Writing in the Daily Mail, Chris Foy reports from the Stade de France where Wales' Grand Slam hopes were dashed by France.

"When they found themselves trailing after 53 minutes, Wales simply had no answers. They could not find a way out of their opponents' iron grip. As France rediscovered some of their old swagger and muscular menace, the visitors ran out of ideas and will have to make do with trying to retain their title.

"But this result will have surely put a colossal dent in their previously soaring self-belief. The match was a throw-back to darker days, when French power was too much for the overwhelmed Welsh. Much had been made of the Dragons' increased stature and pack presence of late, but here they were simply pounded into submission."

Wales coach Shaun Edwards shares France boss Marc Lievremont's worries about a Friday night Six Nations game in his blog for The Guardian.

"It is something of a rarity to have opposing coaches agree over anything before a Test match, but there is common ground between Wales and France before tonight's international in Paris – both camps have doubts about playing Test rugby on Friday nights.

"Marc Lièvremont was first into action nine days ago. The French coach was adamant: every Six Nations rugby match should be played on a Saturday at 3pm. He said he didn't like evening games and they were bad for the players who had to wait throughout the day, losing energy and getting stressed.

"More to the point, he was upset that his side should be involved in the first Friday night match in Six Nations history after a league weekend when all his potential match-day squad would be involved in Top 14 action – particularly the Toulouse and Clermont players, who last Sunday night staged a re-run of the 2008 final. Lièvremont's point was that nine of the French squad from the game against Scotland, assuming they would do only light work until Wednesday, would have only a couple of days to prepare for a pivotal game.

"Lièvremont's concern rang bells in the Welsh camp. The sympathy Warren Gatland showed the French coach when the matter was raised later that week was based firmly on our experiences with the short turnaround between opening the championship at Murrayfield and playing England. Given only six days between Edinburgh and Cardiff, Warren gambled, more or less resting the guys until the Thursday before the match."

Stephen Jones, writing in his Rolling Maul blog for The Times, rescinds his view that Ronan O'Gara cannot cut it at the top level of international competition.

"Ireland have also been stunningly, outrageously fortunate that he has remained so free of injury. There has been total lack of credible fly-half contenders, David Humphreys apart, and even now, as O’Gara reaches 90 caps, the next fly half into the team in the event of O’Gara breaking his leg would be O’Gara playing with a broken leg.

"My low rating was based on what I saw as an unambitious young player who lay as deep as Davy Jones’s locker and who often seemed to be happy to kick just enough penalty goals to ensure that the score for Munster or Ireland was one point more than the opposition. I have seen games where his defence was poor, where he could have expanded and did not, or failed to kill off a game and then found his team beaten. I also felt that when he did try to run the ball he looked thoroughly uncomfortable.

"That was then. These days I find him a masterly operator. There is no shortage of outstanding fly halves around but I would take him on the Lions tour. His range of kicks is vast and, in a sense, old-fashioned. So few fly halves these days can drop kicks on the head of a shaky defender to land at the same time as the chasers, even long punting is a lost art that he retains. He is also a man you would back for that knee-knocking late place kick to win. Last season against Wasps at Thomond Park it was as if he had the match on a length of string, so uncanny was his anticipation."

David Hands was unsurprised by England's selection of Toby Flood for their trip to Ireland - and believes that the Leicester fly-half must kick his goals in order to be a success in The Times.

"That England should make no more than one change to the starting XV against Ireland, the leaders of the RBS Six Nations Championship, was entirely predictable. When Toby Flood was not released back to his club, Leicester, last week it signalled that he would return at fly half in Dublin, the position he has started twice in the last nine months - both against New Zealand.

"Such was the improvement in the shape and purpose of England's game against Wales that, even though the result was an eight-point defeat, the bulk of the XV was always going to be retained. The one thing that Martin Johnson has sought since he became team manager was consistency of selection and there was no compelling reason to change elsewhere.

"At this stage of the side's development, there was little prospect of amendment to the back row. A more confident, fluid England might look for greater pace from No 8 than Nick Easter can provide but he offers a rallying point, a strong ball-carrying presence while Joe Worsley, not your traditional fetcher-carrier on the open-side flank, proved how well he can do a specific job in Cardiff.

"But if Flood is seen as the market leader in the pivotal role, he has to kick his goals. England have been profligate in giving opponents the chance to keep the scoreboard ticking over, now they have to do the same themselves. Andy Goode, though he kicked five goals against Italy, also missed with three more while Flood, coming on as a replacement against Wales, missed a vital penalty late in the game which would have increased pressure on the grand-slam holders."

Paul Rees delves in to the change in dimensions of the Wales side under Warren Gatland in The Guardian, highlighting centre Jamie Roberts as the key example.

"Size and Wales are words that have not often gone together. In the past 20 years Wales have taken some batterings at Twickenham and various other grounds, their guile and trickery behind the scrum counting for little because their forwards had been flattened.

"One aspect of the Warren Gatland revolution is that Wales no longer regard small as beautiful. England arrived in Cardiff this month with a detailed plan on how to stop the home No8, Andy Powell, a rampaging bull of a forward, and the centre Jamie Roberts, who at 6ft 5in and more than 17st is built like a forward.

"The Wales coach Gatland, knowing what England would do, considered using Powell and Roberts as decoys. "Then I thought, no: this is who we are and what we do, come and stop us. And we won." Roberts was man-marked by a flanker, Joe Worsley, who positioned himself in midfield on Wales' set pieces. Roberts struggled to get away but the one time he did he burst out of his own 22 and started the move which ended with Andy Goode being sent to the sin-bin and Wales taking a grip on the game."

Writing in The Independent, Peter Bills fires a broadside at the RFU following their reaction to the news that Riki Flutey, James Haskell and Tom Palmer will be leaving Wasps for Stade Francais.

"Is not the hysterical reaction of the Rugby Football Union to the news that three England players had signed for French clubs typical of a selfish organisation?

"In a sense, it showed English rugby’s naivety. The French have seen some of their international players, the likes of Raphael Ibanez, Sebastien Chabal and Olivier Azam, plus former Biarritz scrum half Julien Dupuy, going to England to play their rugby. In a professional era, what is surprising about that ? Players will go where the best deals are and be tempted by living and playing in another country.

"In soccer, David Beckham has played in Madrid, Los Angeles and most recently Milan whilst continuing to represent England. Years and years ago, the likes of Kevin Keegan, Mark Hughes, Gary Lineker and Laurie Cunningham all played their club football on the Continent whilst still playing for their countries.

"I detect a note of arrogance in English rugby’s reaction to the London Wasps players, Riki Flutey, Tom Palmer and James Haskell announcing they have signed for French clubs for next season. Flutey will go to Brive, Palmer and Haskell to Stade Francais."

Robert Kitson has very little time for Friday night Six Nations games, but would like to see cricket's referral system given a whirl at domestic level, in his blog for The Guardian.

"On the subject of innovation, however, imagine the following scenario. It is the 79th minute at the Stade de France and the home side have just been awarded a penalty in front of the sticks. The Welsh forwards have been penalised for killing the ball and, with France trailing 25-24, the visitors' grand-slam goose looks cooked. Or is it? Under an experimental new rule inspired by the referral system in Test cricket, the Wales captain Ryan Jones is allowed to challenge one refereeing call per game. Shrewdly, he has kept his wildcard up his sleeve for precisely this situation. The decision goes upstairs where close inspection of the slow-motion replays indicates a French knock-on half a second earlier. Scrum to Wales, kick to touch, game over, grand-slam bid still intact.

"Is this progress? Having watched a number of recent games settled by marginal – or plain dodgy – calls, I would suggest it is at least worth a trial at domestic level. France's forward-pass try against Scotland last week and Northampton's non-try against Wasps on Sunday (when the charging Ben Foden was hauled back off the ball out of sight of the referee and touch judges) are merely the latest examples of game-bending moments evident to everyone bar the officials.

"Umpteen referrals would clearly be impractical but allowing each side to query one penalty decision per 80 minutes would not slow the game down unduly and would also revive the role of the on-field captain. The skipper would not be allowed to seek advice from the touchline and would have only 10 seconds or so to lodge a protest. The side protesting in the heat of the moment and getting it wrong would lose out, the cool-headed would thrive and justice might just be done slightly more often."

Spiro Zavos offers his thoughts on the glut of tries in the opening two rounds of this year's Super 14 - read his latest in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"On Saturday we saw Mark Gerrard virtually win the match for his side with his kicking in general play. His low-trajectory punts into the corner were crucial in setting up strong field positions for the Brumbies against the Crusaders.

"The AFL-style drop punt has taken over from the spiral punt as the kick of choice in recent years because of its accuracy . My guess is "the Gerrard" - a throwback to the skid-punting of great fullbacks in the 1920s such as George Nepia - will, or should, become the new method for kickers trying to find field position.

"The fact that the ball is in play for more than 46 per cent of the match under the hybrid ELVs is significant - call it the running of the bulls factor. Big forwards, particularly, tire quicker and fitter players can exploit this."

Is it possible to feel sorry for Wasps? To any Harlequins supporter this is surely a rhetorical question, so writes Brian Moore in the Daily Telegraph.

"Haskell suggests his motives are nothing to do with money. If so, what is more challenging than to live up to the titanic example of Lawrence Dallaglio, a man with whom comparisons have been drawn, but they are far from the mark?

