IRELAND: The defeat by Wales clearly wasn't too good for World Cup business but currently it is providing real focus for Ireland's start next Sunday.

The problem is the trip to Paris the following weekend where France will have their tails up and Ireland traditionally have their backsides kicked. So there may not be a Grand Slam to compensate for missing out on our best ever opportunity at a World Cup.

Still, Declan Kidney should be glad that the loss of Brian O'Driscoll isn't the setback now that it would have been three years ago, and that elsewhere his injury sheet is clear, bar Leo Cullen, who might have got a start in the third round against Italy.

If Mike Ross stays fit for the campaign, then Ireland can challenge for runners-up spot behind France, providing the new load on the shoulders of Les Kiss and Mark Tainton is one they can carry successfully.

Casualties: Brian O'Driscoll, Leo Cullen

Star Turn: Jonny Sexton

Championship Odds: 4/1

ENGLAND

The last six days of their campaign involve a quick turnaround from Paris to Twickenham, where Declan Kidney's crew provide the final opposition -- an interesting wind-up, that.

There is so much uncertainty about the England squad, from how they will approach the tournament, to who will lead them, to whether their coach has any chance of making it to the summer, that it's hard to see them doing what their fans want them to do: defend their Championship title.

Edinburgh and Rome (a shift to Stadio Olimpico) will both be heaving so if they come up short there it will be carnage thereafter. Despite all the unknowns there is huge pressure on Stuart Lancaster to deliver good results immediately.

In which case dumping Nick Easter overboard seems hard to fathom from this vantage point. You wonder who is going to steady the ship in his absence. And it looks like it will need steadying.

Casualties: Danny Care, Toby Flood, Courtney Lawes, Tom Wood, Manu Tuilagi

Star Turn: Ben Foden

Championship Odds: 4/1

ScotLAND

A Scotland international from the not so distant past last week described his lot as: "Big and mostly quite good forwards with a crap set of backs ready to stuff it up behind."

We think the second half of that sentence meant that the backs would not make much of their chances, rather than putting the ball where only a cavity search could find it.

The position of Edinburgh in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals and Glasgow in fourth spot in the Pro12 suggests there is life after the World Cup, which ended with the Scots distraught after losing to England.

The opportunity for revenge comes quickly in the Calcutta Cup match in the first round in Murrayfield.

The absence of Kelly Brown and Ruaridh Jackson -- especially the latter -- will mean a change of game plan from their coach. If they go to Rome again looking to avoid the wooden spoon, Andy Robinson will beat himself up with it.

Casualties: Kelly Brown,

Ruaridh Jackson, Moray Low, Simon Danielli

Star Turn: Dave Denton

Championship Odds: 25/1

wales

A year ago, Wales were wondering if their coach would survive to the autumn as they went into the Championship with two wins from their 12. Then they won -- somehow, with no set-piece -- against England first up, and by the end of the year they were wailing about missing out on a World Cup final and burning effigies of Alain Rolland. Their current position, statistically, is a bit healthier (50 per cent from last eight) but defeat in Dublin would make it four losses in a row and a change in mood. Nowhere in the rugby world does your credit run out faster than Wales.

Their challenge is to cope without an engine room of Luke Charteris and Alun Wyn Jones, who set phenomenal standards for work-rates in the World Cup.

If Warren Gatland has to factor Rhys Priestland and Dan Lydiate out from Dublin, then his team will have changed shape for the worse. A losing start in store.

Casualties: Luke Charteris, Alun Wyn Jones, Gethin Jenkins

Star Turn: Toby Faletau

Championship Odds: 3/1

france

The first thing Phillipe Saint-Andre needs to do is organise discontent in the camp so the French can feel right at home and get off to a winning start -- that would take them through two rounds before they have a break to get their heads right/wrong for Edinburgh. Or perhaps not. The new man saw much he admired in the way captain Thierry Dusautoir took a lead in the World Cup crisis, supported by Imanol Harinordoquy and Julien Bonnaire.

Unlike when his predecessor Marc Lievremont took over from Bernard Laporte, Saint-Andre won't want to tear up everything and start again. So the World Cup runners look now as they did in October except at 10 where Lionel Beauxis is the likely starter, thanks to improved form since his move to Toulouse. As for his partner, he can't go far wrong between Morgan Parra and Dimitri Yachvilli. Perfect run of fixtures opens the door for Saint-Andre.

