Desperately seeking success with substance and style

THE longer it went on, the clearer it became - the only thing that really mattered in the last RBS Six Nations international at venerable old Lansdowne Road on Saturday was the result.

To hell with nostalgia and entertainment, forget the ambitious, never mind the quality. This had become the pivotal game for both teams and boy did they know it!

In the end, Ireland were more than happy to eke out a 15-9 victory over Scotland and so set themselves up for the mother and father of all battles against the ‘auld enemy’ at Twickenham on Saturday, with the Triple Crown and championship at stake. Not that England will quite see it in the same way, given their crushing 31-6 defeat by France in the Stade de France yesterday, when they made an appalling number of unforced errors.