"I do not know Haskell personally, but those whose judgment I trust implicitly when it comes to rugby are not flattering. Having delved into jameshaskell.com, I was somewhat surprised to find Haskell's father blogging about a family history, a RocknRolla premiere interview and a Landrover promotional clip.

"It is also stated that it was the fulfilment of a childhood dream for Haskell to play for the club he so avidly supported whilst a schoolboy. That being so, how can he leave when Wasps are clearly in need of the services of the untried players they were bold enough push through at an early age."

Row over selection of French-based players is masking need for a settled No.10 according to Tim Glover in the Independent.

"The timing of all this couldn’t be worse for England, who are already confused enough. Is Goode good enough to stay at No 10? No way, despite the fact that he has done a decent job so far. He scored enough points on his own to beat Italy but was terribly limited; he was better against Wales but a yellow card turned the match.

"Danny Cipriani has been turning it on for Wasps – as he did against Ireland at the end of the last Six Nations – but Johnson has gone off him. England were so desperate to beat Italy in the opening game that they turned to Goode. England’s lifeline in the defeat to Wales is that they scored two tries to one but their discipline was still awful. Will Johnson stick with Goode or go for Toby Flood? If England are to stand any chance they must go with Flood or recall Cipriani."

Wales prop Gethin Jenkins has just recovered from one punishing encounter - he talks to Eddie Butler in The Observer.

"Three days after Gethin Jenkins could start to move again, he put himself forward for public inspection. He looked relatively unmarked, considering what he had been through, almost jaunty, a different prop from the one who would once have groaned at the prospect of explaining anything about his form, his role, or himself.

Only when he lowered his 6ft 2in frame into a chair was there any sign of soreness after the England game. Only when he turned round to acknowledge the taunts of the passing Stephen Jones and Martyn Williams – "So who's the star now, then?" – was there a sign of that chronic front-row ailment, the locked neck."

Overmach Parma fly-half Barry Irving, Scottish by birth, has some reservations about the plans to potentially include Italian sides in the Celtic League, in The Scotsman.

"Mallett's comments (or should I call them excuses) have led to a knee-jerk reaction to propose the inclusion of two Italian teams in the Celtic League next season. Who, where and how are all unanswerable questions at this point in time, but support for the proposal has not been well received by the clubs in Italy. With over 220 eligible players for Italy playing every weekend, the question of quantity has never been an issue. The theory is that two Italian sides playing in the Celtic league will raise the quality needed for players to develop into international players.

"What many officials who live the dolce vita have failed to notice is that a large proportion of Mallett's squad earn their living in other leagues around Europe. Other issues are the legalities of player contracts and whether the Celtic League will accept existing teams or would prefer new franchises. Rumours of merging teams in northern Italy, ignoring years of rivalry and in some cases mild hatred, have caused many to splutter into their espressos!

"As for me, I am happy to be playing at a club that wants me and am enjoying the lifestyle. Having spent four years at Glasgow in horizontal sleet, I certainly don't miss the training or playing but the city will always be close to my heart and its vibrancy and local humour is hard to find anywhere else in the world.

"It is impossible to predict the future, but I hope mine will include an occupation in sports journalism some day. Until that time I will continue to give 100% to my club and continue to support Scotland through thick and thin. Forza Scozia!"

Richard Loe runs the rule over the New Zealand Super 14 sides after a poor weekend for the Chiefs, Crusaders and Blues in The New Zealand Herald.

"Rugby's a cruel sport. The second match wasn't much kinder. Being a rowing champs, there were plenty of Waikato folk in the bar.

"I can tell you this with some certainty: when things go wrong Waikato fans start pointing the finger. They start pointing the finger at the coaching and at the selection. There is no doubt the Chiefs have the personnel - they fronted up pretty well against the Crusaders in round one - but for whatever reason they seem unable to get the best out of themselves.

"It is almost unbelievable that they couldn't put away a side which was disintegrating in front of their eyes. The Waratahs had fallen to pieces but the Chiefs could not finish them off. There has to be a real worry about the tight five after that set-piece display."

Eddie Butler meets Wales prop Gethin Jenkins in The Observer, discussing recovery after a bruising clash with England last weekend.

"Three days after Gethin Jenkins could start to move again, he put himself forward for public inspection. He looked relatively unmarked, considering what he had been through, almost jaunty, a different prop from the one who would once have groaned at the prospect of explaining anything about his form, his role, or himself.

"Only when he lowered his 6ft 2in frame into a chair was there any sign of soreness after the England game. Only when he turned round to acknowledge the taunts of the passing Stephen Jones and Martyn Williams – "So who's the star now, then?" – was there a sign of that chronic front-row ailment, the locked neck.

"There is a routine to a prop's recovery from an international match: on the Sunday after a Saturday, he is numb; on the Monday he is in pain; on Tuesday he can contemplate motion.

"This was now Thursday, halfway through a recovery week more welcome than most. "There was a six-day turnaround from Scotland to England, so that was more punishing than usual," said the 28-year-old. "And then, well, England was one of the hardest games I've played in."

Shane Williams is learning what it's like to deal with personal and public expectations, says Andrew Longmore in The Sunday Times.

"Sitting in the changing room after Wales had defeated England last weekend, Shane Williams was able to assess the mood of his team with a more objective eye than usual. An injured ankle had deprived him of a part in the victory, so he kept quiet for once, stopped and listened to the debrief.

"What he heard were not the usual tales of derring-do or hints of self-congratulation. Instead, he heard a team intent on improvement, restless in their pursuit of excellence, ruthless in the analysis of their weaknesses. And, for the first time, Williams understood how an All Black dressing room might sound after an unexpectedly rugged win.

“It was very much, ‘We didn’t quite do this right or that right, didn’t quite defend properly on this side’,” says Williams. “Two or three years ago we would have given our right arms to beat England, even by a point. It was great to hear them. Yes, we are playing good rugby, but we can get better, we’ve got to get better. That’s how the New Zealanders do it and they’ve been up there a long time.”

"The absence of Williams from his usual station on the wing showed Wales two things in this RBS Six Nations championship. One was that they can win without their talismanic little flyer, the other that they might make very hard work of it. Without Williams’ cutting edge, England won the try count 2-1 and it can be taken as read that the medical bulletins on his ankle will be as eagerly awaited in Paris, where Wales play on Friday, as in Cardiff."

Mike Catt predicts a Welsh Lions, and a sore head or two, for this summer's tour to South Africa in The Daily Telegraph.

Some of the Welsh lads may have got in a bit of bother last weekend, but once every four years you need to go out and get absolutely smashed. We did it as a group of Lions on the first weekend of the last tour to South Africa and it was the making of us. From then on we were absolutely together. I believe a similar session will be the making of this year's Lions squad.

"As an American Ryder Cup captain once said: "I've got a real good feeling" about this tour. Make no mistake, these will be the Wales Lions and they will have to play like the defending Grand Slam champions if we are to have a chance. Ian McGeechan may nominally be in charge, but he will be more of a manager and a counsellor to the players. Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards will run the show.

"They know the importance of players having down-time as a group. After it got a little out of hand in Cardiff over the weekend they didn't start putting everyone on the naughty step, but had a word and moved on. If only the more recent Lions tours had been so mature."

Writing in The Times, Gabby Logan muses on the "other-worldy" physiques of modern rugby players.

"Women like rugby players - not exactly revelation of the week I will admit, but it needs further examination, especially as thousands of commuters are being hampered on their way to work by middle-aged women suddenly slowing to a shuffle to take in “those posters”.

"So what's the fascination: is it all about size? I will admit that when I first met my husband I had been entrenched in the world of lean footballers for years. I wasn't dating them, but I was interviewing them and working with them all the time. I was a child of one. They were fit and sometimes ripped. But there was nothing other-worldly about their physiques, nothing that the average bloke couldn't attain with a few less beers.

"When I met Kenny, he was with some London Wasps players who were over 6ft 5in tall, so he didn't even look that big next to them. But within an hour of meeting him he jokingly put his arm around me and I felt like I was being enveloped. If we ran out of money we could always live in his wingspan, I thought.

"Size does not just mean height. Every part of a rugby player's body is different to the non-rugby playing human. I watched the Ireland team practise their lineouts at Stadio Flaminio in Rome last weekend. Jerry Flannery, the Ireland hooker, is only 5ft 11in but weighs 102kg (about 16st) - and most of this seems to be on his upper thighs and biceps. “He's a gym monkey,” Keith Wood, the former Ireland hooker, said, noticing that I was staring. Which is a kind way of saying: “He had to work at it, it's not all natural like me.”

In his Rolling Maul blog for The Times, Stephen Jones assesses whether the often precious attitude towards silence for kickers is really all that important.

"Whenever there is booing or jeering as an opposition kicker is taking a shot at goal, you can be sure that the public address system will soon kick into life and we will hear an announcement in tones associated with Mr Quelch. For those who have not made a close study of the Billy Bunter books, Mr Quelch was a master who tended to cane first and ask questions afterwards.

"You will have heard the announcement many times. “May I remind you of rugby’s sacred traditions of silence for the kicker ... no sneezing or shuffling of seat or blowing the nose ... offenders will be ejected from the ground and may be birched ... lack of parental supervision … downfall of Western civilisation as we know it, end of rugby, blah blah blah... “

"At some grounds they really make a big thing of the deadest of dead silences. Munster and Leicester are two of the most hostile arenas but the fans there, accompanied by a loud shushing, are so desperate to maintain the silence that they have been known to loudly attack cringing radio commentators who have the temerity to do their job and whisper into the microphone as the kick is being prepared. This on the grounds that their listeners might be confused by two minutes of dead silence and that a few whispered sentences make absolutely no difference to the kick whatsoever."