Casualties: Luc Ducalcon, Romain Millo-Chluski, Yann David

Star Turn: Thierry Dusautoir

Championship Odds: 6/4

italy

New coach Jacques Brunel has pointed to the summer tour to Argentina and North America as the first real chance to put his mark on things -- for the moment he is still trading with Nick Mallet's leftovers, on and off the field. Whatever about changes in the background team, Brunel is limited with what he can do on the pitch, but it hasn't stopped him scouring the country looking for new faces, which wasn't the Mallet way -- the South African relied on a hard core in return for loyalty, which he got. But there were too many players with no competition for their places.

Brunel is aiming extraordinarily high, with Italy being contenders inside two seasons. And his captain Sergio Parisse, while acknowledging the turbo boost that came from beating France last season, says they need five competitive games more than one big result and four hammerings. They moved past that point last season but need new blood.

Casualties: None too serious

Star Turn: Sergio Parisse

Championship Odds: 150/1

- Brendan Fanning

Leinster flanker Shane Jennings has undergone surgery on a broken arm, leaving his hopes of making Ireland's Rugby World Cup squad in the balance.

The 29-year-old, capped nine times by his country, was injured in last weekend's Magners League Grand Final loss to Munster at Thomond Park.

Early reports suggest a lay-off of eight weeks, giving the former Leicester openside a chance of playing a part in Ireland's World Cup warm-up games in August.

Declan Kidney's men will play Scotland, France (twice) and England prior to the tournament in New Zealand, with Ulster flanker Stephen Ferris another currently on the injured list.

Munster's David Wallaces is the current holder of the Ireland No.7 jersey, with Jennings' Leinster team-mate, Sean O'Brien, also comfortable in the position.

The 30-year-old – the most experienced of the England back line with 39 caps – was cited for an alleged high tackle on Wallabies centre Berrick Barnes in the fifth minute in Perth.

A minimum ban of two weeks would have ruled the Sale Shark out of the second Test in Sydney on June 19 as well as the match against New Zealand Maori four days later.

But after attending an independent disciplinary hearing on Sunday with team manager Martin Johnson and elite rugby director Rob Andrew, Cueto was found not guilty of any wrongdoing by New Zealand judicial officer Peter Hobbs.

"It is good news that Mark got off his citing,” said Johnson.

The decision comes hot on the heels of a similar ruling last week where two charges of stamping against lock David Attwood from England’s 28-28 draw with the Australian Barbarians were dropped on procedural grounds.

Johnson said England started the match 'very poorly'

Coach Martin Johnson admitted he was furious with his players after England's 27-17 defeat by Australia in the first Test in Perth on Saturday.

England dominated in the scrum but were poor in the rest of their game, especially in a woeful first-half performance at Subiaco Oval.

"I think that's as harsh as I've been with them," Johnson said after an angry post-match debrief with his players.

"The scrum played a big factor in the game but not enough for us to win."

Australia bossed the opening 40 minutes to lead 14-0 at half-time after outclassing England, who missed an astonishing 30 tackles during the match.

The only area they struggled was in the scrum and England's dominance in the tight increased after the break.

The visitors' powerful scrum earned two penalty tries and there were also signs of an attacking presence that had been absent in the first half, but Australia were by far the more rounded side and were deserved winners.

"We said we should be angry with ourselves. If you give it a decent shot and get beaten [that is one thing] but when you add to it in the way we did it is disappointing," said Johnson.

"We make it too easy for the opposition. You have to be very good down here to win games and we didn't help ourselves.

"We started very poorly. We were more than a little off the pace, gave them a lot of chances and put ourselves in trouble.

"We had enough chances to put ourselves in the game but their composure on the ball was better.

"It is accuracy and execution. Their line speed was better and took away our time on the ball.

Lock Tom Palmer takes a tumble as England come a cropper in Perth

"But if you concede three tries you are probably not going to win. The missed tackle count was not healthy.

"We have got to be better. We can't expect to get two penalty tries every week."

Johnson plans to sit down with his players during the week and go though a video of the performance in detail.

