose their shape.

The best teams in the world do that consistently.

Usually if I am commenting on a game that England have lost against a team you would say they should beat, I would probably be able to reel off three or four reasons why it happened.

Whether that is key decisions in the game, the bounce of the ball, the referee, the weather. But, quite rightly, all the focus should be on Scotland because it was just an extremely thorough performance that did not let the opposition get into the game.

The camaraderie around the Scotland squad looked very different. Looking at their huddles, how the bench were, how the coaches were with the players - it looked like they had a one-team mentality. That counts for a huge amount.

'England lacked creativity of other Six Nations fly-halves'

I think there was a selection query over not having George Ford at 10 and instead bringing Owen Farrell in from 12 because there was not enough creativity there for England.

Every other team in the Six Nations has a 10 that can run the game at pace and really attack it.

Scotland have Finn Russell, France have got Matthieu Jalibert, Wales have Dan Biggar, Ireland have Johnny Sexton and Italy have Paolo Garbisi. If they get front-foot ball, they make things happen.

The way that England play, most of the time you can get away with the pragmatic way Farrell plays at 10, but the game seems to be shifting more towards that 'anything is on at any time' type of play.

Russell on Saturday was still kicking the ball but in an attacking manner: grubbers through, chips over, cross-field kicks and a massive great spiral down the middle.

He was keeping the back three really occupied and making England get out of position.

England were kicking for territory but Scotland could counter-attack because they have got Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland and Duhan van der Merwe at the back.

In September, Farrell was given a five-game ban for a high tackle and when he came back into the England team in October he had not played a lot of rugby.

He and the other Saracens boys, except for Maro Itoje, struggled on Saturday. Because they are playing in the Championship, only Billy Vunipola had had any game-time since early December.

Farrell is a fantastic player. He is an England great. I am just not sure, the way the game is at the moment, that 10 is his position.

Having his physicality as well as his distribution at 12 gives England so many more options.

He was up against Russell, who I think is the best 10 in the world at the moment. I do not think anyone has the all-round game that Russell has.

If you are going to play Russell, you have to accept that there will be one or two moments in the game where you wonder what he is doing - like the trip on Ben Youngs that earned him a yellow card - but 95% of what he is doing is beneficial.

'Lawrence does not have Redpath's rugby brain'

Farrell could have done so much more than Ollie Lawrence at centre on Saturday.

Lawrence - who earned his fourth England cap in the Scotland defeat - is a nice player at club Worcester but he has a huge amount to learn going into the middle of the backline to run a Test match.

He has not yet got the rugby brain which Scotland debutant Cameron Redpath showed with the way he helped Russell run that game.

Everyone is comparing Lawrence to injured England centre Manu Tuilagi because of his shape but he is still a mile away from Tuilagi's physicality and ability to change direction and break tackles.

He is not a Tuilagi and I am not sure he ever will be. You are trying to force a game-plan with a player who has not got the skill-set to do that.

Either England do find a genuine Tuilagi replacement - and there are hardly any of those types of players out there - or you have to go with a more skilful second receiver who can dictate the play.

So why not put Farrell there? Then you have George Ford who rips oppositions apart at fly-half.

British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland was at Twickenham on Saturday and, if Redpath plays five games like he played on Saturday, he is on the plane. There is no question about that. It was an unbelievable debut.

'We did not see England's new attacking intent'

I think defeats like Saturday's are going to happen more and more with England because teams are starting to understand how they play and are coming up with methods to counter that and take the momentum and sting out of them.

They need to have something else in their armoury other than strong forward play, box-kicks and going through the phases to break the opposition down.

When England get matched up front and do not get dominance in territory and they need to force their attack, they are not well practised enough in game-time to have that style of play.

England talked a lot last week about bringing a new attacking intent but I did not see it.

They play Italy next Saturday, then they have a week off so it has worked out nicely to give them a chance to bounce back.

Last year they lost their opening game to France and still won the Six Nations so you cannot write them off - they have too much quality.

They know how to win tournaments - as they showed when they won the Autumn Nations Cup in sudden death in December.

England have still got to play France, Wales and Ireland and they are not going to say, 'this is it'.

Going up against Italy after that performance is a perfect opportunity for them to get into the attacking mindset that they keep telling us about.

Matt Dawson was speaking to BBC Sport's Becky Grey.

Wales took advantage of Peter O'Mahony's 14th minute red card to beat Ireland in their Six Nations opener.

Ireland bounced back to lead 13-6 at half-time through a Tadhg Beirne try and Johnny Sexton's boot.

Tries from George North and Louis Rees-Zammit and 11 points from Leigh Halfpenny sealed success for Wales.

