Laurie Weeks is heading to Melbourne © Getty Images

Reds skipper James Horwill sees both positives and negatives in the emergence of the Melbourne Rebels in The Sydney Morning Herald.

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed after hearing Laurie Weekes had signed with the Melbourne Rebels. Laurie is a guy who has made the most of the opportunity given to him by Queensland and is currently one of the form props of the Super 14.

"If he continues to play the way he is, a Wallaby jersey won't be too far away. Not knowing exactly what Laurie's reasons were for leaving Queensland, it shows that each individual player has different priorities that drive them to make decisions about their future.

"Since Laurie signed with Melbourne, two more Queensland players, Richard Kingi and Adam Byrnes, have announced they are making the move south. Both have their own reasons. For many Queensland fans this would bring up memories from 2005, when Nathan Sharpe led a number of Reds players to the newly formed Western Force. I'm sure the fans are hoping the same thing won't happen again, especially since we are finally heading in the right direction."

David Ferguson talks to former Scotland U21 international David Kelly, who will hand-cycle 250 miles around New Zealand's South Island to raise money for spinal injury research, in The Scotsman.

"This week, he heads back to New Zealand, but with a deep sense of anxiety for when Millar did eventually leave the Land of the Long White Cloud, it was not for a Scotland jersey, but to a new life in a wheelchair, his spine having snapped in a rugby injury.

"Having rebuilt his life and become a clinical neuropsychologist, now at the regional neurosciences centre in Newcastle, the injury in 1989 ignited a passion for neurology and a life's campaign to seek treatment and a cure for spinal injury. He decided last year to mark the 20-year point by returning to the place where his life was dramatically altered.

"He is not taking the tourist route however. Dr Millar has been pushing his wheelchair along the roads around Newcastle daily for the past eight months, in all weathers, to prepare for a unique challenge – to hand-cycle 250 miles around New Zealand's South Island and raise as much money as possible for spinal injury research. That is where much of the anxiety stems from this week as he packs up for what he has termed 'The Mighty Push'."

David Kelly talks to Marcus Horan about his mixed emotions following his Thomond Park health scare in The Irish Independent.

"Of all the things that went through Marcus Horan's mind when he lay in Limerick's Regional Hospital in the early hours of October 18 last, he would never in a lifetime have countenanced that relief would be the chief emotion coursing through his frazzled senses.

"Less than 12 hours earlier on his beloved Thomond Park turf, his legs had buckled once more beneath the weight of a four-year-long intermittent spell of dizziness and weakness.

"Now, prone on a hospital bed, Horan was forced to confront the possibility that not only his career, but his very quality of life was now at stake as a result of the pursuit of the game he loved. And yet still relief jostled with fear and apprehension as he contemplated this red-letter day in his 32-year existence."

Paul Rees questions the RFU's lack of patience and the potential problems in the return of Clive Woodward to a role with England in The Guardian.

"Given the dystopian state of the England national set-up, it is little surprise that there are calls for Sir Clive Woodward, the architect of the 2003 World Cup success, to come riding back to the rescue. History is all there is to cling on to after another season of arch-mediocrity, one in which more Tests were lost than won.

"The Rugby Football Union is getting twitchy, wondering how long it will continue to get away with charging up to £85 for a seat at Twickenham and providing so little in return. Woodward has an obvious appeal: a track record, a capacity for making headlines and an innovative approach. Appointing him would amount to being seen to do something, never mind that it has reacted to failure in the past six years by constantly chopping and changing.

"Woodward would hardly come back in his old role so Rob Andrew, the RFU's director of elite rugby, is being offered by some as the fall guy. The title should be grand enough for Woodward, but job description would matter little if Twickenham persuaded the knight to mount his charger. He would identify himself with the England team and effectively become its head again."

Lachie Turner's intercept saved the Waratahs last weekend © Getty Images

Spiro Zavos takes a look at Lachie Turner sparing the Waratahs' blushes against the Blues in The Sydney Morning Herald.

"For a minute or so at the SFS on Saturday it seemed the dreaded Wara-wobbles were about to infect the side. The Blues had turned a 21-7 deficit into a 32-29 lead in the 72nd minute, and were one pass and a couple of metres from scoring the clinching try.

"Stop the tape! The Blues halfback, Taniela Moa, has the ball. Two attackers are set to his left. One defender, Lachlan Turner, is trying to cover three attackers. Moa, with his beefy build, can just shoulder his way across the line. Or he can pass to a teammate to score the try. A try - and a NSW loss - is inevitable. Start the tape. Moa ever so carefully delivers a sympathetic pass to Turner, who in desperation has placed himself between the two Blues attackers. Turner motors away, head back and legs pumping, to score the winner under the posts. The True Believers are on their feet pumping their fists.

"This victory capped a splendid weekend for the top three Australian sides. The Brumbies broke a 23-23 deadlock with the Chiefs right on time when Matt Toomua, a smart, young five-eighth, scored from an opposition mistake under the posts. In South Africa, the Reds comfortably beat the Cheetahs playing at altitude. The main blemish in the performance was the stupid trip by Quade Cooper on a Cheetahs player trying to take a quick drop-out."

Tony Ward reflects on Leinster's last-gasp victory over Connacht in The Irish Independent.

"Whatever else, justice was most certainly not done at the RDS last Saturday. The better team playing the more committed rugby came second to the one playing, as Michael Cheika rightly put it, "within themselves".

"We were lucky. In no way am I going to say a win's a win - that was mediocre at best," said the Leinster head coach.That was a refreshingly honest assessment of a poor performance after a result that takes the Magners League pace-setters four points clear with a match in hand and with just five series of games to go.

"It is a pretty good place for Leinster to be but Cheika knows full well if his side repeat last weekend's performance over the season-defining games in Limerick on Friday or in the RDS against Clermont Auvergne the following week, then the finish (to the successful coaching tenure) he dearly craves could be blown into oblivion."

Peter Bills fears for England at the World Cup due to the standard of refereeing on show in the Premiership in The Independent.

"Rugby's new refereeing interpretations are set to have a major effect at the World Cup next year. That much is being made crystal clear by IRB referee co-ordinator Paddy O'Brien.

"There will be no changes from this policy. By June, when the northern hemisphere countries play Test matches in the southern hemisphere, they must be ready to adapt to the new law interpretations. There will be the same refereeing approach the world over.

"But if England's players are to have any chance of getting to grips with them, then they are going to need far better refereeing than David Pearson offered at Northampton last weekend."

Mick Cleary reviews the changes put in place by Premier Rugby in order to open up the Premiership in The Daily Telegraph.

"Premier Rugby revealed on Monday that it took emergency steps to improve try-scoring rates in the Guinness Premiership and ensure that the stilted style of rugby that so marred the opening months is not seen during the end-of-season run-in.

"Try rates had dropped by an astonishing 38 per cent, prompting Premier Rugby to call a summit meeting with the Rugby Football Union on Feb 24. As a result of what Premier Rugby chief executive, Mark McCafferty calls "a seminal moment", in relations between the two bodies, four measures were agreed to encourage teams and referees to free up play.

"The initiatives were used for the first time during last weekend's Premiership matches, notable for an upturn in try-scoring. aracens ran in seven tries against Newcastle, having previously only scored 16 in 16 league matches."

Scotland's Croke Park win will not be quickly forgotten © Getty Images

Tommy Conlon laments Ireland's over-confidence prior to their Six Nations loss to Scotland in The Irish Independent.

"In space no one can hear you scream, in sport no one can see the shock coming. It is one of the charms and curses of this sporting life that the hit comes when it's least expected. No matter how long one has followed, observed and analysed games, there is still no safeguard against complete and total confoundment.

"We're not talking about run-of-the-mill surprises either, which are ten-a-penny and usually come with some amount of forewarning: the favourites should win but the underdogs have a chance too.

"We're talking about outcomes which in advance have a blanket guarantee and where pundits and punters have reached a state of near-absolute consensus: this team is going to win and the other team is going to lose because there is no other sane way of looking at it."

John Eales takes a look at the difficult situation developing at the Western Force following John Mitchell's decision to leave the franchise in 2011 in The Sydney Morning Herald.

"Life is more like a Ferris Wheel than a merry-go-round: when the music stops not everyone steps off equally.

"When Western Force coach John Mitchell's management announced he would not be continuing as the coach of the Force beyond the completion of his current contract, their man stepped off comfortably at ground level whereas the club was stuck awkwardly somewhere in the air. Mitchell's decision, about 1½ seasons before his contract expires, couldn't be more tactical or couldn't be worse, depending on from whose perspective you see it.

"From Mitchell's perspective, the announcement could be looked at as tactical, but arguably it is also self-serving and does the Force, which stood by him through an enquiry at the beginning of last season, no favours. His management has taken control of their client's situation, which of course is their prerogative. After all, they need to sell Mitchell into his next role and this might now be easier than it would have been were it the Force that announced that they would not renew his deal."

Chris Rattue laments the same old "flash, dash, flop" from the Blues in The New Zealand Herald.

"It's official. The Blues are ... the same old Blues, unfortunately. In other words, they are not going to win the Super 14 title this year, next year, and probably for a long time.

"As sure as Stephen Brett gets a kick charged down in every game, what was once the pride of New Zealand rugby is now a horror show of misused talent. Maths says they can still make the finals. History says they won't, after blowing a surefire victory in Sydney.

"The Blues do deserve credit on one score - they can be very entertaining, and that is not to be sniffed at. They have been involved in two excellent games, viewing wise, against the Brumbies and Waratahs. So the news is not all bad. They find and promote very interesting footballers, the latest being Rene Ranger. Then again, we should expect this, with the Blues being in the Polynesian rugby heartland, and the biggest population area in a rugby country."

Brian Moore believes that Rob Andrew has a big job on his hands if he is to convince the rugby public that England are on track in The Daily Telegraph.

"Change it had to come, We knew it all along...But the world looks just the same, And history ain't changed...Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss."

"As Rob Andrew pens his report on the England team's performance this season he should power out the classic track 'Won't Get Fooled Again' by The Who; it should remind him of the mood of the rugby public.

"Against a background of solid scepticism Andrew will have to do a job of truly epic proportions to convince a doubting audience that Martin Johnson is firmly on track to improve English rugby and fulfil his own cheery goal of sustained success at the top of world rugby. And if he thinks one creditable losing performance against the French in their final Six Nations match will obscure hours of unconvincing and unimaginative play, he had better bring a flak jacket with him when he releases the report."

Owen Slot talks to former England and Wasps back Josh Lewsey as he prepares to climb Everest in The Times.

"In terms of sheer unadulterated toughness, rugby union is beginning to look something of a doddle. Josh Lewsey is giving his experiences a resilience ranking and the boot camp in which the England team beasted themselves before the 2003 World Cup, known as the House of Pain, is placed only fourth — and it is soon going to drop to fifth.

"So here you have it in reverse order. Fourth: the House of Pain. Third: military training at Sandhurst. Second: climbing to base camp on K2 (“I was practically dying”). First: his ascent of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Andes, in January. And he did not even get to the top.

"At the moment of truth, seven hours short of the summit — and when the truth did not remotely interest him — his guide grabbed him round the neck and told him in no uncertain terms that he had to turn round because was not fit enough. As Lewsey recalls, the guide sent him on his way with the words: “Don’t slip, don’t fall. If you do, you are dead.”

Berrick Barnes calls it like he sees it © Getty Images

In his column in the Sydney Morning Herald, Adam Freier asks whether rugby needs to market itself better.

“Sport soap operas sell. If you're an avid reader of the back end of the newspaper you'll be well aware that sport and soapies are fast becoming one. Yet, while every year sport enters deeper into the realm of the 'entertainment industry', it's fair to say rugby union has not been as active when it comes to pushing the players' profiles and personalities, as opposed to their sporting abilities and feats.