Graham Clutton accuses Wales of treating their fans badly after they hit the headlines for the wrong reasons whilst celebrating their Six Nations victory over England. Read his thoughts in the Daily Telegraph.

"Okay, so it would be wrong to judge that quartet before the facts are known, but the fact that the alleged incident has found its way into the papers is bad enough. On Sunday morning, you could hardly move in the local newsagents in Wales as half sober young men and women scrambled for the last paper in the pile, desperate to read how Leigh Halfpenny had helped Wales to another win over the old enemy...

"Forty eight hours later and the positive stories that ensued a third successive victory over England had given way to headlines like 'Gavin Henson under investigation for drunken behaviour. If it was the first time we had read such stories of players becoming embroiled in needless scrapes whilst out on the town, then maybe we could turn a blind eye and put it down to a lack of thought and experience. Sadly, it's not and that's what makes it so galling.

"...To see them under the influence and causing bother before the dust had even settled on the victory, as has been alleged, is like rubbing salt into a wound for those who have spent their hard earned money to help finance the flash lifestyles of their heroes."

James O'Connor has learned how to use his head and also built up his body as he continues his development as one of the most prodigious talents in Australian rugby. Bret Harris writes in The Australian.

"O'Connor made his Super 14 debut for Western Force last year, when he was only 17, and then became the second-youngest player to represent the Wallabies.

"In this short period of time, he has honed his craft as a ball distributor and also increased his strength and power to engage in the physical contest. He has increased his weight from about 82kg to 87kg, but it is lean muscle. "It makes a lot of difference, power-wise," O'Connor said. "I've focused on keeping my speed but I'll be a lot better in contact. I've learnt how to control the team a lot better. It's not all flair.""

The upper crust of English rugby are being buttered up to join clubs across the Channel and even Jonny Wilkinson may join them, writes Chris Hewett in The Independent.

"Events usually move too fast for the liking of the Rugby Football Union’s management board, so when it meets a week today to ponder the imminent departures of three England internationals to France – both James Haskell and Tom Palmer will be playing in Paris with Stade Français next season while Riki Flutey is moving to Brive – it may conceivably find itself discussing a mere 50 per cent of the problem. Another trio of capped players is being linked, ever more publicly, with moves across the Channel: Iain Balshaw of Gloucester, Shaun Perry of Bristol and – horror of horrors – Jonny Wilkinson of Newcastle and the world. Tell us it ain’t so, Jonny.

"Members of the Wilkinson circle, not a million miles away from his immediate family, have been telling us for quite a while now, and they remain adamant, that no discussions have taken place between the most celebrated outside-half in the history of European rugby and the French capital’s second-most ambitious rugby-loving squillionaire, the real estate magnate Jacky Lorenzetti. But Lorenzetti, utterly determined to do for Racing Metro what Max Guazzini has so flamboyantly done at neighbouring Stade Français, is now on record as saying he wants Wilkinson, pretty much at any price.

Gareth Edwards offers his analysis of Wales' Six Nations victory over England in the Western mail.

"So it was a first on Saturday as flanker Worsley tracked Jamie Roberts like a bloodhound searching for a body. Almost every time the Wales centre ran with the ball Worsley was there waiting to tackle him. Worsley even lined up in the England backs with their outside-half Andy Goode and his replacement Toby Flood packing down with the forwards at scrums when Wales had the put-in.

"It was a clever ploy by Johnson and his coaching team and showed they had been scrutinising tapes of Wales’ victory over Scotland the previous weekend.Roberts had ran amok in midfield on that occasion but Worsley is known for his defensive work and closed off that avenue.

Eddie Butler wonders what next for England's Joe Worsley after his man of the match performance in the defeat to Wales. Read his thoughts in The Guardian.

"Mike Ford has not had many pats on the back over the past couple of years, but England's defence coach deserves one now for the system he put in place to stop Wales. Teams in the past have specifically targeted individual players - South Africa gang-tackling Jonah Lomu in the World Cup final of 1995 springs to mind - but this was a carefully plotted piece of man-marking with Joe Worsley frequently moving from the back row to stand in midfield opposite Jamie Roberts.

"...Worsley's role required less analysis, just obedience to the instruction to tackle Roberts. Job done, what do England do with him now? Is there a similar role to play at Croke Park? Presumably not, since neither Paddy Wallace nor Gordon D'Arcy carry the same physical threat as Roberts. Wallace's minced face after two sessions of international rugby prove just how brutal life can be for a small player in midfield. Brought in to keep the ball away from contact, he is battered proof that it is not always possible."

The 2009 Crusaders do not have what it takes to live up to their all-conquering predecessors according to Chris Rattue. Read his thoughts in the New Zealand Herald.

"Only a fool would write the Crusaders off for the Super 14 title. So here I am, folks, with a pointy hat on my head and dribbling from the corner of my keyboard. Call it a hunch. Call it mad lunacy. Call it what you like. Someone has got to write them off, so I'll take up the cudgel.

"Because not writing them off is so old hat. Why bother sitting on the fence when there is the prospect of such a thrilling fall to be enjoyed. Here goes. The Crusaders won't win the Super 14 this year, not without Dan Carter's all-round excellence and Robbie Deans magically pushing the right buttons whenever they play poorly."

As he does on most Wednesdays, Steve Thompson, England's World Cup-winning hooker, will go hunting in the forests that surround the French town of Brive. Gavin Mairs reports in the Daily Telegraph.

"While the impending departure of Flutey and his Wasps and England team-mates, James Haskell and Tom Palmer, to France has sparked fears of an exodus from the Guinness Premiership because of the financial muscle of the French clubs, Thompson paints a very different picture.

"Moving to a club like Brive is not just about money, it is about the life experience," he said. "It's funny all this talk about money. When I was in England, I drove big cars like Range Rovers, BMWs and TVRs but last year I was driving a Renault Clio and normally I just ride a scooter about the place. If you drive a big car here you are seen as a bit of a muppet."

With the Super 14 season underway Spiro Zavos calls for the referee's merit panel to be rethought on rugbyheaven.com.au.

"In an email exchange with the journalist D.D. McNicoll, the retiring High Court judge Michael Kirby revealed that when he was a student at Fort Street High School he'd been a rugby union referee: "I refereed many games and could not sympathise with the advantage rule."

"This comment goes to the real issue of why SANZAR's noble experiment for this year's Super 14 tournament of an inaugural nine-referee panel based on merit rather than nationality won't work. The merit panel includes four South Africans, three Australians and two New Zealanders.

"The South African referees and the Australian Stuart Dickinson are, in my opinion, way ahead of the other merit referees in experience and quality. This raises the issue of what standard applies to the merit panel concept."

James Lawton heralds a potential new beginning for England following their improved performance against Wales in The Independent.

"After the turgid futility of their effort against a catastrophically selected Italy a week earlier, Martin Johnson's team looked like, well, a team, or at least the scrappy beginnings of one.

"You had a clear sense of this on Jonno's post-match face. It broke into irritation when he was invited to rejoice in the status of a gallant loser. He does gallant losing about as well a a cornered wolverine. Winning beasts are all the same. They do not learn to lose gracefully because what is their point if they do not win?

"England may have had scarcely a fraction of the cleverness and coherence of a Welsh unit one clear notch below their best, and minus the sublime catalyst Shane Williams, and their inherent indiscipline may still have flared like a teenager's spots, but their manager could put his hand to his competitive heart when claiming that his men might just have won.

"Two more yellow cards, on top of the six collected against Italy and New Zealand, still spoke of the desperate need for much more work on this fundamental problem before the visit to Croke Park in two weeks, but there was no doubt Johnson could hand out a few well-earned battle ribbons among those who ran Europe's best team so unexpectedly close."

Kevin Garside, writing in The Daily Telegraph, believes that youngsters such as Leigh Halfpenny could put Wales on the road to greatness.

"There you are," said Jeremy Guscott. "Just throw the young lads the ball." He was eulogising the moment when Delon Armitage said no to the text book and chose instead to hit the instinct button, exploding through the Welsh lines to score.

"Warren Gatland would have smiled had he heard it. While Guscott was fulfilling his media engagements the Wales head coach was similarly disposed below stairs, the glow of victory on him as he praised England, knowing they were never as close as the numbers suggested when Armitage dived under the posts.

"What Guscott was proposing in his punditry Gatland is doing for real. Last autumn he threw the Welsh jersey at an uncapped 19-year-old for the visit of South Africa. The kid had played only seven games as a professional for the Cardiff Blues. Five Tests into his international career, Leigh Halfpenny ensures that Shane Williams can have a day off whenever he likes.

"He raced off his wing like Gerald Davies in a bygone age, vapour trailing from his heels as he crossed for the Welsh try. And when the captain called for his boot he boomed the penalty between the posts from a mile away."

Mark Reason questions whether England's "pragmatic" style of play will eventually keep fans away from Twickenham in The Sunday Telegraph.

"It had as much wit about it as a dead haddock on the fishmonger’s slab. And that might be harsh on the haddock, who didn’t have much choice about where he ended up.

