The media attention has largely been on Brian O’Driscoll’s phenomenal achievements, as players from all over the world have waxed lyrically about the Golden one, writes Risteard Cooper in the Irish Times.

"Depending on who you listen to he’s “one of the best players in the world over the last decade”, “would most definitely be in most people’s World XV over the last 10 years”, “ . . . is the best centre in the Northern Hemisphere”, (my least favourite from across the water) “probably one of the best players Ireland has produced”, or (my favourite from across the sitting-room) “the best player in the world, ever”.

"When pressed to add to these assertions at the team announcement, Declan Kidney wasn’t exactly rubbing his hands with glee. His way has always been to deflect attention away from the individual, but he just couldn’t avoid it this time, especially with the main man sitting beside him."

Scotland attack coach Gregor Townsend played in only one win against England but believes the present side can double that figure He talks to Lewis Stuart in The Times

"It probably tells you everything about the relative strengths of English and Scottish rugby over the past couple of decades that if Gregor Townsend, the Scotland attack coach, does manage to plot his way to being involved in a Calcutta Cup victory on Saturday, it will be only the second win in a career where he broke the Scotland caps record before switching to a role in player development and coaching.

“The 2000 game, that would be the highlight of all the games I played against them, seeing as it was the only time we beat them,” Townsend recalled yesterday. “There were a couple of other memorable ones, the one we lost with Jonathan Callard’s lastsecond kick at goal, and the one in 1999 which was a cracking game and could have set us up for a grand slam, but we lost them both, so 2000 stands out by a long way.”

"In all, ten of his 84 caps came against England, at a time when the 1990 grand slam, complete with the great Murrayfield grudge match, and the near-miss in the 1991 World Cup were consigned to history and Scotland spent the rest of the decade floundering against the greater power and strength that England could bring to bear."

The late and lauded commentator Bill McLaren is the ghost of Calcutta Cups past and future according to Frank Keating in The Guardian.

"The friendly ghost so fondly whisping around the rafters of every stadium through all the Six Nations matches so far has been, of course, that of Bill McLaren, the BBC's late and lauded rugby commentator who died at 86 just weeks before the 2010 tournament began. Remembrance of Bill will be particularly potent on Saturday: the Calcutta Cup match between Scotland and England was always the good old boy's beloved annual feast day.

"The McLaren eulogies are launched tomorrow with a tribute evening at Murrayfield itself where a male voice choir and the inevitable pipe-band do the honours alongside such luminaries as Chris Paterson and the British Lions manager Gerald Davies in celebrating the life of the broadcasting legend.

"No man can have witnessed more Calcutta matches, home or away. If truth be told, the worrypot perfectionist in McLaren had him increasingly het-up in the week of any international match. A sure way to calm him was to evoke his recall for distant Calcutta Cup contests. The more faraway in the mists, the warmer the memory for Bill."

O'Driscoll joined the ranks of rugby's centurious last year thanks to his six caps for the British & Irish Lions © PA

Brian O'Driscoll will win his 100th Ireland cap this weekend but the Irish Times' Johnny Watterson insists the talismanic centre will not get wrapped up in the occasion.

"Now the shirt fits. In his first game for Ireland a callow Irish centre was in danger of being caught by a gust of wind and blown across the Australian landscape. Twenty years old and not a game for Leinster bagged, Brian O’Driscoll launched himself into a career that seemed to inflate season by season. Three years after that summer tour he was handed the captaincy. At 31, he hasn’t let go.

"Along the road the ill fit of those early years has become more tailored and O’Driscoll now speaks like a player who can respect the significance of his 100th cap against Wales on Saturday, even see the end of the career approach. But he refuses to be caught in twilight moments. With Wales to beat, there is almost a fear of softening, of losing control to the emotion.

"There is also an agreeably hard edge to O’Driscoll, a pragmatic streak and a stubbornness not to be drawn into a week that could wrap itself around him like a comfort blanket and carry him into Croke Park and Wales believing in every magical thing that has been written so far."

Scotland coach Andy Robinson is looking forward to his first Calcutta Cup clash on the northern side of the divide. David Ferguson writes in The Scotsman.

"He only played in one Calcutta Cup, in 1989, which ended in a 12-12 draw, so it was really when he turned coach that he got a taste for the ups and downs of the world's oldest international fixture. His first and last Calcutta Cup experiences as a coach with England ended in defeat, the final meeting in 2006 hammering a significant nail into his coffin as England's chief, coming just nine months before he was forced to quit.

"If it was a surprise then that he would look north for his return to the game, nearly a year later, to those outside, unaware of his quiet workings within the Scottish game, his ascendency to the Scotland job might have set off alarm bells.

"It certainly raised a few eyebrows in England and at the RFU, and this week there is a wariness over how much Robinson might enjoy putting one over on those who failed to support him in his hour of need.

"The coach himself was doing a good job yesterday of trying to insist it was just another game. He acknowledges that it will be special when the teams come out on Saturday, but up to this point his mind has been full to bursting, as usual, with analysis of the opposition, where their strengths and weaknesses lie, and where Scotland might effect a better return for their hard work and enterprise than that witnessed in three successive defeats."

Writing in The Guardian, Rob Kitson believes that the decision to drop Lewis Moody from the England side is a warning for his fellow veterans.

"They say life begins at 40, even for someone like Martin Johnson who has already achieved more than most people do in their full allotted span. The craggy birthday boy was reluctant to dwell on such peripheral issues yesterday – "Ask me on Saturday night and I'll tell you" – but his removal of Lewis Moody from the starting line-up to face Scotland did much of the talking for him. Should England underperform again, the longevity of several other Test careers may well be in jeopardy.

"That, at least, appears the subtext of a team announcement notable as much for the clutch of thrusting wannabe replacements as a first XV featuring Joe Worsley and Louis Deacon, for Moody and the injured Simon Shaw respectively. By promoting the uncapped Ben Youngs to the bench and inviting the Northampton pair of Courtney Lawes and Ben Foden to make an eye-catching second-half impact, Johnson has put the onus firmly on the incumbents to step on the gas."

Vincent Hogan prepares himself for the latest bout of mud slinging from Warren Gatland in the build up to Ireland and Wales' Six Nations showdown in The Irish Independent.

”Well. I wonder what gentle incendiaries Warren Gatland has lined up for us this week. All may appear pleasant and tranquil right now, but it wouldn't be Ireland v Wales if Warren wasn't planning to throw his jacket on the ground and invite half the country outside to answer for some imagined slight.

“So, what will it be this time? Or, more pointedly, who? Gatland has a problem with Irish rugby in the way Michael O'Leary has a problem with the Dublin Airport Authority. He feels that business between them has been soured by a toxic, personal agenda which, I'm afraid, makes him snappy as a menopausal warthog.

“And just about as rational. In 2008, he played his 'et tu, Brute' card against Eddie O'Sullivan. Last year, he went after the Irish players with his peaceable "Wales dislike Ireland more than any other team" address.”

Talismanic captain Brian O'Driscoll will win his 100th Ireland cap against Wales next weekend © Getty Images

Rugby doesn’t have the concept of the street footballer but it ought to be coined for Ireland's Brian O’Driscoll, with all that says about a fighter’s heart and a winner’s mind. Denis Walsh writes in the Sunday Times.

"O’Driscoll’s tolerance for punishment has been an extraordinary feature of his career. Last season, England roughed him up in Croke Park with some late hits, two of them in the space of five minutes, one on the sternum, one on the temple. After the blow to the head he had what he described later as a “piercing, splitting headache”, and the Irish medical staff considered pulling him ashore. But with this commotion going on inside his skull he scored the match-winning try through a ruck of bodies, diving under Julian White and Nick Kennedy, two massive English forwards.

"Such episodes of courage and defiance have defined O’Driscoll’s career. The tries and moments of intuitive brilliance with the ball in hand have colonised the highlights reels but the essence of him as a player is much greater than that. [Phil] Larder puts it well: “What sets him apart is what he has between the ears. The mental toughness. He is what I would call a warrior. He puts his body on the line all the time and that inspires others to follow him. I would say it’s not very often that his body is 100% going onto the field.”

England travel to Scotland this week on the brink of a crisis. From those promising beginnings against Wales, which went some way to erasing the memories of an awful autumn series, the team has regressed according to Paul Ackford in the Sunday Telegraph.

"Against Italy, the side flared brightly in the opening quarter only to fade to constipation, and last week's effort against Ireland merely confirmed that England still find tries disturbingly hard to come by.

"Worse, several key individuals are in decline. Nick Easter, James Haskell, Lewis Moody and Dylan Hartley, hard-edged and productive in the first week of the championship, played poorly against Ireland, and there is, as yet, no evidence that a midfield of Riki Flutey and Mathew Tait can discover the empathy and wherewithal to break down defences. In terms of marks out of 10 for delivering steady improvement, England barely rate a lowly four, and that's generous."

Writing in The Scotsman, Iain Morrison speaks to Scotland coach Andy Robinson as he prepares to take on his countrymen from England.

"The Scotland coach makes no pretence of keeping his cool on the sidelines or anywhere else for that matter. When a player in blue takes a big hit Robinson flinches, when the scrum creaks the coach is physically straining every sinew. As the drama unfolded in the final minutes of the last two games it was all Robinson could do to stop himself marching onto the field, rolling up his sleeves and closing out the game himself. He eats, breathes and sleeps the sport. He is four-fifths coach, two-thirds fan and anything that's left over is, well, probably thrown into refereeing. They could do with the help.

"Now Robinson is sitting in his Murrayfield office nursing a zero and three Six Nations record while contemplating a match against Scotland's oldest rivals who just happen to be his former team. Add to the mix the fact that England boss Martin Johnson joined the chorus demanding Robinson's head back in 2006 before, following the brief interregnum of Brian Ashton, replacing him on the Twickenham throne. Alfred Hitchcock couldn't begin to do justice to the psychodrama that threatens to unfold at Murrayfield on Saturday, so is Robinson really going to claim that this is "just another match"?"

The public want England to put on a show but that is nonsense because it's 'win first, entertain second' insists David Flatman in the Indepdendent on Sunday.

"The challenge is to find a way to win, whatever the situation. This was a trait of that 2003 England team which seemed inbuilt, but was the result of years of work, of consistent selection and, along the way, some painful losses. Winning is a behaviour more than it is a habit; it is not something that just happens. And it happens to be the most important thing in sport.

"To win or to put on a show? This seems to be the question of the day. If you ask any professional athlete, the answer will prove predictable but the all-important viewer at home might feel differently. People put aside time to tune in and expect to be entertained and this is why, even after winning a horribly awkward game in Italy, English heads were being called for.

"It is, I think, a conundrum with a very simple answer; win first, entertain second. The ultimate aim is to make victory itself the prize, not just the fun bits. Success needs to become fashionable again, and boring wins might just be the place to start."

Scotland and Wales are works in progress and even Italy are improving, but at Twickenham there is only gloom according to Eddie Butler in The Observer.

"Defeat may have taken a weight off their broad shoulders, but the mood of Twickenham, restlessly muted even before the ball was kicked into play eight days ago, seems to have stuck. England are struggling and everything that has happened since their first taste of defeat in this year's Six Nations seems to have made the gloom darker.

"Blame for a style drawn from the cautious side of undemonstrative has been pinned on relegation in the Guinness Premiership, the trapdoor that apparently makes every player afraid to take a bold step. Such an influence on the national game may come as something of a surprise to the think-tanks at Leeds, Worcester and Sale, who might be excused for feeling that if they had a few more fully fit England internationals in their ranks they might not be in the dogfight to avoid the drop.

"There is an extension of the English malaise, in that it dominates coverage of the Six Nations and spreads into corners where rugby may not be viewed quite so lugubriously. Wales, for example, do not seem to be glum, despite having a record of hysteria that should make Martin Johnson the Mr Happy of Euphoria Street."

Ireland celebrate scoring a try against England at Twickenham last time out © Getty Images

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley talks to Ireland defensive coach Les Kiss ahead of their latest Six Nations clash with Wales.

"In the fall-out from Paris, no one would have spent more time analysing the DVD than Les Kiss. A defensive system that had become the envy of the other teams in last season’s Six Nations conceded as many tries in Stade de France as it did in all five games last season. That hurt.

"Kiss is a deep-thinking, slightly alternative defensive coach. He doesn’t seem to analyse performances in terms of tackle counts and missed tackles. He’s guarded about his modus operandi, and takes a somewhat personalised, holistic view, with the defensive and offensive performances inextricably linked. So he particularly enjoyed the way Cian Healy and Keith Earls forced that turnover after 13 phases of English recycling from which Ireland stealthily struck for their first try. In any event, the bottom line is about scoring more points than the opposition."

The harshest thing about losing is that it opens the door to change and England must embrace that opportunity according to Will Greenwood in the Daily Telegraph.

"England lost the [Ireland] match, confirming my biggest fear that the current side can outplay opponents and still not win games. When the chips were down, England had neither the class to create and take three chances, nor could they scramble well enough to stop Ireland taking their half-chances.

"...Now Johnson has a massive call to make. Does he stick with the guys who have shown improvement but still look short of footballing ability and raw speed? Or does he twist and pick players who seem to carry those attributes in club rugby but are untested at the highest level. I know that it is easy to dissect a team from the living room and with the benefit of hindsight. Even so, I think there are some changes that would benefit England."

The Scotsman's Allan Massie believes Scotland can learn a thing or two from France and their coach Marc Lievremont.

"Andy Robinson may be excused if he ever looks enviously across the Channel, and not only because his French counterpart Marc Lievremont has put together a side which looks capable of winning a Grand Slam and will indeed do so if they beat Italy and then England in Paris. It is, however, the depth of talent at Lievremont's disposal which must have the Scotland coach a bit green-eyed.

"...Since becoming French coach after the 2007 World Cup, Lievremont has shuffled his team energetically, selecting almost three complete XVs in three seasons. Some people, even in France, thought this a bit crazy, but, if it was madness, it now appears that there was method in it. There will still be changes between now and the 2011 World Cup, but they are likely to be made on form rather than as an experiment in progress. He has evidently been working towards a settled team, and the results are showing."

After defeat against Italy, Scotland coach Andy Robinson must prepare his side to face his own former team, England. A tough week ahead? It certainly will be for his players according to Chris Hewett in The Independent.

"'Show me a good loser," said the great gridiron coach Vince Lombardi, undisputed world champion of the sporting one-liner, "and I'll show you a loser." Andy Robinson would not have been much use to him as a demonstration model.

Robinson knows what it is to lose – his Scotland team currently sit at the foot of the Six Nations table, with nothing but a big fat zero to show from their three outings to date – but if there is anyone in this world who loathes the feeling more, he is hiding in a cave somewhere.

"Defeat? I still don't get it," says the West Countryman with one of those trademark grimaces of his. "I don't understand it, and there's nothing in my character that makes me want to understand it. I think I've become a little better at rationalising and verbalising things in public, but I hate the feeling of losing and always will. It makes me angry." Have the Scotland players seen that anger at first hand? "Oh yeah. They got a load of it after the Wales game."

England manager Martin Johnson holds court with the English media at their palacial Surrey base in 2008 © Getty Images

Hugh Farrelly reflects on his Six Nations travels with his latest piece for the Irish Independent.

"Low points have included the decision to try pork scratchings in London on a 'when in Rome' basis (tooth-crackingly hard on the outside, a stomach-heaving mush of fat on the inside, they are the snack of choice for Hitler, Saddam and the boys in the pub of the damned).

"Earning the howled indignation of a Parisien taxi driver when a tired and emotional colleague insisted on sleeping with his head in your lap was another unpleasant, and misconstrued, moment. (Tipping in these circumstances is not easy, particularly when your man bag adds to the confusion.) However, the high point thus far was unquestionably the Twickenham press box last weekend.

"The English rugby media are, individually, some of the best and friendliest in the business. Collectively, it can be hard to avoid the sense -- from certain quarters -- of being regarded as country bumpkins mixing with the aristocracy. Tug your forelock, snaffle a few leftover pies and take your seat ... happy to be here, sir. It makes victory all the sweeter but, completely outnumbered, you cannot overtly express that sense of satisfaction, so you catch the eyes of your fellow bumpkins and use a wink or a clenched fist to get it across."

Chris Cusiter can still recall vividly the emotions and atmosphere around Murrayfield the last time he was part of a Calcutta Cup victory, but by last night his head was throbbing instead with the memories of the Stadio Flaminio and Scotland's defeat to Italy. The Scotsman's David Ferguson reports.

"The Scotland captain had endured a "very honest" debrief with the Scotland squad that had run much longer than planned, as players and coaches ensured no-one was spared in their appraisal of a demoralising 16-12 defeat in Rome on Saturday. The players eventually emerged for a squad session striving to use the painful images to begin the process of planning for England's visit a week on Saturday and the attempt to salvage something from the 2010 Six Nations.

"I would like to say things have improved with time," said Cusiter, a popular captain within the squad, "but, in truth, nothing has improved in the mind after looking at it all again on the video. That was a very tough debrief, but a very necessary one for everyone.

"Everybody was very open and honest, words were spoken shall we say, but it was needed. Things needed to be said. Ultimately, it's about us needing to get better, recognising where we're going wrong and what we need to improve, and how to do that as quickly as we can."

With the championship reaching its climax, the Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly gives us the good, the bad and the downright awful in this year's Six Nations.

"Three rounds gone, two to go and once again the Six Nations has proven itself to be top-drawer entertainment overflowing with drama, controversy and intrigue.

"The southern hemisphere cynics will question some of the quality on display but when the alternative is the touch-rugby dross of 'Super' tournament, where tries are as plentiful as raindrops and just as tedious, then we'll take the Six Nations fare every time.

"The pick of the matches thus far was Wales versus France in Cardiff last weekend, a thrilling contest once the French took their foot off the pedal and allowed the Welsh back in, and a match that lived up to the pre-match hype and razzmatazz that arrives with a Friday night billing."

Mud and relegation - England's problems? © Getty Images

Robert Kitson believes that England's problems can be traced back in part to the Guinness Premiership relegation battle in The Guardian.

“It has been the same old story for seven consecutive years. How, people keep asking, can a nation with England's enviable resources again be out of the running for a grand slam, if not the title, with two whole Six Nations weekends still remaining?

“Coaches and players come and go but not since 2003 have the erstwhile world champions won three successive games in the championship. To blame the current regime alone is to ignore deep-rooted issues elsewhere.

“Events at Twickenham, for instance, may have less bearing on the England squad's medium-term future than two eye-catching scorelines from the Guinness Premiership at the weekend. Leeds Carnegie's 26-10 win over Wasps, coupled with Gloucester's 47-3 thrashing of Sale, has transformed the Premiership run-in. Suddenly the Sharks, without a win in their last seven games in all competitions, are staring at the unthinkable spectre of automatic relegation. Leeds, conversely, have prised open the theoretically padlocked trap-door. The bitter struggle to avoid the drop to the Championship – with Worcester also involved – will consume all parties for the next two months.”

Tony Ward lauds Ireland's resilience after they bounced back from their Paris nightmare with victory over England at Twickenham in The Irish Independent.

"It is said you learn so much more in defeat than in victory. At Twickenham on Saturday, Declan Kidney and his team bounced back from the Parisien lesson to produce pretty much the perfect performance.

"England's inadequacies should not detract one iota from an Irish win every bit as important in its longer-term ramifications as its shorter-term needs.

"This game, this performance and this result are all pivotal in the march towards New Zealand 2011. The nature of Irish rugby (certainly when compared to Saturday's opposition rich in cash and players) dictates that we can seldom take our eye off the next game, but in terms of full restoration of the confidence dented in France, this victory was critical."

Mick Cleary has so far learned six lessons from this season's Six Nations in The Daily Telegraph.

”Well, it will take an upset of considerable proportions for them not to be the grand champions. Two home games to come, against Italy, who have never beaten them, and England, who used to do so regularly – eight times in succession from 1989-95. It was only 12 months ago that France came to Twickenham and were humiliated, trailing 34-0 after 42 minutes and eventually losing 34-10.

“What has Marc Lièvremont done to turn around an ailing vessel? There has been greater consistency in selection and a change of captain from Lionel Nallet to the stylish, all-engaging flanker Thierry Dusautoir, while they now have a tip-top scrum and a balance between brain and brawn. A ninth Grand Slam, their fifth in 13 years, awaits.”

Brian Moore pinpoints the entire English backline, not just Jonny Wilkinson, as the root of their problems in The Daily Telegraph.

"The Twickenham agnostics (they have lapsed from being faithful into this less slavishly adulatory entity), are metaphorically starting to hum this refrain after Martin Johnson's claim that England's narrow loss to Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday showed "there is still obviously a lot more in us".