"When we work through it next week we will have some very good teaching points," he said.

"I can say 'this is why we tell you to do this and that'. Maybe in club rugby you get away with it but here you get exposed."

Despite the result - and performance - England captain Lewis Moody insisted England were "a great team".

"It is frustrating when you play a game like that and don't perform. That game was in our hands, it was an opportunity for us to win today and we just didn't come to the races," he said.

"Everything felt good before but sometimes that's the way it goes.

"We move forward to next week very, very annoyed with ourselves. The opportunity was there for us and it's a bitterly frustrated changing room.

"I hope the anger drives us on because this is a great team with some quality players in it. We need to give them the opportunity to play. We didn't do that in the first half, the second half we got there a little bit."

A 12-10 victory ensured France clinched their first Six Nations Grand Slam since 2004, but they were pushed all the way by a much-improved England at the Stade de France.

It was far from a spectacular display by the French all of whose points came in the first half courtesy of three Morgan Parra penalties and a Francois Trinh-Duc drop-goal.

Les Bleus were strangely hesitant for much of the match and were happy to play a game of control for the most part with the boot of Trinh-Duc dictating their tactics.

By contrast England put in easily their most impressive display of the tournament and, as demonstrated by a stunning early try from Ben Foden, showed plenty as an offensive force with some eye-catching running rugby.

But in the end they were left to rue a couple of second-half openings that went begging as France held on to seal their clean sweep.

It was the hosts who were on the board first after Dylan Hartley was blown for not throwing in straight at the line-out just three minutes in.

That handed the French an excellent attacking platform and, after England had also subsequently been pinged at the scrum, France hit the front as Trinh-Duc landed a rather ugly but effective drop-goal.

But England hit back in magnificent style with the kind of incisive, fluent three-quarter move that their critics have been crying out for.

Mike Tindall played a key role in securing territory before the ball was quickly spun through the hands of the back-line from right to left, culminating in Chris Ashton flicking a superb first-time pass to Ben Foden who scampered over in the left corner.

It capped a hugely encouraging start for England, the visitors full of purpose and adventure, securing quick ball for their back-line and thrusting forward with ball in hand at every opportunity.

However, they were somewhat undermined by the elements, with their positive opening derailed by the onset of heavy rain which turned the contest into an increasingly cagey affair with France kicking for position and managing to turn the screw.

Morgan Parra missed a long-range penalty after Simon Shaw was caught offside, but the Wasps second-rower was quickly penalised again for a rash tackle and it proved the lock's last contribution as he was forced off with an injury to his right arm and replaced by Tom Palmer.

But Parra made the most of his next opportunity with the boot on 18 minutes as Riki Flutely was caught playing the ball at the ruck whilst off his feet, handing the Clermont scrum-half a straightforward penalty chance in front of the sticks which he slotted with ease.

English indiscipline

Parra was at it again five minutes later, France edging back ahead, without having had to work particularly hard to do so, as England were penalised for collapsing a scrum.

Indeed, while the French were some way from their best, they continued to assert themselves on the back of English indiscipline and extended their advantage on 33 minutes.

Prop Dan Coles was again penalised for collapsing the scrum, England's fifth infringement at the scrum, and Parra made light of the difficult conditions to fire over the resulting penalty as France pulled 12-7 ahead.

England manager Martin Johnson moved ruthlessly to stem the penalty count at the break as he hauled off both Coles and Hartley and replaced them with the more experienced David Wilson and Steve Thompson.

The changes had the desired effect, England making much the better start to the second period and they defied the conditions with a sharp handling move on the blind side which released Ashton.

But, with just Poitrenaud ahead of him, and Flutey in support, the Northampton winger spurned the golden opportunity as he opted to put in an early kick ahead and was beaten to the touch-down by the retreating French full-back.

With France happy to try and contain, and the rain having ceased, it was England who continued to demonstrate their attacking flair and they were agonisingly close to another score in the 61st minute after a superb break from Mark Cueto.

The Sale winger hit the line at pace and scythed through the French defence but crucially lacked close support and, having been hauled down inside the 22, England saw the chance escape altogether as Danny Care knocked on.

Like that of Ashton, it would be a missed opportunity they would ultimately come to regret.