"Martin Johnson’s team attempted almost nothing. In the first 10 minutes England kicked the ball 10 times. That may not seem like an excessive statistic until you consider that they had hardly any possession in the opening stages. This side had too much fear to play. They just wanted to hang on and hope for the best.

"Apart from scrum-half Harry Ellis, England managed one pass in the opening 10 minutes. It is a miserable way to play. Johnson may say that is pragmatic, but England will never beat the very top teams this way and they will empty Twickenham within months. No sane person would pay to watch this bilge."

After Wales dispatched England at the Millennium Stadium, James Corrigan reflects on a professional performance in The Independent.

"Tremendous would be overstating it, but impressively professional probably wouldn't be. Certainly, the significance of their success should not be understated and no doubt it wouldn't be when the realisation hit home that this had been England humbled and, in fact, not come within a score. Yes, there were still many stats for the red-shirts to jam down the necks of the white-shirts on a Valentine's Night when, for once, the red rose should have seemed more a symbol of submission than love.

"This was the first time Wales had won three Six Nations matches in succession over their dear neighbours in 20 years and was their fourth victory over them in five Championships. Would that be enough for the over-expectant Welsh public? The hype that will continue to build over the next fortnight until Paris will suggest so. But they had arrived here with such a more resounding script in mind.

"First the English forwards would be hung, then the ball would be drawn and their backs would be three-quartered. It did not happen like that. The team who had tried to play the rugby did not crush the team that had tried to stop rugby. It was not a case of right prevailing over wrong, of good over evil, of Luke Skywalker over Darth Vader. But still, when it all came to pass – and strewth can those Welsh boys pass – there were drunken Welshmen who had plainly waited all their lives to feel this righteous.

"No doubt, there was an illusion in operation; there just had to be in a modern game where the majority of moves are born on the blackboard. Warren Gatland told them at half-time "we're in a Test here". The donkeys had to carry on doing their work and the pretty stuff would have to wait."

Eddie Butler comments on several upsets perpetrated by England at the Millennium Stadium in The Guardian.

"Selected with defence in mind, England outscored Wales two tries to one, which was one of the many minor upsets of the day. The big one, an England victory, did not happen, but the cocktail of the unexpected was rich enough to make this fascinating from start to finish.

"One of the few things that can be totally relied on is indiscipline in the England ranks. Players can rage all they like about being persecuted, but if you are labelled as a negative influence on the game, you have to be extra careful about your conduct at the heavily policed areas. England are viewed as a side who want to slow down the game. How they do it, at a time when the general encouragement is to speed rugby up, is going to be scrutinised by the officials.

"They also have to listen to the referees. Mike Tindall was sent to the sin-bin as early as the 15th minute, but the referee, Jonathan Kaplan, had already issued two warnings to the captain, Steve Borthwick, before the centre played the ball after the tackle. The referee was telling Tindall not to play the ball, but the player restored to bring organisation and thoughtfulness to the defensive operation chose not to listen.

"The yellow card shown to Andy Goode was different. This was a self-sacrifice to prevent the try, the rugby equivalent of the football centre-half flying into the top corner to palm way a goal-bound shot. Goode had made a try-saving tackle on Leigh Halfpenny, but there was still some more scrabbling to do, a piece of delaying work to stop Wales from running away with the game at the start of the second half."

Iain Morrison laments Scotland terrible luck and unbalanced bench after they were undone by a forward pass in France in The Scotsman.

"There was a strong suspicion that Clancy was blocking Scottish defenders and the official took forever to raise his arm for good reason; replays clearly show that the ball was handed forward to the scorer. Scotland coach Frank Hadden seems not only to have been crossed by a black cat but must have run it over… repeatedly.

"However, not everything boils down to the bounce of the ball. Going into this match without a recognised lock on the bench looked like a high-risk strategy ahead of yesterday's game but it looked positively lunatic after 18 minutes which is when Jim Hamilton retired from the contest clutching his injured shoulder.

"We were disappointed it happened the way that it did," said Hadden, "but you can't cover every position on the bench. Maybe we got better as a result of the changes, it's almost impossible to tell."

"This is spurious nonsense and Hadden has some form in this matter. Last year against Italy the coach took just two substitute backs to Rome only to see Simon Danielli limp off after seven minutes. To take two flankers on the bench and then claim that "you can't cover every position" is the very definition of disingenuous. Thankfully the coach was on much firmer footing when dealing with his players' efforts in the Stade de France, where they went some way towards banishing the memories of their horror show against Wales."

Stuart Barnes calls for England manager Martin Johnson to admit that winning is everything in his column for The Sunday Times.

"England could not have had a better preparation for this Test match. Harangued by their home media, the received abuse quickened as these two great rivals drew near to kick-off in Cardiff.

"If Martin Johnson had any problem building a fortress mentality within his squad at any stage in the week, Warren Gatland completed his construction job with devilish humour and no little accuracy. We writers may have created “an atmosphere of disdain”, according to one member of the England team, but God alone knows what the side were thinking as Gatland went through his vocabulary . England were described as “negative and disjointed”, as “regressive”, and of yesterday’s game in the clash between the rugby forces of positivity, as negative, with England cast in the role as the “dark (and extremely dull) destroyers”.

"To a man such as this, he has to be ecstatic at the abuse. Here was a chance to settle a score with their detractors. There is frustratingly little a team can do against their own national press, but when the Welsh manager mocked them there was a golden chance to ram his ties down his throat and leave the confident Kiwi horrendously humiliated.

"John Wells, the England forwards coach, was confident that England were capable of just that. In midweek he said England would win if they were still in contention near the end of the second half. This was a fascinating assertion because one of Johnson’s favourite mantras as captain was to tell his team to stay in it for an hour; if they achieved this the superior fitness of England, and the knowledge of how to win tight games, would see them through."

England's powerhouse prop Andrew Sheridan has some doubters to silence when he runs out at the Millennium Stadium, writes Robert Kitson in The Guardian.

"When Andrew Sheridan and his now-wife were in the early stages of courtship, one of their first dates involved a trip to Cardiff and tickets for a Six Nations game. It was the Wales versus Ireland encounter of 2003 and Sheridan enjoyed it immensely. There are some distant shamrock roots to his family tree, while Siwan is from the mid-Wales market town of Builth Wells. Ireland won 25–24 and Sale's affable colossus has eagerly anticipated a return trip to the Millennium Stadium ever since.

"The big man's long-standing wish will finally be granted this evening, albeit in circumstances which scarcely qualify as ideal. This time there can be no carefree pre-match stroll through the streets and romantic Valentine's Day gestures must wait. Unless England get a grip up front it could be a horribly long night, while Sheridan also stands at something of a personal crossroads. Is he still Mr Incredible's body double or is he suddenly plain old Bob Parr, his super powers neutered? Tonight may just supply some answers.

"If anyone is equipped to silence the cry of "Fee, fi, fo, fum ..." emanating from the home dressing room, it is the approaching English giant. As Australia can testify, it never pays to underestimate an underdog of Sheridan's dimensions. Remember Marseille 2007, the World Cup quarter-final? Others, though, insist the 19st, 6ft 4in prop sums up the inherent contradictions of Martin Johnson's side. Man mountain or flat-track bully? The former Welsh great Graham Price was unconvinced in 2006 – "I've watched Sheridan closely and against hard-nosed players he's not so happy, he's overrated" – and some still feel the same way."

Writing in The Times, John Hopkins recounts the family values that saw Warren Gatland take up his coaching role with Wales.

"There were two men in the open-top silver Mercedes SL5 as it purred around South Wales that Saturday in October 2007. Roger Lewis, the group chief executive of the Welsh Rugby Union, was driving and Warren Gatland, the 45-year-old New Zealander whom Lewis was trying to persuade to come north to coach Wales, was in the passenger seat.

"Lewis already felt sure that Gatland was the man for the job. An hour-long meeting at Auckland airport a few weeks earlier had confirmed that. “As soon as we met him and a conversation developed, I felt he was right,” Lewis said. “He had an ability not only to present his views but also to ask us what we thought the issues were. I felt our players could really work with him. He had a clear empathy with the Welsh psyche.”

"That morning there had been a helicopter ride over South Wales; now Lewis wanted to show Gatland the country at ground level. They drove up the A470 from Cardiff, near enough to Pontypridd’s rugby ground at Sardis Road to hear the roar of the crowd, around the Rhondda Valley and across to the Ogmore Valley. Lewis looked across at his passenger. “Fancy a cup of tea?” Moments later they entered Cefn Cribwr, the village where Lewis had been born, and pulled up outside a terraced house in front of an open-cast mine, opposite the old local rugby ground. “I’m taking you to see my Mam,” Lewis said. “She’s 82”.

Mrs Lewis was completely unfazed by meeting her famous visitor. “Goodness me, Mr Gatland, come in, sit down, let me make you a cup of tea,” she said. “And by the way, what are you going to do about Gavin?”

Paul Rees speculates as to how many England players would force their way in to the Wales side as the old enemies prepare to go toe-to-toe at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday in his blog for The Guardian.

"It was not all that long ago that voices were calling for both England and France to pull out of the Six Nations and join forces with the major southern hemisphere nations on the grounds that the Celtic nations were so hopelessly weak that they were an impediment to progress.

"The argument no longer holds true. England arrive in Cardiff today stung at being reviled in the media despite a 25-point victory over Italy last Saturday, the wide game they adopted last autumn having been shunted into the sidings, replaced by a familiar model. Their emphasis, once again, is not on winning but avoiding defeat.