“Should rugby endorse this interest in personalities or should the focus remain squarely on what takes place on the field?

“Rugby league has many colourful characters, with clubs and agents ensuring the public see them in every way possible. Not that all these players have to be superstars to be in the newspaper or on the TV, but like Neighbours and Home and Away, the show must be on every night.

“It's a fact that rugby union at times is buried by rugby league in the newspaper. The balancing act of keeping stories on sport and not off-field dramas is an area that I believe is important to keep our code - and all sports for that matter - in the best light possible. Fortunately, I believe our code is held in great regard.”

Writing in the Sunday Independent, Jim Glennon argues that this year's U20s Six Nations has underlined that the future is bright for Irish rugby.

"Enough has been said and written about Ireland's anti-climactic exit from Croke Park last Saturday. But amidst the disappointment, at least we don't have to look too far to find some welcome good news.

"The success of the Ireland U20s in securing their second Six Nations championship in four seasons fits the bill just nicely. While it didn't slip completely under the radar, it has been unduly overshadowed by the exploits of the seniors.

"This success is worthy of attention however, particularly in the context of a certain amount of hype currently surrounding some members of that U20 squad, captain Rhys Ruddock, who started on Leinster's blindside in the Magners League yesterday, and full-back Andrew Conway, who has also made the step up to that level for Leinster in recent weeks, being just two."

In the Sunday Times, Scotland's Thom Evans talks about the injury that almost ended his career.

"Rugby international Thom Evans has spoken for the first time of the horror neck injury that cut short his Six Nations season and sparked fears for his long-term health. He said he felt like a bullet had ripped through his body.

"The Glasgow Warriors wing spent almost a fortnight in a Cardiff hospital and was operated on twice after being injured in a collision with Lee Byrne shortly before half-time in Scotland’s match with Wales on February 13. His older brother Max was playing alongside him.

"The Zimbabwe-born player, who visited the Scotland camp to deliver an emotional pre-match talk shortly before their victory over Ireland last weekend, has now resumed light training and is hopeful of regaining full fitness.

"Recovering at home in Glasgow, his spine held in place with screws and a metal cage, he said the injury left him unable to move his legs. He added that the agony of learning Scotland had lost the game because of a stunning late collapse was more excruciating than the physical pain he endured."

Writing in the Sunday Times, Stephen Jones sends out an SOS to the man who steered England to World Cup glory in 2003.

"More than five years ago Sir Clive Woodward drove out of Twickenham, expecting never to return. He had just given a fiery dressing-down to RFU grandees on live television in the media conference marking his exasperated resignation after a glorious tenure as England coach.

"He is now director of elite performance at the British Olympic Association, apparently far removed from rugby. How strange, then, that his name was on everybody’s lips last week.

"Or is it? The inquest into another ghastly England season, with the frantic straw-clutching of the team hierarchy, raged on. But to me, pure innocent that I am, there were some odd elements to the whole thing. Senior RFU figures admit that the hornets’ nest was stirred last Sunday when Lawrence Dallaglio, writing in The Sunday Times, castigated the lack of vision and effectiveness of Rob Andrew, elite rugby director and in overall charge of the misfiring England side. Dallaglio called for Woodward.

"Conspiracy theorists were then given a fascinating ride. Wednesday was the day of the formal media inquest at Twickenham and Martin Johnson and Andrew duly defended their team, their coaches and themselves. But on the previous day (Tuesday) one paper suggested strongly that senior RFU figures wanted Woodward to replace Andrew."

In his column in The Guardian, Eddie Butler argues that England's players have become shackled by an over-serious quest for world domination and that a little good humour could boost results.

"A sort of war of adjectives has broken out in England. 'Unsubstantiated' is how the manager of England, Martin Johnson, views any criticism of his coaches, with John Wells singled out for particularly stout defence. It seems the charge of 'boring' attaches itself most adhesively to Wells's area of influence, the forwards.

"It doesn't help that Johnson is excellent at glowering and snarling, but is not exactly levity incarnate. And Wells is not exactly, as far as I know, a hot property on the stand-up circuit of Leicestershire, presuming of course that the county does offer a round of humour, chirpy or darker.

"Come to think of it, Steve Borthwick, England's captain for four-fifths of their Six Nations campaign, never had them rolling in the aisles with his post-match interviews: 'Tell you what, Sonya, you'll never guess what happened at the eighth line-out today...'

"You have to go back to the the early 1970s for a chuckle. John Pullen, the Bristol hooker and England captain at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, when Wales refused to travel to Dublin, stood up at the post-match dinner in Dublin: 'We may be crap, but at least we turn up.'"

Writing in The Independent, Brian Ashton talks up the significance of Mike Tindall's recall in relation to England's encouraging display in Paris last weekend.

"While the Six Nations Championship is done and dusted for another year, done to death in some quarters, one certain aspect of the last weekend is well worth noting.

"I have long advocated the importance of individuals contributing to the strength and positivity of a squad and a dressing room, and I consider the return of Mike Tindall to England's midfield to be a classic example.

"Tindall is both an outstanding player and an outstanding individual, whose positive attitude to life and those around him is inspirational. He has the character and personality to transform a team, and the ability to coax the best out of young players with talent and the ambition to play at the highest level. You can rest assured that Ben Foden and Chris Ashton were the better for Tindall's presence in the lashing rain and toweringly tense atmosphere of Stade de France on Saturday night."

In his column in the Irish Independent, Tony Ward writes that, on the evidence of the Six Nations, rugby's law-makers have it all to do in their ongoing bid to create a game worth watching again.

"So, how was it for you? For me, if I'm being really honest, the Six nations was average - just about. However, I worry greatly about the game and where it is going.

"Despite all the criticism, I applaud Paddy O'Brien and his fellow law-makers at Huguenot House for battling against the odds in their crusade to free up space for that precious fluidity we all crave.

"We must never give up the fight, but how do you create space on a battlefield invented in the 19th-century for warriors light years removed from the beefed-up, super-charged mega-fit professional combatants of today?

"Rugby league didn't reduce from 15 to 13 just to be different from rugby union. They did so as the only logical solution to the problem confronting union now.

"I dread the day it happens, but, however long it does take, this is the direction we are heading in, because, in the final analysis money - and with it survival - talks loudest."

Ireland must win in the Southern Hemisphere to climb from ranked fifth on a longer-term basis, Matt Williams writes in the Irish Times.

"That thin line between success and failure was flipped this season, with Ireland missing out on a Triple Crown when Dan Parks’ late penalty sailed over last Saturday. It highlighted several glaring problems that were easily masked by Ireland’s Grand Slam victory in Cardiff 12 months ago, when Stephen Jones’ late penalty fell marginally short.

"Ireland should not be relying on opposing place-kickers to define their season. There is more to this group than that.

"The highly-talented national coaching staff need to see the defeat to Scotland as an opportunity for evaluation. If this team are to climb from fifth in the IRB rankings on a longer-term basis, and this is possible, they must win in the Southern Hemisphere.

"But this cannot be done unless fundamental changes are made in how possession is used. In a nutshell, counter-attacking and phase-play attack, based on continuity and offloading, must be added to the offensive arsenal."

Lee Dickson is not shy of the dirty work © Getty Images

Will Greenwood hails Northampton's forgotten man, scrum-half Lee Dickson, following their Anglo-Welsh Cup triumph in The Daily Telegraph.

"Danny Care and Paul Hodgson were the first of his contemporaries to steal a march on him. Then, when their form dipped, Joe Simpson of Wasps scored tries of the season. When he was hit by injury, Ben Youngs played magnificently for Leicester and stole an England bench spot from under Dickson's nose. Better men have crumbled over less, but not Dickson.

"Not once has his enthusiasm on the field or off it diminished, and he has certainly done his best to be noticed. If there is a television camera, then Dickson will be lurking somewhere near it.

"In the lead-up to the England v France game, the television channels looked for the low-down on Chris Ashton, sensing he was about to win his first cap, and the three stooges of Hartley, Foden and Dickson were only too happy to dish the dirt on Ashton's ears, tanning habits, lack of friends and a girlfriend who prefers to watch the Cobblers, the local football team, rather than her man."

Former All Black, Inga Tuigamala believes Carl Hayman has made the correct decision for himself in the New Zealand Herald.

"The big news of the week was Carl Hayman's decision to stay in Europe rather than come home to chase a place in the World Cup team next year.

"I believe he has made the right decision in many ways. As a player, you've got to be careful on these matters, and make sure you aren't trying to relive the old days. His decision wouldn't have been made with the heart - he would have been very tempted to experience putting the black jersey on again. I still feel like that sometimes, and I've been retired for 10 years."

Speaking to The Times, Harlequins' new Director of Rugby, Conor O'Shea, says the club need not forget 'bloodgate', they just need to move on from it.

"Conor O’Shea refuses to look back. Almost a year since Harlequins were mired in the “Bloodgate” scandal, the former Ireland full back’s return to his first love, in the role of director of rugby at Twickenham Stoop, is aimed at carrying the club forward.

"He admits that the foundations are in place thanks to the work of Mark Evans, the chief executive, and Dean Richards, his predecessor who resigned last August because of his involvement in the use of fake blood capsules during last April’s Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat by Leinster. Indeed, O’Shea, 39, has spoken to Richards about the job in which he will complete his first fortnight next week.

“You are your history, Bloodgate is part of the history,” he said yesterday as he prepares for his first game, against Bath at the Recreation Ground tomorrow. “That’s a chapter which hasn’t been written in the official club histories yet. There’s no need to expunge it, there is a need to move on. Dean did an enormous amount for this club, he’s an icon, a legend of English rugby. He’s still incredibly passionate about Harlequins, which was even more striking when I met him.”

Fergus McFadden has been waiting in the wings - or should that be the centres - for his chance at Leinster and for Ireland, but with injury ruling Brian O'Driscoll out of action Donnchadh Boyle profiles the up and coming centre in The Irish Independent.

"WHAT colour do Leinster play in?" one reporter asked Fergus McFadden earlier this season. The question was qualified. "I only ask because, at the moment, you've played for Ireland across all levels more times than you've played for Leinster."

"Progress over the course of his career has been slow, if steady. Last season represented further progress in his career. He was Leinster's 23rd man for the Heineken Cup final, close enough to the action to appreciate what was going on, but too far away to fully enjoy it. So, he waits, and when given a start, the 23-year-old has a happy knack of reminding both Michael Cheika and Declan Kidney of his capabilities.

"He was the Churchill Cup's player of the tournament last June and landed 36 points, including three tries with the remainder coming from his ever-improving boot, in Leinster's last two matches. That Churchill Cup campaign prompted a number of English club sides to come knocking, dangling the carrot of regular first-team rugby, but McFadden chose to stay at Leinster, saying: "I'm happy where I am at the moment."

Writing in his Guardian Unlimited blog, Eddie Butler laments the media managed nature of player interaction in the modern game.

"In 1991, nobody spoke to anyone. It was the age of England supremacy in Europe and the best players also happened to be a fairly militant lot, largely because they had no say in the shaping of their future. The game was beginning its voyage into professionalism, but only in the sense that rumblings about the inequalities of the amateur game were being heard, grumblings that manifested themselves as a refusal by the England players that year to speak to the media after their first victory over Wales in Cardiff since 1963.

"I was thinking the other day, having been stuck in a hotel in Bagshot, huddled around an England player on media duty in a group of a dozen reporters, sharing our exclusive on him, that there was more fun in being completely shunned by those players. The deliberate silence of Brian Moore back then said a lot more than the carefully delivered nothings from the latest graduate of the media training course."

Georgia will return to the World Cup stage in 2011 © Getty Images

Peter Bills recounts the frenzied atmosphere for Georgia and Russia's European Nations Cup game, which booked their Pool sports at the World Cup, in The Irish Independent.

"You could see it in their eyes, tell the difference in their approach before the game," said Georgian coach Tim Lane, a former Australia international.