It was a fourth win for Wales coach Wayne Pivac in 11 competitive matches and the first against a leading nation following previous successes against Italy and Georgia.

Ireland are still to win an away game under Andy Farrell despite the 14 men of Ireland enjoying territory and possession advantage while Wales' forwards dominated the tackle charts.

Relief was the main emotion for the home side in a frantic finale.

After playing the autumn series at Parc y Scarlets, Wales returned to their Principality Stadium home after the iconic ground had been used as a coronavirus hospital in 2020. The eerie Cardiff city centre atmosphere belied what the Welsh capital would usually be like on international day.

After a period of experimentation, Pivac returned to some tried-and-tested men by picking the most experienced Wales starting side in history.

Captain Alun Wyn Jones played his first game for two months after recovering from a knee injury and was sporting a black eye following an altercation in training with Jake Ball, who was not named in the squad.

Wales had already been disrupted by suspended duo Liam Williams and Josh Adams, the latter due to a Covid-19 breach.

A cagey start saw Leigh Halfpenny open the scoring before his opposite number Hugo Keenan demonstrated his attacking abilities with an incisive break.

Dan Lydiate's first international match for more than two years was cut short after his right leg buckled underneath him, forcing the flanker off to be replaced by Josh Navidi.

The game's controversial moment came in the 14th minute when O'Mahony was red carded for a reckless arm to the head of Francis when trying to clear out a ruck.

Referee Wayne Barnes showed the Munster man a deserved red and it looked as if the game's complexion would change.

Irish indiscipline continued with a high tackle from Sexton on Johnny Williams, allowing Halfpenny to double the lead.

Wales centre Williams and Ireland lock James Ryan were both forced off with head injuries before Sexton opened the Ireland account with two penalties to level the scores.

Wales' line-out woes continued and another failure set up the platform for Robbie Henshaw to burst through a missed Justin Tipuric tackle and release Josh van der Flier, with Tadhg Beirne following up to dive over.

Sexton converted as Ireland deservedly led 13-6 at half-time, at which point Wales lost scrum-half Tomos Williams to a hamstring injury to the final move of the half.

It was a masterful first-half performance of game management orchestrated by Sexton as Wales were starved of possession and forced to make three times as many tackles as the visitors.

Replacement scrum-half Gareth Davies entered the fray before North crossed for Wales' opening try with an excellent break for his 42nd Wales try in his 99th international. Halfpenny missed the conversion as Wales trailed by two points.

The hosts regained the lead with a fantastic finish from Rees-Zammit in the right-hand corner with Halfpenny converting.

A thunderous charge from CJ Stander bounced Faletau on his backside before a Halfpenny penalty gave Wales an eight-point advantage.

Wales rung the changes which included a major backline reshuffle with replacement fly-half Callum Sheedy coming on for wing Amos. The alterations included Biggar moving to full-back and Halfpenny switching to the wing.

Ireland lost Sexton after his head caught the left knee of Tipuric before his replacement Burns reduced the deficit to five points with a penalty.

In a frantic finale, Gareth Davies needlessly kicked the ball away with 10 seconds left before Tipuric produced a wonderful tackle on Garry Ringrose as Ireland battered away at the Wales defence.

Ireland had a final chance, but Burns inexplicably kicked the ball dead from a penalty as a relieved Wales secured victory.

Man of the Match

Line-ups

Wales: Leigh Halfpenny; Louis Rees-Zammit, George North, Johnny Williams, Hallam Amos; Dan Biggar, Tomos Williams; Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Tomas Francis, Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones (capt), Dan Lydiate, Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Rhodri Jones, Leon Brown, Will Rowlands, Josh Navidi, Gareth Davies, Callum Sheedy, Nick Tompkins.

Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Johnny Sexton (capt), Conor Murray; Cian Healy, Rob Herring, Andrew Porter, Tadhg Beirne, James Ryan, Peter O'Mahony, Josh van der Flier, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Dave Kilcoyne, Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson, Will Connors, Jamison Gibson Park, Billy Burns, Jordan Larmour.

Match officials

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

Touch judges: Luke Pearce (England) & Alex Ruiz (France)

TMO: Tom Foley (England)

IRWINDALE, Calif. — Preston Peltier made the trip to California worth his while Saturday at Irwindale Speedway.

Peltier topped the Sunrise Ford All-Star Showdown sanctioned by the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour, earning a whopping $30,000 for his victory.

Starting fourth, Peltier quickly move to the front when he drove by Jacob Gomes to take the lead on the third circuit. He stayed there until lap 25, when defending series champion Derek Thorn ran him down and took the lead.