"While consistent with similar claims of huge strides being made off the field, the problem is that it is still 'jam tomorrow'. The other difficult fact militating against accepting Johnson's assertion is that it is difficult to see under what circumstances such latent talent will come forth. Having forced Ireland to make four times as many tackles and dominated possession, territory and the set-piece scrums, England are unlikely to be able to have better circumstances from which to challenge the better teams in world rugby.

"Though they had all this ball, all these positions, they were still outscored by three tries to one and their crossing of the line came from good forward play. When they tried to engage their opponents with a more expansive game plan they were taught a lesson in finishing."

Wales fullback Lee Byrne is tired of conceding big leads and sees the irony in their current situation in The Independent.

"What makes it seem stranger is that Wales always used to be a team who would start well and then tail off as the gas ran out. Gas is clearly not a problem now. Yet starting well is. In fact, we're handing it to the opponents. I suppose the game against France on Friday night was a case in point. Those two interception tries were about the only chances they had in the first half. They didn't break us once otherwise. But they went in 20-0 up. Even they must have been thinking that "this is really weird". They hadn't stretched us at all.

"What was said in our dressing room at the break? There were no massive rollockings or anything. We just vowed not to concede another try. We achieved that. We knew we would score points. We just didn't score enough. We had the chances, mind you. I was guilty of kicking a penalty the wrong side of the French corner flag. What can I say? The adrenaline was pumping and the ball caught the outside of my boot. I probably couldn't do it again in 100 attempts. I couldn't help but show my disappointment."

England manager Martin Johnson has plenty of food for thought © Getty Images

The lack of real verve in this England team does them few favours writes Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times.

"Players such as Ugo Monye and Riki Flutey played with a fizz on the Lions tour, but here yesterday they were again subsumed into the morass. England desperately need a bigger profile in the media, they need the players to be out and seeking love and affection, not only for sponsors’ days but in the country at large.

"In my opinion, and I hold it strongly, the very best thing that could happen to this misfiring England team would be for their next game to take place at a big stadium away from south-west London, somewhere the viewing lines, the colour of the seats, the pubs and fixtures and fittings en route to the stadium, would all be different.

"And to further boost that effervescence, I think that England should cancel every training session between now and the Calcutta Cup in Edinburgh in a fortnight. Do not watch a DVD, do not sit in a team room, do not listen to the 50th speech of the season by the team manager or the captain, do not retreat behind the luxury and the walls of Pennyhill Park, their headquarters. Just go to Scotland, go onto the field and play, play with no checks and balances and preconception. Surprise your followers, who are all sitting right back in their seats, not on the edges."

Ireland edged out England in a war of attrition according to Eamonn Sweeney in the Irish Independent.

"Despite the fact that the home team owned the ball for long periods, this game fitted the pattern of several recent encounters between the two countries. It was close, it was edgy, what entertainment there was derived from suspense rather than quality of play and, in the end, Ireland won it.

"Perhaps we shouldn't have. England spent considerably more time in our half than we did in theirs. Yet, for all their bulk and bustle, that old combination of a ponderous pack and lateral three-quarters ensured that once more we came away with the points. Ireland simply had the cutting edge that England don't possess any more, something highlighted by the fact that it was our two wings who bagged the three tries."

As Wales proved on Friday, if you turn the screw on Marc Lièvremont’s talented team they are eminently beatable, so writes Paul Ackford in the Sunday Telegraph.

"So, only England stand between France and their first Grand Slam since 2004. It is true that France still have to overcome Italy in Paris next match up, but it is inconceivable that they will let that one slip. But England, also at the Stade de France? That could be a different matter altogether.

"Friday night's tumultuous encounter with Wales in Cardiff served up two apparently mutually exclusive truths. One, that France are far and away the most complete side in the championship. And two, as Wales aptly demonstrated when they rattled them for the first 30 minutes of the second half, that they are also eminently beatable."

It was great while it lasted but the honeymoon is well and truly over for coach Andy Robinson according to Iain Morrison in the Scotland on Sunday.

"Was that win over the Wallabies really just three short months ago? Because it feels like ancient history after this performance.

"...With Scotland defending a narrow three-point advantage, and never looking comfortable doing so, Italian substitute scrum-half Paolo Canavosio proved the home hero by popping up with the only try of the match with just 11 minutes left on the clock. He had only been on the field for quarter of an hour. It followed a cracking break by centre Gonzalo Canale, who cut in on the angle and Jim Hamilton may not even have noticed the centre as he flew past his nose. Canale was stopped in his tracks but offloaded to Canavosio, who wrong-footed the defence to dot down under the posts. It was fitting that the only try of the match proved decisive."

Martin Johnson's men were beaten again but the Independent on Sunday's Hugh Godwin insist the signs of progress are there.

"There were seven minutes remaining of a bizarrely unbalanced match, in which England made only 30 tackles, less than a third of their opponents, when Ireland threw to a line-out on the home 22. England were 16-13 ahead, the latest score having been that old reliable, a Jonny Wilkinson drop-goal off the right foot. They had, perhaps crucially, just substituted Danny Care, the scrum-half whose switchback match had been on a significant upswing. The line-out was caught by Paul O'Connell and a huge gap opened at the tail. Tomas O'Leary darted a few metres before passing to Bowe, who bulleted past Wilkinson's inside shoulder and fended off James Haskell and Ugo Monye to score. Ronan O'Gara, on for Jonny Sexton as a steady hand on the No 10 tiller, converted. Though England worked a chance at the other end, Ireland were able to defend a powerful driving maul and the pleadings to the referee by Nick Easter and Steve Borthwick for a penalty for a deliberate collapse or the put-in at the scrum amounted to hopeless begging."

Writing in The Observer, Eddie Butler reviews the latest Six Nations action.

"Possession is not a problem for England. They win tons of the wretched thing, from the scrum, the lineout and under the high ball. But the speed with which they advance grows slower and slower the longer they have the ball in their big arms.

"The positional play of Jonny Wilkinson will come under scrutiny again, and it is true that he lay a long way back from his scrum-half. The communication skills of Danny Care inside Wilkinson and Riki Flutey outside him will be questioned, as will the eyes of Delon Armitage, who sees more openings from full-back than any other player. But the opportunities for the England half-backs and their outside three-quarters are determined by the speed at which the ball is delivered to them. Ireland ground the breakdown to a halt and England could do nothing."

Ireland's Ronan O'Gara took the unprecedented step of replying publically to media criticism © Getty Images

A week is a long time in politics, but what about a fortnight in sport? The two-week mid-Six Nations break is seen as crucial for the teams and players to recover. But in this vacuum everyone seems to get a little bit edgy. Former Ireland captain Keith Wood writes in the Daily Telegraph.

"An opinion piece by Kevin Myers, of the Irish Independent, on Ireland's loss to France had the curious reaction of a published retort by Ronan O'Gara. Curious, because sportsmen rarely ever respond in kind. Myers has now countered and we are all waiting with bated breath for the saga to continue. In short, Myers blamed O'Gara for Ireland's defeat in Paris, but the fly-half hit back, saying "I do not accept being castigated by a journalist who I suspect knows nothing about rugby".

"An opinion piece is exactly that, and in his defence of the attack on his credentials, Myers declares correctly "one does not need to be a carpenter to see that the chair keeps falling over". Equally, O'Gara is entitled to his reply, although I can't remember another player taking that right. By doing so it leaves O'Gara open to the question, 'will he now congratulate a writer when a supportive piece is written?'"

England's collective and individual caution have made Jonny Wilkinson an increasingly ineffective presence according to Kevin Mitchell in The Guardian.

"Wilkinson now stands alone in every way, separated from the action by too many yards and from the confidence of those who were once his allies by too many misgivings. The No10 who holds scoring records that will remain unbroken for years to come and who tackles with the demonic strength of 10 men, struggles with increased regularity to convince those to whom he has delivered countless thrills and victories that he is still capable of doing so.

"Yet he has been doing it most of the winter at Toulon, where the pack have been getting enough traction at the breakdown to give him space in attack. And that is the nub of his dilemma with England, whose forwards sometimes move with the urgency of cattle being herded towards an abattoir."

Writing in The Times, Gerald Davies wonders why there are no longer room for flair playes in the international game.

"As the RBS Six Nations Championship enters its third round of matches, I wonder about the absence of two players who are worthy of such a platform but are in limbo. Danny Cipriani, for England, and Gavin Henson, of Wales, are not in their national squads.

“Whereas we can sympathise with the frustrations of each nation’s management, for us admirers of them, the players are missed hugely. In many ways they are two of a kind, even if the absence of one is of his choosing and the other of someone else’s. They exude poise and play instinctively in a way entirely of their own making. There is nothing manufactured or conventional about either.

“But what of the maverick player in this day and age? What of the player of independent means and contrary mind, not exactly the drop-out or the angry young man, rather the player whose innocent idiosyncrasies enjoy an original flourish?”

In his weekly column in The Guardian, Shaun Edwards is hopeful that the presence of With two enlightened referees in Cardiff and Twickenham this weekend could witness a welcome sea change in the way rugby is played.

"Forgive the obsession if that's what it is but, if you had spent much of the past two years coaching players how to deal with high balls or stay within the law, as currently applied, at the tackle area, you'd also be happy at what appears to be a chink of light in the gloom.

“Look at the team-sheets for this weekend's internationals in Cardiff and London and you'll see a couple of South African names – Jonathan Kaplan, who is refereeing our game tonight in Cardiff against France, and Mark Lawrence, who is looking after England versus Ireland at Twickenham tomorrow.

“Both are experienced referees - Kaplan has 55 Tests behind him, including six involving Wales, and Lawrence has 21, five of them with England - but their particular relevance this weekend is the attitude they bring with them. If everything goes well, we might be in at the start one of those sea changes in the way rugby is played - and a change for the better at that."

Delme Parfitt of the Western Mail finds Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips is giving little away ahead of Friday’s crunch 6 Nations clash with France.

"The interview ended with Mike Phillips cracking up laughing. Seconds earlier he’d been asked what he thought of France’s Morgan Parra being dubbed by some as the best scrum-half in the northern hemisphere.

“’It’s people’s opinions, isn’t it?’ Phillips said in response. ‘He’s a good player, and all the best to him.’

“A ringing endorsement, it was not. But then Parra can hardly complain after labelling Ireland ‘intelligent cheats’ ahead of the clash at the Stade de France.

“One more brief question for Phillips and that was it. The Ospreys man, with one eye on the clock and the resumption of afternoon training, broke into a smile and then his trademark mischievous chuckle.

“The implication was clear: I’m saying one thing, but thinking another."

In an interview with Peter Bills in the Irish Independent, Brian Smith discusses his past with Ireland and his future with England.

"Somehow, intriguingly, Brian Smith's links with Ireland continue to infuse his rugby life. And, in the week when an Irish team from a quite different era meets England at Twickenham tomorrow, Smith made a revealing confession about his own days in the Ireland side.

"'Perhaps now, when I look back, I feel that I shouldn't have done it,' says the Australian of his brief spell as an Irish rugby international. 'Hindsight is a wonderful thing and, I have to admit, I wasn't that happy with the way things panned out in the end.'

"But a lot of water has passed under the bridge since those times, both for Ireland and for Brian Smith. He concedes he is enjoying the England job as much as any he's ever known in his coaching career. 'It's probably my biggest challenge, but I know these things don't last forever. So I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to contribute.'"

John Bentley has dismissed England as 'crap' © Getty Images

David Kelly talks to former England and British & Irish Lions wing John Bentley about Rob Andrew, Martin Johnson and why England are 'crap' in The Irish Independent.

"John Bentley likes the sound of his own voice, which is just as well because so many of those who know him love it too, a Yorkshire accent so thick it almost needs subtitles.

"I hate being called an Englishman, really," says the 41-year-old ex-England winger. "Call me a Yorkshireman instead." If he hadn't been a rugby player, he would liked to have been a porn star. His favourite drink is always the next one. You can guess he's no Coldplay fan.

"An ex-copper from Dewsbury, Bentley debuted against Ireland in the inaugural Millennium Trophy match 22 years ago. Gus Aherne, Vinnie Cunningham, John Sexton and Stevie Smith also debuted for an Irish team on familiar losing duty - 21-13."

Stephen Jones dismisses the Lions-Chiefs Super 14 try-fest as a "complete abortion of a sporting encounter" in The Times.

"Hands up, who feels that the 72-65 victory last weekend by the Chiefs over the Lions was a great rugby match? And those who think it was a rugby match at all?

"One website, which may have seen its best days, lauded this complete abortion of a sporting encounter and so did Robbie Deans, the coach of Australia. Deans has clearly forgotten that worshipping the utterly false god of tries has cost New Zealand two World Cups. Perhaps now that Kiwi Deans is with Australia, it is in his interests not to remind New Zealanders thus.

"The thinly-disguised contempt on the faces of the Sky presenters as they showed highlights of a succession of semi-opposed movements leading to a ghastly total of 18 tries against non-defending, was very telling and journalistically sound. Let us not pretend that the followers of the Chiefs, or anyone else for that matter, will not feel sick if such tripe is served up for much longer in the Super 15."

Ireland's John Hayes makes a rare appearance in front of the media earlier this week © Getty Images

The Irish Times' Johnny Watterson watched as Ireland's John Hayes took centre stage, much to the amusement of some of his team-mates.

"John Hayes has become the stately Grand Piano in the corner of the room. The owners shine it, mend it and while they can’t prevent the other kids from banging the lid or knocking it about, it remains a solid, venerable fixture that seems to mature more than age.

"A century of caps when he lines out against England on Saturday, off pitch bashfully reticent, Hayes (36) has become rugby’s unlikely professional front runner. But his longevity and prize position within coach Declan Kidney’s thinking reflects an essential gene that ensures the longer he goes on the less inclined they are to retire him.

"He started campaigning at around the same time as Brian O’Driscoll 10 years ago but short of an act of God before the weekend he will beat the Irish captain by one cap to the 100 mark, having begun his international career five years the current captain’s senior. Hayes’ first Irish frontrow line-up then was himself, Keith Wood at hooker and Peter Clohessy. Quite the legendary lot."

If England are to build on their success in the Six Nations Championship so far, there are three areas they must improve at Twickenham on Saturday - according to The Times David Hands.

"The breakdown - Yes, everyone thought that area had undergone significant improvement from the first half of this season and so it had. But against Italy in Rome, England were too passive and if they do not contest the ball on the floor better, Ireland’s back division will make them pay.

"This is often easier to say than do, given the vagaries of referees when the ball is loose. Players going off their feet at the ruck — it can be difficult to stay standing — are invariably penalised. But England must find legitimate ways of creating genuine competition, in the knowledge that turnover ball offers the best attacking options, as they proved against Wales on the opening day."

Scotland captain Chris Cusiter has accepted that he was wrong to decide to keep the ball alive for the final play of the game against Wales. Stuart bathgate reports in The Scotsman.

"Cusiter told Mike Blair to restart the match by sending the ball downfield, when a kick straight to touch would have ended the contest with the score tied at 24-24. Wales gathered Blair's kick, keeping the ball alive, and scored a converted try to win 31-24.

"The incident, which occurred when Scotland were two men down after Scott Lawson and Phil Godman had been sinbinned, was not the focus of as much post-match attention as it would have been in other circumstances. The condition of Thom Evans and Chris Paterson, both of whom had been hospitalised by injuries, was of far greater concern.

"Now, the best part of a fortnight later, and with the squad having undergone a debriefing on the game in Cardiff, Cusiter has acknowledged it would have been better to send the ball out of play and settle for a draw."

Ronan O'Gara - still the man? © Getty Images

David Kelly goes through the selection problems facing Ireland coach Declan Kidney ahead of his side's Six Nations meeting with England at Twickenham in The Irish Independent.

"When Rory Best yesterday referred to the "shock to the system" which rippled through the Irish squad in the aftermath of their first defeat in 15 months, he was probably only skating the surface of the trauma now affecting the Irish selectors ahead of today's team announcement.

"Already thieved of experienced players like Denis Leamy, Luke Fitzgerald, Jerry Flannery and Rob Kearney and hungry players such as Sean O'Brien and Donnacha Ryan, serious form issues now surround others, including Ronan O'Gara, Paul O'Connell, David Wallace, John Hayes and Tomas O'Leary.

"How Declan Kidney reacts to a variety of dilemmas will shine a revealing light on how the coach deals with the biggest test of his international career. Should he force his hand or maintain faith in his players after merely one, albeit headline-grabbing, setback? That the problems run from back to front indicate the extent of head-scratching that will have accompanied those dwindling candles burning long into the night at the squad's Killiney HQ."

Chris Hewett is surprised at the inclusion on Mike Phillips on the Wales bench to face France, and blames Dwayne Peel's stay at Sale for the development in The Independent.

"Mike Phillips may or may not be the best scrum-half in European rugby – those subscribing to this view, who include Phillips himself, can bring as evidence three wonderful Test performances for the British and Irish Lions against the Springboks last summer – but this much is certain: the Wales coach Warren Gatland considers him a better bet than Dwayne Peel, his immediate predecessor with the Lions. A day after recalling Peel to his squad, Gatland named Phillips ahead of him for Friday night's Six Nations meeting with France in Cardiff.

"In a major reshuffle of the cards at No 9, the Cardiff Blues half-back Richie Rees will replace his club colleague Gareth Cooper in the starting line-up. With Cooper dropping out of the match-day squad altogether, there was a spare seat on the bench.

"Most observers assumed Peel, who plays his club rugby in England with Sale and is not in particularly good odour with Gatland because of it, would be selected there, on the grounds that while he had been injured, he had not been nearly as injured as Phillips. What was more, he had played for Wales during the autumn."

Robert Kitson previews a make-or-break Six Nations weekend for England and Ireland in The Guardian.

"The tipping point of the Six Nations championship is upon us. Ireland and England can still win the title but both can also feel the tug of gravity as they contemplate their prospects for Twickenham this weekend.

"Ahead of today's announcement of his England starting XV, Martin Johnson could certainly have done without the slight injury doubt surrounding his leading marksman Jonny Wilkinson as England seek to maintain their 100% start. Three from three, by whatever means, would represent the first Six Nations hat-trick of red rose wins since 2003. Squeeze past Scotland at Murrayfield and the seemingly impossible would suddenly be 80 minutes away. Never mind the quality, just imagine the scope of the dramatic narrative.

"The alternative, for the losers, will be a campaign marinated in regret. When Jason Robinson, Johnson's former team-mate, called at the weekend for Northampton's twinkle-toed full-back Ben Foden to be given a chance he was merely articulating the nationwide frustration at England's laboured effort against the Azzurri. The "F word", as Johnson calls it, is also prevalent among coaches and players. The managerial preference, however, is to use the foundations laid in Rome as a base for patient development."

Jonathan Sexton was in fine form for Leinster as they defeated the Scarlets © Getty Images

Jonathan Sexton's performance as Leinster defeated the Scarlets was a timely reminder to Ireland coach Declan Kidney according to The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly.

"On the night Lady Gaga was wowing the O2, the piped music across town at the RDS was suitably contemporary and upbeat, but 'London Calling' would have been the most appropriate tune given next weekend's Twickenham tilt.

"Leinster copper-fastened their top-four status in the Magners League table (with a game in hand) following Saturday night's rusty, if comprehensive, win over the Scarlets. But, while that fact will justifiably afford coach Michael Cheika a fair degree of satisfaction (tempered by the fractured leg suffered by Sean O'Brien), the imperatives of getting the Irish rugby team back on track against England next weekend meant the primary interest was in the individual auditions as a clutch of Leinstermen bid to turn blue to green.

"Chief among them was out-half Jonathan Sexton, whose man-of-the-match, 22-point display was a powerful statement ahead of tomorrow's Ireland team announcement."

Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio is now a familiar face on the sidelines © Getty Images

Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio insists it is high time current skipper Steve Borthwick had a reality check. Read his thoughts in the Sunday Times.

"I got to know Steve Borthwick at the 2007 World Cup because neither of us was in Brian Ashton’s starting team and we found ourselves thrown together quite a bit. He is a good bloke, intelligent and a natural team player. But knowing Borthwick didn’t stop me being confused by his reaction to last weekend’s game. While I could accept England’s poor performance because that happens, I couldn’t accept the delusional reaction to it.

"In the post-game interview Borthwick said: “We played some fantastic stuff, created a lot of chances but ultimately we didn’t take them. But some of the rugby we played was outstanding . . . In some aspects, I thought we did some very good stuff. Delon Armitage, Mark Cueto and Ugo Monye in those wide channels made some fantastic breaks, Matt Mullen came on and did really well. I think there was a lot of positives.”

"I heard this and thought: “Steve, please, don’t insult our intelligence.” Borthwick’s summary bore no resemblance to the game I watched and I yearned for him to be more honest. This matters because rugby, when played correctly, is all about honesty. You don’t feign injury on the pitch and afterwards you don’t pretend you’ve performed when you haven’t."