"Even some weeks ago when we played Romania, they had their eyes on this game. It was a different feeling at training; everyone had more urgency. I just wish I could bottle the feeling within our team when we play Russia and bring it out for every game. We would be a different kettle of fish then."

"Lane is a lovely, laid-back, smiling and courteous Australian. He's been assistant coach to Australia and South Africa at World Cups and now, next September, he will proudly take Georgia to the 2011 tournament in New Zealand."

Gavin Rich belives that it's time for the Stormers and Bulls to be looking up on Supersport.

"If anyone was wondering whether Stormers coach Allister Coetzee had any interest in the Comrades Marathon, the answer was provided at a press conference after the recent match against the Cheetahs.

“We are just starting on Polly Shortts! We are running from Durban to Pietermaritzburg!” said Coetzee.Unless he was departing completely from his usual script of taking it one game at a time and not looking too far ahead, Coetzee could not have meant that. Polly Shortts is the hill on the up Comrades that hits tired runners eight kilometres from the finish of the 87 km epic. It is a challenging hill to run up, make no mistake, but the point is that it is tough because it comes so late in the race.

"If the Stormers think they are at the Polly Shortts of the Super 14 then they are going to blow when they reach the real Polly Shortts, which for them should be the tough last trio of matches against the Crusaders (Newlands), Sharks (Durban) and Bulls (Newlands).

"They have played six games out of the 13 scheduled for the league phase, and as they are about to start their tour, Coetzee is right when he says there is a tough hill in front of them. Only it is Inchanga, the seven kilometre haul out of the halfway point at Drummond, and not Polly Shortts, that confronts their immediate future."

Toby Flood reflects on a disappointing end to the Six Nations for England in The Independent.

"They are never particularly happy places after a defeat, but the England dressing room at the Stade de France was especially quiet following our final Six Nations match last Saturday. We knew we'd put in a decent performance, but I think a lot of the lads felt it was a match that we could have won.

"While France were worthy champions, we had pushed them all the way and came very close to denying them the Grand Slam. It was certainly good to go out there and throw the ball around a bit. We were determined to cause them problems and to express ourselves. I think the fact that they shut up shop in the second half was a reflection of the respect they had for us. The Parisian weather didn't do us any favours either, with the rain coming at the wrong time for us."

Frank Keating remember's England's most exotic player, Prince Alexander Obolensky in The Guardian

"Red roses for a white Russian. Crimson blooms of English rugby's traditional floral emblem will this weekend begin to be strewn on or around the imposing new statue in Ipswich's Cromwell Square. Last Saturday evening in Paris, romantics could be forgiven for imagining the England rugby team's sudden invigorating try out of the blue and down the left touchline could itself have been an emphatically colourful stroke of remembrance in apt commemoration of the notable imminent jubilee.

"Hail to the Prince. Three-score-and-10. Monday 29 March is the 70th anniversary of the death, at just 24, of (still) England's most exotic, outlandish and, you could say, treasured rugby footballer.

"Prince Alexander Obolensky, son of an officer in Tsar Nicholas's Imperial Horse Guard, was sent to Britain as a toddler to escape the Revolution. At Trent College he made a mark in the Midlands as a schoolboy sprinter. At Brasenose he won the first of his two Oxford Blues in 1935, ever intriguing the gossip columns by the variety and dazzle of society girls on his arm as well as his habit of gaily downing champagne and a dozen oysters before Oxford's matches. On the field, "he glides with the easy sinuosity of an antelope at full speed", wrote leading sportswriter EHD Sewell."

Stephen Jones can't see a northern hemisphere team challenging for honours at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in The Times.

"It has come to my attention that there are one or two of you out there who do not want New Zealand to win the 2011 World Cup. This is very uncharitable. Naturally I am rooting for the All Blacks to take the title, and for the nation to accept this triumph with its usual modesty, good grace and concern for the beaten sides.

"However, it must be said that following the France-England match last week in Paris, all those contemptible people who do wish ill on New Zealand will now be very worried indeed. Especially with Ireland in a possible decline, I simply cannot see that a European team can come remotely close to winning next year in New Zealand, and so we could be relying on the Springboks to do the necessary.

"Let us deal with France first. They have been very good this season. But for me, the frailties they showed on Saturday evening were marked, and very worrying indeed. When they found that England were hanging on grimly and turning in a good performance, you could almost see their legs and their minds turn to jelly."

Can Rene Ranger make an impact with the All Blacks? © Getty Images

Chris Rattue believes that the in-form Rene Rnager can spark the All Blacks' backline from the wing in The New Zealand Herald.

"Rene Ranger. Now there's the future for rugby, even if Ranger's own future is clouded at the moment by an upcoming court case. How did Ben Smith end up in the All Blacks last year while Rene Ranger didn't? Actually, how did Smith end up in the All Blacks full stop?

"Ranger - who plays wing or centre - is what rugby desperately needs, a powerful outside back with an individual style. If he's not busting through defenders, he hurls them aside. Ranger can make something out of nothing and draw the crowds.

"With absolutely no disrespect to the classy Cory Jane, who has proved a much smarter test player than might have been expected, what the game doesn't need are smallish, converted fullbacks patrolling the flanks."

Tim Clarke looks at the strange situation created by John Mitchell's decision to leave the Western Force in 2011 in WA Today.

"It will be the longest farewell tour since Frank Sinatra, or Elvis, or John Farnham. But that is what John Mitchell and the Western Force have apparently agreed to, with the announcement the former All Black coach will leave the club at the end of his current contract.

"That deal, brokered before the team launched a mutiny in the build up to last season, runs out in 2011. So that gives the team the rest of this year, and the whole of next year's Super Rugby season, to impress a bloke who is not going to be there.

"A strange situation indeed. Mitchell's time in Perth should be remembered fondly for the immediate boost he gave WA rugby and the Force by choosing to take on a new franchise."

Niall Crozier predicts some tough decisions ahead for Declan Kidney and Ireland in the wake of their loss to Scotland in The Irish Independent.

"After the high of a Grand Slam in 2009, defeats in two of their five matches in the just-ended Six Nations has left Ireland facing some tough questions and decisions.

"So what now? Where exactly are we in terms of our preparations for next year's World Cup?
Declan Kidney faces some big decisions, specifically with regard to changes he is going to have to make sooner or later. And therein is the quandary, for the timing is going to be as important as the personnel changes.

"In many ways it is unfortunate that Saturday's defeat by hitherto bottom of the table Scotland marked the end of the campaign, for one can only speculate as to what might have happened had Ireland being playing again this or next weekend."

Peter Bills reflects on the changes seen at the end of the Six Nations in terms of pace and running rugby in The Independent.

"In a brasserie just off the main 'Place' in Bastille, the area of Paris where they know a thing or two about revolutions, a very dramatic event occurred last Saturday evening.

"A burly Frenchman was standing beside a television showing the France/England match live, and roaring his support for...... 'Les Rosbifs'. This was revolutionary stuff. He explained this dramatic state of affairs in the following words 'Ze are ze only team playing proper rugby.'

"I thought I'd have to go to heaven before I heard such words fall from the lips of a Frenchman. But it was an indication of how the southern hemisphere induced changes in the law interpretations, especially at the breakdown, began to influence countries by the end of what has been a pretty mediocre Six Nations Championship."

Jonny Wilkinson reviews England's Six Nations campaign and the media reaction to his form in The Times.

"At the end of another Six Nations, I should start by saying that there is nothing that makes me prouder than playing for my country and every time I do so, I go out there to be the best I can for my team and my nation.

"The Six Nations did not go as well as hoped for the team or for me personally, but what is most important to me is that I have stood by my values. I could not have worked harder, thought more or talked more or listened more. I didn’t have a spare bit of energy that was not channelled into preparing for and playing in those games. What happened on the pitch — the product of all that work — is, by definition, where I am and I accept that.

"If we started the Six Nations again, I’d be the same: same workrate, same desire, same player. Of course, with hindsight, there are certain decisions on the pitch that I might have changed and certain events I wish had turned out differently, but, on the whole, what you’d get from me would not change."

Mirco Bergamasco hunts down Shane Williams © Getty Images

Eddie Butler sees little to choose between the Six Nations side following the conclusion of the tournament in The Guardian.

"Italy and Mathieu Bastareaud sort of ran out of steam in the Six Nations. The country went from the high of beating Scotland to away defeats in Paris and Cardiff, the schedule not really giving them a chance to kick on, while the centre went from his opening games, when he was unstoppable, to being put in his place by a quite inspired Mike Tindall. Who'd have thought it?

"There's no doubting the spirit of Italy. As long as they have the Bergamasco boys it seems they will go down snapping at their opponents, even if their limbs have been removed. Or rather, because their limbs have been removed. I quite like the notion of a pair of Bergamasco dentures chasing Wales off the park.

"With the game long lost, Mirco went for Mike Phillips who, luckily, is one of the game's more stoical characters (not), while Mauro drove in from the side of a ruck and upended James Hook. I know we are meant to tut-tut and say how irresponsible it all is, but I thought there was something noble about the brothers' indomitable spirit."

Chris Hewett is still struggling to come to terms with England's selection policy in The Independent.

"Eleven Test matches, give or take the odd meaningless warm-up fixture; three Elite Player Squad announcements; one summer tour; one autumn series; one Six Nations Championship. Like shopping days to Christmas, the countdown to a World Cup starts early. Unfortunately for England, the back-room staff have a well-earned reputation for reacting far too late.

"When the manager, Martin Johnson, and his immediate boss, Rob Andrew, sit down tomorrow for a public discussion of the red-rose performance in the Six Nations, they will no doubt trot out their favourite p-word. Progress: as in advancement, betterment, furtherance, headway.

"They will wax lyrical on the subject of Ben Foden, the tap-dancing fullback from Northampton, and his club colleague Chris Ashton, who made his international debut on the wrong wing in Paris last weekend. They will celebrate the emergence of Dan Cole at tight-head prop, predict great things for the brilliant Leicester scrum-half Ben Youngs and present yet another Midlander, the highly athletic Courtney Lawes, as their second-row forward for the modern age."

Alan Massie salutes Scotland's famous victory over Ireland and asks for more of the same from Andy Robinson in The Scotsman.

"Goal-kicking is as much part of the game as giving or taking a try-scoring pass. Ireland picked Sexton rather than Ronan O'Gara at stand-off, and if O'Gara would probably have kicked these goals, he might not have set up Brian O'Driscoll for Ireland's first try, as Sexton did – and never mind that the final pass is getting a foot or two further forward every time it is recalled.

"Of course the game might have gone either way, like eight or nine other fixtures in the tournament. This time it went Scotland's way, and after the calamity of that awful late collapse in Cardiff, who could reasonably quarrel with that? Make no mistake: this was a famous victory. Over the years Scotland have found it hard to win away from home, and not only at Twickenham and in Paris.

"This was Scotland's first win in Ireland since 1998. What is more remarkable perhaps is that Andy Robinson's team came within seconds of a Cardiff-Dublin double. There is no doubt that, building on the foundations predecessor Frank Hadden left him, Robinson is getting a lot right."

Spiro Zavos evaluates the merits of 'winning ugly' ahead of the Waratahs' meeting with the Blues in The Sydney Morning Herald.

"When a rugby team bases its playing style on "winning ugly" it is not going to lift any trophies. The occasional ugly win, though, is necessary for even the best teams if they want to become the champions.

"At the weekend we saw a number of necessary winning-ugly results. France won the Six Nations with a nervous victory over a dogged England. The Bulls snatched their fifth victory for the season, despite being outscored two tries to one by the Hurricanes, by playing out time with a series of slow-plod flops, a form of visual torture that should be legislated out of rugby. The Stormers made hard work of the Cheetahs by kicking away most of their ball. And the Waratahs won against the Western Force without making a line break or showing any attacking ploys or skills.

