LARRY RYAN: Ireland caught Hook, line and stinker

Hopes, plans, dreams — all scaled back yesterday at the Aviva.

So too, it seems, the once indiscriminate business of punditry. We cannot know, any longer, what to expect of these people.

“I would be astonished if Cian Healy plays another game in this championship,” George Hook concluded, at the final whistle, as they briefly considered one of the few moments when Ireland put their stamp on a game England side.