The third weekend of the Six Nations is always the pivotal one where the tournament splits between contenders and also-rans.
So step forward France, Ireland and England, who retain the possibility of triumph in a variety of guises come the middle of March.
Wales, Scotland and Italy? Your taxi awaits – and none of the destinations are particularly desirable.
It’s time to consider who were the people who really impressed on arrival at this fork in the competition's road.
Here’s our latest set of power rankings…
10. Taulupe Faletau
The Wales No8 was returning from the best part of seven months out injured, not to mention years of wretched luck with a variety of pulls, twists and strains.
There were grave doubts over whether he still possessed the superhuman qualities that made him the rugby superstar he became.
He answered those doubts even in defeat to England at Twickenham. To start the match and come through it the way he did, exerting such an influence, proved there’s plenty of time left in this increasingly old dog yet.
When coaches plunge players back in to games like these after long absences, they're so often accused of recklessness, but clearly Wayne Pivac remembered what most of us had forgotten, that some very special players are rare exceptions to this rule.
Faletau is one of those. The result didn't go the Welsh way at English HQ, but boy it was good to see this fellow fit and firing again.
READ MORE: Our previous power rankings
9. Marcus Smith
England, while unquestionably deserving winners, showed just how much road they have still to travel to get to where they were at heading into the last World Cup final.
But young fly-half Marcus Smith showed again that there is substance to claims about his potential greatness with an, at times, swaggering cameo role against Wales.
Smith chose his moments to try things well, injected class and poise into so many English attacks, made very few mistakes and kicked his goals nervelessly apart from one that sailed just wide.
The Harlequins man offers solidity as well as flair and a penchant for the unexpected. He’s beginning to look like the real deal indeed.
8. Alex Dombrandt
For somebody who has only been playing senior Test rugby for six months, the Cardiff Met alumni showed up extremely well against Wales. In fact he was the pick of Eddie Jones' back row.
Forget the fact that he profited from a botched Wales lineout to score his side’s only try, Dombrandt’s ball-carrying and appetite for the collisions stood out at Twickenham.
In short, he looked far more seasoned than his eight caps suggested he should be.
The Six Nations can find players out. Domnbrandt looks like he belongs in the best company.
7. The Italy critics
The prospect of South Africa replacing Italy in the Six Nations, such as there actually is any prospect, was the talking point of the fallow week that followed the round two matches.
There was much dismay at the idea of Springbok involvement but plenty of observers also stressed Italy have been on borrowed time for many a moon.
While the fact they played 60 minutes with 13 men and finished the game against Ireland on Sunday with 12 had a huge bearing on the margin of a 56-7 defeat in Dublin cannot go unrecognised, that the Azzurri have a points difference of minus 120 after three games is priceless ammunition for their detractors.
South Africa may not be the answer, but Italy’s future worth in this tournament remains a perfectly legitimate question.
6. Alex Cuthbert
When the Ospreys wing was picked in Wales' tournament squad it was assumed he was there to make up the numbers. Few could have predicted he’d play such an influential role.
On Saturday, Cuthbert did anything but merely make up the numbers, he was the best wing on the park, making 178 metres in yardage and launching numerous sorties behind the English defence.
His extraordinary international exhumation is one of the real good news stories of the championship. It's an Indian summer on the Test scene probably even the former Cardiff and Exeter man didn't see coming.
But hat's off to him. Cuthbert has shown strength of character and guts to perform in the way he has after the amount of social media abuse and derision aimed his way down the years.
5. Andy Farrell
Getting within six points of France in Paris in a 30-24 defeat in round two looked a whole lot more impressive after Les Bleus’ dismantling of Scotland at Murrayfield.
Plenty of pundits were labelling the French as the best in the world on Saturday evening.
Whatever your take on that, if Ireland are behind them then it’s not by much. And piling up 57 points against Italy, regardless of the circumstances, leaves them well in the hunt for the title if France have any sort of slip up.
There's much focus on the transitional nature of England right now, but let’s not forget how brilliantly Farrell is reinventing his Irish side.
They’ve had an extraordinary last 14 months or so. Don’t rule them out of lifting the Six Nations pot just yet.
4. Shaun Edwards
In two weeks’ time old poker-face himself will return to his old stomping ground, the Principality Stadium.
He will do so in an immense position of power – as one of the most important reasons why these days we DO know which French team is going to turn up.
Edwards’ departure from the Wales set-up remains a touchy subject, with several different explanations still on offer depending on who you want to believe.
But the defensive kingpin’s decision to hop across the channel looks like yielding yet more silverware for one of the most decorated coaches in the game as the French rumble on.
This, and apparently he can even speak the lingo.
Tres bien, Monsieur Edwards. Tres bien.
3. Damien Penaud
You start to run out of superlatives for some players. Put Penaud in that bracket after his two tries for France against Scotland.
Not that he needed them to confirm his class, but they did serve as a reminder that there’s a reason why he is nicknamed ‘The Phenomenon’.
Penaud, at 25-years-old, is moving into his physical prime, but it’s his all-round skillset and game intelligence that marks him down as a player for the ages.
He’s been directly involved in 22 French tries in his last 25 Tests – that’s what you call a key player.
Penaud is standing tall in this tournament, becoming a player who strikes fear into the opposition before the anthems have even finished.
2. Cameron Woki
If Penaud is the phenomenon, then Woki is the phenomenon mark two.
Scotland’s lineout going into this game had been the success story of their first two outings – they hadn’t lost a single one in 28 contests.
But Woki put paid to that unblemished record, causing the Scots plenty of problems at set-piece and getting through a mountain of broken field work.
Considering he is still only 23, the Bordeaux man played like a Titan.
Consider this too; he was picked by Fabien Galthie for this tournament as a back row, which is where he’s played most of his rugby.
That might be about to change on the evidence of Murrayfield.
1. Romain Ntamack
It would have been easy for a 22-year-old fly-half to go into his shell after planting a kick-off straight into the stands, as Ntamack did against Scotland on Saturday.
Yet he didn’t just recover, he recovered and then dictated.
French fly-halves have always been capable of game-breaking brilliance, but too often they also guaranteed flakiness and unreliability.
Scrum-half Antoine Dupont gets the Lion's share of plaudits, often rightly so.
But Ntamack guy, like so many of his team mates, looks the perfect blend of mesmeric ability and rock solid dependability (kick-off mistake notwithstanding).
Everything France did offensively against the Scots, the second half especially, went seamlessly through Ntamack via his brain, then his hands or his feet.
Power to his elbow.
It will be fascinating to see how Wales go about trying to stop him next time out in Cardiff when the tournament action recommences on a Friday night.
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