The internet age has changed rugby's social scene for ever, writes Paul Rees in the Irish Independent.

"There were a few Golfs but not many buggies around the Wales squad's headquarters in the Vale of Glamorgan when they held their media session last week.

"The electric golf cart allegedly commandeered by the flanker Andy Powell hours after last weekend's victory over Scotland and driven to a nearby M4 service station was parked in a pound in Cardiff, a symbol of how Wales have stalled this season.

"Gatland's playing career ended as the lights were going out on amateurism, a time when players and supporters, not to forget reporters, mingled after matches. No matter how much beer loosened tongues and relaxed inhibitions, any indiscretions remained private. The internet era has changed that and Gatland this month asked a lawyer who specialises in defamation, privacy and reputation management to address the players on the perils of posting messages on social networking websites."

Writing in The Scotsman, Tom English offers an insight into his new book, The Grudge: Scotland vs. England, 1990.

"Scotland planned to walk out.

David Sole: "There's a gradual slope at the entrance to the pitch, so if you start jogging at the top you'll nearly be sprinting by the time you get to the bottom. You wanted to sprint. Everything in your body and the noise of the crowd was telling you to sprint. But we couldn't. We were walking.

"We emerged and a big roar went up and then a weird thing happened. It just subsided for a second or two. It was almost as if you could hear the thought process of more than 50,000 people. 'Hey, they're walking.' Then the roar came back and it sent a shiver through me."

Scotland lock Chris Gray: "I looked over at the English and they were going, 'Bloody Nora!'"

Moore: "No we weren't. People said we were quaking in our boots. Urban myth."

Carling: "I was talking to the guys, so we didn't see their famous walk. I heard the reaction to it, though. Jesus, did I hear it."

Ian McGeechan: "Myself and Jim missed it. We were walking under the stand – and the whole edifice shook. It was like a train passing overhead."

The Independent's Hugh Godwin grills Ugo Monye and former captain Martin Corry about an unconvincing England.

"A touch-and-go win over Wales and unconvincing victory in Italy have left England in second place in the Six Nations' Championship but besieged by unhappy critics and calls in some quarters for fly-half Jonny Wilkinson to be dropped. The England wing Ugo Monye and former captain Martin Corry answer 10 questions hanging over Martin Johnson's team as they prepare to meet Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday.

"Should Wilkinson go, Jonny go? "A settled side is the number one factor in England becoming successful," said Corry. "I'd go further than saying Jonny and Riki Flutey are the 10 and 12 for this year. Martin Johnson should say they and the bulk of the current side are going to be the core of the 2011 World Cup team. Chopping and changing is not going to work." Monye attended the same school as Wilkinson and stuck up for his boyhood hero. "His composure in vital moments is crucial and he kicked a drop goal against Italy at a perfect time. His intensity, his professionalism, his cool head on the pitch are exceptional. This England team really needs Jonny Wilkinson."

England fly-half Jonny WIlkinson came in for undue flak after the Six Nations match in Italy, but he has always been a cautious player according to Eddie Butler in The Observer.

"Last week Martin Johnson, the current manager, the former captain and the mightiest player ever to wear the shirt of England, went to the defence of Jonny Wilkinson, the No10 of England and the world's highest scorer of points. Johnno and Jonny: beefeater and crown jewel.

"Johnson was unhappy that because Wilkinson had missed a couple of kicks in Rome the critics were on his back. Well, on the matter of the two penalties and the conversion that went astray, they came almost as welcome relief, an imprecision on one front that might allow Wilkinson to prosper on another.

"But England barely blossomed anywhere against Italy and the sight of Wilkinson dropping further and further back to a position somewhere to the north of full-back hardly bolstered the view that they were prepared to go out and win this game, rather than not lose it."

Given the the destabilising effects of their hammering in Paris, having England at Twickenham next up is not the worst scenario for Ireland and their coach Declan Kidney. Hugh Farrelly writes in the Irish Independent.

"Yes, if it had been a home game against Italy or Scotland, there would have been an instant opportunity for a confidence-restoration exercise, but, given how far this team has progressed over the last 15 months, taking on a bullish England team in front of their home supporters is probably the best way for the Grand Slam champions to get Paris out of their system.

"Win in Twickenham and there is the chance, in the final two home games against Wales and Scotland, to further this squad's development in preparation for the World Cup -- not to mention the significant challenges in New Zealand and Australia on the summer tour. However, defeating the English is never a straightforward matter."

With so many games swinging on the showing of yellow cards teams must devise strategies for playing with, or against, 14 men. according to Shaun Edwards in The Guardian.

"Back in 2003 England beat the All Blacks in Wellington to register a first win in New Zealand for 30 years and did it with only 13 men at times. In the second half, with the All Blacks trying to claw their way back into the game, the Australian referee Stuart Dickinson lost patience and sent Neil Back and Lawrence Dallaglio to the sin bin. It looked like curtains for England, but somehow Martin Johnson and the other five remaining forwards didn't budge.

Sir Clive Woodward, ever the one to point out that it was attention to the smallest of details that turned matches, explained that it was a situation for which England had practised, while others suggested it was the point when England knew they could go on to win the World Cup. Certainly they were confident enough to beat the Wallabies in Melbourne the following week – the first win on Aussie soil – and from those two victories in June 2003 they went on to lift the Webb Ellis Cup in the autumn.

Come forward seven seasons to this year's Six Nations and there have already been three examples of games where similar yellow-card situations have been handled less cleverly."

After Jerry Flannery became the latest casualty of Ireland’s now abortive Grand Slam defence, opportunity knocks for a host of unheralded players over the coming weekend of league action, David Kelly writes in the Irish Independent.

"The Chinese celebrated their New Year last weekend -- this is the year of the Tiger, as it happens, and perhaps the eponymous Mr Woods just may have been absorbing a little Oriental philosophy before he emerges from all his controversy.

"Apparently, the Chinese deploy the same word for crisis and opportunity. Hence the maxim which declares that just as a mishandled opportunity becomes a crisis, so a well-managed crisis becomes an opportunity. Tiger's will surely come.

"Irish rugby's crisis is less rapt by such dramatic tension, but as the Six Nations campaign takes a breather this weekend, there are opportunities abounding to abate any hysterical talk of an emergency ahead of the Twickenham tie with England in just nine days' time.

"And it is clear there are numerous chances for players to make their presence felt in this season's championship and, perhaps, to lay down a marker for the summer tour and beyond, towards 2011 and the World Cup."

Ireland's Jerry Flannery can’t have too many complaints after receiving a six-week ban that will keep him out of Ireland’s remaining three matches, writes John O'Sullivan in the Irish Times.

"There is no doubt that the fact that the French wing was forced to hobble from the pitch less than 10 minutes later would have counted against the Irishman. Slow motion replays confirm that Palisson had control of the ball in his arms when Flannery lunged awkwardly with the boot. The Ireland hooker was guilty of clumsiness rather than malice but the manner in which he made contact was always going to invite further censure than the penalty awarded at the time.

"...Flannery had produced a brilliant performance in Paris – the Palisson folly notwithstanding – for the 61 minutes he was on the pitch before being replaced by Rory Best. The suspension though represents the latest setback in a season dogged by frustration."

Is Jonny Wilkinson's time up? © Getty Images

Robert Kitson analyses England's win over Italy and joins the voices questioning Jonny Wilkinson's inclusion in The Guardian.

“Everything is relative. Thank goodness we can all sit around debating how awful England were, rather than await a chilling medical bulletin from a Cardiff hospital. Let us be eternally grateful that the Scotland wing Thom Evans did not, after all, suffer a more serious injury at the Millennium Stadium. Were he still lying motionless in bed with no feeling in his arms and legs, England's shortcomings in Rome would be less than irrelevant.

“Happily the medics say Evans should make a full recovery. Unhappily for Martin Johnson, the Six Nations Championship table may imply a blooming red rose but anyone who watched the 80-minute bore-athon in the Stadio Flaminio knows better. Subtract Welsh generosity and Italian mediocrity from the equation and England could easily still be searching for their first win.

“Maybe it would have done them good to lose to the Azzurri on Sunday, if only to inject more realism into the post-match platitudes. Maybe, behind closed doors this week, tough words will be spoken and even tougher decisions taken. As things stand, though, England risk the steepest of descents. Even if they do emerge from their weekend torpor to see off Ireland and Scotland, they face a total wipeout at the hands of a resurgent France in Paris unless there is a radical change of tactics. Should England finish second in the championship playing like zombies, it will confirm every southern hemisphere doubt about the tournament's overall quality.”

Hugh Farrelly has some key points for consideration in the wake of Ireland's defeat to France in The Irish Independent

“For a small sporting country, we're not slow to get the knives out. Saturday's 33-10 defeat has provoked an intense, knee-jerk reaction but while it's far from push-the-panic-button time, there are suddenly issue to address and new territory for Declan Kidney to traverse.

“It is not the defeat per se - the unbeaten run could not go on forever - it was the manner of it. Ireland were lined up and summarily executed, something that Kidney has not encountered in his professional career.

“While Kidney's men made a strong start and had scoring opportunities which could have altered the trend of the game, there were passages of play where France appeared to be operating in a different sphere.”

Battered and Bruised, Ireland need to 'get back on the horse' © Getty Images

Tony Ward believes that the halfback duo of Eoin Reddan and Jonathan Sexton are banging on the door of Ireland boss Decland Kidney in The Irish Independent.

"If there was one of Eddie O'Sullivan's frequently quoted expressions I used to loathe, it was the one following defeat - which, to be fair, wasn't that often - about getting back up on the horse.

"The head coach would say it in flash interviews post-match. And then his players and back-up staff would repeat it ad nauseam.Well, if the performance in Paris took us back to dim times past, then I must take a leaf out of O'Sullivan's book and state that it is, indeed, time to get back on the horse.

"There is no other option. A good team did not become bad on the back of one under-par performance, but, nonetheless, a winning team has had its confidence severely dented by Saturday's French fall."

Peter Bills salutes a French performance of pace, power and invention against Ireland in The Independent.

"Be afraid, be very afraid. French rugby is stirring and a giant awakes. It was all very well for France's reinvigorated rugby team to hammer and humiliate the reigning Grand Slam champions Ireland, in Paris on Saturday. But to receive laudatory comments from that notoriously dissatisfied body of opinion known as the French media was another thing altogether.

"Thus, we can imagine that French coach Marc Lièvremont (below) probably needed to sit down in a darkened room once he had digested the words of France's great newspapers following his team's 33-10 victory at Stade de France.

"Combat Kings" L'Equipe hailed them. The magisterial Le Monde opined that: "France replied in masterly fashion to the question of what level they are at." And the rugby bible, Midi Olympique, added: "It was their aggression and breakdown work which were the most impressive aspects of the French performance."

Mick Cleary, writing in The Daily Telegraph, has little praise for England or Italy following their Six Nations meeting in Rome.

"They made five line breaks, all prompted from the rear, and managed to trouble what has been an unyielding Italy defence. 'But why didn't they do that more often?' was the plaintive question on the lips of many at Fiumicino airport yesterday. If England are to prosper, and the game itself is to have casual spectators reaching for the replay, rather than the off, button, then they have to be bold. Mark Cueto, Delon Armitage, Mathew Tait and Riki Flutey all had their moments. But moments they turned out to be: the pulse rate soared only to return quickly to idle.

"Compare that to events at the Millennium Stadium, where there was adventure in the air and a belief that ball-in-hand was not the sign of a death wish. It is possible to retain possession through phases. It is not the mark of a madman to run with the ball. Trust your skills. Back your judgment. Have a crack.

"Admittedly Italy are not easy to play against. They are betraying the sport with their wilful disregard for doing anything but hoofing the ball to the skies. There are plans to increase capacity at the Stadio Flaminio to 44,000, making room for 10,000 more spectators. Masochists this way please. Yet the team spoke yesterday of their pride in getting so close to England. Well, they may be worthy, but they are dull."

Eddie Butler believes that England skipper Steve Borthwick should pipe down following games in The Guardian.

"I can't say I know Sir John Chilcot well enough to know whether he likes his rugby union or not, but I can see him of a Sunday afternoon putting his aside his mountains of testimony from the Iraq Inquiry and taking in a bit of Italy-England by way of light relief. Light, of course, being a relative term.

"There he is, possibly drifting off in the second half, only to be jerked out of his power nap by the sound of Steve Borthwick's post-match interview. Such denial, such a limpet. "Sounds familiar," says Sir John with a sigh, returning to his reams.

"Borthwick is playing well, but he has reached the state as a captain where somebody should leave a revolver on his lap-top of lineout analysis. Given the apparent thickness of his skin, it would take an entire box of slugs to draw blood."

Tom English believes that Scotland can come back brighter following their heartbreaking defeat to Wales in The Scotsman.

"Byrne had chipped over Godman, who was the last man in Scotland's defence. He was racing on to a loose ball with a yard or two advantage over his nearest pursuers. Would he want to take a dive in those circumstances when he would have been convinced that a match-winning score was likely?

"It's a moot point, frankly. What is clear, though, is that Scotland will have to dig deep to recover from this. Perhaps every team that was ever worth a damn had to go through a day like Saturday in order to develop the mental toughness to survive. Maybe that's part of the process. You experience bitter and self-inflicted loss – Chris Cusiter and Mike Blair, class acts both, will be going through torture right now – and you grow from it. It was that prize-fighter and sage, Floyd Patterson, who said that it's in defeat that a man reveals himself. Well, if that's true, the events of the next few weeks are going to be gripping. How Scotland deal with what happened to them in Wales is going to define their championship, their year, and perhaps even the Robinson era.

"The errors at the end are all the harder to take because of the excellence of earlier. Before the deluge of Welsh points, we saw things that ought to get us excited. At last, we had a vision of a new Scotland, a Scotland that dictated the play, that was clever and clinical in possession and organised and defiant without the ball. The huff and puff of multiple, and fruitless, phases that we saw too often in the recent past, was gone and instead there came a directness and an intelligence that had the Welsh rocking for more than 70 minutes. Warren Gatland said the Scots didn't create much. With respect to the Kiwi, he was talking garbage."

Richard Williams joins the Jonny Wilkinson debate following England's victory over Italy in The Guardian.

"Six out of six against Wales a fortnight ago, three out of six against Italy today. The goal-kicking statistics from a narrow victory over Italy will not please the relentless perfectionist inside Jonny Wilkinson. Far more worrying for England, however, is his contribution in open play.

"Like it or not, and Martin Johnson probably does not, an outside-half defines the way his attack functions. Today Wilkinson conformed to the stereotype by sitting deep and making a great deal of use of his boot, a playmaker only in the most negative sense.

"The uninspiring result had the Roman crowd greeting England's win with jeers. Better had been expected from a side with their experience and reputation. Instead Nick Mallett's limited but wholehearted players left the field as the moral victors, having delighted the home fans in the 33,000 crowd with their efforts to play a brand of rugby that might be recognised as entertainment."

Brian Moore is getting tired of England's brand of management speak in The Daily Telegraph.

"After a bright and purposeful start England gradually became drawn into a static game which kept Italy in touch and had it not been for indiscipline the Italians could well have manufactured a win. If we are to have any more transparent management-speak rubbish post-match then we should do away with the interviews and press conferences altogether because they only produce incredulity, if not downright hostility from the watching public.

"Yes, a win is a win and England remain on course for the unlikeliest of Grand Slams, but, with Ireland at home and France and Scotland away, yesterday's game should have been the one in which England showed the latent ability to cut teams open that we have been assured repeatedly exists – if the conditions are right.

"Irrespective of whether this is factually correct, the claims will never come to fruition without players looking for opportunities and, when in possession, manufacturing them when necessary. Riki Flutey's two incisive runs came from the few times England utilised strike moves or ran from mis-kicked ball."

Simon Barnes, whisper it, questions the continued inclusion of Jonny Wilkinson as England's fly-half in The Times.

"There was a time during this match — really quite a long time — in which it was possible to think the unthinkable. England would be beaten by Italy and Jonny Wilkinson would be to blame. Drop Wilkinson! Is it possible to type these words without causing a malfunction of the laptop or stopping the stars in their courses?

"England made almost absurdly heavy weather of this closely fought match. Near the end they were fending off an enthralling Italian attack with a safety margin of only two points. The whiff of upset was in the air, and so was the triumphal march from Aïda. The shag-haired, bearded, big-bodied Italy forwards were inspiring the crowd and charging forward with a sudden belief that the eternal underdog of the Six Nations Championship was about to bite the snootiest dog of all.

"England finally outlasted Italy to win 17-12. They are unbeaten in the championship, just like France, except not really all that much like France. Wilkinson’s contribution was a nightmare of uncertainty in a team who are plagued with the stuff. Jonny uncertain! You’ll be telling me next that he’s got the yips."

Eddie Butler evaluates a worrying trend as another trip causes strife in the Six Nations, in The Observer.

"It's strange how one trip has led to another. Alun Wyn Jones started the trend at Twickenham when he almost daintily felled Dylan Hartley. That led to howls of indignation against a sin almost as bad as eye-gouging, but the outrage did not deter Jerry Flannery from taking the crime to a new level, his version of a trip escalating to a hack at the legs of Alexis Palisson.

"Amazingly, Ireland's hooker was merely reprimanded for the offence. He was fortunate not to be shown a straight red, with yellow bypassed. It was not a pretty sight. It came at a time when Ireland had almost settled into their task. They were picking off the French lineout and were working their way through the difficult ten-minute period when Cian Healy was in the bin for taking out Morgan Parra before the scrum-half received the ball.

"That was a yellow-card offence if ever there was one, a professional, technical foul leading to the perpetrator cooling off on the sidelines. With the crime came three points on the board, but apart from the double inconvenience, Ireland had reason to be pleased with their management of the opening quarter."

John O'Brien reviews Ireland's Paris slump in The Irish Independent.

"So you claim a coveted Grand Slam. You go 15 months unvanquished against the best sides in the world, hold your own when the big guns from the southern hemisphere roll into town and still you find there is more do to. Another peak to scale. Brave new worlds to conquer. Yesterday brought Ireland to the sub-zero temperatures of a Parisian springtime and the cruel hand of history can never have felt colder.

"Ireland have felt more stinging defeats in this city than anywhere else and the first instinct was to believe this was up there with the worst of them. Occasionally during the game the camera would flash to Marc Lievremont and the French coach's lips would betray the faintest impression of a smirk. No elation or sense of triumph, though. Just satisfaction at a job neatly done, nothing more than they expected of themselves.

"It harked back to a past we thought was long since buried. In his engaging newspaper column yesterday morning, former Munster and Ireland winger John Kelly spoke about France's 39-point rout in this stadium in 2002. At dinner that night it struck Kelly that the mood among the French players was eerily subdued. They had won a Grand Slam but didn't seem to regard it as any great shakes. Ireland had beaten them in Paris twice in 50 years. It felt like little more than routine business."

Ieuan Evans salutes a game of rare drama following Wales' victory over Scotland in The Sunday Telegraph.

"The confidence returned in abundance and though we must not forget that Scotland were down to 13 men for those final few moments, I believe victory in this game could be the turning point for Gatland and his side. Well, it will be if we start picking players in form and rewarding those who have shown their mettle for their regions in the first half of the season.

"Still, having said all of that, how many times do we have to put up with the rubbish we witnessed in the first half.

"Time after time, we turned over ball and gifted Scotland an opportunity to lay their own platform on a day when a first win in Cardiff for eight years was well within their capability.
Why is it, though? Why have our Lions of last summer become so careless and inaccurate. Why do not we force the issue? Why do we not show a little greater patience once positions of strength have been established?"

Stuart Barnes believes that Wales' problems lie with Gareth Cooper and Ryan Jones in The Sunday Times.

"This was a match of magical moments. Shane Williams shimmied here and there in the last 10 minutes like a devilish Puck, creating a try for Lee Byrne to give Wales hope before darting over in the final play of the game to deliver heavenly bread to a stadium watching events turn upside down in a state between shock and delirium.

"This was a triumph for individual style over the structure and substance of a Scotland team left as devastated as the crowd was delirious. Where Wales played a game full of frills and thrills, Scotland approached it with intelligence and industry until injuries and yellow cards undid them.

"This compelling game proved the launch pad for this season’s Six Nations. Whether it is the platform from which Wales can rebuild their fortunes is something else. When the dust settles and the hangovers lift, Welsh rugby will not only wonder how they won this match but where they go from here."

England skipper Steve Borthwick rallies the troops ahead of their clash with Wales at Twickenham © Getty Images

It has been an unusual week in English rugby because people have been nice about Steve Borthwick. John Westerby writes in The Times.

"The understated captain of an unloved team, he has been subjected to plenty of criticism in recent months. Partly this has been due to his undemonstrative style of leadership — “I don’t mean to sound boring,” he said last week — but it is also because there were serious doubts over whether he should keep his place in the England side.