"Some in Wales see Saturday's result in Cardiff as a foregone conclusion. Wales are the grand slam champions and have won their last seven Six Nations matches, while England have gone 11 months without defeating a nation ranked in the top eight and, on paper, Martin Johnson's side is as exciting as a wet weekend in Whitland.

"How many of the team, after all, would make the Wales side? Five may be from Wasps, the club of Shaun Edwards and the former home of Warren Gatland and Rob Howley, three of the four senior figures on the Wales management, but England's style is markedly different from the Adams Park club's. Saturday's game will offer the contrast of the epic Wasps-Leicester encounters when Gatland was involved with Edwards in Wycombe and Martin Johnson, John Wells and Graham Rowntree were with the Tigers."

Former Scotland skipper David Sole remains a little confused by Scotland coach Frank Hadden's selection choices ahead of their clash with France at the Stade de France. Read his thoughts in The Daily Telegraph.

"There are many who consider that Thom Evans and Strokosch were extremely unlucky to miss out first time around, although they will probably not have minded sitting out the Welsh match given how Scotland ended up playing. I remain to be convinced that team selection is one of Hadden's fortes. He made a howler last year when he picked David Callam for the opening international – dropping him just as quickly for the next match and he has done the same again.

"Allister Hogg was not the player to pick against a physical Welsh team – especially when you have an out-and-out openside in John Barclay playing. With a genuine openside you have to have a genuine blindside on the other side of the scrum – a player who makes big, bone-shuddering tackles and who can run through brick walls with the ball tucked firmly under his arm. Hogg has lots of good qualities, but physicality isn't one of them. Strokosch should complement Barclay's skills far better."

Resurgent Wales prop Gethin Jenkins is obviously enjoying his game once again according to Paul Rees in The Guardian.

"Jenkins was one of Wales's stand-out players in their 2005 grand slam campaign, the Lions' first-choice tight-head when they toured New Zealand that summer. However, like many of his team-mates, he seemed to lose his way the following season and he was overlooked for Wales's first match under Gatland, against England at Twickenham a year ago, when he could only command a place on the bench.

"He had captained the side in their previous game, against South Africa in Cardiff following a poor World Cup campaign, and he said going into the match that Wales's problem was not one of ability but a failure to reach out for the last few inches. He was referring to thought, but Wales were flakier defensively then. While their attacking play in Scotland received acclaim, Jenkins's tackle [on Hugo Southwell], and that of the No.8 Andy Powell on Chris Paterson near Wales's line in the opening-half, was as defining. It is safe to say the 28-year-old prop has not only recaptured his form of 2005 but has taken his game on to another level."

Writing in The New Zealand Herald, Chris Rattue vents about the bizarre events to transpire between Western Force coach John Mitchell and his employers.

"John Mitchell will be walking on egg shells at the Western Force, but the crunching sound you might hear will be coming from the grinding of Mitchell's teeth.

"Having decided that the former All Black coach was acting like a bad-mannered bull in a china shop, the Force decided to keep him on board in Perth but with the proviso that he mend his moody ways and stop knocking the tea cups over.

"Tricky business that, and I'll wager the crockery won't still be all in one piece by the end of the season. Mitchell has yet to be extensively quoted on this outcome, although he hardly sounds delighted.

"Coaches are like the rest of us. They are what they are, warts and all. To so publicly chip away at the bits of Mitchell that the Force don't like must seem like a stab through the heart to the coach. What other sport would dare manufacture such a bizarre and heavily regulated bob-each-way solution?"

Stephen Jones believes the most likely outcome in Cardiff this weekend is a victory for Wales but is hoping England put up a fight worthy of the occasion. Check out his latest Rolling Maul piece in The Times.

"Contrary to the belief of some, I do not think that there is any such thing as a bad win. If England win playing shocking rugby, fantastic. They will find confidence and momentum and the pressure will be off. But if they narrowly fail and improve simply through passion, it will be a near-disaster. Playing on passion alone works once, it will not work against formidable Ireland at Croke Park a fortnight later.

"If England are to fail this week, I pray that they fail by showing some shape, intent and with some kind of obvious game plan; they should look like a team that has been working together on and off the training field to improve. For me, the most chilling aspect of the whole grisly autumn series and the frightening performance against Italy is that after the games you were left with no idea of what they were trying to do, how they were trying to play it or what the plan was."

Jim White signals his disappointment at English rugby and cricket's seeming endless descent into mediocrity in The Daily Telegraph

"Our rugby and cricket teams appear to be bound together on the same vertiginous black run downwards to ignominy. From the highs of winning the Rugby World Cup in 2003 and the Ashes in 2005, both teams are now so bereft of confidence and hope that the coming weekend looks about as appetising as Antony Worrall Thompson’s balance sheet. Never mind dreaming that we might be the match of New Zealand and Australia, we are about to be hammered by Wales and the West Indies.

"There are more theories right now for the dual decline than runs posted on the Sabina Park scoreboard. The rush for celebrity, the rush for money, the rush for excuses: all have been blamed. Yet it is hard to see what is going on as anything other than an exhibition of corporate incompetence on a level we had thought was restricted to the boardrooms of city institutions.

"Both the Rugby Football Union and the England and Wales Cricket Board, in their lurid rush to exploit their moment in the sun financially, destroyed the very thing that had taken them there in the first place. What we are watching is not sport. It’s collective suicide."

Writing in The Independent, Peter Bills lauds the counter-attacking abilities of Ireland's Rob Kearney and France's Clement Poitrenaud.

"So the lie is exposed. Those who claimed that counter-attack running with ball in hand in the modern game, under (in their view) the untenable ELVs was impossible, were damned by the evidence of Dublin on Saturday night.

"A magnificent Six Nations Championship match between Ireland and France, truly a game to warm your soul on a freezing night, contained a plethora of brilliant running rugby from deep. All it took was two full-backs, Clement Poitrenaud of France and Ireland’s Rob Kearney, who subscribed to the theory that pace, intelligence, timing and the right angles of attack could be far more dangerous to the opposition than a predictable booting of the ball from whence it had just come. Oh, and two coaches who espoused the value of liberating their players to the extent that they could make their own decisions in given situations within the framework of a belief in the attacking virtues of this game so long neglected by the majority.

"In this cunning plot, both men had the willing assistance of their speedy wing threequarters. Thus, instead of the monotonous, aimless downfield kicking which has blighted most northern hemisphere rugby since the ELVs were introduced last September on a trial basis, we saw some thrilling running from deep, players steaming out of their own 22 with élan and confidence in their own abilities."

Gerry Thornley was impressed by Ireland's Six Nations bow against France at Croke Park - read his thoughts in the Irish Times.

"Ireland have had huge one-off performances before. In fact, last season’s Six Nations was arguably the first in a decade in which they didn’t scale the heights at least once and Wales’ clinical opening defence of their crown in Murrayfield yesterday was a reminder that the mountain top is a bit away yet. But at least Ireland are on a high again and move on to Rome with the Big Mo – momentum.

"The degree to which this team’s confidence had drained away had taken Declan Kidney and his coaching staff by surprise last November. To rediscover such belief and ambition was a tribute to the Irish Brains Trust, for there’s no way on earth they’d have beaten this French team last season or even last November. This team needed a big win like this and, though it might sound a little trite, the rest of us did too."

The Independent's James Lawton was among those to leave Twickenham at the weekend distinctly unimpressed.

"You could have wept for Mauro Bergamasco, the lion of a back-rower who had both his paws and his spirit mangled by the bats-in-the-campanile decision of his South African, coach Nick Mallett, to make him, for the most hideous day of his competitive life, a scrum-half. One of his compatriots summed it up poignantly enough. "Porca miseria – pig's misery – we played our goalie at centre-forward," he sighed. But when you dry your tears for the rugby Azzurri, how do you handle the grief over England – poor, lost England?

"This was performance that, without the gift of Bergamasco's catastrophic ordeal, quite conceivably would not have brought even the hollow satisfaction of the victory that followed three defeats by grown-up southern hemisphere opposition. If you are an English supporter who was lured into the belief that winning one World Cup final and appearing in another in the space of four years represented some crossing of the Rubicon, the reaction has to be one of anger."

Peter Jackson was among those to be impressed by Wales' latest Six Nations outing against Scotland. Read his thoughts in the Daily Mail.

"Shane Williams conjured up a new line in sorcery at Murrayfield to expose a class divide in the Six Nations and reaffirm the Welsh monopoly on magic. Nobody does it better than the mercurial little fellow from the village of Glanamman. Only he could have the nerve to come up with a pass out of the back of his hand to set up Leigh Halfpenny’s try.

"The message from Murrayfield rang out loud and clear: that the champions intend to lord it over the rest with an enhanced degree of superiority. They reduced a potentially tricky assignment into little more than a warm-up for Cardiff on Saturday, which has all the signs of a mis-match on a scale last witnessed during the 1970s when England expected little from the biennial trip and got even less."

Discipline must be the watchword before Millennium Stadium clash after England make habit of incurring referee's wrath. David Hands writes in The Times.

"Time and again on Saturday, Martin Johnson was asked if England have a discipline problem. Each time the team manager deflected the question, suggesting that the number of penalties conceded was the result of over-enthusiasm, inexperience, even the harshness of match officials. But he knows better than anyone that if England continue to play with 14 men during the Six Nations Championship, they will suffer.

