Reality check: Scotland the weakest of Six

If Joe Schmidt was anxious in the build-up to his first ever Six Nations encounter as head coach, the close fought nature of the opening two fixtures on Saturday would have done little to ease his nerves in the hours before taking on Scotland.

This is going to be a highly competitive championship, with France up for the fight, England impressive in defeat in Paris, Italy dogged, determined and well organised once again under Jacques Brunel, while reigning champions Wales will only get better, starting next Saturday in Dublin.

With the bar set by that highly entertaining clash at the Stade de France, Ireland had to hit the ground running yesterday. They weren’t helped in that respect when losing inspirational captain Paul O’Connell to a bad chest infection, diagnosed at 4am on Sunday morning by team doctor Eanna Falvey. Given that Schmidt also lost Luke Fitzgerald and Eoin Reddan from his match day squad and Gordon D’Arcy was also struck by illness during the week, the new coach must have felt the gods were conspiring against him.