"Providing he recovers from a stomach bug, there will be no such qualms for the game against Italy in Rome on Sunday, after his outstanding performance at Twickenham last Saturday, when he was seen turning Wales ball over in the ruck and rising majestically to make a mess of their lineout."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Hugh Farrelly believes the Irish squad could do a lot worse than take some time out with team manager Paul McNaughton ahead of their clash with France - a fixture where Ireland have tasted victory just once in 38 years.

"McNaughton is a low-key, quietly efficient and significant cog in this Irish wheel -- an excellent sounding board for coach Declan Kidney with whom he enjoys a close personal and working relationship. But, while Kidney's playing experience does not stretch beyond Munster club rugby, McNaughton has access to a memory bank that includes 15 caps between 1978 and 1981 -- and two defeats in Paris, both by a solitary point.

"The first was a 10-9 reverse in '78, three Tony Ward penalties not enough to overcome Jerome Gallion's try and two kicks by Jean-Michel Aguirre while two years later it was 19-18 to the French, in spite of 14 points from Ollie Campbell and a Freddie McLennan try.

"Different era, different game . . . no arguments there, but the same psychological tests and same result as experienced by many of tomorrow's squad over the past 10 years which means when McNaughton speaks about Ireland's lack of success in the French capital, he deserves to be heard."

Scotland prop and devout Christian Euan Murray has questioned why Six Nations games are played on Sundays. He talks to Alasdair Reid in the Daily Telegraph.

"It was just another Sunday for Euan Murray. Church in the morning, an afternoon with the family, then back to church for the evening service. No different to how thousands of other devout Christians might have spent their day. No different, that is, if you overlook the fact that thousands of devout Scottish rugby supporters would rather he had spent his day with them.

"While Murray missed Scotland's opening match of the Six Nations championship against France on the basis that playing on a Sunday would go against his religious principles, the packed stands of Murrayfield witnessed a performance in which the home side's set-piece difficulties contributed heavily to their 18-9 loss to the French.

"Now, though, Murray is back in the side, ready to pit his particularly forceful brand of muscular Christianity against the Welsh pack in the Millennium Stadium tomorrow. His broad shoulders carry the weight of a nation's expectations – or at least the hope that Scotland can win in Cardiff for the first time since 2002."

Scotland's rampaging prop Euan Murray returns to the fray this weekend with a fearsome message for Gatland's Wales. Chris Hewett writes in The Independent.

"He is of fundamental importance to the Scots, especially now their strongest scrummaging lock, Nathan Hines, is injured. The Welsh will start once again without Gethin Jenkins and Matthew Rees, though Jenkins is fit enough to sit on the bench, and there is every likelihood of him going eyeball to eyeball with Murray at some point during the contest.

"Was there not just a small part of Murray that struggled to reconcile born-again belief with the various forms of rugby bastardy that generally form a part of the tight-head's modus operandi? "I don't go out and hit people with hatred," he said, reassuringly. "That would be wrong. But I do go out and try to smash people as hard as I can, all over the field." It was an honest answer. Quite what those attending this week's General Synod would make of it is anyone's guess."

Once second-row forwards were called 'powerhouses'. Now even the backs are the size of nuclear reactors according to Harry Pearon in The Guardian.

"Nothing in sport, not even Tiger Woods's ego, has expanded as rapidly in volume over the past two decades as the average rugby player. Once there was room on the field of play for the svelte and the tubby, but nowadays it is filled with towering, muscular beasts whose heads disappear directly into their shoulders without the intervention of anything so namby-pamby as a neck. On stumbling across a Six Nations match anyone unfamiliar with rugby union would conclude that they were watching a Stonehenge lookalike contest. The late Bill McClaren routinely described large second-row forwards as "powerhouses". Nowadays even the backs are the size of nuclear reactors.

"Where did Mathew Tait get them thighs from?" a bloke said to me on Saturday night. He sounded like somebody asking about a stylish jacket that had caught his eye. But then, the idea that somewhere in Twickenham there is a big room with racks of giant pectorals, biceps, abs and quads and a group of skilled technicians busily bolting them on to the squad like ground crews arming an F1-11 hardly seems beyond the realms of possibility. By the time a player has been in the England squad for a couple of months he's more or less bound to look like he's been inflated with a foot pump. The day of the first armour-plated prop with integral turbo-booster is surely not far away."

Ireland's Brian O'Driscoll is chaired from the field after his hat-trick inspired an historic victory over France in 2000 © Getty Images

Keith Earls is hoping to draw on Ireland's historic victory over France 10 years ago when Ireland return to Paris this weekend. David Kelly writes in the Irish Independent.

"It is March 20, 2000. A wide-eyed schoolkid is sitting towards the back of his class. He can hear an echo from a few feet away as a geography teacher describes how best to distinguish the Barrow, the Nore and the Suir on a map of Ireland.

"But the kid is dreamily doodling. A green giant is looming large from a blank page where the topography of Munster is supposed to be. It is Brian O'Driscoll. Surrounding him are three smaller figures in blue. They are crying. They are French.

"This is Keith Earls. Aged 11 years and five months. Hoping to become a daydream believer. Ten years on, he will tread the same turf as his boyhood hero."

In the rush for control, discipline, organisation and structure, the French have jettisoned the great quality that always set them apart from more plodding rivals; namely, unpredictability, according to Peter Bills in the Irish Independent.

"In 1998, I watched mesmerised as a French team cut Wales to shreds in a scintillating 51-0 win at Wembley. It was rugby to make the gods dance in delight and it warmed your soul, like a hot toddy on a cold winter's night.

"Yet within a mere handful of years, the French had sacrificed this lethal philosophy forged on an attacking mindset for a dull, altogether more predictable approach.

"Of course, it is necessary in the modern game to add a healthy touch of pragmatism to your philosophy. Rugby defences no longer leak like sieves, are no longer as disorganised as a kids' play-group at break time. Yet even so, it seems to me curious that the French should have so willingly forsaken their roots, the great tradition that was their hallmark."

Brian O'Driscoll's hat-trick in Paris 10 years ago kick started a golden era for Ireland, Brendan Gallagher looks back in the Daily Telegraph.

"On a bright Sunday afternoon in March Ireland, without a victory in Paris in 28 years, conjured rugby from the gods. Brian O'Driscoll scored three tries in 80 minutes, which equalled Ireland's total in Paris for the previous 20 years, and David Humphreys, who had missed a kick to win the corresponding game at Lansdowne Road the previous year, nervelessly smacked over the winning penalty three minutes from time.

"Paris in Spring, sizzling pace, great hands and everything done at speed with panache. Everything you would expect in fact, except it was all coming from Ireland. It was a win that defied sober analysis, not that anybody was contemplating sobriety for a while."

Martin Johnson's side must be patient yet ready to pounce when opportunities arrive against the Italians, as they surely will, according to Pual Rees in The Guardian.

"If past matches in Rome offer a guide, England will have opportunities to counterattack on Sunday. The final try against Wales was worthy of deciding a match: Toby Flood had only one thing on his mind when he received the ball from Armitage. Given the pressure England had come under after the autumn, it would have been tempting for him to hoof the ball towards the Wales line but he saw what was on and went for it.

A characteristic of New Zealand over the years has been their predilection for the counterattack. They kick the ball as much as anyone, but they are not shy, apart from last year when the breakdown directive had an inhibiting effect on them, to attack a disorganised defence.

When England announced their team to face Wales, the reaction was largely favourable because the back division brimmed with attacking intent. If Wales came to Twickenham loaded with idealism, it was England's pragmatism that prevailed: Mathew Tait touched the ball only seven times, but he played a part in the three tries."

Ireland fly-half Ronan O'Gara is relishing this weekend's trip to Paris to tackle France. John O'Sullivan writes in the Irish Times.

"It's questionable just how cathartic it can be on a personal level to offer the public a glimpse into a private process. Most athletes wouldn’t risk opening a passageway that might allow others to judge them. Ronan O’Gara though rarely subscribes to convention and that’s precisely what makes him such an engaging interviewee.

"He doesn’t hide behind generalisations. Invited to bare his feelings, he responds with typical candour. The 32-year-old, who’ll occupy the pivotal outhalf position in Paris on Saturday, isn’t afraid to deal in the specifics of disappointment and how they impacted on him as a person and a player."

Andy Robinson's desire to uncover a new attacking game remains on track despite a switch back to Dan Parks at stand-off, according to Scotland's head coach. David Ferguson writes in The Scotsman.

"Parks was so far out of Robinson's plans in August that he failed to make his first 44-man training squad, but his improvement this season with Glasgow in tandem with the loss of form experienced by Phil Godman, and a distinct lack of options in the position, has brought the stand-off back into the XV this week for a 48th cap around 16 months after he last started a Test match.

"...Robinson insisted, however, that bringing Parks back – his last Test match was in November, 2008, and last start in Argentina five months earlier – should not equate to a serious shift in style, but improve the Scots' ability to play more rugby in the opponents' half of the field. Indeed, there were whispers that Robinson and his assistant coaches Gregor Townsend and Graham Steadman were considering Parks for this game irrespective of what happened at Murrayfield."

Scotland trudge from the field against France © Getty Images

Stauart Bathgate talks to Scotland legend Tony Stanger about the current dearth of attacking quality in The Scotsman.

“There is no easy solution to the try drought which Scotland are experiencing, according to the country's joint leading all-time scorer of touchdowns, Tony Stanger, who along with Ian Smith tops the list with 24, believes that even if Andy Robinson's team score several tries in Wales on Saturday the problem will not have gone away.

“Now Talent Manager with the Sportscotland Institute of Sport, Stanger has an optimistic outlook, and is convinced that certain members of the Scottish team, who have now failed to score a try in three successive home Tests, do have the talent to make a difference. He believes, however, that the difference between merely creating chances and finishing them off is an extremely difficult gap to bridge.

"We can't ignore the improvements in physicality and in defence that have been made since rugby went professional," said Stanger, whose try in the 1990 Grand Slam game against England is the most celebrated individual score in the history of Scottish rugby. "It's chalk and cheese compared to my day. Organising a group of players to defend, or to work in the gym, is easier than trying to do the right thing under pressure. "We've got players who can make line breaks, like Johnnie Beattie and Sean Lamont did on Sunday. But if you don't score from the break, how do you organise from there? We have got creative players – the question is what happens next."

Mick Cleary previews a vital weekend for the England management as their squad prepare to take on Italy at the Stadio Flaminio in The Daily Telegraph.

"On such small margins might Martin Johnson be musing as his England squad shake off their post-victory celebrations to get themselves in the right frame of mind to protect their unblemished record over the Azzurri.

"Johnson's job was never really in jeopardy. Only a calamitous run of results, on the scale of a wipeout in the tournament, could have triggered such a turn of events. There has never been any desire at Twickenham for regime change, no whispers of discontent the like of which precipitated the demise of Ashton and Andy Robinson before him.

"Yet Johnson's reputation as a manager of substance has yet to be forged. Concerns persist and questions are raised. Johnson himself accepts that state of affairs. There is little doubt, though, that Saturday's win was a significant step. Anxiety has been quelled, time has been bought. England cannot afford to slip up at the Stadio Flaminio, and certainly need more vibrancy and polish."

Richard Williams evaluates the link in rugby and other sports between player power and success in The Guardian.

"Every now and then we need to be reminded that sport is about the people who play it, not those who design the way it is played. This may not be the most appropriate thought in the immediate aftermath of the Super Bowl, the pinnacle of a sport that introduced us to coaches with earpieces absorbing information from spotters seated high up in the stands, but it was reassuring to hear that a degree of player power was apparently exercised in the run-up to England's victory over Wales at Twickenham on Saturday.

"It may have been not much more than a healthy and perfectly natural exchange of opinions, slightly exaggerated in the retelling. But it was interesting that, in the days leading up to the match, several England players put their heads above the parapet to observe that something had to change about the way Martin Johnson's team were performing. And although the team's aura of stolidity was not dispelled overnight, at least there was a bit more of a sense that the players were being allowed to express themselves.

"Whatever it was that took place, it seems to work for England. Back in 2003, after a series of turgid victories had taken Clive Woodward's side to the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup, the senior players – Johnson among them – quietly exerted a greater degree of control as they faced the closing stages of the tournament. Not surprisingly, perhaps, "player power" appears nowhere in the index to the book Woodward subsequently wrote to explain his techniques for getting players to do as they are told."

David Kelly revisits Ireland's thrilling victory over France in 2000 in The Irish Independent.

"On the morning of March 19, 2000, France presumed there was only one star in Irish rugby. According to the match programme, at least, Keith Wood was he. How wrong. Several hours later, a new star would be born.

"Paris in the spring had never wrought so much romance for the Irish.Fast forward a bit later, to the self-same Wood - standing astride the green sward where, for the first time in 28 years, Irish blood, sweat and tears were at last spilled for due reward - regaling the Irish hordes who are, disbelievingly, singing 'The Fields' in true celebration.

"Très content!" roars Wood into a French TV microphone. "Très fatigué! Up Ireland!"

James Haskell excelled for England © Getty Images

Richard Williams talks Top 14 with James Haskell in the wake of his star turn for England in The Guardian.

"James Haskell is hardly the first young man to go to Paris to find himself, but the city's magic seems to be working as well for him as it has for generations of artists and writers. With a brace of tries that shunted England towards a pressure-relieving victory over Wales, the 24-year-old flanker vindicated his much criticised decision to leave London Wasps and cross the Channel to join Stade Français last summer.

"Needing this win perhaps as much as any in their history, England had their opponents to thank for the errors that will allow Martin Johnson and his squad to spend the next week working in an atmosphere of relative tranquillity. Had Alun Wyn Jones not tripped Dylan Hartley five minutes before the interval or Stephen Jones not thrown an intercepted pass five minutes before full time, the criticisms of recent months would have intensified.

"Haskell's first try, on the stroke of half-time, came with a plunge for the line at the end of several minutes of English siege. The second found the flanker ready to make the final thrust as England swarmed through the tattered Welsh cover. These moments were, he claimed, prime examples of the squad's new spirit."

Brian Moore finds things to applaud and lament in England's opening Six Nations victory in The Daily Telegraph.

"Whether it is a reflection of the general trend towards the immediate or a lack of understanding of the game, the Twickenham crowd is becoming increasingly simplistic, with the mundane cheered as heartily as the good; perhaps it was simply relief that they had something to cheer about in England's victory over Wales at Twickenham.

"Their mood was heartened by the sight of their team running out in something resembling rugby shirts and not something favoured by the ASBO-clans that haunt the nation's shopping malls at the weekends. They also had the promise of pace and creativity in the back line, although the late withdrawal of Riki Flutey put a dent in the manager Martin Johnson's quest to find a settled centre partnership.

"For all the promise of the first 10 minutes, they must have begun resigning themselves to another betrayal of optimism as the game tightened perceptibly with only six points being shared between the sides. In fact, this was a typical Six Nations opening; nervy, imprecise and mistake-ridden and produced a lull in the atmosphere that felt almost preternatural and eerie. There was no lack of effort, but when neither side could make ground the inevitable kick-tennis threatened to take hold and several must have considered reaching for their brandy bottles and revolvers."

Owen Slot gauges the value of an intercept in the wake of England's victory over Wales in The Times.

"The period when England nearly threw away their season may be the one that saves them. In the wake of their 30-17 victory over Wales at Twickenham on Saturday, ambitious Englishmen are thus entitled to ponder the value of a single intercepted pass.

"England head for their second game of the Six Nations Championship, against Italy on Sunday, with confidence and spirits raised. And Rome is a splendid place to be a visitor at any time, let alone when it is a rugby weekend and that is the state of your rugby soul.

"But they travel thus uplifted in large part because of the 75th minute and the game-changing, though otherwise disappointing, Delon Armitage. The England full back’s reading of a pass by Stephen Jones, the Wales No 10, was the moment that saved England. It set in motion a move in which the ball passed through a number of hands and was finally delivered to James Haskell, who completed the score."

Ireland skipper Brian O'Driscoll reflects on his side's disappointing performance against the Azzurri © Getty Images

Ireland got their defence of the Grand Slam and Championship off to a sluggish but successful start in perfect conditions at Croke Park yesterday. Peter O'Reilly writes in the Sunday Times.

"This had all the ingredients for a yawnathon — Ireland, perennial slow starters to the Six Nations, facing opponents whose one virtue is their ability to make life awkward, and a pompous, fussy, interfering referee. And how we yawned, especially during a second half that must rate as one of the worst periods of 40 minutes in championship history.

"Nearly 80,000 spectators sat patiently as Ireland, having built up a 20-point lead inside 35 minutes with a reasonably effective dismantling of the azzurri, then sat back and waited for the Italians to roll over — which, of course, they never do. Once Ireland let standards slip, it couldn’t end quickly enough — zero suspense, zero quality."

Relief, not rapture, greeted England's win against Wales at Twickenham, writes Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times.

"James Haskell was the signature of their victory, with two tries and once again he put to shame the fools who believe he is a playboy. Haskell’s second try with only five minutes remaining was desperately needed to calm English nerves after Wales had come back to within three points with eight minutes remaining.

"The Haskell lieutenants were the Harlequins duo of Danny Care and Nick Easter, who injected what pace there was in the England game. England’s scrum was battered but held on, their lineout was excellent, they had composure even when they dipped alarmingly in terms of performance in the final quarter, and they had enough. They also had the ideal opposition against whom to start a revival. Wales were disastrous in the first half, so bad in so many areas that they betrayed their own strengths."

It is exactly 100 years since France first played in the championship when the old Four Home Unions tournament expanded into the Five Nations Championship and Scotland will be out to kibosh any centenary celebrations today's visitors might have planned. Iain Morrison writes in the Scotsman on Sunday.

"A more recent anniversary concerns Andy Robinson because it was four years ago that he last coached a team in the Six Nations when England finished off the season with a dismal run of three consecutive defeats including that 18-12 reversal at Murrayfield, a 31-6 spanking from the French in Paris and, his last match in charge, a narrow loss against Ireland at Twickenham.

"Suffice it to say he was undergoing the sort of anguish usually reserved for those confined to the inner circles of Dante's Inferno. The television cameras betrayed their sadistic streak, panning in on the English coach who could barely contain his frustration and certainly couldn't prevent it being writ large across his ever expressive face."

Wales' errors gave Martin Johnson's men chance to hit the ground running. Hugh Godwin writes for the Independent on Sunday.

"This match marked Twickenham's centenary. Though the old cabbage patch attracted no kings there were two princes as Harry and William, respectively vice patrons of the English and Welsh unions, engaged in royal sibling rivalry in the East Stand. England wore an old-style off-white kit and some of their forwards – notably the gut-busting flanker Lewis Moody and line-out master Steve Borthwick – were cream-crackered by the end. The result soothed the muscles and the anxiety left over from an awkward autumn."

Sincere cheering breaks out at Twickenham as a fightback by Wales is extinguished. Eddie Butler reports from Twickenham for The Observer.

"This was not a carefree performance by England, but it was less mournful than their autumn series. The boos that had rung around Twickenham in November gave way to sincere cheers. This was a good win well-received, not a complete performance by any means, but a decent foundation stone. It was not without it twists and turns, and even had a full scare, going on long enough to allow Wales to rally in the ­second half.

"...In a game between two very evenly matched teams at the start of a campaign, it was always more likely that an error was going to determine the outcome than any stroke of genius. And so it was that a trip became the sin what won it."

Peter Bills talks to Italy's fullback Luke McLean about shedding their 'easy beat' tag in The Irish Independent.

"It's a seldom publicised desire but a potent fact, nevertheless. Italy's rugby men begin their second decade in the Six Nations Championship this afternoon at Croke Park, determined to bury their image of the tournament's pushovers.

"Australian-born full-back Luke McLean says there is a growing urge to end what he calls their "easy beats" reputation. "We are faced by a big job," says the Benetton Treviso player. "But we are still enjoying it. The fact that we have had the same group of players together for a year or more now is a definite advantage, a real step forward. Everyone is getting used to how we all play and therefore we are playing more as a team rather than just individuals.

"We are trying not to be the easy beats now, we don't want that reputation any more. We are going to try and change that this year and put out some good performances."

Stuart Barnes previews the massive Six Nations showdown between England and Wales in The Times.

"This is rugby tribalism at its very best and very worst. The sheer desire for the one country to put it over the other has always been an aspect of the Welsh attitude to this game, even when they were a class apart in the 1970s.

"For England, it is slightly different. Older minds will remember the ritual humiliations in Cardiff but the domination of Europe under Geoff Cooke and then the world under Clive Woodward changed the focus. Under Woodward in particular, Wales were downgraded as New Zealand, Australia and South Africa became the yardsticks.