"Brian Smith joined the coaching panel as attack coach last year with a deserved reputation for creative rugby. There has been little sign so far of coherent back play by England, indeed in the first five minutes of yesterday’s game at Murrayfield, both Scotland and Wales produced more thoughtful rugby than either England or Italy contrived in 80 minutes."

Thousands at Twickenham morbidly and voyeuristically witnessed a fantastic sideshow, provided by Italian coach Nick Mallett's gamble of playing Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half, according to Brian Moore in the Daily Telegraph.

"Hitherto one of Italy's finest forwards, Bergamasco was humiliated, not by Mallett's initial decision, but his coach's refusal to accept the plethora of evidence in the first 15 minutes that the Bergamasco experiment had turned into a Frankenstein-like nightmare.

"Torture has to be cruel and unusual and Bergamascco's retention for the first half was such; an abomination for a wonderful player. Italy gifted England four tries and one of the few positives for England is that they accepted these with alacrity. There was a not insignificant win to celebrate, but once this is acknowledged there is little comfort for Martin Johnson."

David Ferguson passes judgement on Scotland's opening Six Nations performance - a 26-13 defeat to Wales - in The Scotsman.

"The fact this scoreline flattered Scotland and yet Wales never really moved beyond third gear at Murrayfield yesterday provides all the information anyone needs from what was a demoralising opening to the Six Nations Championship for Frank Hadden's men.

"For every step Scotland took forward yesterday, they contrived to take two back with countless basic errors until, finally, lifting the momentum, conviction and pace of their attack in the final quarter. The game was over by then, Wales holding a 26-6 lead after 58 minutes, but Max Evans blew a hole in Scotland's selection policy when he did what he does best and out-stripped Shane Williams and Lee Byrne for a great try ten minutes from the end, and Chris Paterson came within inches of scoring a follow-up that would have set up an incredible finale.

"But Scotland barely deserved it. For all the undoubted effort, when the team did gain some possession on the front foot – which was not often enough – they seemed to have gone back a couple of years to the predictable, momentum-less midfield drives, or the drifting, lateral moves of Hadden's previous years, crucially lacking dynamism. Hadden, himself, was at a loss to explain why afterwards, and he has just five days to work it out before Scotland face France."

This Wales team shows every sign of building on last year's success after an inventive performance at Murrayfield according to Richard Williams in The Guardian.

"A year ago, the sight of Shane Williams limping out of the opening match of the Six Nations championship would have sent all Wales into convulsions of anxiety. Before his premature departure yesterday the International Rugby Board's 2008 player of the year had given a typically resplendent performance, but he no longer looked like his side's only true star.

"That was the measure of Wales's achievement throughout the first hour of a match that Martin Johnson will have watched with mounting alarm. Next Saturday he and his squad travel to Cardiff to meet a side who began their defence of the Six Nations title with a rampaging demonstration of the kind of open, inventive, joined-up attacking rugby that seems beyond England's grasp, and is particularly dangerous when combined with the kind of cold-eyed experience that was available to build a stage on which the growing band of entertainers could do their stuff. Funny things can happen in the Six Nations, but probably nothing quite as funny as England suddenly acquiring coherence and Wales losing it altogether."

Wales legend Gareth Edwards offers his verdict on Wales' opening Six Nations victory over Scotland in the Western Mail.

"Without wishing to take anything away from a clinical and excellent Wales, I have to say it was one of the worst performances by a Scottish side I have seen in a years. Wales generated momentum from the very first minute and magnificently utilised the glut of possession they had obtained through the fine work of their forwards.

"They looked unassailable when they led 16-3 at the interval and young Leigh Halfpenny’s touchdown a mere 46 seconds into the second half finished off the game. Some might point to Wales being under the hammer in the final quarter of an hour, but they had already completed the task in hand. Gatland even had the luxury of being able to make a raft of comparatively early changes in order to keep his stars fresh for next Saturday’s meeting with old enemy England in Cardiff."

Late-blooming Bridgend boy Lee Byrne has become a key player for Wales as the Six Nations champions kick-off their title defence according to Eddie Butler in the Observer.

"What happened to Byrne that changed his life, from that journeyman full-back going slowly up his career path, to this streamlined interstellar projectile? "I don't know. I honestly don't know." Something must have happened. "I know. I do worry about the way I play. Or played. OK, I feel different now. I suppose it's all about confidence."

"There was no defining moment, no high ball that he plucked out of the air. But a lot of people put in a lot of little bits. "Lyn Jones [the former coach of the Ospreys, who has just accepted a coaching job in Abu Dhabi] was good to me. So are the current coaches under Sean Holley. But I also learned a lot from Ian Foster, the Waikato coach, who's done two short stints with us at the Ospreys. And then, of course, there's Shaun Edwards with Wales ..."

"What does Edwards tell him, or sell to him: the bigger picture or the detail? "Well, both I suppose. Shaun told me all about how he got over disappointment. But the detail is the thing. Wait, wait, don't rush into the line. Pick the angle and trust your instinct."

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Ian Stafford offers his verdict on England's Six Nations opener against Italy.

"Martin Johnson's under-pressure England may have conjured a 25-point winning margin, a try ratio of five to one and, most important of all after their disastrous autumn series against the powers of the Southern Hemisphere, a victory in their Six Nations opener at Twickenham.

"But the vast majority of the capacity crowd at HQ must have left for home last night still frustrated and concerned over the direction Johnson, the World Cup-winning captain of 2003, and his team are taking. And as for the Welsh, the feeling must be that after this flawed English display they will be eagerly counting down the days before they resume hostilities against the old enemy next Saturday evening in Cardiff."

Stephen Jones has slammed England's unconvincing victory over Italy as a sub-standard showpiece. Read his thoughts in the Sunday Times.

"Victory for England. And that is it. Full stop. One cheer. When the England team came back on to the pitch at the end to receive the acclamation of the crowd, they found that there was hardly anyone left to wave back. The eerily quiet gathering had melted away, no doubt grim-faced at an England performance which sometimes wavered only a degree or two above the truly deplorable. The sport itself has to reckon with occasions, and standards, of this sort. The match, in terms of entertainment and technical expertise, was a betrayal of the idea that this is the elite end of the game."

John O'Sullivan witnessed Ireland's battling Six Nations victory over France at Croke Park and was impressed by what he saw. Read his thoughts in the Irish Times.

"Ireland’s patterns were initially ponderous, over subscribing to the box kicking of Tomas O’Leary – the ball was travelling too far with little hope of contesting it in the air - and also too slow in taking ball around the fringes. It allowed France to reclaim possession in comfort and launch their counter-attacking game.

"The French also profited from quickly taken throws-in, a lucrative platform which they exploited with customary flair. The Irish line speed chasing those kicks contained too many doglegs and the home side were lucky not to concede more than one try in the opening 40 minutes. France were able to run back 60 or 70 metres and it took some thumping goal-line defence – Jerry Flannery’s tackle early-on saved a certain try – as Ireland extricated themselves from potentially calamitous situations."

The Irish Independent delights in Ireland's long-awaited victory over France at Croke Park.

"How's your heart after that one? Not only was Ireland’s 30-21 victory over France one of the best Six, or Five, Nations games ever played in Dublin it was one of the best ever contests in any sport played in Croke Park. Mind you, that would have been scant consolation had Ireland ended up with yet another addition to their burgeoning collection of gallant defeats against France. The notion that the excellence of the performance boded well for a shot at yet another consolatory Triple Crown wouldn’t really have cheered many supporters.

"If the Experimental Law Variations had anything to do with making the game such a thriller, we should have had them years ago. And perhaps Declan Kidney is something else we should have had years ago because the way Ireland closed the deal had the fingerprints of the Munster master all over it."

Hugh Godwin passes judgememnt on Andy Goode's return to international rugby in England's opening Six Nations victory over Italy. Read his thoughts in the Independent on Sunday.

"Most of us pop over to France for a holiday and come back with a crate of red wine in the boot, some extra inches around the waist and a little more serviceable Franglais in the vocabulary. Andy Goode crossed the Channel last summer to join Brive and, in any-one's best estimation, make a few bob and broaden his horizons. Unexpectedly recalled by England, he reappeared yesterday with a quickfire try and a barrel load of points, even if the man-of-the-match champagne went to his old Leicesterconfrère Harry Ellis.

"It might have been regarded as going back to the future – Ellis and Goode started in this very fixture in 2005, when the home team won 39-7 – in the simple sense that the fly-half's inclusion coincided with the exclusion of the young hope Danny Cipriani. When Goode's Andy Murray-like fist-pumpingcelebration marked his grubber-kick try just 95 seconds intohis first Test in 27 months, it looked as if Martin Johnson, the England manager and Leicester old boy, might have been on to something. Then again, maybe not."

Andy Goode is still not an international fly-half despite good moments against Italy accorsing to Mark Reason in the Sunday Telegraph.

"Andy Goode is a curiously shaped bloke, more hobbit from the shires than aerodynamic England fly-half for the modern age. The gloves did nothing to lessen the image. For a moment you wondered if Goode had left his bobble hat on the hook in the changing room. But then, for two glorious minutes, Goode played like the king of the world. His opening kick-off was perfect, something of a rarity in recent England history. The eggman then had the temerity to win a line-out. OK, so it was a terrible Italian throw, but Goode still had the wit to sneak up and snaffle the ball. And it was from that stolen possession that Goode himself scored the opening try with barely 60 seconds on the clock.