"France's ugly win over England can be justified because it delivered the glittering prize of a title. The Bulls reversion to negative kicking tactics seemed designed to put pressure on the two rookie Hurricanes wingers. The Stormers have the strongest defence in the Super 14 and this is their main strength. They have conceded a miserable 59 points in six matches."

Simon Barnes finds it hard to get excited about England's loss to France despite their improved performance in The Times.

"England’s enigmatic season came to an end as baffling as its beginning. It was a defeat — England lost to France 12-10 — but not a humiliation.

"An England disaster and we would all have been comfortable calling for the head of Martin Johnson, the team manager, and for that of his boss at the RFU, Rob Andrew. We could ask of Andrew the question the child asked of Mr Asquith: “Mummy, what is that man for?”

"A shocking defeat at least clears the decks for action. It is obvious that something was wrong and that nobody, no matter how accustomed to taking the positives, could escape the conclusion that England’s season was unacceptably poor."

Jim Hamilton beats Donncha O'Callaghan to a lineout throw © Getty Images

Vincent Hogan analyses the failings of the Irish lineout following their loss to Scotland in The Irish Independent.

"When they come to dismantle Rory Best's calamitous farewell to Croke Park, they needn't bother sending out a posse to track him down. Because he's right here in front of us all this morning, sitting on this page, opening the blinds on a whole store-room of regret.

"Imagine. When so much around is a shabby carnival of denial - banks, church, state - Best stepped before us on Saturday evening, all but volunteering for penance. Didn't anyone tell him about due process?

"Ireland's line-out slipped into virtual meltdown on Saturday and, when a line-out fails, the thrower gets it in the eye. Best certainly over-cooked a few deliveries and a couple of others were penalised by the pedantic Jonathan Kaplan for being 'crooked'. In total, Ireland spilled seven darts off the board. What had been their strongest weapon became a gaping gash in the hull."

Robert Kitson picks his moments of the Six Nations in The Guardian.

"Player of the tournament: It could be a number of Frenchmen but Imanol Harinordoquy has matured into the world's best No8. Until he received a first-half bang against England, the bounding Basque was superb.

"Best game: Wales v Scotland. I watched it in a bar in Rome and everyone was transfixed. Did Scotland deserve to win? They will forever believe so. With a little luck, the Scots could have won a first Triple Crown for 20 years.

"Champagne moment: Shane Williams's try again France in Cardiff. Enough to propel any rugby lover off his sofa."

John Eales recalls the 'great agitators', Owen Finegan and Sean Fitzpatrick, in The Sydney Morning Herald.

"Business might be a bit different. Perhaps not investment banking, they would measure up to most sporting teams in a character style assessment, but if you run a nursing home you probably don't want your nurses going too hard at the oldies... or maybe you do.

"In his playing days Owen Finegan, now the assistant coach at the Brumbies, was your classic prickly character. Although one of the most important players in the Wallabies throughout that successful era, he would mercilessly agitate the opposition on the field and his teammates off it. During the 1999 world cup campaign players completed weekly questionnaires asking how they felt on a scale of irritability, from exceptionally irritable to not irritable at all. Owen would scour the responses and make it his business to hound anyone at the more irritable end of the continuum. No one broke but players were on edge.

"Obviously it's a lot more useful if the irritability is directed at the opposition and if it can be done to distraction then even better. Sean Fitzpatrick was masterful at distracting his opposition and led the 95-97 All Blacks, the best teams I played in my career, in this bristling manner."

Brian Moore challenges Martin Johnson to build on an improved showing by England against France in The Daily Telegraph.

"Fans, being fans, expected a steadily improving team, challenging strongly in this Six Nations. The utterly execrable nature of some of the play delivered therein and the failure publicly to recognise it as such, means that however seemingly encouraging was their showing against France, many people are wary of being let down again. It is for this reason that they continue to be sceptical about where Johnson is leading his team; hoping he is right but refusing to indulge in another potentially unrequited love affair until they get to see more of the goods.

"Johnson and his players may want supporters to get behind them, but they cannot seriously expect unquestioning adulation when they look at the last eight games as a whole; and by the way – they didn't actually beat France. Moral victories are for people prepared to accept second best.

"Yet it must be acknowledged that England were better than France in many facets of the game and as such the players selected are capable of playing with ball in hand and doing so dexterously. Few teams, including some from the Tri-Nations, have been able to cope with France's slingshot rush defence; yet within 15 minutes of the kick-off England had beaten it twice with good lines and fast hands, scoring a stunning try."

Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio believes RFU director of elite rugby is to blame for the national side's shortcomings © Getty Images

Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio passes judgement on Martin Johnson and Rob Andrew at the end of a disappointing Six Nations campaign. Read his thoughts in the Sunday Times.

"As manager, Johnson must accept responsibility, but the ultimate responsibility rests not with him but with the RFU’s director of elite rugby, Rob Andrew. He is the guy who ensured that Johnson began his management journey from the wrong starting point.

"England no longer aim to be the best in the world, the players do not work in an environment conducive to producing a world-class team and, in this respect, we are short-changing the current generation. You only know how good a player is when he is allowed to work in the right set-up.

"There is so much that is not right about the England set-up. In the hard-to- stomach category, the lack of honesty has been right up there with the lack of creativity. Andrew was quoted as saying: “England are on the way back, there is no question of that.”

"Please, do not insult our intelligence. Presiding over a country hit by an earthquake, Andrew would say it was just what everybody needed, a chance to rebuild."

Ireland’s Triple Crown dream turned into a nightmare as Scotland eked out a victory at Croke Park - the Irish Times' John O'Sullivan reports.

"Scotland eked out a victory, forged by bravery, character, an excellent rucking game, an ability to take their chances and also availing of Ireland’s unusual largesse on a fraught evening in Dublin for the home side.

"The last game at Croke Park will be recalled as one in which this Ireland team probably reserved their most error-ridden performance of this season’s Six Nations Championship.

"Ireland’s four year tenure at GAA headquarters will now be bookended by defeats. Scotland outhalf Dan Parks deservedly won the man-of-the-match accolade for his kicking both from the hand and the boot. The Irish team was left to rue too many mistakes and once again a lack of appreciation in how to play South African referee Jonathan Kaplan."

In the end it was too little too late but England came tantalisingly close to pulling off an heroic victory over Grand Slam-chasing France, writes Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times.

"However, the fact remains that England have finished lower in the Six Nations table than last year and there will now be renewed pressure on the whole England set- up, with changes expected not only in the team but also in the senior coaching panel, before England reappear on tour in Australia in June.

"In particular, Rob Andrew, the Rugby Football Union’s director of elite rugby, is under fire from inside and outside Twickenham. The pressure will not ease after a performance from England yesterday that was better but still far removed from world class.

"Andrew will now compile a report on England’s largely disastrous campaign. Many feel that he should start with himself. He is seen by some as a man who could have brought far more clarity and focus to the team hierarchy and to a coaching panel seen to be underachieving in a big way. Soundings taken at Twickenham suggest there is almost no support for the Andrew-Johnson tandem at the top and the current group of senior coaches staying on as they are. Johnson is likely to be saved for now but, if he refuses to make changes in his coaching team, then we understand that he will have to go to the barricades against his own employers."

Andy Robinson's men finally got some reward for all their hard work this season with a party-pooping victoy over Ireland at Croke Park. Iain Morrison was there for The Scotsman.

"Coming at the end of a disappointing season this fabulous win was only Scotland's second over Ireland in the extended Six Nations, with the last one occurring way in 2001 when the match that was rearranged around the foot and mouth epidemic. Scotland's only other recent success was a friendly match at Murrayfield ahead of the World Cup of 2007, when Eddie O'Sullivan fielded a weakened team.

Fly-half Dan Parks – you can't keep him down – won the match for Scotland with a drop goal and five penalties, the last one coming two minutes from time to seal the victory, but once again he showed his Jekyll and Hyde nature. Apart from his crucial contribution with the boot he also stripped Paul O'Connell of the ball just before half time. Against that, the Aussie still has the blinkers on in attack, ignoring overlaps and mismatches galore when Scotland had the whip hand. For all his efforts Parks remains what he always has been, a kicking stand-off, as constant as the north star, take him or leave him."

The fightback starts here. At least, that is what a nation hopes – and demands – as Warren Gatland’s Wales start coming to terms with a pretty dismal Six Nations campaign. The Wales on Sunday reports.

"The three-try triumph over Italy at the Millennium Stadium yesterday put a welcome smile back on our faces.

"...But question marks and nagging doubts still persist about this side when they come up against better-quality opposition. Is the lineout, which has been a shambles this season, good enough? Is there enough midfield creativity to get the best out of our brilliant runners against tighter defences?

"Can Shaun Edwards shore up our own porous defence when the opposition are more inventive than the lacklustre Italians? Is the pack Gatland picks too pedestrian to cope with the best in the business?"

A strong statement and a strong start failed to propel England into expansive expression according to Richard Williams in The Observer.

"There was a special cheer for Jonny Wilkinson when he was named as a replacement over the public address system 10 minutes before last night's kick-off, a touching demonstration that the fans in St George costumes and England replica shirts are unlikely ever to forget their debt to the former golden boy, the repository and concretiser of so many of their rugby dreams.

"But now even Martin Johnson recognises that time has moved on, and for the opening 10 minutes in Saint‑Denis it seemed that the manager's much examined selectorial gambit had indeed been symbolic of a desire to put behind them the tiresome anti-rugby played by his side over the past six months.

"Such is the cynicism surrounding England's efforts under their present regime that when Toby Flood, Wilkinson's replacement, proclaimed a wholehearted commitment to expansive and expressive rugby on the eve of the match, it was tempting to assume that Johnson had invited him to sell the French the most outrageous pre-match dummy."

Writing in the Independent on Sunday, David Flatman offers his take on this year's Six Nations.

"The Six Nations is like a good pair of jeans; it ought never to go out of fashion. The annual battles between rival tribes played out in front of our eyes are what, for many rugby supporters, make the game what it is. However, in a time when history is perhaps less fashionable than in generations past, so much more is needed to attract new fans, to grow the sport.

"Disillusioned football supporters, parents and children alike, want to see top players bang in form. They crave the big hits, appreciate the scrummage and applaud disciplined, choreographed attacking play. So who, this year, might lay claim to the title of fans' favourite?

"So far the one man who has most consistently stood out as a natural, threatening, truly world-class player is France's full-back, Clément Poitrenaud. While always regarded as a striking talent, he has repeatedly let himself down in the past by delivering moments of genuine horror."

Paul Newman visits the Paris suburb from whence Mathieu Bastareaud emerged to become a French superstar in The Independent.

"Jean-Max Calice, who brought Bastareaud to Massy, remembers the first time he saw him. "He was playing at Viry-Châtillon in a junior tournament. He was a phenomenon even at 13. In fact he was very much the player he is now. He was strong, but what struck me most was his incredible will to win. I've never trained a greater competitor.

"Mathieu has become a symbol for the banlieues. He's such a good example. He is very humble and respectful. He's gentle and has a nice sense of humour. Family and friends are very important for him. That's such a good image for rugby."

"Nicolas Gestas, the general director of Massy, agrees. "He's a good lad," he says, "which is why what happened in New Zealand last year was so astonishing." Bastareaud's mental scars are still evident. There were reports of a suicide attempt and he is still consulting a psychologist. A three-month ban for the player, who missed the autumn internationals but was recalled for this year's Six Nations Championship, was subsequently changed to community service. He is in the middle of 18 visits to schools, clubs and rugby academies."

The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly caught up with Scotland's out-half from the 1980s, John Rutherford, ahead of this afternoon's clash between Ireland and England.

"Irish rugby fans aged 30 and older should have little problem recalling the name and exploits of former Scotland out-half John Rutherford.

