Let’s not be too nice to England

I HOPE that in the midst of the disappointment at the defeat

I do not think it was brilliant from the psychological point of view to harp on the status (whether true or not) of England as the No 1 team in the world at the moment. It is an opinion that is bound to encourage the English and the World Cup will tell the truth or falseness of it soon enough.

More important was the need to remedy the instability of the Irish scrum that was so evident in the second half in Cardiff and the failure to do so cost us the vital early try by Dallaglio. But we have lost Clohessy, Wood and Galwey from our front five, and this is an irreplaceable loss.