Peltier would fade as far back as fifth before beginning his march back to the front after 50 laps were complete. Staying committed to the bottom while most of the leaders ran the top, Peltier was able to race his way back past Thorn to regain the lead on lap 57.

The veteran driver never gave up the lead again, leading the remainder of the distance on his way to the victory. Peltier took the checkered flag .952 seconds ahead of Casey Roderick to earn the biggest payday of his career.

The victory served as redemption for Peltier, who admitted he’d been questioning whether he still belonged in a race car.

“I’ve got to thank Joe Farre for believing in me,” Peltier said. “I went through a spell there. I’ve got three young kids. It’s hard man. We don’t get much sleep. This is tough. This is like … super late model racing is the hardest racing that there is. Anytime you can win, dude you’ve got to cherish the moment.

“I’m getting older, I feel it. I’m not as sharp as I used to be. So I really was questioning myself. Like, can I even do this anymore? I built this new P1 chassis with the help from Joe and the guys at the shop and man, this thing was just on a rail.”

The race was originally scheduled for 200 laps, but was shortened to 177 laps due to curfew.

Jace Hansen, Buddy Shepherd and Jacob Gomes rounded out the top five.

Jeremy Doss banked $20,000 for winning the SPEARS Pro Late Model Series and SPEARS Manufacturing Modified Series features earlier in the evening.

The finish:

Preston Peltier, Casey Roderick, Jace Hansen, Buddy Shepherd, Jacob Gomes, Kole Raz, Tyler Tanner, Cale Kanke, Jonathan Mawhinney, Chris Davidson, Corey Neveau, Jeff Bischofberger, Christian McGhee, Jimmy Parker Jr., John Moore, Carlos Viera, Dean Thompson, Kyle Keller, Scott Sanchez, Kyle Neveau, Brandon Farrington, Tracy Bollin, Andy Allen, Haeden Plyborn, Dylan Garner, Derek Thorn, Dylan Lupton, Blaine Rocha, Mike Garvey, Tyler Fabozzi, Bobby Hodges, Colby Potts, Jeremy Doss, Tayler Riddle, Dan Holtz, Logan Bearden.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Reese’s brand of candy will sponsor a special contingency award in each ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West race this year.

The Reese’s Sweet Move of the Race will reward the team and/or driver who has performed a remarkable or extraordinary action during each event.

The award sponsorship will be determined via fan vote on the ARCA Menards Series’ Twitter page following each race.

Race fans should go to @ARCA_Racing on Twitter to vote for the Reese’s Sweet Move of the Race the day after the race, starting at 9 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. ET.

The Reese’s Sweet Move of the Race will be announced upon the conclusion of the voting period.

INDIANAPOLIS – Dick Newkirk, a five-time feature winner as a car owner in the USAC National Sprint Car Series with drivers Tony Elliott and Jack Hewitt, passed away Feb. 2.

Newkirk was 85.

A native of Indianapolis, Ind., Newkirk fielded his familiar number No. 17 on the circuit throughout the 1990s in USAC competition, appearing in the entrant points each year between 1991 and 2000 and finishing a best of 10th in the 1993 standings.

His involvement in USAC racing included the sponsorship of a USAC Silver Crown machine driven and owned by Danny Milburn.

In fact, Newkirk’s initial sprint car was intended to be driven by Milburn during the 1991 season, but Milburn was fatally injured in a Silver Crown crash at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway in February of that year.

Newkirk then hired Tony Elliott to drive his sprinter. It was with Elliott where Newkirk found his greatest success, winning four USAC National Sprint Car Series races together, at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway in 1991 and 1992; the 4-Crown Nationals at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway in 1993; and at Santa Fe Speedway in Illinois during the 1994 campaign.

Hewitt took over the reins of the Newkirk car in 1999, winning the car owner’s fifth and final USAC National Sprint Car Series feature, at Lawrenceburg Speedway during Indiana Sprint Week.

Among Newkirk’s drivers in USAC National Sprint Car Series competition over the years were Robbie Stanley, Rusty McClure, Tony Stewart, Donnie Beechler, Kevin Huntley, Cary Faas, Brad Marvel, Tim Cox, Kevin Thomas, Tracy Hines and Brian Tyler.

Newkirk was also the great uncle of current USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car driver Nick Bilbee, with Newkirk’s No. 17 serving as the inspiration for the number that Bilbee sports on his cars.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America has added yet another significant car to its famed collection thanks to the First Lady of Motorsports, Linda Vaughn, and New York muscle car collector Bruce Smith.

The pair has donated Vaughn’s personal 1979 Hurst/Olds W30 to the MSHFA.