"Between 1979 and 1987, Rutherford played eight times against Ireland and his quality was all too evident, no more so than when he masterminded Scotland's Grand Slam-clinching 32-9 victory at Lansdowne Road. Lean and lithe, Rutherford was lethal with the quick ruck ball that characterised Scottish rugby in the 1980s.

"His trademark moustache gave the out-half something of a Viking-like appearance and with his fellow-moustachioed partner Roy Laidlaw -- 'Butch' to Rutherford's Sundance for 35 Tests -- at scrum-half, Scotland had a half-back pairing that was the equal of any in international rugby during the '80s."

Despite England's mixed form thus far, The Times' David Hands believes France will still be wary of their old rivals this evening.

"There is no rational argument against France claiming their ninth grand slam in Paris this evening. Their opponents lost their captain yesterday, have dropped the world’s leading international points-scorer, Jonny Wilkinson, and have, to all intents and purposes, lost their way.

"Yet they will be wary of England, purely because they are England — the country that overturned their hopes of glory in 1991 (twice), in 2003 and, on their own turf, in the 2007 World Cup. Nor is this the England side that have meandered through the tournament after opening with an encouraging win over Wales: form and injury have forced seven changes since last week’s draw with Scotland. Who knows how effervescent the new mixture will be?"

Ireland's defensive prowess has been at the heart of their bid for Six Nations glory © Getty Images

Ireland have offered irrefutable proof that statistics do lie according to the >Irish Independent's David Kelly who talks to defence coach Les Kiss.

"As someone, somewhere, some time ago said: "Statistics are like mini skirts. They give you good ideas, but hide the most important parts."

"So comfortable have the Irish rugby team been in their last two matches, they have managed to concede both territory and possession, as well as kicking away the majority of that possession, yet still contrived to win with relative assurance on both occasions.

"...Yet within the prism of Six Nations fare against their Triple Crown rivals, Ireland have offered irrefutable proof that statistics do lie, offering a resounding affirmation of this team's ability to live in the moment and play heads-up rugby, rather than burrow their heads in a restricted play-book."

The Irish Times Gerry Thornley talks to Cian Healy about his meteoric rise with Leinster and Ireland

"Cian Healy is living the dream. Last season was his breakthrough for Leinster and here he is, in his rookie international year, about to win his seventh cap. He’d always imagined being a rugby player, but it’s been better than he could even have dreamed.

“I just never thought it would be so electric, like this. It’s unbelievable, walking out onto Croker and the Stade de France and Twickenham. I just never imagined it like. It’s unbelievable,” he repeats, suitably wide-eyed.

"Healy is, by his own admission, “nuts”, or at any rate hyper-active. Always has been, always will be. There would always have to have been something very active to keep him busy. That he wanted to become a full-time professional rugby player had long since been his ambition."

"England are on the way back, there is no question of that," according to Rob Andrew. The Rugby Football Union's director of elite rugby talks to David Hands in The Times.

"Andrew argues that Martin Johnson, the England team manager, has established his core players for the assault on the 2011 World Cup, although even that can be queried. In this championship alone, he has dropped Jonny Wilkinson and Lewis Moody, who are part of his leadership group, Nick Easter’s form has been mixed and Steve Borthwick, his captain, remains unloved by the more vocal of the game’s followers.

"Where Andrew is on stronger ground is the context in which Johnson is working, the cranking sound of the conveyor belt designed to deliver quality players on a regular basis. “It’s a slow process,” Andrew said, but he pointed towards Ben Youngs, the replacement scrum half at the Stade de France tomorrow, and Courtney Lawes, the 21-year-old Northampton lock capped twice this season from the bench, as the first fruits of his labours.

"The system of financial rewards for clubs developing England-qualified players (EQP) is also under way. The rewards are not huge — some £300,000 was distributed in December to seven Guinness Premiership clubs who averaged 14 or more EQP — but Andrew insists that the RFU would like all 12 clubs to receive a share of what is, this season, a pot of about £1 million."

Writing in The Independent, fly-half Toby Flood reflects on his promotion to the England No.10 shirt.

"As for the man I replaced, I have known Jonny Wilkinson for years. I made my first start for the Falcons at 19 but way before then, when I was coming through the age groups at Newcastle, he was there, the man in the 10 shirt. He was always a great guy to have around, a guy whose brain you were always trying to pick. He has helped me a huge amount. He's good company too. In short, a good mate. After I found out I was in the side he walked over and congratulated me. "If you need anything," he said, "give me a shout." That is the sort of character he is.

"We have been in camp for eight weeks. Whether you have been on the bench or in the XV you know what is going on so there is no learning curve. It will be my normal preparations, same as whether I'm playing for Leicester Tigers or England. I have really enjoyed playing at No 12, but 10 is where I have played most of my rugby; it is the position I prefer. I have done my knowledge there."

England's Toby Flood and Jonny Wilkinson joke around during training in Surrey © Getty Images

The Independent's Chris Hewett argues that Toby Flood is more of a playmaker than Jonny Wilkinson, though neither has Danny Cipriani's game.

"If it is not quite enough to persuade Danny Cipriani to abandon his plans for a spell of self-imposed exile in the Australian rugby desert of Melbourne, it must surely be enough to make him kick the nearest cat. Precisely two years ago, Brian Ashton dropped Jonny Wilkinson for the last game of the Six Nations Championship and gave Cipriani the opportunity to run Saturn-like rings round Ireland, which he promptly did. It seemed as though a brave new world was dawning, but the light faded to black when Ashton was sacked by the Rugby Football Union.

"To all intents and purposes, Cipriani disappeared into the same darkness. Wilkinson may have been dropped again – instead of starting against the French this weekend, he will be slumming it on the bench – but this time, the most gifted of England's outside-halves is out of favour and out of mind. The current red-rose hierarchy do not like him, and the feeling is mutual."

Not even the most optimistic Sharks fan should have anticipated this would be their year and five straight defeats hammers home that fact. Gavin Rich writes for SuperSport.

"Complicated is a good word to describe some of the arrangements at the Sharks. The Sharks have denied reports of a rift in the camp, but it is hard to imagine the players involved in the selection musical chairs being enacted in the front-row to accommodate John Smit and at the same time satisfy the ambitions of the Du Plessis brothers would be doing cartwheels of joy.

"But regardless of the veracity or otherwise of these reports, it maybe needs to be recognised that this was probably always going to be a year where there would be a blip. There just isn’t the backline depth there used to be, the outflow of players has not matched the inflow. The confusion over flyhalf has certainly not been helped by the loss of two class inside centres in Steyn and Barritt."

Twenty years after the 'White-Shark-Fin' back row went animal crackers and helped Scotland's 1990 Grand Slammers spoil England's hopes in a memorable championship triumph at Murrayfield, another potent back row is threatening to cause havoc and potentially ruin another party on Saturday. The Irish Independent's David Kelly writes.

"The 'Killer Bs' -- Glasgow trio Kelly Brown, John Barclay and John Beattie -- will start their fifth Six Nations match in succession after Brown was yesterday cleared to play in an unchanged Scotland team despite sustaining a heavy knock in the bore draw with England.

"And John Jeffrey, the great white shark of that historic back-row combination which also included Finlay Calder and Derek White, believes that Scotland's chances of causing an unlikely upset rests in the hive of activity at the base of the scrum.

"JJ spent much of yesterday chasing cattle around his sprawling Kelso farm, but he admits that the Scottish trio will have to run all day to keep up with the "phenomenal" Irish who are keen to snaffle another Triple Crown even though they are likely to lose the championship crown."

The Sunday Times' Stuart Barnes says a shock could be in store but only if France freeze on the big stage again.

"Martin Johnson’s team has only produced one performance of adequate quality and that was against France at Twickenham last season when the visitors were nothing short of humiliated. If there is one European nation with a track record to scare the life out of France, it is England.

"It is because of these psychological connotations that this game remains a compelling prospect despite the evidence screaming "mismatch". On all known form lines the match is merely a matter of how much? France have played some sumptuous stuff this season, especially at home, while England – far from making progress – have regressed an alarming distance in the last twelve months.

"It is a watershed match for both nations. France are undoubtedly a more talented side than England. They have the beating of them in every tangible department but there is hope for Johnson; hope that France will fail to handle the dual pressure of a match to win the grand slam and a game against their bête noir."

England manager Martin Johnson has finally made changes to his team but his record on selection remains chequered in the extreme, according to Paul Rees in The Guardian.

"The issue of selection has defined the Johnson era. If players are given time to prove themselves, when they are left out they tend to remain on the outside. Danny Cipriani has not featured since November 2008 and four players who made more than one start last autumn, Shane Geraghty, Dan Hipkiss, Jordan Crane and Matt Banahan, have not featured since.

"If England have been accused of playing with blinkers on, the same could be said of their selectors. Johnson yesterday bemoaned the criticism his side has endured in the last two years, saying he and his coaching team had to pick up the pieces when someone was "slagged off". But was it the media who left two of his more creative players, Cipriani and Geraghty, in bits?"

England's Dylan Hartley gets to grips with Scotland's Ross Ford during their clash at Murrayfield © PA

A sense of grievance crackled in the Parisian air as France expressed their surprise at how England hooker Dylan Hartley escaped punishment for a scuffle with Scotland's Ross Ford last weekend. The Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary writes.

"It's incredible that he has not been cited," said France head coach Marc Lièvremont, speaking after making just one change, the return from injury of talismanic centre Mathieu Bastareaud, for the Grand Slam match against England at the Stade de France on Saturday night.

"Given that only 24 hours prior to the team announcement a specially-convened commission had upheld the jurisdiction of the swingeing sanctions imposed for gouging on two Stade Français international players, prop David Attoub (banned for 70 weeks) and scrum-half Julien Dupuy (23 weeks), elements in French rugby feel that there is one law for them and another for the rest of the rugby-playing world.

"That may not be the case, but that is their perception. In truth, Hartley appears initially to be no more than pushing Ford away before punches are thrown. What is more, Ford made no complaint."

Paddy O'Brien, the under-fire IRB elite referee’s manager, has defended the controversial edict regarding Law 15.6.c which has landed like a grenade in the middle of the Six Nations, according to Gerry Thornley in the Irish Times.

"I think there has been some confusion; (but) there definitely hasn’t been a law change. It was agreed at the referees’ conference in November to put emphasis on all the law at the tackle, and that’s what we’ve done,” said O’Brien.

"The New Zealander seemed to be laying the blame at the doors of some of his counterparts within the relevant unions, though he never mentioned the IRFU’s Owen Doyle by name.

“I’m not going to hide behind the fact there has been some dissatisfaction within some teams,” he added, “but it’s fair to say our line is right from November last year that we want referees to apply the law. My role as referees manager is to ensure the referees do. Some haven’t, and they’ll be reviewed accordingly. Some have, and they will be reviewed accordingly.”

Round one of the National Rugby League delivered a knockout blow to rugby which has instantly put its rule tinkering into perspective, according to Chris Rattue in the New Zealand Herald.

"League continually produces something that is essential to wonderful contests yet is virtually non-existent in rugby - the thrilling finish. Rugby matches invariably peter out although on a good day someone might barge their way over the line or kick a winning penalty.

"There are plenty of dud league games of course, and an over reliance on kicking at times. The weekend's match between the Warriors - who already look well worth their wooden spoon favouritism tag - and the Gold Coast Titans was an example of an ordinary contest of often poor skill.

"Yet even then, there was more open field action at Skilled Park, in other words things you could actually see and admire rather than a mass of bodies piled up in front of an unforgiving referee or people barging into each other, than you will find in a host of rugby matches."

A wish to help others helped drive this player's return from a brain tumour, writes the Sydney Morning Herald's Rupert Guinness.

"Julian Huxley woke up yesterday feeling battered and bruised from his first game of rugby in two years - and wouldn't have wished otherwise.

