You play, you learn and six or seven days later you play again. That's the Six Nations and after a week England have learned that they have a prop for the future and Scotland have discovered, if they didn't know already, that you don't win games by playing all your rugby in your own half. And Wales ... well, we're convinced that we're not out of it yet.
It's one of the great strengths of the tournament that, though the grand slam is out of the window, the championship is still there to be won. That's the way we're thinking. In the England camp it will be different. Leave Rome with a win on Sunday and they will start to believe that anything is possible this season.
The cards seem to be falling England's way at the moment, with the arrival of the 22-year-old Leicester tighthead Dan Cole and the blossoming of Danny Care at scrum-half. The latter benefits from having the experienced heads of Nick Easter, his No8 at Harlequins, and Jonny Wilkinson either side of him. It is the perfect set up for a player like Care, if he is going to be given his head.
One way or another we should know a lot more about Cole after Sunday in Rome. With England favourites to beat a team who didn't offer much apart from a charge-down try in their opening game, it will be a good time for him to make his first start, even though there are easier options than cutting your teeth on the Italian front row.
Cole will have learned a lot from Martin Castrogiovanni at Leicester but there is no doubt that Castrogiovanni will be whispering in the ear of Salvatore Perugini, the Italy and Bayonne loosehead, before Sunday's match at the lovely Stadio Flaminio. We saw Cole for about 20 minutes at Twickenham and the jury is out. Admittedly he brought stability to a scrum that had been under pressure but his 20 minutes on the field were at the end of the game and you are never that sure about a prop's scrummaging abilities until you see him against a player you rate and a player who is fresh. That said, the Italian scrum didn't rip up too many trees against Ireland and Cole has qualities other than making life difficult in the tight.
He has been on the radar as a good scrummager for a while but his improved mobility this season has been striking, as Wasps discovered when he stopped Tim Payne from scoring in the corner in a Premiership match last month. Cole corner-flagged like a flanker. Tim – the guy who is playing alongside Cole on Sunday – was really licking his lips, only about a couple of strides out, when he was hit sideways.
Having 18 stone that can move that rapidly will be priceless for England in Rome. Twenty-four hours earlier, we will be seeing what impact another tighthead can make on affairs at the Millennium Stadium.
Last Sunday the French got to a Scottish front row that had done well throughout the autumn. Simply put, the Scots got pushed around far too easily. But Euan Murray is back to play against Wales, after missing the opening round because of his religious beliefs. It will be interesting to see how he goes but Scotland have signalled that they have learned one lesson from that game and that is that you can play too much football in your own half. At Murrayfield time and time again their enterprise broke down giving France's very fine back row – and Imanol Harinordoquy in particular – possession and position.
That the lesson has been learned is obvious from Andy Robinson's selection for his second Six Nations game in charge of Scotland. A player who was ignored in the autumn, the Glasgow fly-half Dan Parks, has been brought back in order to kick the Scots into the kind of positions from which Chris Paterson has been kicking penalties for 99 internationals.
Quite simply the Scots made life too easy for France. Don't expect Ireland to show such kindness in Paris tomorrow, where Ronan O'Gara will no doubt do what he does best – pin the opposition in their own territory with a broadside of tactical kicking.
Ireland have not won in Paris since 2000. That is an impressive record for France – it is also one which will be intact come Saturday night.