"But all that has changed with England’s steady slide back into the ranks of world mediocrity. Suddenly the derby game matters massively after the prospect of winning titles disappeared. England have not won the title since 2003 - that was the Grand Slam winning World Cup team. During that era Wales couldn't get anywhere near the then world champions but over the past five years they have managed two Grand Slams, a dream beyond England’s imagination in recent times."

The Six Nations is guaranteed to provide some colour but will the rugby live up to the occasion? © Getty Images

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Peter Bills puts the boot into the Six Nations.

"Up in the Northern Hemisphere, they're packing their tin helmets and topping up their hip flasks. It's that time of the year again; the time when the European powers indulge in the international rugby fest they regard as the best in the world.

"Whisper, at your peril, that their coveted, prestigious Six Nations Championship is in reality the second division tournament of world rugby. At Croke Park and Twickenham this weekend, the latest instalments in this vibrant, pulsating, unpredictable, extraordinary and quite often thoroughly ordinary tournament will begin."

The Irish Times' John O’Sullivan finds that Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery is not perturbed by his lack of game time ahead of tomorrow’s Test.

"Jerry Flannery doesn’t quite bristle when the word injury is introduced from the outset of a conversation but there is a world-weary look in his eyes. It’s an understandable reaction in a season that has seen him start just a single match for Munster, the Heineken Cup pool opener against the Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens.

"Indeed the longest sequence of matches he’s put together is three, with Ireland in the November Test series. Chronicling his misfortune, or at least the most recent chapter, begins when he suffered an elbow injury while training with the Lions, days before they were due to depart for South Africa during the summer."

Chris Paterson can look back on 10 years of Six Nations rugby, which is some achievement for a player who had to ride his luck to the limit to get through his first 10 minutes in the tournament. Alasdair Reid writes in the Daily Telegraph.

"Paterson was just 21 when he made his championship debut against France in 2000. It was no secret that he was one of the brightest prospects in the game at the time – he had won his first Scotland cap against Spain in the World Cup a few months earlier – but the French were always going to test the rookie full-back's abilities with a spot of aerial bombardment.

"And so the first kick came his way, high and horrible, in the opening moments of the match. Paterson was under no particular pressure from the French runners as he tracked back to make the catch, but as he focused on the ball he failed to notice that he was heading straight for his own posts.

"Everyone in the crowd had seen the danger, though, sensing that something rather painful was about to happen to the young player."

As the Six Nations Championship opens, players must abandon the ‘aerial ping pong’ that irritates fans, according to Gerald Davies in The Times.

"We all know the main concern, for there has been long debate over a couple of years about what has become a matter of acute anxiety: it is the tedious kicking that frustrates and annoys. After all the inevitable changes and adaptations in tactics that follow the physical conditioning that has made rugby a more dynamic sport, the game is fast becoming repetitive and predictable.

"Not the delicately placed aim to the defending team’s corner, so expertly and consistently highlighted by Ronan O’Gara, for instance, the execution of which is so artfully done that it raises a gasp of admiration at the accuracy and audacity. No. Rather it is those kicks that have derisorily come to be referred to as “aerial ping-pong”, the constant high kicking back and forth.

"If this tactic came to our attention during the most recent World Cup in France in 2007, put to resounding tactical use by Argentina when they reached third position, it has manifestly and yawningly become the most irksome tactic at present employed at the elite end of rugby."

Chris Cusiter will lead Scotland into the Six Nations Championship for the first time on Sunday preparing to stop France's new "wrecking ball" Mathieu Bastareaud, but welcoming the fact that the hosts are clear underdogs against a French team being tipped to win their fifth title and a possible Grand Slam. He talks to David Ferguson in The Scotsman.

"The Glasgow scrum-half took over the skipper's role with Andy Robinson's first Test match as the Scotland coach, following a notable line of No 9 leaders including Gary Armstrong, Bryan Redpath and Mike Blair, and it ended in victory over Fiji. The scrum-half remained in charge in the win over Australia and defeat to Argentina in November.

"He suffered concussion in that historic victory over the Wallabies, Scotland's first in 27 years, but insisted that he remembers it vividly and believes that that battling 9-8 win has laid strong foundations for an improvement on three championships under the previous coaching regime that yielded just three victories.

"He also has a better knowledge than most of what makes French players tick and what weaknesses Sunday's team may possess, having spent two years in France with league champions Perpignan, but acknowledges that the recall of Stade Francais centre Bastareaud to the Test arena this week has not made Scotland's task any easier."

Test rugby demands men of aggression – but with a sharp mind to keep cool amid the mayhem, writes Shaun Edwards in The Guardian.

"Ian McGeechan calls them "Test match animals". According to Sir Ian, and he's identified a few in his time, they are a special breed of rugby player. As the demands get greater they get better. From club rugby, to the leagues, on to European competition and then to internationals ... with every step up they go up a notch.

"It's not just a talent thing. There are plenty of guys who have bags of talent but fall short. The ones that matter have the full package. Talent, skill, fitness, and athleticism almost go unsaid. It's the brain that adds the extra. The mind to fit the occasion.

"Look at Richie McCaw, the All Blacks captain, twice world player of the year and a near-perfect example of Sir Ian's Test match animal. Even the casual spectator has to be impressed by his all-action style of play – the number of tackles he makes, how often he's involved in attacks and the number of times he gets his hands on the ball. However, it's when you look a little deeper that you begin to understand the real value of the man to his team."

England captain Steve Borthwick barks out a lineout call during training earlier this week © Getty Images

Under the fierce scrutiny that will surround his meeting with Fabio Capello on Friday there will be times when the captain of the England football team John Terry might wish that he could trade places with his rugby counterpart Steve Borthwick. Mick Cleary writes in the Daily Telegraph.

"Steve Borthwick apologised twice on Thursday for being "boring", insisted that he would never change, revealed that he could walk unrecognised through the streets of London and that as England prepare for a seminal Six Nations fixture against Wales, they have robust leadership within the squad.

"There are no rifts in the England rugby camp for manager Martin Johnson to address, with lock Simon Shaw declaring that it is as "open and honest" a group as he has ever been involved in.

"Johnson may have other matters to worry about but his captain's steadfastness, moral or otherwise, is not one of them. Shaw confirmed that, unable to sleep on a tour, he had once come across Borthwick, eyes glued to a computer screen in a deserted room. Oh, yes? The Saracens lock was, in fact, reviewing video analysis of the opposition line-out. "I've never been that way inclined," was the only comment Shaw could offer on that front."

Ireland’s challenge for a second successive Grand Slam has sound foundations, but history is against them, while opponents will raise their game, writes Gerry Thornley in the Irish Times.

"History shows that while it was hard enough for Ireland to finally win one Grand Slam, it’s even harder winning them back to back.

In only five years out of 29 have the reigning Slammers backed that up with another clean sweep the following season. England did it three times, in 1913 and 1914, 1923 and 1924 and, most recently, 1991 and 1992. Wales managed the feat once, 1908 and 1909, and likewise France, in 1997 and 1998.

Despite having three of their five games in the latest campaign at Croke Park, Ireland have supposedly the more difficult itinerary, ie France and England away. The last time Ireland managed to beat the big two of latter generations on their own patches was in 1972, and the only other times before that were in 1948 and 1929."

Why has the world's richest rugby nation not won the Six Nations since 2003? Duncan McRae asks this very question in The Guardian.

"Six has become a grimly symbolic number for England. Outright winners of the northern hemisphere's grand old rugby tournament a record 25 times, once more than Wales, whom they play first in this year's Six Nations, England are now haunted by a sextet of misery. Since their World Cup victory in 2003 they have tried on six occasions to win back the Six Nations; and six times they have failed. That bare statistic underlines England's decline from world champions to their current international ranking down at, of course, No6.

They are the richest union in world rugby, with the deepest pool of players, but England have lost 16 of their last 33 internationals at Twickenham. The inevitable break-up of a great old team was at the source of that dismal run. Yet complacency and a startling lack of vision, allied to the wrong choice of coaches and bitter conflict between the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership clubs, meant England finished no better than third in the four championships which followed 2003."

Hugh Farrelly runs the rule over Ireland's selection for the opening game of the Six Nations in The Irish Independent.

"Declan Kidney's intriguing team selection in Killiney yesterday saw a first cap for Kevin McLaughlin, the return of 25-year-old, 25-times capped 'veteran' Andrew Trimble and a flurry of conspiracy theories, most of them centring around Ronan O'Gara's inclusion at out-half in place of the injured Jonathan Sexton.

"The phrase 'mind-games' got a lot of airtime amid the media throng's frenzied analysis of Kidney's pick-and-mix machinations. However, once the decision was made to allow Sexton and flanker Stephen Ferris time to recover from dead-leg and knee injuries respectively (10 days ahead of the trip to Paris), this was a selection typical of the Grand Slam-securing supremo's capacity for pragmatic fluidity.

"It is a team to keep people on their toes, exploring new and returning options, and one that arrives laden down with brain-chewing questions..."

Martin Johnson's open selection could lead to problems against a street-wise Wales side, according to Eddie Butler in The Guardian.

"It appears the caution imposed in November by an injury list the length of the Pennines has given way to an invitation to play. Perhaps, however, Martin Johnson does not do invites – this could well be an order to his England team to deliver, starting against Wales.

"Throughout the ages there have never been too many question marks over the amount of possession provided by England packs. Some, notably the ones containing Johnson as a second-row, provided more than others, but this pack looks capable of maintaining a healthy supply.

"It may not be the most elastic in the air – Simon Shaw is more a reinforced girder – and the front row will give away experience against the Lions trio of Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees and Adam Jones, but primary possession will not be a problem."

Is Matthew Tait set to return to England colours this weekend? © Getty Images

England manager Martin Johnson is set to throw off shackles in attempt to beat Wales with pace in Six Nations opener at Twickenham. Mick Cleary writes in the Daily Telegraph.

"England have been stung by criticism that their play has been stilted, one-dimensional and overly-prescriptive, so they will unleash scrum-half Danny Care, outside centre Mathew Tait and fullback Delon Armitage against the Welsh.

For the first time in his tenure Johnson can select from choice, the only absentee being centre Mike Tindall. Jonny Wilkinson gets the nod ahead of Leicester's Toby Flood, while the return of Riki Flutey at inside centre after he missed the November Tests with a shoulder injury will ensure that England have the necessary shrewdness to draw the best from those around him.

"Armitage, another of those missing before Christmas, is at full-back, fighting off the burgeoning claims of Northampton's Ben Foden. The wings will be the established pairing of Ugo Monye and Mark Cueto, both of whom had to step across in November to fill the fullback role."

Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio believes the players must assert themselves and not be intimidated by team manager’s status. Mark Souster writes in The Times.

"England need to escape the shadow of Martin Johnson’s giant reputation and not be afraid to stand up to the team manager if they are to make an impact on the Six Nations Championship, according to Lawrence Dallaglio.

"The former England back-row forward, who won the World Cup with Johnson in 2003, believes that many of the present squad are so in awe of the former captain’s iconic status in the game that they feel inhibited.

“What we all want to see is players having more input into where they are going, what style of rugby they are to play — in other words, England need to be more player-led and less coach-driven,” Dallaglio said. “The challenge for Martin is that he is such an iconic guy they don’t want to put their hand up; everyone is so afraid of him. They don’t want to say, ‘What are you on about?’ They need to challenge the coaches. When you have that void, you become led by your coaches."

Andy Robinson has made no secret of his intent to be bold and ambitious with his Scotland team and his first selection for the Six Nations Championship underlines the statement in thick pen. David Ferguson writes in The Scotsman.

"The presence of Chris Paterson at fullback brings a kicking influence, and also some extra variety and unpredictability with moves into the fly-half role. After playing at scrum-half with Stade Francais, Hugo Southwell may get his chance to press claims for a return at full-back in the A game against Ireland on Friday, alongside the likes of Mike Blair, Simon Danielli and centre Alex Grove, whose rapid ascendancy dropped slightly with errors against the Pumas.

"The midfield combination is arguably the trickiest to get right with players such as Ben Cairns, Nick De Luca and Grove all in the running, but Robinson has said this squad is for the first two Tests, with a specific focus on the tactics he wishes to employ against France and Wales, and has hinted that others may come into the frame for the remaining three games."

Though the Lee Byrne saga has been disruptive, assistant coach Shaun Edwards insists Wales will still be more than ready for England. He talks to Chris Hewett in The Independent.

"Shaun Edwards, not always a study in relaxation during the build-up to a major international match, appeared particularly fraught yesterday as he chewed the fat ahead of this weekend's Six Nations set-to between England and Wales at Twickenham. "I've slipped a disc in my back and it's giving me gyp," he muttered by way of explanation, knowing it wouldn't wash for a second. Edwards did not achieve iconic status on either side of the rugby divide by allowing mere agony to gain the upper hand. Something else was eating away at him, and everyone knew what that "something" might be.

"Until the Welsh camp receive a definite "yay" or "nay" on the subject of Lee Byrne and his appeal against the profoundly controversial two-week suspension imposed in the wake of the Heineken Cup "16th man" fandango – the Lions full-back, playing for Ospreys against Leicester, returned to the field after treatment on a bloodied toe before a colleague had been withdrawn – they have no means of distinguishing between their posteriors and their funny bones. While Edwards, the No 2 coach to Warren Gatland and the Red Dragonhood's motivator-in-chief, expects to be told one way or the other as early as today, it will still be too late for comfort."

His Argentina nightmare still raw, England's Ugo Monye is seeking redemption on the wing against Wales. He talks to Duncan McRae in The Guardian.

"Sky Plus is a great invention," Ugo Monye says wryly, "but it can be really ­unforgiving when you watch ­yourself making mistakes in slow motion and then you rewind and pause and go over them again. But that's exactly what I did after that terrible game I had for England against Argentina. I came straight home and I watched it and ­analysed it. It made for painful viewing but you have to face it head‑on. You have to be honest with yourself."

"Monye's nightmarish performance against Argentina in November epitomised England's ineptitude throughout a dismal autumn. His fumbling under the high ball also seemed to symbolise all the doubts surrounding Martin Johnson's squad. If Monye is candid in addressing his own errors it should be reiterated that against Argentina he was played out of position at full-back. The fault, therefore, lies as much with Johnson and his team of coaches as it does with Monye."

Johnson's England are set to come under the microscope in the coming weeks © Getty Images

Lacklustre England must banish their long years of misery or call time on their team manager, argues Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times.

"Show us something, lads. Anything. These past six years should have been a joy. Instead, to watch England has felt like a prison sentence, without remission. There are many reasons to be terrified that the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand is only 19 months away. One of them is that England enter the 2010 RBS Six Nations as the lowly fourth favourites of a rather unexceptional six, so in world terms are hardly on the register.

"Martin Johnson and his management team have five games in the next seven weeks. Unless England improve greatly, they have five games left in all as England’s hierarchy. Taking this a stage further, in my view they have five games before England are forced to look outside their borders for a new head man. None of the hierarchy can survive a poor tournament.

"Yet again, England rugby followers have been asked to tolerate the intolerable. Every time there is a regime change with the national team, the supporters are told to be patient, it doesn’t happen overnight (in Martin Johnson’s case, it doesn’t happen in 15 months and 15 games), the team are developing, we’re showing signs, ignore the media rotters. Blah, blah blah."

France may be more pragmatic than the 2008 side but won't abandon their va va voom, their coach Marc Lievremont tells The Scotsman's Ian Borthwick.

"The main problem for Lievremont, however, is that so much depends on the opening match of the Championship. To play to their potential, to be able to express themselves with the fluidity and free-spirit they showed in Edinburgh two years ago, the French need above all to feel confident in what they are doing. It is perhaps too easy to categorise the French as "confidence players". But confidence and consistency are the two factors in the Six Nations that determine whether France can once again be the dominant force in European rugby, or whether they will continue to suffer the kind of ignominious defeat they witnessed at Twickenham last year, when they collapsed to a 34-10 loss, after trailing 29-0 at half-time.

"For us, the opening game is the key," he insists. "We French need to get a good win under our belt." Insisting that it is perhaps not just a French speciality, he points to the last two Six Nations championships, where both Wales and Ireland built their success on the first day of the competition. "Two years ago, Wales started by pulling off a win at Twickenham, then going on to greater success. And last year, it was the same for Ireland. They only just beat us in the opening game in Dublin, but they scored three tries that day, and that set them up for the rest of the championship."

England legend Jeremy Guscott claims England's rank and file have to deflect flak from Johnson – and has backed Riki Flutey as key to a successful Six Nations. He talks to Hugh Godwin in the Independent on Sunday.

"Martin Johnson's politics are unknown but he shares with David Cameron a penchant for dark suits and shirts without a tie. While Cameron has a few months to sort out his bid for No 10, the Six Nations Championship is less than a week away, and one former team-mate of Johnson's believes the England manager's division of labour is not working. "There's no player there yet who's brave enough and big enough to tell the coaches to eff off," said Jerry Guscott. "I just think there's a lot of confusion within the England squad and the management, unless there's something going on none of us know about and all of a sudden it'll click and explode."

Brian O'Driscoll's men are good for a repeat, if not undefeated, but France, England, Wales and Scotland are on their tail according to Eddie Butler in The Observer.

Brian O'Driscoll seems hungrier than ever, thoroughly recovered from his career's lumpy, podgy spell, that lasted from the shoulder injury in 2005 on the Lions tour to some point last year when he part-exchanged his handsome white charger for a Chieftain tank. For Leinster, Ireland and the Lions, O'Driscoll has just been a phenomenon. He has been talking about not playing forever, but the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand is far enough away for him to be able to avoid any suggestion of a swansong campaign now.

"Ireland won the grand slam without revealing anything ­glitzier than a grim intent last season, but they have a team that could blossom now that the monkey of 1948 has been removed. There's a choice to be made by their coach, Declan Kidney, over who will start at 10, Ronan O'Gara or Jonathan Sexton, but he might say it's perhaps more important who finishes there. Or he might say that it's good to have such a choice to make."

Can England attack coach Brian Smith get his side firing for the Six Nations? © Getty Images

England attack coach Brian Smith has denied rumours of compromise and insists he is not being reined in. He talks to Rob Kitson in The Guardian.

"Brian Smith likes to be ahead of the game. He is already sitting in the first-floor bar of the new South Stand hotel at ­Twickenham, tapping away at his laptop, well before the appointed hour. Clever, meticulous and media-savvy, he looks every inch the professional strategist completing the final draft of an intricate masterplan. If Six Nations titles were determined by slick, expensively resourced preparation alone, England would be champions every year.

"Instead it is almost seven years since Clive Woodward's all-conquering side last confirmed England as Europe's top dogs with a runaway win over Ireland in Dublin. While their stadium has subsequently become the ultimate commercial shrine, the national team's stock has taken a ­hammering. Smith, as attack coach, is central to their potential rejuvenation. The key word, as ever, is "potential". With the 2011 World Cup looming, England swiftly need some momentum if Martin Johnson's regime is to be remembered with affection."

England flanker Lewis Moody discusses his rising stock in an interview with Owen Slot in The Times.

"The stereotyping of Lewis Moody has been long and fun. So much fun that he still happily joins in. In the course of a 40-minute interview with The Times, he offers four self-deprecating references to his lack of intelligence, all of them light-hearted and entirely unprovoked.

"He could not, for instance, fathom the maths of what had been required for survival in Leicester’s Heineken Cup game with the Ospreys last week, although he does now understand that survival was not achieved. And not included in the count of four is his chuckle, again self-deprecating, at the idea that he has a decent grasp of French. This is not insignificant because, after a decade and a half of loyalty to Leicester, he is considering pursuing his fortune in a different language.

"We discuss his nickname “Mad Dog”, which is another case of embedded perceptions. The nickname was invented by the media, picked up by the crowd and only then found its way on to the team bus. Given that Moody is so young at heart, it should have been Mad Puppy."

Writing in The Independent, former England coach Brian Ashton believes Ireland's O'Driscoll will be the man to watch in thisyear's Six Nations.

"Am I alone in craving a little liberation for the midfield community? I want to see them bringing the full range of skills to the party, to savour a little elusive running and distributive subtlety – a passing game that creates space through weight, pace and timing. How often do we see a pair of centres working the angles together in broken play after four or five phases? It is hardly commonplace.

"But if anyone tries to tell me this is a thing of the past, that the modern game is not the place for it, I'll tell them to watch Brian O'Driscoll play alongside Gordon D'Arcy for Leinster, or find themselves a tape of O'Driscoll and Jamie Roberts cutting up the South Africans on last summer's Lions tour.

"O'Driscoll is the perfect example of a centre whose rugby decisions are made in direct response to the things happening around him. He was always a dynamic, highly skilled, courageous player, but over the last 18 months he seems to have added all manner of sophisticated touches to his game. I have no evidence for this, but I suspect the Ireland coach, Declan Kidney, has had a positive influence here. I came to know Declan quite well during my time working with Ireland in the mid-1990s and he is the kind of coach who encourages players to take responsibility, to "give the game" to them."