''I haven't felt like that for a while,'' Huxley told the Herald yesterday. ''I was a bit tired. Now a couple of days later I feel I am getting sorer. But it's sparking the old memories, the old flashbacks of what it used to be like. It's a good thing I am enjoying it.''

"The comments came three days after Huxley resumed a career that came to a halt on March 1, 2008, when a mistimed tackle on Reds lock James Horwill prompted a terrifying chain of events."

Jonny Wilkinson has been dropped by England for their final Six Nations clash with France, according to Chris Foy in the Daily Mail.

"After a series of limp performances by the team, Johnson's World Cup-winning colleague has been replaced at fly-half by Leicester's Toby Flood. There has also been a cull of the back line for the Paris showdown.

"...Ben Foden is finally given his first Test start after two eye-catching cameos from the bench against Ireland and Scotland. Delon Armitage, unable to hit the heights of last season, has been sent back to London Irish.

"While the inclusion of Foden and Ashton is a clear signal of attacking intent, the change they have made in midfield suggests concern over a potential area of French supremacy. Riki Flutey is retained at inside centre despite failing to emulate his exploits of 2009 but, outside him, Gloucester veteran Mike Tindall returns in place of the unfortunate Mathew Tait."

Andy Robinson has been in Scotland for just over 30 months, but he is now beginning to understand the distinct national trait of feeling hard done by. David Ferguson writes in The Scotsman.

"That intangible "award" will mean less to the coach, however, than the desire to prove that his team is genuinely progressing. It is clear in the way Scotland are playing that they are developing a more exciting, attacking style of rugby under Robinson and his assistants Gregor Townsend and Graham Steadman, but without the end result of a victory the methods will always remain open to question.

"So, yesterday, the head coach turned to his rising frustration levels in this first championship with Scotland, admitting the 15-15 draw with England merely took them higher at the weekend.

"He praised the match official Marius Jonker for his early handling of the game, but it was obvious that the whistler lost the place as he issued three final warnings to England and still, when they were penalised again immediately after the third warning, he failed to yellow card anyone. Coming on the back of Scotland receiving two yellow cards in Cardiff and the failure of English referee Dave Pearson to send Italian flanker Josh Sole to the sin-bin for a blatant try-killing opportunity in Rome, one can see why Robinson is beginning to lose his patience."

The tackle area during Ireland's recent clash with Wales at Croke Park caused some confusion © Getty Images

The literal manner in which South African officials have refereed tackle law 15.6(c) since their arrival for rounds three and four of the Six Nations Championship continues to be a concern for the Irish management, according to the Irish Times.

"The problem from an Irish perspective is whether the tackler, who brings a ball-carrier to ground, is releasing the tackled player adequately before playing the ball. Irish coach Declan Kidney, normally non-contentious in his media dealings, was compelled to question, at Saturday’s post-match conference, why one paragraph of law is being highlighted by referees when others are not, and that it is happening mid-tournament.

"Kidney had “no joy” after a meeting with IRB referee manager Paddy O’Brien last week, which leaves a festering wound ahead of the Scotland match this Saturday, the last rugby fixture at Croke Park, which will be refereed by another South African, Jonathan Kaplan."

There is reason to think that Scotland coach Andy Robinson and his fellow coaches are getting there, despite the dearth of tries according to Allan massie in The Scotsman.

"Up front we were excellent in the loose and at the breakdown, and once again the back-row of Kelly Brown, Johnnie Beattie and John Barclay were outstanding. The line-out was very good. Ross Ford's throwing has improved out of recognition, and Alastair Kellock has been the revelation of the season, now surely our best line-out jumper since Scott Murray was in his prime. The set-scrum was again disappointing, and Euan Murray's apparent decline is worrying. A year ago he was regarded as the best tight-head in the championship; now it is probably only Moray Low's injury which is keeping him in the side."

An committed yet unimaginative draw with Scotland says a lot about England, and not just under Martin Johnson according to Eddie Butler in The Guardian.

"There was a time in the 1990s when England very nearly cut loose. But do you remember that when they tried, unscripted, their hand at running rugby in the World Cup final of 1991, they failed because they were more conditioned by the style of Rob Andrew than Jeremy Guscott? Even when they were very, very good, England were never at ease with freedom of expression.

"The same thing happened in 2003. The Six Nations grand slam of that year was claimed with a 20-minute burst of genius in Dublin, soon followed on the summer tour by a first-half of flowing beauty in Melbourne. And then the shutters came down.

"And that's where they have stayed. No wonder Brian Ashton lost his job. England is not a natural home for adventurous rugby. Even in the days of the 1970s when they had David Duckham and John Spencer in their midfield, what made England special was their absolute refusal to give their centres of excellence the ball. Frustration at the England style is nothing new."

Keith Earls dives over for his second try at Croke Park © Getty Images

Vincent Hogan salutes Ireland's economy of effort following their latest Six Nations success in The Irish Independent.

"In Galilee, they'd have put Declan Kidney in charge of weddings. We've no desire to blaspheme here, but that 'Miracle in Cana' business has, of late, been getting plagiarised by 15 men in green. If it's not quite a water-into-wine thing going down, Ireland's redemptive Six Nations charge has still got people checking replays for tricks of the light.

"How do they do it? For two games running now, they've let the opposition have the ball as if it's making a ticking sound. Then, sporadically, they grab it back and serenade us all with lovely little trumpet lines of creation.

"The possession and territory stats tell us that Ireland should be in crisis. On Saturday, Wales spent precisely twice as much time in Irish territory during the second half as we did in theirs. In total, the visitors won twice as much ball in open play and completed 187 passes to Ireland's 109. Yet, from the slew of red advances, what exactly did they reap? Nothing."

Wales fullback Lee Byrne shows his disappointment at being sin-binned in their loss to Ireland in The Independent.

“I'm gutted. I let the boys down. I take responsibility for being sin-binned. Ireland scored 10 points when I was off the field. It was a key moment of the game. Yellow cards almost always are at this level.

“I don't need to be told how costly they can be, particularly after what happened at Twickenham. The coaches have drummed into us the importance of keeping our discipline. I didn't. And I hold my hands up.

“So what happened in the 25th minute? Well I was in the bottom of a ruck in their 22 and was on the wrong side. As they went to move the ball away I just caught the ball with my hand. It wasn't deliberate, but I'm not going to quibble. The referee had just issued us a warning. I shouldn't have been there.”

Owen Slot digs up some stats and reviews a sorry state of affairs following the Calcutta Cup anti-climax in The Times.

"Really, it is a sporting miracle that Scotland can match England in the Six Nations Championship. Let alone occasionally beat them. Did you know, Johnnie Beattie said shortly after winning the man-of-the-match award, that there are as many registered referees in England as there are registered players in Scotland?

"I didn’t know, so I went back and checked and found that Beattie had got his information horribly wrong. Probably all those endorphins still rattling through his veins after showing England what a back-row forward can do when he is not only big, but fast and intelligent, too.

"No, Beattie is way out with his stats. There are 38,019 registered referees in England, which actually significantly outnumbers Scottish rugby players. There are only 32,817 registered players in Scotland. Measured head to head, there are 66 times more senior male players in England than there are in Scotland."

Brian Moore is mad as hell and not going to take it anymore following England's slumber-inducing display against Scotland in The Daily Telegraph.

"Can any of the England team, management or players answer the following questions: in which 1976 film did Peter Finch win an Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of the news anchor Howard Beale, who threatens to commit suicide on air to increase his show's declining TV ratings, and what was his signature catchphrase that was taken up by disaffected viewers?

"The answers are Network and: "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take this any more."
The England team, both managers and players, are on the verge of creating a legion of fans who shortly will be following Beale's disaffected viewers and yelling something similar at Twickenham.

"Further, their inability to front up and admit there are serious deficiencies to their game in public makes them appear like the film's Best Actress-winning Faye Dunaway, to whom the following description was applied to her character Diana by Max Schumacher (William Holden) – "indifferent to suffering, insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality"."

Brian O'Driscoll leads Ireland out for his 100th cap © Getty Images

Brendan Fanning salutes Brian O'Driscoll following his 100th cap for Ireland and cannot understate his importance in The Irish Independent.

"At 2.32 yesterday, a few minutes behind schedule, Brian O'Driscoll entered the arena a few metres in front of his team-mates and 81,340 people stood to salute him. His 100th cap for Ireland and his 106th Test match - it is a unique achievement in Irish rugby history by a unique player.

"When it was over and Ireland had sorted Wales yet again, O'Driscoll will have been happy that he was able to leave the field in one piece, having made a modest contribution to the win. It's not often you would say that about him. His commitment was typical but his radar was out by a few degrees. And yet had he been forced off before Wales had been put to bed it would have changed the mood of the place. Not because it was his special day, more like it would have been like leaving the house unlocked.

"Last week a Welshman, interested in how Ireland went from being also-rans to a nation that frequently runs over the top of Wales, asked us a pertinent question: "How important was O'Driscoll in Ireland getting to where they are now?"

Gregor Paul has run out of patience with troubled Chiefs skipper Sione Lauaki in The New Zealand Herald.

"Compassion and sympathy have surely been exhausted in the sad case of Sione Lauaki.He's had every chance to exorcise his demons; been given all the help - and more - anyone could ever want.

"And still he found himself charged with assault on Wednesday. Good will is running thin for Lauaki. It may even have run out. Once the judicial system has processed him, he'll have to face his employer. It could be for the last time. Lauaki, once an All Black of considerable promise, could become the first New Zealand professional player to have his contract terminated. The NZRU would see that as a disaster, but how many chances should Lauaki be given?

"He pleaded guilty to assault in February 2006 and was given diversion and then discharged without conviction. The assault took place in the early hours outside a bar in Hamilton."

Michael Aylwin hails the influence of the brilliant Scottish back-row after they ripped into England at Murrayfield in The Observer.

"This place has been a famous graveyard for English hopes, so here was a twist of sorts. A stalemate and a game if not quite as stale as some of the turgid stuff we've seen in this fixture in recent years then pretty ropey all the same.

"But it did not follow the usual script of Murrayfield ding-dongs between these two – you know, when England are mugged by a ravenous group of Scottish axemen coming at them from all angles, usually in the pouring rain, ruining the rhythm of supposedly superior players and laughing all the way back to the Highlands. Here, it was the Scots who looked the superior side – superior of wit, superior of pace and unlucky not to have notched up a third consecutive win over England at Murrayfield.

"At the heart of it was a back row who easily outclassed their opposite numbers. They call them the Killer Bees, a triumvirate of Glasgow warriors, whose battle with their opponents represented the different philosophies adopted by the two teams. Sadly, they did not leave the field together, a horrible clash of heads seeing Kelly Brown, Scotland's No 6, staggering towards the touchline just shy of the hour mark. A shame, because he had continued his form as one of the players of the championship."

Greg Growden believes that the Waratahs must keep up their attacking brand of rugby if they are to entice the crowds back to Sydney Football Stadium in The Sydney Morning Herald.

"The crowd did not come, but at least the tries and points did. So while the NSW Rugby Union bean-counters will have another restless night, knowing that a miserly 16,878 home crowd will affect the bank balance, at least the Waratahs players will be relieved their dwindling spectator base is no longer on their backs for supposedly being boring.

"And when a Waratah scores four tries for the first time in a Super rugby match, it is certainly time to overlook all the wide open spaces in the SFS terraces, and be thankful Drew Mitchell chose the right time to have a smart buzzcut hairdo to look really respectable for the cameras when he kept finding the line.

"Sure, the Waratahs kicked at times, prompting the occasional hoots and hollers, but they knew that if they held the ball for most of the time they had possession, they would reap the benefits. This was sheer Rugby 101, considering that before this match the Lions had leaked 18 tries in their first four games. This showed there was something rotten at the core of the opposition and it continued last night where it was soon evident the Lions had little idea in how to stop the Waratahs."

