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.

Prop Euan Murray has been forced to withdraw from Scotland's tour to Argentina next month due to an ankle injury.

The influential Northampton tight-head is struggling with knocks to both ankles and was advised not to travel following discussions between club doctors and the Scottish medical team. The loss of Murray, capped 32 times by his country, is a huge blow to coach Andy Robinson's hopes of beating the Pumas and building on an encouraging Six Nations finale that saw them beat Ireland at Croke Park.

Edinburgh's Geoff Cross has been drafted into the squad as a replacement ahead of the two-Test series with matches scheduled for Tucuman on June 12 and again in Mar Del Plata a week later.

SRU doctor James Robson explained the decision, saying, "Following consultation between our medical team and the medics at Euan's club, Northampton, the decision has been taken in the interests of the player for Euan to undergo a period of rest, treatment and rehabilitation for differing injuries affecting both ankles."

Cross's promotion means that Bruce Douglas, who won the last of his 43 full Scotland caps four years ago, will return to 'A' team duty. Douglas, who plays for Montpellier in France, is due to join Worcester Warriors for next season. One other change to the 'A' squad sees Glasgow Warriors prop Jon Welsh stand down to be replaced by Ed Kalman.

© Scrum.com

Scotland supremo Andy Robinson was delighted after his side beat Ireland, whose head coach Declan Kidney was gracious in defeat.

Dan Parks was the hero as he kicked 18 points - including a last minute penalty - to scupper Ireland's bid for the Triple Crown in their final game at Croke Park.

Robinson's side won 23-20 to avoid the RBS 6 Nations wooden spoon and the coach was delighted to see his team finally get over the winning line after four games without success in this year's tournament.

He said: "I'm feeling really pleased for the players and the Scotland management team and the supporters.

"I thought we played really well after a bit of a slow start, where I thought Ireland looked tremendous.

"But we got ourselves into the game and controlled it. To get over the wire was really, really pleasing.

"That was the key element: being able to work out how to win the game."

Robinson described Parks' winning penalty as "a great moment" and hailed his side's determination.

He added: "They didn't feel sorry for themselves; they went out there and said, 'We're going to go out and beat Ireland'."

Parks was jeered by the vast majority of the 80,000 plus fans in the stadium as he stepped up to take the last minute penalty but the fly-half did not care one jot after the ball left his boot.

"It was great for me because I knew it was going through," he said.

"The crowd obviously want their team to win and they'll do anything they can to put you off."

Revealing he had walked the pitch before the match to try to get a feel of the wind, he added: "I knew if I hit it perfectly, it would go through, and I hit it perfectly."

Parks believed Scotland should have finished second in the table instead of second bottom.

"We've deserved, I personally believe, four wins out of this championship," he said.

"Every single game I've been involved in - which has been the last four - we could and should've won.

"Wales, I think we all know we should've won that game - it was a freak day. Italy away from home, they did well to get the win but we weren't at our best that day. England, we probably could've won that.

"It could've been a different championship for us. But we'll take the win and we're really delighted."

Kidney gracious

Ireland head coach Kidney was gracious in defeat after seeing his side's Triple Crown hopes evaporate.

He said: "We have to give Scotland credit for playing a good game and keeping the scoreboard ticking over.

"We didn't have our greatest day. We made errors and we've said all along that unless you're right on top of your game any team in this competition can beat you.

"We congratulate Scotland and the way they played wasn't a complete shock to us, we saw it coming.

"But we will take a hard look at ourselves. We tried things in the first half and made a few errors. It's extremely disappointing.

"Days like this are going to happen. It's so disappointing - the venue, the result, everything that was at stake.

"If we look at the Six Nations we feel there's more in us. A lot of the things that went wrong are within our control to rectify."

Lions captain Paul O'Connell was disappointed after the Irish slumped to their second defeat in this year's championship following their loss to France earlier in the campaign.

"It's been a disappointing championship. Two defeats is more than we wanted at the start," he said.

"We're an excellent side and we want to win things. Unfortunately now we're coming away empty handed so we're disappointed with the way it's gone."

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