Writing in The Guardian, Wales assistant coach Shaun Edwards believes the pressure is on the Six Nations coaches to use the time they have with their players well.

"This is the week that cost millions. It's also the week when coaches really earn their money. Fail and you get found out. As the clock counts down to the Six Nations, this is when we should reap the benefits of deals such as the ones done between the Rugby Football Union and the English clubs and Wales and its regions that guarantee managers and coaches like Martin Johnson and Warren Gatland time – something like two weeks – to work with their players before internationals.

"Once – and not so long ago that there aren't plenty of former players who can remember the days and recount them in great detail – Test teams used to get together in the middle of the week of an international, have a couple of practice sessions which weren't much more than kickabouts, dish out the match‑day kit and then play on the Saturday. Gradually that got extended to a week, before in some countries that week became a fortnight.

"Now, thanks to the agreement in England, and that five-year deal done between the Welsh Rugby Union and the regions last September, we are all, more or less, on a level footing and have a decent amount of time to manage, micro-manage if you like, the players in the run-up to the Six Nations."

Robert Kitson hopes for an eventful Six Nations after a dour opening salvo at the official launch, in The Guardian.

"A tight defence is an essential tool of modern Test rugby and the give-em-nowt attitude is proving contagious. If this year's Six Nations is anything like as flat and predictable as the management-speak which suffocated the launch at London's Hurlingham Club, it could be a grey old championship, lacking not only Bill McLaren's presence but the pilot light of sporting romance on which the event traditionally relies.

"There were notable exceptions – Italy's Nick Mallett can hold forth entertainingly on most subjects in almost as many languages – but the days of rash predictions and ambitious statements of intent are gone. Even Wales's Warren Gatland stuck to his recent pledge to say nothingremotely provocative, blaming the assembled media for prompting this grim state of affairs. When it started raining at the precise moment the national captains were led outside for their photocall, it simply mirrored the lack of sparkling insight indoors.

"Such is life, sadly, in a results-driven business of deflationary margins. England, for example, lost to Ireland and Wales by a combined total of nine points last season and, as Martin Johnson observed, "anyone who predicts who will win the title is a brave guy". Such people as Johnson, Declan Kidney and Andy Robinson did not get where they are today by confidently anticipating grand slam glory before a single ball has been kicked."

Brian O'Driscoll leads the way at the Six Nations launch in London © Getty Images

David Hands comments on the various states of boredom and indifference induced by the Six Nations launch in The Times.

"These are the occasions the captains and coaches abhor - the endless round of media outlets, TV, radio, written, photographic - the same unanswerable or self-evident questions, the sanitised replies. Ten days away from the start of the 2010 RBS Six Nations Championship, there are far more important elements of preparation demanding their time but their presence at the Hurlingham Club in London is mandatory.

"Poor Marc Lievremont did not even have the support of his players. France's coach came without his captain, Thierry Dusautoir, because the leading French clubs have a round of the Top 14 to play tonight and his replacement, Dimitri Szarzewski, the Stade Francais hooker, found his flight delayed. Not that this stopped Lievremont expressing the hope that this could be France's year, given that they have four representatives in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

"On the other hand, this was a first for Andy Robinson. The former England coach has done this before, of course, but not as coach to Scotland and he was on his best behaviour. What would it be like, Andy, when your team lines up to play England for the Calcutta Cup match? Robinson tells his interlocuter that he has always found the atmosphere at Murrayfield inspiring, that the hairs on the back of his neck still lift when the anthems are sung and is congratulated for the expert evasion of the question."

Will Scotland boss Andy Robinson be smiling following this year's Six Nations? © Getty Images

Depending on who you speak to, Andy Robinson is a deeply complex character or a straightforward 'rugby nut', writes David Ferguson in The Scotsman.

"Intriguing, exhilarating and crushing at times, Robinson's career has been unique. The past decade alone has witnessed a journey more fascinating than any enjoyed by his predecessors.

"The Noughties began with Robinson stepping from Bath to coach in the England camp, moved on with Lions duties in 2001 and 2005, either side of England's first World Cup triumph in Australia in 2003, fell flat with resignation from the England post in 2006, lifted again with an appointment as Edinburgh coach in 2007 and ended with him back in the Test arena, but this time waving Saltires and developing a quiet, tight-lipped appreciation of O Flower of Scotland."

He's seen as the next big thing in Red Rose rugby but first the 6ft 7in second-rower must convince Johnson to use the long arm of the Lawes. The Independent on Sunday's Hugh Godwin speaks to Courtney Lawes.

"Hands thrust into his tracksuit-top pockets to defy the chill, beanie hat on his head, Courtney Lawes ambles into the venerable Members' Bar at Franklin's Gardens and crosses the room, ducking to avoid the ceiling girders like an upside down 110-metre hurdler.

"A man of his height gets used to these obstacles and as he sways at the hips to dodge the television with the health-and-safety red-and-white tape wrapped round it he could – with the warm-weather tights lagging his legs – be an extraordinarily outsized dance student. In fact, or at least in prospect, he is the embodiment of England's brighter rugby future. Nice to meet you, Courtney. Pull up a banquette."

The form of Glasgow's Dan Parks is hard to ignore but the Scotland No.10 slot looks set for Edinburgh's Phil Godman according to Allan Massie in The Scotsman.

"I have never been the greatest admirer of Dan Parks, but he is undoubtedly playing very well this season – playing indeed probably the best rugby of his career. His weaknesses and limitations are well known; he tends to lie deep, rarely attacking the gain line, and he is a feeble and sometimes seemingly reluctant tackler, so much so that in defence now Glasgow's coach often has him switch position with the more robust full-back Bernard Stortoni. As against that Parks is a very fine kicker from hand, has an astute tactical brain with the ability, which Godman lacks, to control a game and enable his team to play much of it in the opposition half. Moreover he kicks every bit as well in attack as defence.

"Given Scotland's inability in the autumn to find a way through well-organised defences – only two tries scored in 240 minutes of rugby – picking someone who can put the ball accurately behind defences makes a lot of sense. The two tries he created in the second inter-city match were copybook examples of the value of accurate and, in the case of the second one, imaginative attacking kicks. On balance I would prefer to see Parks recalled for the French game, but I suspect Andy Robinson will remain loyal to Godman."

Is Steve Borthwick the man to lead Martin Johnson's England into the 2010 Six Nations? © Getty Images

Martin Johnson cast the first grains of doubt over Steve Borthwick's leadership by declining the opportunity to confirm him as England's captain when naming his Six Nations squad, according to Mick Cleary in the Daily Telegraph.

"The England manager wants players competing for every place in the Six Nations squad to face Wales at Twickenham on Feb 6, hence the gauntlet thrown down to Borthwick.

"Although there is every chance that the maligned Saracens lock will lead England down the tunnel in the landmark centenary fixture at Twickenham, the possibility of a change of leader at some point has been put into the mix.

"We'll name our captain as we get closer to the tournament," said Johnson, who has chosen Borthwick in all 14 Tests for which he has been in charge."

England reach to the converted in hope that Hape can buck unwanted trend of league failures, read David Hands' thoughts in The Times.

"Maybe this will be third time lucky for England. Twice before they have selected New Zealand-born former rugby league players and it has not worked out well; now they have given Shontayne Hape the chance to buck the trend, but first the Bath centre must force his way past another New Zealander, Riki Flutey.

"Birthplace was clearly not one of Martin Johnson’s concerns when the England team manager finalised his elite squad for the next six months. He already had Dylan Hartley and Flutey, both born in New Zealand, and now Hape joins them, clutching the British citizenship papers that he completed last month and hoping to fare better than Henry Paul and Lesley Vainikolo, who made their names in league but could not or were not given the chance to transfer their skills to union."

England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson insists the novelty of his high-profile move to French club Toulon has worn off, although his desire to succeed and improve grows ever greater. Read his latest column for The Times.

"For me, a huge part of my game now is focusing on getting right the balance between functioning as an individual on the pitch and as a cog within the grander game plan. The liberating side of the game is when you can play more as an individual, but, especially being a fly half, there are extra responsibilities associated with directing the team.

As the No 10, you are like the quarterback, the director, making decisions for the team. But then again, there is also the need to play what is in front of you and to take opportunities that present themselves, even when they are not in the game plan; you have a responsibility to play things off the cuff. If you let the game plan overcrowd your mind too much, it will impair your judgment and you might miss an opportunity in front of you. When you are switching from one to the other, it is very hard to get it exactly right."

England new boys Shontayne Hape and Chris Ashton are pure rugby league products but have skills to thrive in union according to Dave Hadfield in The Independent.

"There is no great surprise over Hape being picked. His ability to slip a late pass to his winger, as he did so effectively for Vainikolo at Bradford, might be rare in league, but it appears to be virtually unknown in union – which is why they tried to make a centre out of Andy Farrell, after he had finished his league career hobbling through games at prop.

"Ashton is a different case. A raw novice when he switched codes two seasons ago, he grew impatient for bigger paydays than a club like Wigan, hidebound by salary cap restrictions, could or would provide. He is not the tip of a threatening iceberg of defections, more a case of a player, like his Northampton team-mate, Stephen Myler, who is actually better suited to union than league."

Will England manager Martin Johnson spring any surprises this week? © Getty Images

Stability, continuity and loyalty will no doubt have have counted for a lot when Martin Johnson put together his Six Nations squad - but should the England boss be more radical? Mick Cleary writes in the Daily Telegraph.

"There is a sense that England have to be less inhibited, less intent on survival or damage limitation. The autumn series was a chastening experience for coaches and players: minimal return, miserable mood. There was a feeling in the autumn that England were playing without true conviction, that they didn't wholly trust themselves. If nothing else this Six Nations, they have to play without fear.

"In part, this approach can be reflected in personnel. Yet there will not be many radical departures from the script when the squads are unveiled (a 32-man Saxons squad will also be named), with the likely promotion of Chris Ashton, Northampton's high-scoring wing, the stand-out change. Saracens flanker Andy Saull is also in the mix."

England manager Martin Johnson names his Six Nations squad tomorrow – and he's likely to stick with the usual suspects. The Independent's Chris Hewett has other ideas – from Cipriani to Leicester's Dan Cole.

"When an England manager and his coaching team find themselves in "put up or shut up" territory, as Martin Johnson and the red-rose back-roomers will when the Six Nations Championship begins to unfold next month, there is an overwhelming temptation to spurn the new in favour of the familiar – to dig in the heels and invest a career's worth of trust in those devils already known. It is not a sign of cowardice, exactly; more one of common or garden indecision in the face of escalating odds. Even the All Blacks fell victim to this syndrome ahead of the 1999 World Cup, and if it was good enough for them, it is plenty good enough for the people on the Twickenham payroll.

"Is Johnson's indecision final? Unless he makes a bold statement soon, it will start looking that way. Another World Cup, the 2011 version, is looming ever closer, and as things stand the manager has yet to embark on a serious piece of team-building geared towards that defining event. Since succeeding Brian Ashton in the sudden, and thus far unjustified, knife-in-the-back bloodletting 21 months ago, what precisely has he achieved? Where are the former captain's flashes of selectorial inspiration?"

England manager Martin Johnson's readiness to reintegrate England's most creative player will say a lot about his chances of success, according to Richard Williams in The Guardian.

"Tomorrow is the day Johnson announces his final squad for this year's Six Nations. Armitage, Flutey, Toby Flood and Nick Easter are among those returning, no doubt with places in the starting line-up pre-booked. And, as usual, campaigns are being mounted for various outsiders, among them the wing Chris Ashton and the full-back Ben Foden from Northampton, the Leicester prop Dan Cole and the Bath centre Shontayne Hape.

"Some appear worthier than others. Foden, we are told, is worth a place despite being suspect under the high ball – can you imagine Twickenham's reaction were he to play in the opening match against Wales and fumble two of the first three steeplers that came his way? But the one whose almost certain omission concerns me most is Danny Cipriani, who still seems not to have fully redeemed himself after a damaging altercation during a pre-tournament training camp in Portugal a year ago.

"Brian Ashton, Johnson's predecessor, had the right approach to Cipriani's immaturity: the imposition of a clear punishment for an unauthorised night-club excursion, followed by a fresh start. Johnson seems less inclined to put a pastoral arm around his shoulder."

The prospect of two brothers lining up on opposite sides in the Calcutta Cup has emerged as an intriguing possibility after the Scotland on Sunday's Iain Morrison learned that Newcastle Falcons fullback Alex Tait is considering throwing his hat into the ring with Scotland.

"According to sources at the Falcons, where Mathew started his career and where Alex still plays, the younger of the two eldest Tait brothers is contemplating testing family loyalties by opting for Scotland if, of course, he gains selection.

"Alex, who was born in County Durham, may choose to hedge his bets and see whether he is included in the England Saxons squad for the international against Ireland on 31 January before making a decision. England are not notably short of fullbacks, including brother Mathew who can do a very decent job as the last line of defence."

With England's opening Six Nations game against Wales only a month away, manager Martin Johnson must get it right this time, according to Paul Ackford in the Sunday Telegraph.

"There is hope. Riki Flutey and Delon Armitage, two of England's unqualified successes last season, are back in contention again. So is Nick Easter, by some distance the most rugby-intelligent forward available to Johnson. With the Six Nations opener against Wales a month away, and with Johnson due to announce his revised elite squad on Wednesday, might there be cause for some discreet celebrations in England's camp?

"If only that were the case. While there is no doubt that that trio will improve England's fortunes hugely, Johnson still has to find solutions to some of the issues that dogged that wretched autumn campaign.

"He has to set up a team to score tries, he has to conjure a front row from the wreckage of the national propping pool, he has to decide precisely what he wants from the team's principal playmaker at outside half, and he has to make a call over which of the young tyros available to him are worth an extended run in the side. Oh, and he also has to win, as a bare minimum, three of his next five games simply to justify his retention in the role."

The roundheads held sway in the autumn but cavalier talents are back to form and fitness as the Six Nations approaches, according to Eddie Butler in The Observer.

"After a joyless autumn that was like some sort of puritanical test of the paying public's will power, Martin Johnson will announce on Wednesday the England elite squad for the next trial in the devil's playground, the Six Nations. It is hardly likely that the manager, more the Lord Protector now, will have discovered jollity since November, or that Twickenham, in a pang of guilt, will have reduced admission charges for February and March. But there is always the consolation of imagining that it is simply impossible ever again to have less value for money.

"Such were the injuries in the autumn that Johnson could have survived three hidings, but he emerged with his reputation damaged after a win over Argentina and defeats by Australia and New Zealand because of a lack of imagination in selection and strategy. England were hobbled by caution. One try, by Matt Banahan, and a string of penalties and drop goals by Jonny Wilkinson kept jeers closer to the crowd's lips than "Swing low ..."

Former top referee Ed Morrison is now the RFU's Elite Referees Manager © Getty Images

From the rules at the breakdown to the mysteries of the scrum – it's often hard to tell who's on which side of the law. With officials taking flak, The Independent's Chris Hewett grills the RFU's referees honcho, Ed Morrison.

"Given that these poor, put-upon souls need, as they have never needed before, a leader with an unusual range of qualities – part stoic, part diplomat, part man of the people, part video analyst of genius – it is probably as well that Ed Morrison is currently running the show as the governing body's elite referee manager. The Bristolian was for some years the world's finest official, hence his appointment to the 1995 World Cup final between South Africa and New Zealand in Johannesburg, an unprecedentedly pressurised occasion otherwise known as the "Mandela match". Now, he finds himself handling pressure of a different kind.

"If people are being told every day that they're doing something poorly, it's bound to sap morale," he says. "They operate in a very competitive, very difficult environment – particularly in England and France, where relegation from the top division exists and the top clubs have no guaranteed security. Under such circumstances, criticism is inevitable – absolutely inevitable – and we're not so naive to believe for one second that we won't get a kicking from time to time. When that happens, I question myself, as do we all. But mistakes are inevitable too. Our aim is to reduce those mistakes to a bare minimum. I think we're making progress and if there's one message I want to get out there, it's that I have great faith in our referees. We have a strong set of officials in this country and we're building an equally strong network of support."

Brian Smith has pledged that there will be significant improvements in England's attacking game this Six Nations even though he believes that producing a sharp-pronged style in the current game "is as tough a task as it has been". Mick Cleary writes in The Daily Telegraph.

"Smith, though, rejects the notion that the attacking game is at a standstill. Instead, he enters the New Year primed to take on the ogre of the age – the defensive player at the breakdown. With only one try scored in three Test matches in November, Smith admits that England's attack was sub-standard. "Where we happy with in the autumn?" asked Smith. "No. Do we have to do better? Yes. Do we have to do a lot better? Absolutely."

"The return from injury of a trio of front-line backs – Toby Flood, Riki Flutey and Delon Armitage – will add potency. But England need more than that. They appeared cramped and uncertain, lacking thrust and devil. Smith accepts some of those complaints, but adamantly dismisses the argument that England were paralysed by a fear of failure."

The Six Nations is around the corner and all eyes are on Declan Kidney's Ireland according to Peter Bills in The Irish Independent.

"Perhaps it is the sense of optimism that arises naturally in rugby at this time of the year.

"The weather may be dire in the northern hemisphere but look what's just around the corner in a few weeks time -- the Six Nations. In the southern hemisphere, they're gearing up for the start of the Super 14 next month.

"Besides, eras of austerity have frequently heralded years of promise, of propitious times at hand. We should remain optimistic that rugby union, in the year 2010, will provide evidence to reassert such beliefs.

"For all the dire, dreary rugby which littered the game in 2009, we must remain hopeful that a new year may ignite fresh, bolder approaches by the world's coaches. For it is this small, exclusive and privileged group which holds in its hands, the key to the future game."

Eddie Butler believes that the ELVs can finally be shown to be harming the game after the Six Nations, in his blog for The Guardian.

"I have a friend who is an economist, whose job it is to study numbers, compile data and analyse figures. He is an expert in statistics and his advice is: never trust them. They can be used to support whatever his clients wish.

"There is no doubt that the International Rugby Board will have a mass of statistical evidence to prove that its brainchildren, the Experimental Law Variations, have been good for us. It will reel off ball-in-play times that will support their introduction.

"This will be an exercise in saving face. We should not believe a word they say. The ELVs stink. They were designed by people with nothing but positive intentions in mind, their brief being to make the game better to play, simpler to watch and easier to referee.

"They have had the opposite effect. Kicking from hand has returned to the prominence it enjoyed in the days when you could kick to touch on the full from anywhere and claim the territorial advantage. The breakdown has become a hands-on, hands-in mess. The ball may be in play for longer but it spends its time in the air or wedged at the bottom of a pile-up."

Simon Barnes, writing in The Times, is glad that he can now stop clamouring for Martin Johnson to lose his job as England manager.

	Martin Johnson has turned his England reign around © Getty Images

"I can't tell you what a relief it is not to be writing a Johnson-must-go piece. England beat Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday, leaving the victors amazingly in second place in the final RBS Six Nations Championship table, a strange and deeply unexpected achievement. And it means that Martin Johnson stays on as England team manager.

"Triumph might be overstating it just a trifle, but all the same, after five horrendous defeats in six games, to finish the season with a couple of wins and a few pretty tries is not nothing. But more importantly, it means that nobody needs to be blamed for anything. That lets me off the job of saying bad things about Johnson, and I'm very relieved.

"Not because I know him. Rather, because I don't. Nearest I got to meeting him outside a press conference was to nod to him when coincidence found us at adjacent tables in Brisbane. He was still a player then - playing, as it happens, with his baby daughter, Molly, lifting her up high and then bringing her down as if he had just won her in a lineout. Never showed that side of himself to opponents.

"But he has looked terribly vulnerable since he took on the England job. That has been hard to deal with. All our experience of the man is of the exact opposite. We know him as a player, as the never-a-backward-step man who took England to the World Cup."

Slipping standards plays rejuvenated hope: Eddie Butler reviews the fortunes of Wales and Ireland in The Guardian.

"Wales are usually pretty easy on the eye, but theirs was a campaign of slipping standards and erratic behaviour. There is an interesting balance between finishing within seconds of a triple crown and ending up fourth in the table. Because it all went wrong, the audit in the house of the 2008 champions could well become spiteful.

"Not so in the home of the new champions, for whom this championship will remain branded on the memory. Ireland weren't pretty, or adventurous, but there was nothing wrong with the levels of drama they served up in the games against France, England and, above all, Wales on the final day. New rugby, driven back into caution by law-makers who had quite the opposite in mind, survived thanks to the Ireland grand slam of 2009.

"Their success confirmed the role of the coach as more important than that of the captain. Ireland's about-turn at the Millennium Stadium came straight after half-time, when Uncle Declan had a chance to reconfigure a few minds. Wales, too, came out of the changing room after half-time against England and immediately struck."