Mark Reason takes issue with England's back-row following their dour Six Nations draw with Scotland in The Sunday Telegraph.

"England will not have a prayer of winning next year’s World Cup until they sort out their back row. The three-quarters have taken a lot of stick this season, but how are Jonny and Co supposed to score tries when the grease monkeys who are meant to oil the machinery keep wanting to drive the car?

"Scotland’s back row of Johnnie Beattie, Kelly Brown and John Barclay, the aptly named killer Bs, showed England how to play. They run off each other’s shoulders and have fantastic low body positions. It’s all for one and one for all.

"In contrast England’s back row provides so little presence at the breakdown that you have to assume that they are playing to orders. Nick Easter, James Haskell and Joe Worsley all stood away from the contact area and let the front five get on with the dirty work."

Stephen Jones doesn't hold back in his assessment of England following their Calcutta Cup draw with Scotland at Murrayfield in The Sunday Times.

"At the end they couldn’t separate them; they were almost equally bad. England were ludicrously fortunate to finish level with a boisterous Scotland, even though Toby Flood dropped for goal and for some kind of tarnished glory in the dying seconds. It would have been a travesty had he succeeded and a scruffy kick that was easily charged down typified, in terms of execution and spectacle, the match. Tries have become an endangered species. So has flow. So has joy.

"The English self-delusion goes on. Such is England’s lack of attacking intent, confidence and direction, it seemed they were almost petrified to go for the win at the end, sending the ball back to Flood when it begged to be driven on. Apart from a few minutes in the third quarter and a reasonably lively bit at the end, they did not exist as an attacking force.

"Scotland will go to their graves feeling this was a wonderful chance missed. Dan Parks, who was far more successful than Jonny Wilkinson in ushering in something that passed for an attacking game, struck a post twice. England were also fortunate to be awarded the penalty that gave them the draw, and even more fortunate that Mark Cueto was not dismissed to the sin-bin for killing the ball only a few minutes after the inadequate South African referee Marius Jonker had clearly stated that the next England transgressor would be off."

Drew Mitchell breaks the Lions' defence © Getty Images

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Adam Freier uses the recent performances of the Waratahs to illustrate how big an effect long-distance travelling can have on a team.

"We hear it all the time in all the codes: 'A week is a long time in footy.' For the Waratahs, that week has changed things to the tune of 73 points.

"There has been much written in the past seven days about last weekend's four-point victory against the Sharks, and probably even more animated conversation around the bar. However, I don't believe enough was written, or enough was said, about the task the Waratahs had in front of them after being on the road for so long, and having just returned from two weeks in South Africa."

In his column in The Independent, former England boss Brian Ashton salutes the potency of the French midfield in this year's 6 Nations and talks up Les Bleus' chances of winning next year's World Cup.

"By allowing the much-maligned Marc Lièvremont to make decisions that seemed bizarre at the time – changing half the team from one game to the next appeared to be a firm strategy during the first two years of his tenure – the French hierarchy may have struck gold.

"The side is not yet a vintage one, but the all-round solidity of their game and the presence of a good many multifaceted footballers (as opposed to one-dimensional, so-called ball-carriers!) who make a point of playing the game on their feet make a strong base on which to build. Add to this a high work rate in defence and the rediscovery of a typically French brand of support running and you have a side that will take some stopping.

"There were times against Wales last time out when the French discipline all but disappeared: proof that when a team puts them under sustained, dynamic pressure they are as vulnerable as anyone. On balance, though, they are favourites to win the title. Who knows? They might even make a serious impact in New Zealand in 18 months' time. History tells us that they know what it takes to win there."

The Irish Independent's Vincent Hogan pays tribute to the peerless Brian O'Driscoll, who will make his 100th Test appearance for Ireland on Saturday.

"HIS first cap. He has forgotten many things, but not Ben Tune and how the world seemed to grow small around the big Wallaby that day in Brisbane.

"Brian O'Driscoll had gone to Australia fixated on Tim Horan, the best centre in the world and a guy he would, 11 years later, nominate as the greatest player he ever faced. But Horan all but fluttered compared to his team-mates in '99.

"Maybe he just got sucked into the worry of the day. Now, he can let an occasion float over him like familiar music, but O'Driscoll was 20 that evening in Ballymore; a tough, game kid who had yet to even play for his province.

"And part of him wondered if he might be about to snap like a brittle branch in a gale."

Writing in The Guardian, Barnay Ronay says that England are discovering that having a living legend at the helm will only got you so far at international level.

"England's Six Nations campaign has been a confusing affair, perhaps unsurprisingly given that Martin Johnson has had two years to grapple and grimace his players into what is now an unusually confusing England team. Mainly England are confusing because of the approach they take to not really being that good. Other not-really-that-good teams may ask themselves questions like, can we get some better players? Or improve the ones we've got?

"England take a different view. They worry instead about methodology. They seem convinced the real problem here is simply the manner in which they're not-really-that-good. It's as though this is simply a mild disjunction or a temporary misunderstanding that can be glossed over or jiggled into place. So much so that the England team now resemble a drunk man in a disco who remains convinced that if he could just douse himself in exactly the right strain of deodorant, or dance more energetically, or smoke in a really cool way then the slim, fashionable 21-year‑old women he keeps standing near will suddenly begin to find him attractive."

Ireland's Tommy Bowe and Wales' Shane Williams will go head-to head at Croke Park on Saturday © Getty Images

Writing in The Times, former international winger Gerald Davies compares two of his modern day counterparts in Ireland's Tommy Bowe and Wales' Shane Williams.

"Shane Williams is the present manifestation of the clever and witty rugby talent in the scarlet of Wales. Tomorrow another player of luminous brilliance, Tommy Bowe, will bestride Croke Park and wear the green of Ireland. What a contest lies in wait and one wonders what words the great commentator [Bill McLaren] would have conjured up to describe the special gifts of two of the best players in their position in the world.

"They are very different in style. Bowe’s talent emerges from a quiet moment as if having surveyed the scene after silent contemplation. When Bowe strikes, he does so from a point of logic and calculation; no darting and flickering. There is a stillness in the heart of Bowe as he chooses his moment. He never overdoes what is required of him. He is a calm presence.

"...Williams, with 21 tries in his past 25 matches for Wales, can be fidgety, impatient to get on with matters compared with the more measured Bowe. No one plays quite like Williams. What he does and how he does it cannot be written down. To attempt to explain what he does can go only half the way. To know what he does, he must be seen. Against France in the closing minutes he sidestepped, then leapt over the straying leg of a hapless defender without losing his balance and retained control to score his 50th try for his country."

Concerned by the war of words which he admits he helped to instigate before the Welsh-Irish finale last season, and which has been revisited this week, Warren Gatland has moved to ensure things “don’t get out of hand” by apologising for those infamous remarks a year ago. The Irish Times reports.

"A back page headline in yesterday’s Western Mail read “A Menopausal Warthog” in relation to a description of Gatland in an article in an Irish newspaper earlier this week, the general gist of which rather incurred the wrath of the Welsh newspaper which was moved to defend Gatland, Cardiff as a Six Nations venue and generally all things Welsh.

“The personal attacks on myself I can handle,” said Gatland last night. “That’s not an issue for me. But I think it’s different when you start criticising the fans and the team and Cardiff as a venue and stuff. It’s always been regarded as one of the best venues in the world. I just got a little bit concerned about that, and thought: ‘this could get a little bit out of hand’.”

"...“The comments that I made last year, on reflection, I knew they would cause a bit of concern, but what surprised me was how much it caused. If I offended or upset anyone I genuinely want to apologise for that,” he said."

Writing in The Independent, England's Toby Flood reflects on his bit-part role in this year's Six Nations.

"Replacement not used. Nobody wants to be that person, sitting in that dark place. But for the last two Six Nations matches I've been that man. I'm not going to lie, it's been frustrating. Hugely.

"But what can I do? There's only been one option as far as I've been concerned. Not sulk or mope, or let the frustration turn into bitterness. That won't help my cause and, more pertinently, won't help England's case. It's in the hands of gods and the only influence I can have is playing as well as I can when I get the chance. Whether that be for Leicester Tigers or for England.

"I'm just glad I'm in the 22 for this – sorry for the cliché – "must-win" match against Scotland. I had a bang to the head when playing against London Irish last weekend. Before I went off I couldn't remember any of the calls. Memory loss. Not great when you're calling the moves. The other backs soon realised, had a laugh about it and took over. I went with the flow and the most important thing was that the team went on to win so handsomely."

England's Jow Worsley is one of the game's great defenders and can be relied on to do a job against Scotland according to Shaun Edwards in The Guardian.

"Anyone wondering why England turned to Joe Worsley this week should have a look at the tape of Wales versus Scotland last month. Not the final four minutes with its 10 points; we've all seen that often enough to commit every run, tackle, pass and kick to memory. No, look at the first 50 and remember the killer stat – that in all that time Scotland made only two mistakes.

"Two mistakes in 50 minutes of rugby is, by definition, close on perfection. It just does not happen. Not even on the training ground, let alone in a Test match arena where everything is 100mph. It's like applying the principles of Swiss watch-making to the demolition business.

"...He's no slouch when it comes to making the hard yards himself but Joe is one of those guys who can be relied on to do a job. Most will remember his performance against Jamie Roberts in last season's Six Nations but Worsley has proved time and again that defence and dynamic tackling do win games, tournaments even."

The Reds' Quade Cooper is one of those to have caught the eye in the early rounds of the Super 14 © Getty Images

The news this week that the northern hemisphere, like its southern hemisphere rivals, will have to learn to adapt to the new law interpretations in the 16 months leading up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup, presents rugby in this part of the world with its greatest challenge for years, according to Peter Bills in the Irish Independent.

"IRB Referee Coordinator Paddy O'Brien confirmed that the zero tolerance of southern hemisphere referees in the Super 14 this year, regarding four critical areas, will be gradually implemented north of the equator. It is thrilling news for all those involved in the game in this part of the world.

"...As I wrote last year, all that is required is for referees to crack down on the players laying all over the loose ball, sealing it off and denying the opposition rapidly recycled second-phase possession. A healthy dose of yellow cards has backed up the strict interpretation in the Super 14 and, hey presto, we have seen some real rugby with the focus increasingly turned towards attack. I believe that, with this new interpretation of the existing law, the influence of breakaway forwards will, in time, be considerably diluted. For me, this is a huge bonus for the game."

The media attention has largely been on Brian O’Driscoll’s phenomenal achievements, as players from all over the world have waxed lyrically about the Golden one, writes Risteard Cooper in the Irish Times.

"Depending on who you listen to he’s “one of the best players in the world over the last decade”, “would most definitely be in most people’s World XV over the last 10 years”, “ . . . is the best centre in the Northern Hemisphere”, (my least favourite from across the water) “probably one of the best players Ireland has produced”, or (my favourite from across the sitting-room) “the best player in the world, ever”.

"When pressed to add to these assertions at the team announcement, Declan Kidney wasn’t exactly rubbing his hands with glee. His way has always been to deflect attention away from the individual, but he just couldn’t avoid it this time, especially with the main man sitting beside him."

Scotland attack coach Gregor Townsend played in only one win against England but believes the present side can double that figure He talks to Lewis Stuart in The Times

"It probably tells you everything about the relative strengths of English and Scottish rugby over the past couple of decades that if Gregor Townsend, the Scotland attack coach, does manage to plot his way to being involved in a Calcutta Cup victory on Saturday, it will be only the second win in a career where he broke the Scotland caps record before switching to a role in player development and coaching.

“The 2000 game, that would be the highlight of all the games I played against them, seeing as it was the only time we beat them,” Townsend recalled yesterday. “There were a couple of other memorable ones, the one we lost with Jonathan Callard’s lastsecond kick at goal, and the one in 1999 which was a cracking game and could have set us up for a grand slam, but we lost them both, so 2000 stands out by a long way.”