Despite his back-line looking the most dangerous they had for many moons, Johnson decided to shuffle his pack on 63 minutes and introduced Jonny Wilkinson for Flutely and England's all-time leading points scorer promptly showed why as he kicked a superb long-range penalty to drag England back within two points.

But that was to be as close as England would get with France happy to run down the clock during the closing stages as they carefully and safely protected possession through a series of controlled, slow phases.

While it hardly came with a flourish, it mattered not a jot to the ecstatic crowd in the Stade de France as they jubilantly saluted the Grand Slam at the final whistle.

By Michael Moynihan
Friday, March 19, 2010

FORMER Ireland full-back Conor O’Shea has added his voice to the growing chorus of disagreement with the new interpretation of rugby laws.

Referee Craig Joubert penalised Ireland’s David Wallace at one stage against Wales, a call which infuriated the Irish management, and O’Shea says officials should focus on other matters.

"I cannot understand what the IRB is trying to achieve by changing anything in the midst of a Championship," said O’Shea.

"There is, in my opinion, nothing wrong with the game and they are focusing on the wrong things. If they got the referee and his assistant to referee to the letter of the law the offside line, offside in front of the kicker, crooked feeds to scrums and other small things then they would free up the space we all crave."

O’Shea added that Ireland’s potential fifth Triple Crown in seven years was an "incredible achievement" which some observers were "almost denigrating".

"To get some perspective," added O’Shea. "We need to think back to when Wales were in their pomp in the 1970s or the English domination of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

"Those teams were winning regularly against what were then uncompetitive Irish sides and we did not say they were having it easy because they never did.

"But that accusation is being levelled at Ireland."

Talking to RTÉ, O’Shea added that Scotland have advanced under head coach Andy Robinson: "Ireland will not and should not underestimate the Scots. Andy Robinson, despite the results, has made definite strides with this team. They have one of the best back rows around and Beattie, Brown and Barclay will take the game to Ireland.

"The key to the game is that Scotland have had the same problem for a number of years now: they cannot turn possession into points.

"The loss of Chris Paterson and Thom Evans against Wales weakened them and cost them victory in that match and maybe subsequently against Italy. But they fought hard and showed more structure to their game against England.

"I don’t think their results reflect the progress they have made and they are only a couple of players short of making a real breakthrough."

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Friday, March 19, 2010

via irishexaminer.com

France coach Marc Lievremont has expressed his surprise at England's decision to drop fly-half Jonny Wilkinson to the bench for Saturday's RBS Six Nations game in Paris.

The World Cup winner has been replaced by Toby Flood in the starting line-up, one of six changes made by England manager Martin Johnson after the 15-15 draw in Scotland last weekend.

While Lievremont was expecting Wilkinson to start if fit, he has warned his side to not be complacent ahead of their tilt at the Grand Slam in the Stade de France.

He said: "I was expecting Wilkinson to start if he was fit, or not to take part at all if he hadn't recovered from his head injury.

Changes

"I haven't forgotten however that Wilkinson was not playing last year at Twickenham and Toby Flood was at fly-half.

"It didn't save us from conceding 30 points.

"And we know that if the match is in the balance, Wilkinson can come on and that could be decisive."

England's other changes see winger Ugo Monye replaced by Northampton's uncapped Chris Ashton, full-back Delon Armitage gives way to Ben Foden and outside centre Mathew Tait is dropped as 31-year-old World Cup-winner Mike Tindall makes his first appearance for a year.

In the pack, Simon Shaw comes back in place of Louis Deacon while Lewis Moody, dropped against Scotland, returns at openside flanker and Joe Worsley switches to blindside with James Haskell dropping to the bench.

Cornerstone
Lievremont added: "We were expecting the return of Simon Shaw who is the cornerstone of the English pack.

"We were also expecting England to beef up their backline with a player like Tindall even if I appreciate Mathew Tait is more creative and unpredictable.

"Through the selections of Shaw and Tindall, England have unveiled their game plan."

Lievremont also agreed with counterpart Johnson's assessment that the home team have more to lose and could be affected by the pressure of playing for a Grand Slam.

"It's true," he said. "We will be playing for high stakes and it could inhibit our players but we know it and we'll take it into account before the game."