Reigning champions Ireland have bounced back from an opening day Six Nations loss to England with a 22-13 defeat of Scotland, while Wales made it two wins out of two with a facile 26-15 result against Italy in Rome.
A record-equalling 11th win in row means Wales now top the Six Nations table with eight points from two games, three clear of England and Scotland.
However Eddie Jones' side can take back top spot with victory over France at Twickenham on Sunday.
Conor Murray, Jacob Stockdale and Keith Earls were the try scorers for Ireland in an entertaining encounter at Murrayfield on Saturday, with Sam Johnson responding for Scotland.
"We have a lot of belief in what we're doing and how good a team we are. That was a really tough game, and it was tough mentally in the build-up to it," Ireland captain Rory Best told the BBC.
"We had a couple of chances and we took them and were quite clinical. We've got a lot of improving to do."
A Greig Laidlaw penalty gave Scotland an early lead but a shocking mix-up in the Scottish defence after 11 minutes led to Murray scoring the game's first try.
Stockdale's through kick was collected by Tommy Seymour but he misplaced his pass to Sean Maitland, leaving Murray to scoop up the ball and score, although Jonathan Sexton missed the relatively easy conversion.
The Scottish defence was cut open again on 18 minutes when Stockdale took a pop pass from Sexton before racing 50 metres to score under the posts.
Scotland's only try of the game came on 28 minutes when Russell intercepted a misplaced pass in midfield and offloaded to scorer Johnson metres from the try-line.
The deciding score came on 56 minutes when substitute Joey Carbery somehow squeezed between two Scottish tacklers before flinging a beautiful pass out to Earls, who scored under the posts.
Warren Gatland made 10 changes from the Welsh side that defeated France on the opening weekend and it showed, with the visitors failing to create anything of note in the first half - just four Dan Biggar penalties to show for their efforts.
Italy stayed in touch with a drive-over try from Braam Steyn on 35 minutes and Tommaso Allan kicked the extras to leave the Azzurri trailing 12-7 at the break.
Wales finally found their rhythm as the half progressed, with Liam Williams feeding Josh Adams on 53 minutes to score the visitors' first try.
Wales put the contest beyond doubt 10 minutes from time when a chip from Gareth Anscombe was touched down by Owen Watkin, although there was still time for Edoardo Padovani to score a consolation effort for the Italians.
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