"As manager, Johnson must accept responsibility, but the ultimate responsibility rests not with him but with the RFU’s director of elite rugby, Rob Andrew. He is the guy who ensured that Johnson began his management journey from the wrong starting point. "England no longer aim to be the best in the world, the players do not work in an environment conducive to producing a world-class team and, in this respect, we are short-changing the current generation. You only know how good a player is when he is allowed to work in the right set-up. "There is so much that is not right about the England set-up. In the hard-to- stomach category, the lack of honesty has been right up there with the lack of creativity. Andrew was quoted as saying: “England are on the way back, there is no question of that.” "Please, do not insult our intelligence. Presiding over a country hit by an earthquake, Andrew would say it was just what everybody needed, a chance to rebuild."

"Scotland eked out a victory, forged by bravery, character, an excellent rucking game, an ability to take their chances and also availing of Ireland’s unusual largesse on a fraught evening in Dublin for the home side. "The last game at Croke Park will be recalled as one in which this Ireland team probably reserved their most error-ridden performance of this season’s Six Nations Championship. "Ireland’s four year tenure at GAA headquarters will now be bookended by defeats. Scotland outhalf Dan Parks deservedly won the man-of-the-match accolade for his kicking both from the hand and the boot. The Irish team was left to rue too many mistakes and once again a lack of appreciation in how to play South African referee Jonathan Kaplan."

"However, the fact remains that England have finished lower in the Six Nations table than last year and there will now be renewed pressure on the whole England set- up, with changes expected not only in the team but also in the senior coaching panel, before England reappear on tour in Australia in June. "In particular, Rob Andrew, the Rugby Football Union’s director of elite rugby, is under fire from inside and outside Twickenham. The pressure will not ease after a performance from England yesterday that was better but still far removed from world class. "Andrew will now compile a report on England’s largely disastrous campaign. Many feel that he should start with himself. He is seen by some as a man who could have brought far more clarity and focus to the team hierarchy and to a coaching panel seen to be underachieving in a big way. Soundings taken at Twickenham suggest there is almost no support for the Andrew-Johnson tandem at the top and the current group of senior coaches staying on as they are. Johnson is likely to be saved for now but, if he refuses to make changes in his coaching team, then we understand that he will have to go to the barricades against his own employers."

"Coming at the end of a disappointing season this fabulous win was only Scotland's second over Ireland in the extended Six Nations, with the last one occurring way in 2001 when the match that was rearranged around the foot and mouth epidemic. Scotland's only other recent success was a friendly match at Murrayfield ahead of the World Cup of 2007, when Eddie O'Sullivan fielded a weakened team. Fly-half Dan Parks – you can't keep him down – won the match for Scotland with a drop goal and five penalties, the last one coming two minutes from time to seal the victory, but once again he showed his Jekyll and Hyde nature. Apart from his crucial contribution with the boot he also stripped Paul O'Connell of the ball just before half time. Against that, the Aussie still has the blinkers on in attack, ignoring overlaps and mismatches galore when Scotland had the whip hand. For all his efforts Parks remains what he always has been, a kicking stand-off, as constant as the north star, take him or leave him."

"Jean-Max Calice, who brought Bastareaud to Massy, remembers the first time he saw him. "He was playing at Viry-Châtillon in a junior tournament. He was a phenomenon even at 13. In fact he was very much the player he is now. He was strong, but what struck me most was his incredible will to win. I've never trained a greater competitor. "Mathieu has become a symbol for the banlieues. He's such a good example. He is very humble and respectful. He's gentle and has a nice sense of humour. Family and friends are very important for him. That's such a good image for rugby." "Nicolas Gestas, the general director of Massy, agrees. "He's a good lad," he says, "which is why what happened in New Zealand last year was so astonishing." Bastareaud's mental scars are still evident. There were reports of a suicide attempt and he is still consulting a psychologist. A three-month ban for the player, who missed the autumn internationals but was recalled for this year's Six Nations Championship, was subsequently changed to community service. He is in the middle of 18 visits to schools, clubs and rugby academies."

"Irish rugby fans aged 30 and older should have little problem recalling the name and exploits of former Scotland out-half John Rutherford. "Between 1979 and 1987, Rutherford played eight times against Ireland and his quality was all too evident, no more so than when he masterminded Scotland's Grand Slam-clinching 32-9 victory at Lansdowne Road. Lean and lithe, Rutherford was lethal with the quick ruck ball that characterised Scottish rugby in the 1980s. "His trademark moustache gave the out-half something of a Viking-like appearance and with his fellow-moustachioed partner Roy Laidlaw -- 'Butch' to Rutherford's Sundance for 35 Tests -- at scrum-half, Scotland had a half-back pairing that was the equal of any in international rugby during the '80s."

