Donal Lenihan: A welcome end to a forgettable year for Ireland on all fronts

What the Autumn Nations Cup has confirmed is that Ireland are the best of the rest with a fifth-place world ranking. I’m sure Australia and Argentina, in sixth and eighth place respectively, would fancy their chances against us right now

Keith Earls touches down for Ireland’s third try against Scotland in their Autumn Nations Cup clash at the Aviva on Saturday. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

After a challenging start, the Autumn Nations Cup has come and gone. Having witnessed, in the flesh, the flair and excitement Japan brought to the table at the last World Cup, I was really looking forward to seeing them in action once again.

It proved an early blow to this fledgling tournament that they never even made it to the starting line. With due respect to Georgia, they were never going to make up for the loss of the all-action style favoured by the Japanese. Given how dull some of the fare has been over the last few weeks, the Cherry Blossoms were badly missed.