“I’ve loved all my Hurst/Olds,” 2019 MSHFA inductee Vaughn said. “And I love that Mr. Bruce Smith and I were able to make sure one of them has a permanent home at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Bruce is a real collector of true muscle cars with glamour, and I love glamour in my cars.”

Vaughn and Smith will make the donation following their role pacing Saturday’s Historic North Turn Legends Beach Parade in Ponce Inlet, Florida in another of Smith’s classic Hurst/Olds, a 1972 Indianapolis 500 pace car.

The annual parade celebrates the early history of motorsports in Daytona Beach.

Beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6, a parade of historic cars followed the path of the original beach races, starting from Racing’s North Turn restaurant.

The presentation of the 1979 Hurst/Olds took place at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America at 1:30 p.m.

“We’re so grateful to Bruce Smith and Linda Vaughn for this terrific addition to the MSHFA stable,” said Hall of Fame President George Levy. “Linda is beloved by racing fans the world over and visitors to our museum will appreciate seeing her personal car for years to come.”

In addition to Vaughn’s role in the front of the parade, the MSHFA brought the “Roarin’ Relic” from its display space in the museum and return it to the beach where it raced on multiple occasions.

The Marshall Griffin-owned Roarin’ Relic is believed to be the oldest original NASCAR race car in existence, driven to fifth place in the final Modified race on the beach in 1958 by Paul Goldsmith (MSHFA Class of 2008).

The Roarin’ Relic — actually a 1949 No. 87 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 — has been driven by NASCAR legends Goldsmith, Buck Baker (MSHFA Class of 1998) and Lee Petty (MSHFA Class of 1996). MSHFA President Levy drove the historic race car during the parade.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — I’m tired of masks. I miss my favorite restaurants. I’m tired of not going places, not visiting friends and family and I’m tired of hearing the phrase, “when things get back to normal.”

Isn’t everyone feeling like that?

But as COVID-19 rages on and we all do our best to keep ourselves and our loved ones healthy, there’s an excitement in the air for a new racing season, and, personally, I may be looking forward to the new season more than I have in many years.

Sure, it’s partially because racing — and other sports — gives us an escape from the stresses of everyday life. But there are a lot of intriguing aspects of this new racing season, and we look forward to seeing how things play out.

With that in mind, here are some of our predictions and things we’ll be watching for beginning this month in Florida and throughout the season.

— By now we’re all familiar with Kyle Larson’s accomplishments and failures last year. After losing his NASCAR ride, Larson thrilled dirt-track fans by winning 46 features in four types of race cars, including 12 victories with the World of Outlaws. It seemed barely a day passed without Larson winning a feature.

But last year may have been Larson’s opening act.

He returns to the NASCAR Cup Series full time with Hendrick Motorsports. It will be the best equipment he’s ever driven in NASCAR competition and Larson certainly has a lot to prove.

Larson won’t win 46 races this season, but he’ll win more than his share, and many of them will be in the Cup Series as he not only contends for but wins the series championship.

He’ll also continue to race on dirt, running sprint cars, midgets and late models more than 40 times. At this writing, he’d already won the Chili Bowl for a second consecutive season and by the time you read this he will have likely added a couple more dirt-track victories prior to his NASCAR return in the Daytona 500.

— Paul Silva’s familiar No. 57 sprint cars will win a lot of races, with Rico Abreu joining Larson in the driver’s seat of the Silva-owned machines.

— Donny Schatz won only five World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series features last season and finished third in the standings.

I believe the 10-time series champion will return to form this year with a double-digit victory tally and that elusive 11th series title.

— COVID-19 will continue to impact motorsports and our daily lives.

— New NASCAR team owners NBA legend Michael Jordan and international recording artist Pitbull will open NASCAR to new audiences, and to potential new team owners as well, which will help ensure the sport’s viability well into the future.

— Pato O’Ward will get his first NTT IndyCar Series victory.

— Clint Bowyer will make NASCAR television broadcasts more than three hours of hype; he will make them entertaining.

— The Aug. 6-8 Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Tenn., will be the best new race of the season and will provide the IndyCar Series with another much-needed destination event.

— This will not be the year someone steals the Formula One championship from Lewis Hamilton, as the Englishman will win his eighth title and become the world championship’s most decorated driver.

— Dirt-track racing at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway will not be a flash in the pan this time around. When the historic .533-mile concrete track was covered with dirt in 2000 and ’01 for two weekends of racing, it was a painstaking process that had to be juggled between a pair of NASCAR weekends at the track.

Now, the spring NASCAR events at Bristol will be run on dirt and there have been tremendous advancements in track building. That means dirt racing at Bristol, which this season includes the Cup Series, Camping World Truck Series and World of Outlaws sprint cars and late models, will be a staple for years to come.