"Was this really the same bloke who once looked like a poor man's Rob Andrew. That isn't faint praise, that is no praise, because Andrew himself wasn't exactly a master of versatility. Goode in the past has been more labourer than craftsman. But here he was spotting a flat Italian defence, nudging a kick into space and then outrunning the Azurri full-back for the try. England's fly-half was suddenly looking like a Goode thing."

Twickenham regulars are too experienced to be misled by a handful of England tries created by Italian errors on and off the pitch. Paul Hayward writes in The Guardian.

"The nadir in sport is when only winning matters, when only triumph in the battle of the scoreboard will quell the rampant demons. This is the low England reached by shipping 102 points against the three southern‑hemisphere monsters in the autumn, and Johnson began to understand the powerlessness of great former captains who wake one day to find themselves in a puffa jacket in the stands with the mob demanding miracles.

"This chaotic encounter will go down in history (if it leaves a mark at all) as the day Italy asked the roadie to conduct the symphony, with hilarious results. Mauro Bergamasco had won 69 caps, but precisely none at scrum-half. His reinvention from flanker to No9 for the day produced scenes reminiscent of a bar of soap being thrown around in an olive-oil spill. Bergamasco's discomfort did much to facilitate England's 22-6 first-half lead. Simply, Italy played 40 minutes of this match without a scrum-half, the link between forwards and backs."

Wales show that in the professional era you do not win the Six Nations by attempting nothing - so writes Rob Kitson in The Guardian.

"Both England and Italy will kick the "b" out of Gilbert at Twickenham this afternoon, all too aware that playing the game in your own half under the current breakdown protocols represents a serious risk. Ronan O'Gara will give the old pimpled bladder a proper work-out at Croke Park, too, and Wales have not chosen to start with Stephen Jones at fly-half on a casual whim. Caution has been the season's watchword and woe betide the team who end up hoist by their own attack-minded petard.

"But wait. The evidence of the Six ­Nations in the professional era is pretty conclusive. You simply do not win the title, or many big games, by shutting up shop and attempting nothing. Wales were deserved grand slam winners last year ­because they dared to be a little bit ­different, backing themselves to crank up the pace and pinning their faith in a footballing back three and a proactive defence. There is a message in there somewhere and it is this: sides who stick stubbornly to the orthodox will finish in mid-table, if they are lucky."

Andy Goode was in the right place at the right time as England looked for someone to steady the ship according to Will Greenwood in The Daily Telegraph.

"Here we are again, and the back-up boy is back in town, grinning from ear to ear. It may not be the Hollywood smile of his rivals, but his place in England's team against Italy at Twickenham on Saturday has been earned the hard way.

"Goode is a player who has seen it all. He has been picked, had shockers, been dropped, and fought his way to the top again. He is not a dreamer, he is a realist.

"Moving to France to play rugby for Brive was not a decision taken to further an international career. It was based on an understanding of where he stood in the pecking order, on the needs of his young family, and the effect it would have on his bank balance.

"He wasn't running away. He did the maths. He plays the percentages in life and the game.
No one was more surprised when England came calling than he was. Ask Andy about his public persona and it is clear he understands what is going on. "I know I am not everyone's cup of tea. But I also know my strengths and weaknesses."

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Brendan Gallagher takes aim at certain England fans' selective memory when it comes to their side's Six Nations record.

"Gladys Knight, and indeed her Pips, do not often appear in our rugby coverage but let me rectify right that now by unashamedly borrowing from her classic 1975 worldwide hit The Way we Were. "Hey you know," intoned Gladys, "Everybody's talking about the good old days, always the good old days."

"Well let's talk about the good old days. Except that, more often than not, they were no bloody good at all. In fact on more occasions than some care to remember they were rubbish. Utter rugby twaddle. Martin Johnson's current England may have their critics, the ELVs might raise the blood pressure of some and the modern game generally might irk the blazered tradtionalists but don't ever take it as gospel from the clubhouse bore that nothing in modern day rugby compares with the good old days. Rose-tinted glassses can distort things horribly.

"Let me take you back exactly 50 years to the "good old days." England were supposedly in prime form having won the Grand Slam in some style in 1957 and the Championship again in 1958. This was a seemingly classic England team - legends behind the scrum such as Peter Jackson, Jeff Butterfield - superb Lions tourists both - Malcolm Phillips and Bev Risman while up front John Currie and David Marques and Alan Ashcroft took no nonsense. This was not a Mickey Mouse side."

Eddie Butler tips Wales to retain their Six Nations title in his blog for The Guardian.

"After the launch of the Six Nations, with the polite expressions of cautious optimism in the pleasant setting of the Hurlingham Club, west London, came the first rattling of the sabre – the announcement of the teams for this weekend's opening round. A play before the play: who could spring the greatest surprise, or would any long-shot selection be a sign of desperation even before a ball had been kicked?

"The Italy coach Nick Mallett won the pre-match hands down. He might have been forced, through injury to Pablo Canavosio, Simone Piccone and Pietro Travagli, to announce something unusual at scrum-half, but by putting his best wing-forward into the No9 shirt he vaulted straight into the extraordinary. Especially since he had said beforehand that however interesting it might appear as a theoretical experiment, there was no way he could contemplate switching Mauro Bergamasco to half-back for the Six Nations. Who did he then pick? For a South African, Mallett makes a marvellous Italian.

"So, at Twickenham we'll have a brother Armitage (Steffon) harassing a brother Bergamasco (Mauro), who will be trying to drop kicks – there may lie the weak spot in his game – on the other bro Armitage (Delon), while the other Bergamasco (Mirco) tears up from centre. Fratelli d'Italia."

The growing influence of overseas players in British, Irish and French rugby in recent years is revealed in this year's Six Nations squads according to Peter Bills in The Independent.

"In almost every country, there is an alarming dearth of quality players in key positions, caused in part by clubs and provinces recruiting overseas stars. The warning signs were posted a few years ago -- as soon as rugby turned professional and countries like France and England, in particular, signed players from the southern hemisphere. Ireland and Wales followed suit and continue to do so, with two of the major Irish provincial sides buying South African tight-head props.

"The early warning signs of the long-term consequences of this policy were waved aside by the people doing the recruiting. "They can only help develop our young players ... they'll bring good habits and teach us valuable lessons," were some of the messages delivered to soothe furrowed brows. In a sense, they did. But they also did something else, deny places to up-and-coming players who needed match experience at the highest level on a regular basis."

Stephen Jones wishes England would go away and play behind closed doors till they sort themselves out. Read his thoughts in his latest Rolling Maul in The Times.

"It feels right this week to start a column, appearing just days before the Six Nations, with an item on England. But I am struggling for words. It is not that I am written-out, very far from it. Having an opinion on everything is not a talent I have successfully hidden.

"It’s partly because I am at a loss to know what on earth to add about them or to know what they are driving at. That does not necessarily mean they are wrong. Maybe it is me. But I don’t see the team’s philosophy, don’t agree with their choice of captain or with what they say in public, don’t agree with nine of the starting team they have announced, don’t think they have the right coaching group and don’t know why they’ve de-powered their own pack. They may be right. They may be hiding it all just to burst out gloriously into the tournament. But they have lost me."

Julian White's life changed when his wife bought him a cow for Christmas. His sporting career changed when he took a phone call from Martin Johnson a fortnight ago telling him that he was back in the England squad. Mick Cleary writes in the Daily Telegraph.

"While the rest of the 22-man England squad were resting limbs away from their Surrey training base, White was up at the crack of dawn, jumping on to the back of his quad bike, faithful dog alongside, to round up sheep, sort out feed and stock and cope with running a farm. And the weather, Julian, bit of a problem?

“A nightmare,“ said White who will leave the Midlands early this morning to join up with his pampered mates. “The troughs are frozen, the pipes are frozen and we’ve got a lot of building work going on as well. But I love it. You don’t do this for the money. You do it because you’re passionate about it. It’s a way of life. I can’t just twiddle my thumbs on a day off, or sit around having coffees.“

Matt Perry and Jonathan Davies discuss England's chances in this season's Six Nations in The Guardian.

"For me, the real talent is in the back line. I feel Danny Care could ignite England as long as keeps the ball off the ground and plays with the confidence he has displayed ever since breaking into the Harlequins first team. Riki Flutey will also be important at centre and then in the second row we have some wily old dogs, like the captain Steve Borthwick, who can make the difference at crucial moments in matches. - Matt Perry"

"What was obvious during the autumn is that England under Martin Johnson have yet to establish an affective pattern of play. The forwards are powerful but as a group they do not carry particularly well and create quick ball for the backs, which in turn slows down England's momentum. As a whole, the team need to read the game better and have someone who can dictate play at either No10 or 12. - Jonathan Davies"

Writing in The Independent, Chris Hewett runs a rule over the Six Nations and predicts a good year for the Celtic nations.

"It seems amazing to us now that certain very important people can fool themselves into thinking that the word "bust" is not the logical and inevitable consequence of the word "boom". We are not, in this instance, referring to the Prime Minister, although he appears to have been one of those who failed to recognise that if something cannot go on forever, it doesn't. Instead, we are talking of those rugby grandees – many of them attached to Twickenham, others to the BBC – who, during the early years of this decade, seriously suggested that the final game of a Six Nations Championship should always be between England and France, on account of the fact that nobody else mattered.