David Hands, writing inThe Times, believes that the Six Nations' stunning finale cannot mask the inadequacies of the competing teams.

"That is why we have an enduring love affair with the Six Nations: for the history, the rivalry, the passion of players and supporters, the whole theatrical drama of it all. Does that make it good sport? In practical terms, yes, for its all-embracing qualities, for all those Irish youngsters who now want to emulate Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell rather than listen to tales of Jack Kyle and Karl Mullen, the brightest-eyed of octogenarians but who are pages in the history book since they won Ireland’s only previous grand slam 61 years ago.

"In technical terms, though, this has not been an outstanding tournament. Neither Ireland nor Wales, the best two teams (even if points differential pushed Wales down to fourth), found outstanding form on a consistent basis and there remains a gap in the standards attained here and those of the Sanzar unions. It is less than four months since we were counting the tally from the autumn internationals: Europe 1, Sanzar 10.

"Sure, Scotland had their moments against South Africa; Italy, too, against Australia, while Wales claimed the one scalp, that of Australia by 21-18. Down Under they will have watched the Six Nations and wondered how possession is sometimes slowed to a crawl, how players arrive at the decisions they do, how poor the kick-chase is in Europe and how England fail so frequently to finish what they have started."

There is a self-belief in this group that is a wonder to behold, writes George Hook in the Irish Independent.

"The Grand Slam of 1948 was the beginning of a golden era. For four years they dominated the championship and another clean sweep was only averted by a draw in Swansea. This team can now kick on and dominate Europe all the way to the World Cup in 2011.

"John Hayes and some others may not be there and replacements must be found. This performance will influence the growth of the game and guarantee money in recession times. The country will be the better for this and we will be able to look at the dark clouds knowing that our innate belief in the future can see us through."

John O'Sullivan hails Ireland's Grand Slam achievement, writing in the Irish Times.

"The Grand Slam famine is over 61 years after Ireland’s only triumph as Ireland produced a remarkable performance underpinned by high tensile mental steel to win a truly heart-stopping encounter that wasn’t decided until the final kick of the game.

"...There were many outstanding performances on the day but none eclipsed the contribution of Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell and first half replacement Denis Leamy, who had a truly stupendous match. In the context though every single player contributed something to the win with Tommy Bowe, Luke Fitzgerald and Gordon D’Arcy coming up with some fine individual plays. The pack were simply outstanding to a man."

On a Cardiff evening of relentless tension and improbable drama, Ireland delivered their glorious Slam writes Patrick Collins in the Mail on Sunday.

"The roar which greeted Jones's failure went ringing triumphantly across the Irish Sea. For sporting success was never more timely or more joyous. Recession has attacked Ireland with singular savagery. Unemployment soars, unrest is threatened, national bankruptcy is fearfully mooted. The ancient agony of emigration raises its awful head, and an emergency Budget promises nothing but pain.

"A Grand Slam offers no solution to their problems, but it lifts the spirits, it raises hopes, encourages expectations, even permits heady talk of 'the indomitable Irishry'. In short, it helps heal the wounds and divisions, touching emotions which politics cannot reach. Its power should not be scorned or derided."

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."

There will be endless debate as to the true quality of this Ireland side but there can be none surrounding the achievement of a Grand Slam writes Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times.

"Rugby became a pastime only for supermen in Cardiff yesterday. This was one of the most thunderous, passionate and brutally hard occasions ever seen at the Millennium stadium, or anywhere else in sport, for that matter."

Munster man's late kick breaks Grand Slam drought and releases Blarney Army to turn Welsh capital green writes James Corrigan in the Independent on Sunday.

"Very few countries know how to celebrate quite like the Irish and this morning the streets of the Welsh capital will still echo to the sound of the Blarney Army's jubilation. Put simply, and without a trace of hyperbole, this was one of the island's proudest sporting occasions. If not its very proudest.

"But oh, it could so easily have been the cruellest. With the final kick of a gripping game that did things to the emotions that should really be illegal, Stephen Jones had a penalty to break Ireland's hearts once more. His effort from near the halfway line hung in the air for what seemed an age, before falling under the posts."

Ireland produced a performance of immense courage and resolve at the Millennium Stadium to end their long wait for Six Nations glory according to Paul Hayward in the Observer.

"This was a sub-standard Six Nations Championship, bedevilled by rule changes, aerial bombardments and dual-personality performances by France and England. Yet, right at the end, serendipity served up a contest of stunning ferocity, in which Wales fought to hold what they had (the title of Grand Slam champions) and Ireland battled for something that has eluded them since the powdered egg days of post-war austerity.

"This was not rugby, this was a battle scene from Lord of the Rings. By the end of the first half, it was reasonable to expect a cart to go around to collect limbs and body parts. Wales and Ireland ripped into each other from the gun. Within five minutes, Ireland's Donncha O'Callaghan and the Wales captain Ryan Jones had each other by the throat after Jones had tripped Ronan O'Gara."

A first championship in 24 years would be duly recognised as a fine achievement, but having given themselves this shot at immortality, it’s almost a win or bust scenario for Ireland according to Gerry Thornley in the Irish Times.

"Enough talking. Now, at last, the game of truth. It’s been a long time coming this week so, particularly after all the brouhaha, this evening’s little title showdown in Cardiff can’t come quickly enough. This may simply be the biggest game of these Ireland players’ lives, particularly if they win.

"The expectations are at fever pitch and everything is set fair. Cardiff is awash in sunshine, with temperatures soaring to un-seasonally high teens. It could almost have been Rome yesterday – well, maybe not – as the advance party of a 15-20,000 Green Army invasion landed.

"Opportunity knocks for Ireland to remove that 61-year-old monkey, and given there have been only four opportunities to emulate the heroes of 1948, it’s not stretching things to say that, for Irish rugby, such opportunities only come along once in a lifetime."

Gavin Henson has never lost when he and Tom Shanklin have started at centre. He will try to extend that run today against his nemesis Brian O'Driscoll. James Corrigan writes in The Independent.

"The last time these two sides met in a Championship decider was 2005 when it happened to be Wales stretching desperate hands across the decades to grab their own elusive Grand Slam. The hype was as overblown as the hwyl and, despite nobody knowing at the time, it had spilled on to the pitch to cover the two most famous players on view in its associated vitriol. Later that same year, in his infamous tome, My Grand Slam Year, Henson accused O'Driscoll of gouging him that day and of yelling in his ear: "How do you like that, you cocky little f****r?"

"O'Driscoll vehemently denied the claims, further castigating his Lions team-mate for accusing other players on that shambolic tour to New Zealand of being "in love with the sound of their own voices". Unsurprisingly, the majority in the game backed O'Driscoll. Henson was cast as the loner, as a pariah even, as an uppity 23-year-old blessed with all the rugby skills but lacking in a few of the union's traditional core "values"..."

Fear of failure may be the key to the Six Nations showdown between Wales and Ireland at the Millennium Stadium according to Rob Kitson in the Guardian.

"Someone was using a well-polished crystal ball when the 2009 Six Nations fixture schedule was compiled. This may not be remembered as the greatest championship in the tournament's long history but it will go down to the final minute of the final game in one of the world's finest venues. Regardless of who hoists the trophy at the Millennium Stadium this evening, the climax has been engineered far better than we have any right to expect.

"If you happen to be Irish, this is a day to clutch whatever lucky charms are still available after 61 years of tossing them aside in disgust. Keith Wood has even declared himself genuinely optimistic of a first grand slam since 1948, having spent long enough in the company of Paul O'Connell and Brian O'Driscoll to be aware how desperate they are to embrace their date with destiny."

The Times takes a close look at two of Wales' Joneses. prop Adam and lock Alun-Wyn.

"Anyone who has watched the players during the national anthems before a game will have noticed that Alun Wyn Jones gives Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau a real hammering. It is his way of dealing with the emotion.

"Perhaps only Lee Byrne in the Wales team has advanced as fast in recent years as Alun Wyn Jones, who, as well as playing for the Ospreys, is studying law at Swansea University. From being a promising but raw second row, he has matured into a formidable ball-carrier, who scored a try against Scotland last month. He calls all of Wales’s lineout throws, an area of the team’s play that has improved noticeably this season. He is a certainty for the Lions party this summer and a decent bet to pack down against South Africa alongside Paul O’Connell, the Ireland lock whom he faces in the final match of the RBS Six Nations Championship in Cardiff on Saturday.

"When Jones was named captain for the game against Italy last Saturday — making him the youngest forward to lead Wales for 75 years — the compliments came thick and fast. “I love the way he wants to play for his country,” Gatland said. “I like his workrate, his honesty. Plus he is a great player.” At this, Jones blushed slightly. When he was younger, he looked up to Martin Johnson, the former Lions lock and captain who is now the England team manager. It is in Johnson’s footsteps that he will hope to follow in South Africa. “He had an aura,” Jones said. “But I don’t want to be known as another Martin Johnson. I want to be Alun Wyn Jones.”

Writing in The Times, Stephen Jones takes aim at Warren Gatland's selection policy.

"Warren Gatland had the grace on Tuesday to do what so few top coaches ever do - apologise and admit that he'd got things wrong. That is something we have not heard this season from Martin Johnson, Frank Hadden or Marc Lievremont and all three have far more to be sorry about than the Welsh coach.

"Sadly, it may be too late. Gatland's decision to send out a mostly second XV against Italy, where two props were minced by the Italian front row, has rebounded and shattered the Welsh momentum. It has changed utterly the mental make-up of the match in Cardiff on Saturday when we have the monstrous occasion of Wales-Ireland and, possibly, the Green Grand Slam.

"Because they failed to take the points that were there for the taking in Italy, Wales now have to beat Ireland by a forbidding 13-point margin to take the title. Why on earth are so many people so sniffy about taking the title on points difference? If they are not there to win the Six Nations then why are they bothering?

Paul Wallace and Kyran Bracken debate the place of Ireland at the head of the Six Nations table in The Guardian.

	Has Declan Kidney forged the best side in the northern hemisphere? © Getty Images

"Wales – if you don't count the performance against Italy from what was essentially a second-string side – are probably capable of playing the best rugby in the northern hemisphere and England looked very good against France. But Ireland have shown so far that they have the best team, a great bunch of old pros who have benefited from an injection of youth, power and pace. They remind me very much of Argentina at the last World Cup, with game-breakers all over the side, and the youthful exuberance has rubbed off on people such as Peter Stringer and Gordon D'Arcy who look revitalised.

"They have phenomenal discipline on the pitch and a great appetite for doing the hard yards. The way they have been playing has not been pretty of late but if you have waited 61 years for a grand slam you will put up with that.

"During the first game against France I thought they played some excellent rugby, with their heads up and always looking to offload, but the pressure is coming on and they are having to do it the hard way. There have been some great moments and magic – even in a dour game against Scotland Stringer's fast break was absolutely exceptional and set up Jamie Heaslip's try."

Peter Bills has no time for slow, deliberate scrum-half play at the base of a ruck in The Independent.

"The failure of modern day players to understand the value of quick ball from the breakdown, frankly bewilders me. They stand there looking at the ball beneath their feet at the back of a ruck like some mother hen proud of the golden egg it has just laid.

"There seems not a trace of understanding that speeding the ball down the back line represents one of the few chances of breaking modern defences. Didn’t England prove that by their first try after a French turnover?

"If you can get the ball away from the breakdown at lightning pace, then you just about have a hope of escaping the suffocating blanket defences which blight the modern game, especially around the fringes. But to see international players playing the game like it’s a chess contest – I’ll move my pieces here, you counter by moving yours there, then I’ll wipe out one of yours there and you then do likewise – is banal to me."

Charles Bremner reviews the French media's reaction to Sunday's Six Nations defeat to England in The Times.

"Usually it's the British who like reminding the French of Waterloo and Trafalgar. Today, French commentators have been invoking the ancient humiliations to qualify the epic defeat that their rugby team suffered at the hands of the English at Twickenham yesterday.

"This is not about gloating (I'm Scottish and the Six Nations Cup has three sides from Great Britain). But here for any interested fans is what France has been saying about the 34-10 débâcle that England inflicted on les Bleus. The defeat was the second worse after the 37-0 rout by les rosbifs in 1911.

"C'était Waterloo!" said the headline on the front of L'Equipe, the sports daily. "Massacre in an English Garden," said le Figaro. Le Monde called it "un coup de Trafalgar" and said France had been "administered a spanking like in those strict boarding schools in 19th century England".

The countdown is on to the Six Nations, and Grand Slam, decider between Ireland and Wales in Cardiff this weekend, writes Gerry Thornley in the Irish Times.

"You sensed it would come down to this. The last game of the championship, at 5.30pm in the Millennium Stadium next Saturday, will pretty much see the whole shooting gallery up for grabs. It can be said now. The Grand Slam is on the table.

"For Ireland it is a tilt at only their second in history and the first in 61 years, but it comes against the 10-time and reigning Grand Slam champions, who still have their Six Nations title and the Triple Crown to defend, and in their 72,500-capacity ground. Oh yeah, there’s maybe a few Lions spots up for grabs, and the captaincy as well.

"...Ireland will want the whole booty and nothing but the whole booty now. They’ve earned themselves this shot at immortality."

England's team of 007s spy chance to get far more than a quantum of solace according to Simon Barnes in The Times.

	England celebrate scoring one of their five tries against France at Twickenham © Getty Images

"For months, nothing they did worked. Everything they touched turned to filth and corruption. Bad things led to bad things with the most devastating inevitability. But yesterday, in a match that was not so much extraordinary as unbelievable, England beat France 34-10 and ran in five tries.

"They looked unrecognisable, but they were the same guys, more or less: the same key personnel, the same manager. All that changed was the cycle of depression. All they did was break the pattern, the one in which error led to error, folly led to folly, calamity led to calamity.

"Perhaps this has been a half-decent team all along, just one that happened to be playing badly. Perhaps it was just that things got on top of them, that the penalties they conceded could lead only to more penalties, that the yellow cards they received could lead only to more yellow cards, that one woeful performance made the next woeful performance inevitable."

After a long wait, this was a tantalising glimpse of what is possible for the England writes Kevin Garside in the Daily Telegraph.

"Men in late middle age, temporarily unhinged by the fantastic inversion playing out in the spring sunshine, took to their feet like Morris dancers to execute the Twickenham jig of the embarrassing uncle. The All Blacks had turned up in white shirts and France played like last week's England.

"So, like Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez following the mugging of Manchester United at Old Trafford, Martin Johnson gets to say: "I told you so." The mist lifted to reveal a team of verve and imagination, of backs running at opposing forwards, of a pack hitting the line at pace and the tackle from the legal side, of balls passing swiftly between English hands."

Steve Borthwick defied his critics with a stand-out performance in England's demolition of France according to Richard Williams in the Guardian.

"If you wanted a symbol of England's victory yesterday, you needed to look no further than the bridge of Steve Borthwick's nose. For the first time since he was awarded the England captaincy last autumn, the big black scab there refused to break and bleed.

"This is the same wound that afflicted Martin Corry throughout his time as the squad's figurehead, coming to embody the travails of an honest forward called upon to emulate the qualities and the achievements of the incomparable Martin Johnson. In Borthwick's case the fact that he had been given the job by Johnson himself made his troubles seem all the more poignant."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Eamonn Sweeney believes that there is no team which deserves to close out the deal the way this team of O'Driscoll, O'Gara, Hayes, O'Connell, O'Callaghan, Wallace et al does.

	Ireland's Jamie Heaslip celebrates scoring at Murrayfield © Getty Images

"Eighty minutes to go. Eighty minutes to consummate the most successful era in Irish rugby since the 1940s with the crowning glory last achieved in those years soon after what we called the Emergency and everyone else called World War Two.

"Eighty minutes away from putting an end to the criticism which observes that, for all their excellence, their multiple Triple Crowns, their wins over southern hemisphere opposition, the current golden generation have under-achieved.

"And, because a lot is asked of those who have much to offer, it'll have to be full duck or no dinner next Saturday evening in Cardiff. There have been years when a Six Nations championship would have been regarded as good enough. But while we can conceivably lose to Wales and still win that particular title, that won't feel like victory. It has to be the Grand Slam now."

Ireland will chase a Grand Slam next Saturday in Cardiff, potentially their first in 61 years and only the second in their history after a flawed but character laden performance at Murrayfield according to John O'Sullivan in the Irish Times.

"Conceding six penalties in the opening 20 minutes, Ireland put themselves under unnecessary pressure especially as Paterson had yet to miss a kick in this season’s Six Nations Championship. He posted the first three opportunities presented, the first from the touchline, which should have been a salutary reminder not to transgress, but Ireland were serial offenders.

"South African referee Jonathan Kaplan was quite pernickety when it came to the breakdown as is his prerogative and he took an especially dim view of the visitor’s desire to compete for the ball. The Scots elected not to kick the ball out of play where possible, denying Ireland a platform that is generally lucrative."

That Ireland and Wales encountered stiffer resistance than they expected may be a good thing for the climax of the championship according to Eddie Butler in The Observer.

"It says something about the Six Nations, and possibly nothing too complimentary about its quality, that the two sides who will fight for the title on Saturday struggled to victories against the teams who vied only last week for the wooden spoon. This seems to be one of those championships that is losing its sparkle the closer it approaches what should be an utterly climactic final weekend.

"Still, when you haven't won a grand slam for 61 years, it's unlikely you'll give two hoots about having to grind one out at last. If the elusive tag of unbeaten champions comes reduced to atoms, Ireland will take it, no fear. They came to Murrayfield with nothing but a clinical job on their minds. The mere selection of Denis Leamy ahead of Jamie Heaslip in the starting line-up told of an arm-wrestle rather than a gallop."

Writing in the Sunday Times, Stephen Jones reports from Ireland's narrow victory over Scotland at Murrayfield insisting the exuberance of youth preserved their Grand Slam challenge.

"The dream lives on for Ireland after a nightmare of a match. They go to Cardiff well on course for their second Grand Slam and there is no shame in playing badly when paralysed by nerves, by the experimental law variations and by the fact that your key men were off-form, as were Ronan O’Gara, Brian O’Driscoll and several others yesterday at a wind-swept Murrayfield.

"And after the appalling decision of the Welsh management to field a weakened side against Italy in Rome earlier in the afternoon, Ireland can take the RBS Six Nations title even if they lose. They are not remotely in the same class as the Wales team who won the Slam last season but they may well be in the class of the declined Dragons this time around. Just like Colin Montgomerie trying to win a major championship, you do feel Ireland should be put out of their misery and claim the big one for only the second time in their history."

Ireland enjoyed a memorable sing-song with folk legend Christy Moore earlier this week and kept the party going on Saturday writes Brendan Gallagher in the Sunday Telegraph

"It was Cliff Morgan, choirmaster for Wales and the Lions as well as one of the game’s legendary fly-halves, who always maintained that a team that sung together normally won together and perhaps he had a point. If great things are to be achieved a side have got to be comfortable in their own company and that’s the benefit and value of evenings such as Monday when Moore dropped into their hotel

"The Irish supporters have been here many times before – fanciful dreams and barely suppressed expectation building slowly through February only, historically, to dissolve in the first warmth of spring. The Green Army always travel hopefully, to do otherwise would be a betrayal but their final destination has always seemed out of touch in the brutal world of modern professional rugby."

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mick Cleary previews England's clash with France at Twickenham and insists the time for factoring in the quality of the opposition as mitigation for an England performance is over.

"But make no mistake. For Martin Johnson's England, tomorrow's game against France is laden with jeopardy and significance.

"...If England find fluency through their half-backs, it will mean their pack has laid down a secure platform. England's kicking game, and the fierceness and accuracy of their chase, has been inadequate. All of this has to improve. So, too, the contribution of beleaguered captain Steve Borthwick. He has to deliver, so too the men around him. They have it within them to claim an important win."

The Times sought the opinions of a group of distinguished former players from the past 40 years to identify where it is going wrong for England and what they can do to keep all 15 players on the pitch.

"How is it that England, which is renowned as the most disciplined of rugby countries, has leapt to the top of the leaderboard in penalties conceded in this championship, outranking even Italy, who have so often held that dubious honour? Even though they beat Italy comfortably, England conceded more penalties and gave their opponents the same number of kicks at goal as they took themselves.

"It is a problem that hangs over England as they face France at Twickenham on Sunday, with tough questions being asked of the side's leaders, Martin Johnson, the team manager, and Steve Borthwick, the captain. But are they to blame? Should the erring players take responsibility, or are England suffering at the hands of overzealous referees?"

Eddie Butler offers five key factors could combine to see the men in green snatch a rare piece of silverware - read his thoughts in the Guardian.