— With Michael Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing now fielding Acuras and Chip Ganassi Racing joining Action Express in the Cadillac camp, the battle for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship DPi title will be as interesting as it has been in years.

— USAC midget and sprint car champion Tyler Courtney will turn heads as he makes the full-time transition to winged sprint cars with Clauson Marshall Racing while running the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions tour.

— Justin Allgaier will finally win the NASCAR Xfinity Series title.

— By mid-summer, we’ll all go to the races while leaving our masks at home.

KING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY, Saudi Arabia – Top-ranked Dustin Johnson won the Saudi International for the second time in three years on Sunday after shooting a 2-under 68 in the final round to finish two strokes clear of Justin Rose and Tony Finau.

Johnson, who was also runner-up in 2020, recorded his highest scoring round of the tournament at Royal Greens Golf Club but still finished top of the leaderboard at 15 under par.

Scotland’s Calum Hill eagled the par-5 18th to finish in a tie for fourth with France’s Victor Perez.

Johnson took a two-shot lead into the final round, but the Masters champion struggled on the greens and was caught by Finau when his fellow American made a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th.

However, Johnson edged back in front with a birdie on the 13th and was given some welcome breathing space when Finau dropped shots on the 16th and 17th and Perez double-bogeyed the 16th.

Johnson also dropped a shot on the 16th to see his lead cut to one, but responded in style with a massive tee shot on the next and a pitch to 2 feet to set up a decisive birdie.

“I saw the leaderboard a little bit, the guys were playing well but I kept giving myself a lot of chances,” Johnson told Sky Sports. “I didn’t hole many of them but finally holed a really nice putt on 13.

“Seventeen was a really nice birdie, hit a great drive there and a nice little chip but it was tough all day today.

“I don’t get to play around the world as much as I’d like to but it’s definitely nice to get a win not on my tour and after Augusta, to get my first win again, obviously the game is still in really good form and I’m really excited about the rest of the year.”

Rasmus Hojgaard, Ryan Fox, Viktor Hovland and Tyrrell Hatton finished in a four-way tie for sixth on 11 under.

The Saudi International is the last of three events in the Gulf swing that launches 2021 on the European Tour.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the 500th club goal of his career and added a second as AC Milan reclaimed top spot in Serie A with a 4-0 win over bottom side Crotone on Sunday.

The 39-year-old Swedish striker fired a shot into the top corner in the first half to reach the landmark, more than 21 years after his first career goal for Swedish club Malmo in 1999.

- Stream LIVE games and replays on ESPN+ (U.S. only)

Ibrahimovic tapped in his 14th goal in 11 league games after the break, and a double from Ante Rebic sealed a comfortable win for Stefano Pioli's side.

"We're thinking one game at a time, today we just needed to win and we did that. We did well in the second half, in the first half we were too slow," Milan captain Alessio Romagnoli told Sky Italia.

Milan moved two points clear of Inter Milan at the top with 49 points from 21 games. Crotone remained bottom with 12 points, four adrift of safety.

"We're thinking about the Champions League as an objective, then at the start of April we will see," Romagnoli added.

Inter's 2-0 win at Fiorentina on Friday lifted them above their city neighbours into first place and ensured there was no room for error from Milan at San Siro.

The hosts were not at their best during an even start to the match, but Ibrahimovic's landmark goal helped settle any nerves.

Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe was subjected to racist abuse on social media once again following Saturday's 3-3 draw with Everton in the Premier League.

Tuanzebe, 23, did not start the game at Old Trafford but came on as a late substitute and conceded the free kick from which Carlo Ancelotti's side equalised deep into stoppage time.

The former England Under-21 defender was also targeted after United's shock 2-1 home defeat by Sheffield United last month.

Tuanzebe's teammates Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, Chelsea's Reece James, West Bromwich Albion's Romaine Sawyers and Southampton's Alex Jankewitz have also been victims of online racist abuse in recent weeks.

A number of Premier League clubs have called on social media companies to take stricter action against users who send abusive messages but Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger does not expect much to change.

"If more people are making accounts, I think they make money off it. So, me personally, I don't think these people care," Rudiger, who has been targeted, told reporters.

"As you know, this money has power and the rest doesn't matter. It's hard to tell if people [in charge of platforms] will make a change. I feel sorry for that. But I feel more sorry for those who are not strong enough, if it really affects them."

Top English players including Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson and former international Karen Carney discussed online abuse and discrimination with government ministers last month.

The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) has said that those who send abusive messages should be held accountable by authorities and have their social media accounts banned.