"There is no rational argument against France claiming their ninth grand slam in Paris this evening. Their opponents lost their captain yesterday, have dropped the world’s leading international points-scorer, Jonny Wilkinson, and have, to all intents and purposes, lost their way. "Yet they will be wary of England, purely because they are England — the country that overturned their hopes of glory in 1991 (twice), in 2003 and, on their own turf, in the 2007 World Cup. Nor is this the England side that have meandered through the tournament after opening with an encouraging win over Wales: form and injury have forced seven changes since last week’s draw with Scotland. Who knows how effervescent the new mixture will be?"

"As someone, somewhere, some time ago said: "Statistics are like mini skirts. They give you good ideas, but hide the most important parts." "So comfortable have the Irish rugby team been in their last two matches, they have managed to concede both territory and possession, as well as kicking away the majority of that possession, yet still contrived to win with relative assurance on both occasions. "...Yet within the prism of Six Nations fare against their Triple Crown rivals, Ireland have offered irrefutable proof that statistics do lie, offering a resounding affirmation of this team's ability to live in the moment and play heads-up rugby, rather than burrow their heads in a restricted play-book."

"Cian Healy is living the dream. Last season was his breakthrough for Leinster and here he is, in his rookie international year, about to win his seventh cap. He’d always imagined being a rugby player, but it’s been better than he could even have dreamed. “I just never thought it would be so electric, like this. It’s unbelievable, walking out onto Croker and the Stade de France and Twickenham. I just never imagined it like. It’s unbelievable,” he repeats, suitably wide-eyed. "Healy is, by his own admission, “nuts”, or at any rate hyper-active. Always has been, always will be. There would always have to have been something very active to keep him busy. That he wanted to become a full-time professional rugby player had long since been his ambition."

"Andrew argues that Martin Johnson, the England team manager, has established his core players for the assault on the 2011 World Cup, although even that can be queried. In this championship alone, he has dropped Jonny Wilkinson and Lewis Moody, who are part of his leadership group, Nick Easter’s form has been mixed and Steve Borthwick, his captain, remains unloved by the more vocal of the game’s followers. "Where Andrew is on stronger ground is the context in which Johnson is working, the cranking sound of the conveyor belt designed to deliver quality players on a regular basis. “It’s a slow process,” Andrew said, but he pointed towards Ben Youngs, the replacement scrum half at the Stade de France tomorrow, and Courtney Lawes, the 21-year-old Northampton lock capped twice this season from the bench, as the first fruits of his labours. "The system of financial rewards for clubs developing England-qualified players (EQP) is also under way. The rewards are not huge — some £300,000 was distributed in December to seven Guinness Premiership clubs who averaged 14 or more EQP — but Andrew insists that the RFU would like all 12 clubs to receive a share of what is, this season, a pot of about £1 million."

"As for the man I replaced, I have known Jonny Wilkinson for years. I made my first start for the Falcons at 19 but way before then, when I was coming through the age groups at Newcastle, he was there, the man in the 10 shirt. He was always a great guy to have around, a guy whose brain you were always trying to pick. He has helped me a huge amount. He's good company too. In short, a good mate. After I found out I was in the side he walked over and congratulated me. "If you need anything," he said, "give me a shout." That is the sort of character he is. "We have been in camp for eight weeks. Whether you have been on the bench or in the XV you know what is going on so there is no learning curve. It will be my normal preparations, same as whether I'm playing for Leicester Tigers or England. I have really enjoyed playing at No 12, but 10 is where I have played most of my rugby; it is the position I prefer. I have done my knowledge there."

"If it is not quite enough to persuade Danny Cipriani to abandon his plans for a spell of self-imposed exile in the Australian rugby desert of Melbourne, it must surely be enough to make him kick the nearest cat. Precisely two years ago, Brian Ashton dropped Jonny Wilkinson for the last game of the Six Nations Championship and gave Cipriani the opportunity to run Saturn-like rings round Ireland, which he promptly did. It seemed as though a brave new world was dawning, but the light faded to black when Ashton was sacked by the Rugby Football Union. "To all intents and purposes, Cipriani disappeared into the same darkness. Wilkinson may have been dropped again – instead of starting against the French this weekend, he will be slumming it on the bench – but this time, the most gifted of England's outside-halves is out of favour and out of mind. The current red-rose hierarchy do not like him, and the feeling is mutual."