it was a wonderful match with a climax as good as any in Six Nations history writes Paul Ackford in the Sunday Telegraph.
"If anyone still has doubts about the courage of the modern rugby player and the gladiatorial nature of the big games, the first quarter would have dispelled those reservations. The start was fantastically confrontational. Television doesn’t convey the intensity of the collisions, nor do the elevated seating positions offered at Twickenham, Croke Park, Murrayfield and the Stade de France. To understand the spectacle properly you have to be up close and personal.
"The Millennium Stadium provides that. It is entirely different and entirely visceral. To watch players bat each other out of the way as they fought to win or control the ball was to understand the slim margins operating in this match and the lack of time available for decisions and contributions."
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