It wasn’t meant to end like this

Having led Wales by 27 points at one stage in the cauldron of the Millennium Stadium, Ireland must have looked on from their hotel in Rome on Saturday as Gethin Jenkins and Ryan Jones lifted the Six Nations trophy and wondered what might have been.

That defeat at the beginning of February was their eighth on the trot but Wales garnered enough positive energy from their second- half fightback that day to turn their championship fortunes around, despite the extreme pressure they were under.

Self-belief is a quality Ireland are sadly lacking at the moment. That the side competed manfully to the bitter end of this forgettable championship is scant consolation as a truly catastrophic sequence of events consigned them to the root of the table, avoiding the ignominy of a wooden spoon on points difference to pre-tournament favourites France.