"Oh dear. England have not won the title – or even come close – since their annus mirabilis in 2003, and are hardly in the optimum position to end their barren run in the 2009 tournament, which begins its seven-week run with fixtures in London and Dublin on Saturday. France, equally convinced that superiority in perpetuity was achievable but much more reluctant to spout about it in public, also find themselves in a grim place, although their last success in the competition – in 2007 – is still reasonably fresh in the memory.

"This, happily for those who consider variety to be the spice of life, is the age of the Celtic renaissance – certainly in the Six Nations, if not on the broader international stage – and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Ireland, Scotland and Wales will fill the top three positions in the table come the middle of next month, although probably not in that order."

Eddie Butler passes judgement over Martin Johnson's slow-and-steady England selection in The Guardian.

"When Martin Johnson began drafting the likes of Julian White and Andy Goode into his extended Six Nations squad it seemed that adding ballast came before giving extra thrust to the good ship of English rugby. And now that the veteran prop takes his place on the bench and the burly outside half, thanks to a calf injury to Toby Flood and the demotion of Danny Cipriani to the Saxons, enters the starting 15, the confirmation is there.

"England want to play the game at their pace, and it is not the speed of the hare. This is a selection with first things first in mind, at a time when the invitation to international teams is to invent fresh ways of managing the game in general and keeping the ball off the floor in particular.

"Any tingle comes with the brothers Armitage: Steffon introduced into the back row as a ball-carrying, ground-hugging open-side; Delon at full-back, presumably given licence to roam and counter-attack. But the elevation of the wing forward came only because the more experienced Lewis Moody, Michael Lipman and Tom Rees were injured."

Robert Kitson attempts to distill the excitement of the Six Nations in The Guardian.

"The secret of the Six Nations is beautifully simple. To southern hemisphere eyes it must be strange to hear people in the north rhapsodising about a competition frequently played in freezing temperatures with excessive amounts of kicking between sides who, for the most part, remain unlikely to thrash the world's best. To which there is only one answer: get yourself up here, buy a ticket to the Millennium Stadium or Croke Park and study the faces of players and spectators during the anthems. The formula remains unchanging but the possibilities are endless.

"Snow or ice notwithstanding, it also generates more heat than any comparable annual international tournament in any other sport. If you had to boil it down to a single word it would be "Passion". It is the P-word which, for example, still tempts Welshmen to Scotland days in advance of a Six Nations game at Murrayfield.

"When I lived in Edinburgh in the 1980s you would start noticing middle-aged men in red and white scarves, buttonhole daffodils already the worse for wear, swaying down Princes Street on the Monday afternoon before a Saturday fixture. By any standards that's a hell of a long pre-match session.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, former England hooker Brian Moore backs a settled Wales to trump their rivals as England flounder.

"Williams’s importance is evident when you look closely at Wales’s performances over the past two years. His partnership with Ryan Jones and Andy Powell gives Wales the best back row in the Six Nations Championship. It also speaks volumes for Jones’s ability that he has moved over from No 8 and mastered the disciplines of a No 6 without apparent difficulty.

"With an efficient, hard-working front row, dogged second row and a settled back line featuring the mercurial Shane Williams, the bookies have deservedly made them favourites. Wales have the most complete Six Nations outfit.

"I defy anyone to predict precisely how England’s season will unfold.

"Will Martin Johnson pick on experience, or form? Ideally the two coincide, but England do not have this luxury due, in part, to the poor form shown by Wasps and their many contending players."

After, 15 games, the Six Nations will be able to show their tournament is something not to be tampered with, says Brendan Fanning in the Irish Independent.

"With this Six Nations we are putting rugby's ELVs into our most glamorous shop window. In March, there will be another all-in conference of interested parties, followed then by each union going away and fixing on a position, and lastly in May, after the IRB have put heaven and earth into saving face, the decision will be taken on what is to be bought and what is to be binned.

"If you were to take a punt now, you'd say that the game next season won't look a whole lot different to the way it looks now. North of the equator -- critically -- we never got on board at any serious level with the horrendous 'free kick fits all' sanction, so we won't have to wear that in the future. There's a reasonable chance too that the maul will go back to the way it was, though with a stipulation that it be refereed as a maul and not a piece of industrial machinery that starts and stops and starts again."

France's Six Nations hopes have been undermined by the increase in foreigners in their domestic championship, says L'Equipe's Ian Borthwick writing in The Scotsman.

"One of Lièvremont's problems is the rising number of foreigners in the French championship. A raft of Fijian wingers, and Georgian props, countless South Africans in all manner of positions, plus Byron Kelleher at Toulouse, Juan Hernandez at Stade Français, Daniel Carter at Perpignan, Andy Goode at Brive, Manny Edmonds at Bayonne, the uncapped Aussie Brock James at Clermont… more and more clubs are resorting to recruiting etrangers in pivotal decision-making positions.

"And at a time when Chris Cusiter has wrong-footed everyone by opting to make the trip back to Glasgow, the prevalence of non-French nationals in le rugby Français is starting to reach crisis point. "As coach of France, I am directly concerned by the problem. The quality of our game is suffering because in certain key positions it is becoming increasingly difficult to find players of quality," admitted Lièvremont. "Having the odd international star in the Top-14 is a great thing, especially for the shop-window of French rugby. But it has gone too far, because in some French clubs we are now seeing some team lists with up to 80 or 90% foreigners.""

Scotland's Euan Murray tells Tom English in The Scotsman about his religious convictions and the problems posed by the Six Nations opener against Wales.

"It started like this; some innocuous questions batted away by enigmatic answers, some easy queries about his fitness met with friendly reticence. Euan Murray, recent destroyer of an All Black nicknamed Whopper and a Springbok known as Beast, has metamorphosed into a hesitant creature. Gone is the wrecking ball. Here, instead, is a subtle man of mystery.

"...He's a curious man, Euan Murray. Intelligent, warm, witty and mystifying all in one. He is one of the world's top tighthead props right now, his star rising in the global game during the autumn series when he crushed the Whopper like an old tin can one week and then won a comprehensive victory over the Beast the next. The Beast was rated highly in South Africa up to then. Still is, actually. They know he's good but they now know that Murray is better and they know he's coming for them in the summer in the front line of the Lions tour. Barring injury, the Scot is a certainty."

After galling defeats in the autumn Tests, the honeymoon is over for Martin Johnson’s young players according to former England star Lawrence Dallaglio in the Sunday Times.

"If you were Danny Cipriani this morning, you shouldn’t get out of bed without first reminding yourself of how lucky you are. Think about it: the opportunity to be part of the very privileged environment that is the England elite squad and the chance to play on the biggest stage. How can you not punch the air every morning and remember how fortunate you are?

"Take Danny Care. A year ago, not many knew much about him. Now he’s England’s scrum-half, he plays in a good team with Harlequins and he’s got so much to play for and what age is he? Twenty-two? And the same is true for all the young guys in the team; there won’t be a better time in their lives.

"I bring this up because I didn’t see that zest for life in the autumn campaign. The body language wasn’t right. Yes, the players were trying hard; yes, they were disappointed by the losses; but there was also a sense that they were burdened by the responsibilities that go with playing for England, that they were finding it all a bit tough."

Rugby’s prodigal son has finally made it to the top and Wales are reaping the rewards. David Walsh speaks to Wales' Andy Powell in the Sunday Times.

"There was the time at Mount Street junior school that he was disciplined for fighting. A small boy, Matthew, was being bullied and one arm of his glasses was broken. When Andy saw what was happening, he lost it. “He went schizo,” says Sarah [his mother]. “He never cared about the trouble he would get into for fighting the little boy’s corner.”

“Did the old girl remember that?” Powell asks. “‘Pick on someone your own size’, I said to the bloke — and only then noticed he was bigger than me. ‘Where do you go from here?’ I thought, but I felt no fear. It’s one of those things. I can’t stand bullying and I hate to see somebody being picked on. I never worried about how big the bully was.”"

There was a time when England thought they were too good for their northern-hemisphere rivals. Not any more. Eddie Butler previews this year's Championship in the Observer.

"England through the 1990s and into the 2000s ruled, and there was nothing anybody could do about it. But for the sixth time since they became champions of the world, England have to face the question: so, what went wrong? They open their account on Saturday at home to Italy with tickets still for sale and with the feeling that this may be the one they can win. But don't count on it.

"There are two rugbys in England. The club game churns away week after week, paying lip service to the national cause but pulling in overseas players and basically doing whatever it has to do for itself. Clubs implement, for example, their own fitness programmes, based on a nine-month season. Now, it appears that the best players are not fit enough for the short sharp blasts of the other rugby, international duty. In the November series England fell away in the last quarter of every game."

Italy are a rugby nation on the rise, even if they remain maybe a couple of players short of the real thing - according to Ireland skipper Brian O'Driscoll in the Observer.

"Sergio Parisse has been a constant for them in recent years and is world-class. He would be a serious contender for a European Lions team. As would Mauro Bergamasco. I first came across Mauro at under-19 level, when he lined up against me in the centre. He has since moved to flanker, thank God, because he was ferocious. I remember trying to tackle him back then and one thing was for sure – he wasn't going backwards.

"He has gone on, like so many of the Italians, to prove himself capable of playing at the highest club level in Europe. He is fast enough to have played international rugby on the wing and now, I hear, they're thinking of trying him out at scrum-half. Well, there are no doubt a few technicalities he would have to learn first, but I can say with confidence to any scrum-halfs out there, you're not going to have an easy afternoon at the office if you end up with Mauro breathing down your neck."