Ireland tick a lot of boxes

It says much about the strange nature of this year’s RBS 6 Nations championship that Ireland arrive at this Saturday’s finale against England wondering what might have been.

A week ago, as Declan Kidney’s battered and bruised squad stared miserably into their half-empty glasses assessing a draw with France as the one that not just got away but cost them the services of Paul O’Connell and Conor Murray, Ireland appeared to be running out of leaders. They looked in danger of falling apart under the sheer physical toll of playing four high-intensity Test matches in successive weekends.

Yet they will travel to London this weekend for the last of these four Herculean trials with a spring in their step, and rightly so, following this important victory over Scotland.