"1. The longevity of John Hayes - "...He does not charge like one in open play or rip up the set pieces, but Hayes is deceptive. The Irish scrum, for example, does not go anywhere. Hasn't for a long time. Opponents target it and Ireland hold firm, Hayes bearing the brunt of their weight.

"2. The coach's choice of lieutenants - "...Declan Kidney has conducted a revolution by stealth, but he has transformed Ireland. First, in the summer of 2008, he constructed his coaching team...and he has selected shrewdly on the field, keeping Brian O'Driscoll as captain when the centre appeared a spent force, bringing on Tomas O'Leary, Stephen Ferris, Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald, and always with his Munster pack as his rock.

"3. The rebirth of Brian O'Driscoll - "...Overweight and off the pace mentally, the career of Ireland's leading try scorer was going only one way...In one of the most memorable comebacks of the professional game, O'Driscoll has reinvented himself: lean, responsible and sparkling.

"4. The back five of the pack - "...Ireland's pack still has a single-strain monopoly about it, but a selective programme has let others into the Munster herd.

"5. 5 The dancing Mr D'Arcy - "...The 29-year-old is more than simply well-balanced and tricky in tight spaces; he brings a bit of attitude to the centre, a feistiness that contrasts with Wallace's seriousness and Brian O'Driscoll's new-found fatherliness."

England manager Martin Johnson is keen to see his side keep the home crowd on-side during their Six Nations clash with France according to Robert Kitson in the Guardian.

"As Martin Johnson openly concedes, there is no hiding place for England tomorrow. Defeat to an improving French side would not, in itself, be a disgrace but woe betide the hosts if another couple of players are sin-binned and their defence fails to scale the heights of Cardiff and Dublin. Twickenham supporters are mostly a loyal bunch but the fraying fig-leaf currently preserving English modesty is in some need of reinforcement.

"Johnson even felt it necessary yesterday to urge his players to supply the home crowd with something to cheer early on, tacit acknowledgement that England also have hearts and minds to conquer in the penultimate game of a frustrating Six Nations campaign."

The Irish Times' Johnny Watterson talks to the frustrated, ambitious Denis Leamy about his return to the starting Ireland XV.

"Leamy’s injury concerns have been exacerbated by the blooming of backrows Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip in tandem with the form of David Wallace and also by Declan Kidney’s policy of keeping a squad internally competitive. The older Leamy watched from the physio table as two younger players appeared to consolidate their positions with strong performances in the first three Six Nations games. Heaslip, with 16 caps was born in 1983, 11-cap Ferris in 1985. Leamy, born in 1981 and initially out in the cold, has earned 10 caps more than Heaslip and Ferris combined.

“It’s difficult,” he says, “you’ve got to understand the boys are playing well. They got the opportunity. They got the jersey against France. They played very well that day and they kept the jersey. You can’t argue with that. Sometimes you’ve got to put your hand up and say ‘fair play’. Given the chances I’ve got I’ve tried to do my best for the few minutes I’ve come on. But to get a start is a big help because that’s where you can set out a stall and really put your footprint on a game."

Writing in the Independent, Chris Hewett reports on England's decision to recall 35-year-old lock Simon Shaw.

"It is a mighty long time since England felt the need to bulk up against the French: probably not since the mid-1970s, when the tricolore pack boasted such delicate little charmers as the heavyweight boxer Gerard Cholley and the lock Jean-François Imbernon, who liked to be known as "The Godfather". But for this weekend's Six Nations meeting at Twickenham, where defeat is simply not an option for the home side, Martin Johnson has ordered extra helpings of beef.

"...On the subject of the players under most heat from the public prints – Borthwick, Toby Flood and Danny Care – the manager was as unshakeable as he was immovable. All three, in his view, are going concerns, despite the vast tonnage of criticism piled upon them."

David Hands, writing in The Times, believes that Nick Kennedy has been hard done by after being dropped by England.

	Nick Kennedy has been replaced by Simon Shaw © Getty Images

"Professional sport seldom has much to do with fairness for its participants but if Nick Kennedy does not have a raging sense of injustice at missing Sunday's game against France, it will be strange indeed. The London Irish lock has been growing into international rugby during this Six Nations Championship so to be supplanted by Simon Shaw will be very galling.

"If Martin Johnson wanted to change his side in midstream, now is the time to do it with two home games remaining and nothing to lose since England have only a limited chance of being in the mix when championship honours are decided on March 21. But of the two locks who have played in the last three games, Kennedy has been a greater contributor in an all-round sense than Steve Borthwick, the captain.

"This happened to Kennedy in November, when he made his debut against the Pacific Islanders and then made way for Tom Palmer before returning for the final autumn international, against New Zealand. But throughout the championship he has been the go-to man at the lineout and has become increasingly effective in loose play."

The Sunday Times' Stephen Jones is bemused by England dropping Nick Kennedy, enjoys Nigel Starmer-Smith's commentary and pays tribute to TV blondes.

"Johnson was not brought in for his diplomatic skills or his coaching skills or for the nuances of the game. He was brought in to follow his instincts and to bank on his experience. I find it absolutely incredible if Johnson truly believes that the Shaw-Borthwick combination is the best he can field to play against France. It seems that he is making excuses on a daily basis for a selection which, deep in his heart, he must suspect is the wrong one.

"Hail big Simon, but whether the return of this outstanding lock really galvanises England is another matter altogether. Again, it seems we have been treated this week to the party line, not to an England forward improvement and not to the real Martin Johnson. I find the second row selection not so much mystifying, as staggering."

Robert Kitson, writing in The Guardian, believes that the modern game is being stifled of its attacking charm by relentless defence and statistical analysis.

"It is increasingly likely that this Six Nations title will be won by a hunched bloke sitting in the stand, eyes trained on a monitor. More than ever we live in an age where prevention is nine-tenths of the law and defence is king of the road. Last year, Wales won a grand slam not so much because they played their opponents off the park, but because they stopped them crossing their try-line. Full stop. Shaun Edwards's mean machine coughed up only two tries in five matches and it made all the difference.

"This season is shaping up similarly. The most striking memory of Paris, at least to the television viewer, was the blue midfield blitz that gave Wales no room whatsoever on the few occasions they escaped the clutches of an outstanding French back row.

"Croke Park? We all know what a stifling occasion that was, with the honourable exceptions of Brian O'Driscoll's brave lunge beneath the radar and Delon Armitage's gather of Andy Goode's rolling chip.

"Italy have managed only one try so far this tournament, in the form of Mirco Bergamasco's consolation effort against England, who are yet to concede a try with 15 men on the field. It is tight out there, too damn tight."

France coach Marc Lievremont is creating a team that will play without fear, according to Hugh Godwin in The Independent.

"Marc Lièvremont kept his hands firmly on the desk in front of him when he met the media after the recent win over Wales but he might as well have given them the "bras d'honneur". Arm bent at the elbow, fist pumping upwards; the Gallic equivalent of our two-fingered salute. By inflicting a first defeat on the Welsh in two years of the Six Nations Championship, Lièvremont's France stayed in the running for the title and they will jog into Twickenham this Sunday with confidence renewed.

"The list of sporting coaches who have railed against the press is as long as your arm, bent or otherwise. But Lièvremont, who became head coach of Les Bleus at the start of 2008, is emerging as a man who knows which fights to pick and how to win them. Wales were beaten at their own high-tempo game at the Stade de France and it was a vindication of Lièvremont's chopping and changing of personnel, with a dollop of luck thrown in. Now for Les Rosbifs.

"The way Lièvremont describes it, France are seeking a Mediterranean style of rugby, which means a great reliance on the set piece, and a natural place for spreading the ball wide. A penalty try conceded by France's scrum at home to Ireland last year was the blackest of marks as the Lièvremont era began."

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, former England hooker Brian Moore believes England are not far away from a performance that will oust the pessimists and show the wisdom of the appointment of Martin Johnson.

"At the moment, views range from Stuart Barnes's that fundamentally England are bereft of a forward-thinking strategy and that the whole tactical approach has to be radically altered to those of Johnson himself, who believes that but for minor setbacks in the last two games, England would be sitting pretty; played three, won three. As usual, the truth lies betwixt these extremes.

"The truth is not that England show no ambition or play without invention; rather that they cannot create sufficient quality first-phase ball and more particularly similar second, third and fourth phase possession to enable their backs to play. Use the dreadful description 'ambition' if you like, but a better way to encapsulate what it is that other teams do so well is to say that they play what is in front of them; wherever they find themselves on the field. Moreover, and this is a crucial point, they realise that slow ball should either be kicked, or has to have momentum put on it before it can be spread wide."

Former Wales international Barry John believes his former side are in good hands with lock Alun-Wyn Jones handed the captaincy for the Six Nations clash with Italy. Read his thoughts in the Wales on Sunday.

"I don’t think there is any doubt that in the Ospreys second row we have the future as far as the leadership of the Wales side is concerned; and I’m talking about the 2011 World Cup for definite. To be captain you have to have total command over your jersey; you should really be the first name on the team sheet.

"Well, that’s what Alun Wyn Jones is at the moment, a fellow who has all the characteristics needed to captain Wales for years. Not only has he come through brilliantly in terms of his playing form in the last year, he also has intelligence and a good understanding of people around him. He seems to command a lot of respect."

Never mind the Grand Slam, Ireland are concentrating on Scotland at Murrayfield according to skipper Brian O'Driscoll writing in the Guardian.

"All this talk of Ireland winning the grand slam is in the media and certainly not within our changing room. I don't think there is any more pressure on the players now than after our first win against France. Nothing has changed for us. We still have a certain number of matches that have to be won against tough ­opposition. In the Ireland camp we are all completely focused on the Scotland game on Saturday.

"There has been a lot made of my comment in a press conference last month about a tomato. I can reassure you there was no deep and meaningful background to this seemingly philosophical moment. Some have even called it my Eric Cantona moment, but it was nothing but a bet from one of the Ireland boys. Each day we are in camp we receive the following day's schedule and within it our baggage master, Paddy O'Reilly, includes a thought of the day. The tomato comment was his thought of the day and in exchange for including it in the press conference I am pleased to say that one of the boys now has to do a rather unpleasant forfeit."

March 8, 2009

Posted by Graham Jenkins on 03/08/2009

For all their sins, England will beat France

Defeats in Cardiff and Dublin hardly suggest England are in crisis according to Eddie Butler in The Observer

"The good thing about Martin Johnson is that he saves on the plinth. He stands so tall that you don't have to waste time undermining some great marble base to bring him crashing down.

"The man(ager) who would sort out England has managed only to watch a line of players, worker ants whose sense of duty has been short-circuited, trailing to and from the sin bin. Johnson, in one of the most revealing cutaways of the championship, was caught thumping himself with his giant fist, encapsulating all the frustration and self-destruction of England's performances in the Six Nations.

"Suddenly, his is a lonely job. Sir Clive Woodward, who owes every dubbed inch of his bloody knighthood to his former captain, spoke of Johnson's inexperience as a manager. This was a pat on the back from an old friend holding a drawing pin. Johnson, the majestic team leader of 2003 is on his own in charge of England 2009."

March 4, 2009

Posted by Huw Baines on 03/04/2009

Captain Sensible in uncharted waters

Robert Kitson believes that Martin Johnson may be out of his depth as England manager, in his blog for The Guardian.

	Martin Johnson has struggled as England boss © Getty Images

"It is almost 11 months since Martin Johnson was unveiled at Twickenham as England's soon-to-be manager. Remember what he said that April lunchtime? By chance I found the cutting protruding from a sea of paper beneath my desk yesterday. "I'm aware there's a perception that if I'm involved it will all be OK and we'll be successful. But that's not the reality and it never was. I've got my eyes open. I'm not thinking I can turn up and it will work straightaway. It's about getting the right environment and getting the right people around the team in all the various roles. And, obviously, getting the right players and helping them to reach their potential."

"Digging a little further into a teetering stack of discarded intros I also happened across a crumpled charity leaflet. Last year Johnson, along with several other sports stars, supplied a picture with a personalised message on it to be auctioned in aid of Trinity Hospice. The former World Cup-winning captain's note was short and pithy. "If they are going to call you this superhuman and you believe it then you should also believe it when they call you a tosser" – NB: If you type "Martin Johnson" and "tosser" into a search engine you'll currently find 10 of the limited-edition prints on eBay.) Never let it be said Johnno was not braced for the peaks and troughs of his current role, nor that he does not possess a human side.

"The weekend defeat in Ireland, though, represented a personal watershed. Johnson the manager has now lost as many Tests – five – in four months as he did in five years as England's on-field captain. He did the job 39 times between 1998 and 2003 and won on 34 occasions. No wonder he is starting to look slightly peevish. For all his Captain Sensible talk last April, these are now uncharted waters."

March 3, 2009

Posted by Huw Baines on 03/03/2009

Time for Johnno to muck in

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Mick Cleary puts forward his belief that England manager Martin Johnson needs to gain the respect on his players first-hand.

"True, there was a severe downturn in results during the autumn when record scores were posted against England by South Africa and New Zealand. But Johnson was new to the job, slack was being cut, and hope was on the horizon.

"Hope has turned to disenchantment, expectation to anger. The Six Nations scoreboard may be more favourable to England, with narrow defeats to the supposed form teams in Europe – Wales and Ireland – but the mood has darkened among the public.

"They wonder if Johnson is up to the job, if he has the leadership skills to cope, an unimaginable state of affairs given his track record as a player. But his credibility is taking a battering for one simple reason – his players have let him down.

"Why won't they listen to him? Why won't they obey instructions? Why do they behave like pillocks in the middle of Test matches? You could single out any one damning incident from Danny Care's wanton charge into Marcus Horan, Toby Flood's upfield chase and flop onto Brian O'Driscoll, Phil Vickery's poked hand through a ruck or James Haskell's indiscretion within 17 seconds of the second-half re-start."

March 2, 2009

Posted by Huw Baines on 03/02/2009

England's cheating problem

Simon Barnes takes aim at England's disciplinary problem, and has little time for their excuses, in The Times.

"The England rugby union team do not have a discipline problem. They have a cheating problem. There comes a point when a team break the laws of a game so often that you can no longer consider their conduct a series of aberrations, a collection of individual blunders or a problem of over-enthusiasm. So let's call a spade a spade.

"Breaking the laws of a game is cheating, there's no two ways about it. But let us leave the moral question aside here. Many people in professional sport believe that it is your moral duty to get away with anything you can; many spectators go along with that, at least if they support the team in question. The most obvious point here is that England are not only cheats, they are incompetent cheats.

"Cheating is worthwhile only if you get away with it. England are not getting away with anything. Their cheating brings them no gain. Quite the reverse: they are getting punished heavily for it. But by the most extraordinary process of sporting logic, the more they are caught cheating, the more they cheat.

"Once again, England lost any chance they might have had of winning on Saturday because they constantly broke the laws of the game and they got caught doing so. They have conceded 41 penalties in their three RBS Six Nations Championship games this year and they have received six yellow cards. While they have been short-handed, they have conceded 30 points."

Posted by Huw Baines on 03/02/2009

Friday night rugby a saving grace

Writing in The Guardian, Eddie Butler is thankful for the superb showing from France and Wales on Friday night as Saturday's Six Nations offerings plumbed the depths.

"When it was announced that the Six Nations was going to hold a Friday-night party in Paris, there was a groan. Change is not always welcome in our rugby. Well, thank goodness for that nine o'clock special, the France‑Wales game that made up for one of the most woeful Saturdays of rugby in living memory.

"At least Scotland-Italy had nothing to live up to, having been billed as the wooden-spoon decider. The action was poor from the outset, but nothing was as sad as the sight of so many empty seats at Murrayfield. This was depressing rugby in a time of recession. Instead of lightening the mood, sport reflected these sombre times.

	Sergio Parisse drops a goal at Murrayfield © Getty Images

"What, for example, has happened to Mike Blair? The scrum-half, who after the autumn series was vying for the Lions No9 spot and maybe even the captaincy, had another game of hesitation and slow delivery.

"Italy, badly beaten yet again and struggling to reach the standard required for the championship – not that this Saturday did anything but lower the bar – still held in their ragged ranks the best player on display. Sergio Parisse was captain, tackler, yard-maker, inspiration and drop-goal kicker. He could not have done more."

March 1, 2009

Posted by Graham Jenkins on 03/01/2009

Scots workmen dig for victory

Iain Morrison was far from impressed as Scotlan registered their first win of the Six Nations against Italy at Murrayfield. Read his views in The Scotsman.

"Scotland kick-started their Six Nations campaign with their first championship win over Italy in three years, although it was beer and sandwiches stuff rather than the champagne and caviar fare that was on the fans' wish list.

"...Other than the scores, the game had precious little to commend it. The ball spent too much time in the heavens above Murrayfield as neither side trusted themselves to attack from deep with the ball in hand."

Posted by Graham Jenkins on 03/01/2009

O'Driscoll delivers decisive points

Ireland's victory cannot hide a feeling of sheer relief according to John O'Brien in the Irish Independent.

	Ireland's Brian O'Driscoll forces his way over for a try at Croke Park © Getty Images

"As an occasion it promised nothing of the explosive drama we witnessed here two years ago and, in no way did it ever come close to delivering it.

"There was no comparable sense of intrigue about yesterday. No novel historical context, no questions about anthems or security arrangements to heighten the tension. Nor had Ireland any call on long-standing emotional grievances to push them closer to the line. To win they had to do it the hard way. In a way they had so much more to play for and you could be kind to Ireland by suggesting that the pressure they were under diminished them aesthetically. In 2007 they'd come off the back of a heart-rending defeat against France and, on the day, the mood of the England game was unique and positively surreal. The thing about one-off sporting occasions is that they can't be recreated on demand, though. Yesterday the dynamics had altered appreciably."

Posted by Graham Jenkins on 03/01/2009

O'Driscoll inspires Ireland in battle of attrition

John O'Sullivan reports from Croke Park where Ireland kept their Grand Slam dream alive with victory over England. Read his report in the Irish Times.

"Ireland will reflect on this 80 minutes at Croke Park grateful for several outstanding individual performances but primarily for the fact that England once again displayed such gross indiscipline that ultimately proved their undoing.

"...England coach Martin Johnson should be livid because those indiscretions plus another ridiculously high penalty count effectively cost the visitors the match. His Ireland counterpart Declan Kidney will be grateful to have escaped on a day when Ireland huffed and puffed but lacked the vision to get around a resolute English defence. Kick and chase and lumbering carries around the fringes were never going to discommode England unduly unless the latter was done at pace. It was largely missing all evening."

Posted by Graham Jenkins on 03/01/2009

Sin-bin city traps Johnson’s serial offenders

Stuart Barnes insists England skipper Steve Borthwick is not up to the task of leading his country - read his assessment in the Sunday Times.

"Do not let the late try for England and the one-point defeat mask the realities of where England reside in terms of their international status. They were a mid-table member of the elite when Brian Ashton was dismissed; they are now thrashing around furiously in the shallows with the minnows, shorn of confidence, know-how, a kicking strategy, leadership and discipline.

"...The former captain has appointed another second row as his voice for the team. The new captain lacks the presence and clout to bring off the trick of leadership as Johnson used to do. A tall but unimposing man, he stoops and is brushed off in a manner anathema to giants such as Johnson and Dallaglio in their prime. He is doing his best; it is not enough."

Posted by Graham Jenkins on 03/01/2009

Scotland relieve pressure on Frank Hadden

Mark Palmer reports from Scotland's victory over Italy at Murrayfield - read his thoughts in the Sunday Times.

"Frank Hadden is a great one for context; for poking around behind the scoreline to check whether parts of the story have as yet gone untold. This time he will know better than to bother with the forensics. Game won, case closed. So pitiful were the Italians, so infrequently were Scotland required to drag themselves above the banal, that serious debate over where Scotland are going, and whether, indeed, Hadden should go, requires to be deferred for a fortnight.

"Yesterday brought only circumstantial evidence. There was sporadic cut and thrust from the Scotland backs, Max Evans and Simon Danielli in particular. The scrum and lineout were more convincing, there was more discipline at the breakdown, and, as a rule, more intelligence in the decision-making. Scotland never looked like losing. Italy, by contrast, never looked like winning."

Posted by Graham Jenkins on 03/01/2009

Warren lifts our heads because we've still got points to make

Writing in the Independent on Sunday, Wales fullback Lee Byrne picks through the pieces of his side's defeat to France.

"It took only a few minutes after the end in Paris for Warren Gatland (right) to stand up and say what needed to be said. For the first time in two years it was a losing dressing room for Wales in the Six Nations, it was deadly quiet and all the boys' heads were down. But Warren is not the type to let that atmosphere settle. He told us we cannot be disheartened, the Championship is still there to play for, and that immediately became everyone's focus.

"But I would be lying if I said I will be getting up in the greatest of moods today, St David's Day. I spent Friday night with the game going over and over in my mind, and when I got home to Bridgend yesterday it wasn't long before I was re