"In all, ten of his 84 caps came against England, at a time when the 1990 grand slam, complete with the great Murrayfield grudge match, and the near-miss in the 1991 World Cup were consigned to history and Scotland spent the rest of the decade floundering against the greater power and strength that England could bring to bear."

The late and lauded commentator Bill McLaren is the ghost of Calcutta Cups past and future according to Frank Keating in The Guardian.

"The friendly ghost so fondly whisping around the rafters of every stadium through all the Six Nations matches so far has been, of course, that of Bill McLaren, the BBC's late and lauded rugby commentator who died at 86 just weeks before the 2010 tournament began. Remembrance of Bill will be particularly potent on Saturday: the Calcutta Cup match between Scotland and England was always the good old boy's beloved annual feast day.

"The McLaren eulogies are launched tomorrow with a tribute evening at Murrayfield itself where a male voice choir and the inevitable pipe-band do the honours alongside such luminaries as Chris Paterson and the British Lions manager Gerald Davies in celebrating the life of the broadcasting legend.

"No man can have witnessed more Calcutta matches, home or away. If truth be told, the worrypot perfectionist in McLaren had him increasingly het-up in the week of any international match. A sure way to calm him was to evoke his recall for distant Calcutta Cup contests. The more faraway in the mists, the warmer the memory for Bill."

O'Driscoll joined the ranks of rugby's centurious last year thanks to his six caps for the British & Irish Lions © PA

Brian O'Driscoll will win his 100th Ireland cap this weekend but the Irish Times' Johnny Watterson insists the talismanic centre will not get wrapped up in the occasion.

"Now the shirt fits. In his first game for Ireland a callow Irish centre was in danger of being caught by a gust of wind and blown across the Australian landscape. Twenty years old and not a game for Leinster bagged, Brian O’Driscoll launched himself into a career that seemed to inflate season by season. Three years after that summer tour he was handed the captaincy. At 31, he hasn’t let go.

"Along the road the ill fit of those early years has become more tailored and O’Driscoll now speaks like a player who can respect the significance of his 100th cap against Wales on Saturday, even see the end of the career approach. But he refuses to be caught in twilight moments. With Wales to beat, there is almost a fear of softening, of losing control to the emotion.

"There is also an agreeably hard edge to O’Driscoll, a pragmatic streak and a stubbornness not to be drawn into a week that could wrap itself around him like a comfort blanket and carry him into Croke Park and Wales believing in every magical thing that has been written so far."

Scotland coach Andy Robinson is looking forward to his first Calcutta Cup clash on the northern side of the divide. David Ferguson writes in The Scotsman.

"He only played in one Calcutta Cup, in 1989, which ended in a 12-12 draw, so it was really when he turned coach that he got a taste for the ups and downs of the world's oldest international fixture. His first and last Calcutta Cup experiences as a coach with England ended in defeat, the final meeting in 2006 hammering a significant nail into his coffin as England's chief, coming just nine months before he was forced to quit.

"If it was a surprise then that he would look north for his return to the game, nearly a year later, to those outside, unaware of his quiet workings within the Scottish game, his ascendency to the Scotland job might have set off alarm bells.

"It certainly raised a few eyebrows in England and at the RFU, and this week there is a wariness over how much Robinson might enjoy putting one over on those who failed to support him in his hour of need.

"The coach himself was doing a good job yesterday of trying to insist it was just another game. He acknowledges that it will be special when the teams come out on Saturday, but up to this point his mind has been full to bursting, as usual, with analysis of the opposition, where their strengths and weaknesses lie, and where Scotland might effect a better return for their hard work and enterprise than that witnessed in three successive defeats."

Writing in The Guardian, Rob Kitson believes that the decision to drop Lewis Moody from the England side is a warning for his fellow veterans.

"They say life begins at 40, even for someone like Martin Johnson who has already achieved more than most people do in their full allotted span. The craggy birthday boy was reluctant to dwell on such peripheral issues yesterday – "Ask me on Saturday night and I'll tell you" – but his removal of Lewis Moody from the starting line-up to face Scotland did much of the talking for him. Should England underperform again, the longevity of several other Test careers may well be in jeopardy.

"That, at least, appears the subtext of a team announcement notable as much for the clutch of thrusting wannabe replacements as a first XV featuring Joe Worsley and Louis Deacon, for Moody and the injured Simon Shaw respectively. By promoting the uncapped Ben Youngs to the bench and inviting the Northampton pair of Courtney Lawes and Ben Foden to make an eye-catching second-half impact, Johnson has put the onus firmly on the incumbents to step on the gas."

Big names: Bryan Habana and Jaque Fourie have bolstered the Stormers © Getty Images

Gavin Rich struggles to get to grips with the expectations placed on the Stormers by the Cape Town sporting public on Supersport.

"Sometimes it is difficult to fathom what will really satisfy the Cape sporting public. Reading through some of the newspaper letters and SMS columns since last weekend’s big win over the Highlanders, you might almost be forgiven for thinking the Stormers are languishing near the bottom of the Super 14 table.

"With three wins in four starts, and a current third position on the log, the opposite is actually true. And yet you get the impression there are people who are expecting a lot more. It is fine having great expectations, but what are those expectations based upon?

"Since this time last year, when the Stormers were really struggling and were on their way to a 10th place finish, there have been two big name acquisitions in the form of Jaque Fourie and Bryan Habana. That though really is about it, and the bulk of the squad is the same one that played last year.

"So an expectation that the Stormers should somehow be doing better than they are now may be misplaced. If last March the Stormers had been offered their current position on the 2010 log table, and the wins they have scored, they would have been happy to buy it."

Peter Bills takes a look at the new-look Stormers and their water-tight defence following the opening rounds of the Super 14 in The New Zealand Herald

"The Hurricanes flew into an unseasonal heatwave in Cape Town yesterday - and strange happenings on the rugby scene, too. As temperatures of almost 40C greeted the Kiwis, odd events concerning the Stormers, whom they will meet at Newlands this Sunday (NZT), were also occurring.

"A right royal battle was under way between the Stormers' management and the Cape media over the tricky issue of entertainment. For years, it has been assumed that rugby teams in the Cape will mirror the local environment; entertaining and easy on the eye in one of the southern hemisphere's most renowned playgrounds.

"Suddenly this season, the status quo has changed. The Stormers, hitherto a side hell bent on attacking rugby with scarce interest in boring chores associated with defence, has the best defensive record in the Super 14 after the first four rounds, with just 38 points conceded in four matches, by a mile the best in the competition. The 33-0 dismantling of the Highlanders last week underlined the new philosophy."

Phil Lutton salutes the new-look Quade Cooper, superhero pose and all, following the Reds' promising start to the Super 14 season in The Brisbane Times.

"It looks like he's about to don a cape and leap tall buildings in a single bound. Reds fly-half Quade Cooper's new "superhero" pose before shots at goal is raising eyebrows but there's no chance of the Queensland star tinkering with a posture on the verge of attaining cult status.

"The comic-book stance isn't just for aesthetic appeal. There is much to admire about Cooper's maturing game in 2010, not least a new-found influence with the boot that has seen him slot 20 from 28 attempts in the opening four rounds of the Super 14.

"While his instinctive playmaking abilities have been earning most of the compliments, Cooper's efforts to pilot home five-from-six in his side's dramatic 23-18 upset of the Chiefs in Hamilton last week was the telling blow in the contest."

Mick Cleary runs the rule over the intriguing clash between Andy Robinson's Scotland and Martin Johnson's England this weekend in The Daily Telegraph.

"Just more than three years ago Andy Robinson was sacked by England. On Saturday evening he will stand, narrow-eyed and scowling as is his wont, as Flower of Scotland skirls into life and justifiably wonder if his opponents at Murrayfield are any better now than when he was in charge.

"If Robinson's Scotland side were to win, then the record of Martin Johnson, eight wins in what will be 18 matches by then, is not a whole heap more impressive than that of Robinson, who suffered 13 losses in his 22 matches in charge of England. Mind you, Robinson was unceremoniously moved aside following a miserable run of eight defeats in nine games, a terminal state of affairs in modern sport.

"Robinson has admitted to his own naivety in not fighting political battles. The one-time warrior of the rugby pitch had little stomach for the double-dealing of the committee room. Robinson had stop-start access to players and a schedule over which he had little control. All that has been rectified at a cost of £110 million to the Rugby Football Union. Johnson can pick and choose his men, play them and rest them as he sees fit, much to the chagrin of James Haskell's employer at Stade Français, Max Guazzini."

The Crusaders had pelanty to celebrate this weekend - not so much the Blues © Getty Images

Chris Rattue is tired of the cliches being spouted by coaches in the wake of defeats after the Blues' loss to the Crusaders in The New Zealand Herald.

”Coach-speak. Sometimes you want to gather up this self-serving nonsense and jam it firmly from whence it came. Pat Lam was "very pleased" after his Blues lost to the Crusaders in Christchurch.

“Why? Because he's trying to make himself and his team look better than they are. That's why. Which is why all coaches pick on little things that don't go their way and magnify them out of proportion to what went on, while finding tiny battles they won while losing the war. The funny thing is that winning coaches never add up what went wrong for the team they've just beaten.

“The problem with coach speak is that journalists are bothering to actually write this stuff down and feed it to the masses. In a 24/7 news world, you've got to fill the space up somehow, so this tripe gets an overly strong hearing. And if coaches stay on message, the message will get through.”

Vincent Hogan prepares himself for the latest bout of mud slinging from Warren Gatland in the build up to Ireland and Wales' Six Nations showdown in The Irish Independent.

”Well. I wonder what gentle incendiaries Warren Gatland has lined up for us this week. All may appear pleasant and tranquil right now, but it wouldn't be Ireland v Wales if Warren wasn't planning to throw his jacket on the ground and invite half the country outside to answer for some imagined slight.

“So, what will it be this time? Or, more pointedly, who? Gatland has a problem with Irish rugby in the way Michael O'Leary has a problem with the Dublin Airport Authority. He feels that business between them has been soured by a toxic, personal agenda which, I'm afraid, makes him snappy as a menopausal warthog.

“And just about as rational. In 2008, he played his 'et tu, Brute' card against Eddie O'Sullivan. Last year, he went after the Irish players with his peaceable "Wales dislike Ireland more than any other team" address.”

Brian Moore gets the Celtic view on England's continuing creative problems ahead of the next round of Six Nations action in The Daily Telegraph.

"The assumption that any given Six Nations game is one which England have a good chance of winning relies on results over the past 25 years. At one time this was justified, but if this notion is still entertained by England supporters they are a dwindling set that is badly out of kilter with the view from other countries.

"England fans have sometimes taken too little effort to examine the efficacy of what has and is being done with the advantages of England's greater playing and financial resources; as if these are in some way intrinsically meritorious and taking the attitude: 'sod you; we're still rich'.

"It was therefore instructive to listen, as I did recently, to disinterested views on the recent and current state of English international and club rugby."

Australian legend John Eales explains in the Sydney Morning Herald that the Reds Super 14 franchise management has taken a positive step to recovery by alerting the ARU of their financial problems.

"The good news is that after years of insularity, hubris and a sense that the normal rules don’t apply to them, they have taken a dose of reality.

"Much like an alcoholic at an AA meeting, they have stepped forth and admitted they have a problem. While a long way from regaining the confidence of those nearest and dearest, they have at least begun the journey."

Talismanic captain Brian O'Driscoll will win his 100th Ireland cap against Wales next weekend © Getty Images

Rugby doesn’t have the concept of the street footballer but it ought to be coined for Ireland's Brian O’Driscoll, with all that says about a fighter’s heart and a winner’s mind. Denis Walsh writes in the Sunday Times.

"O’Driscoll’s tolerance for punishment has been an extraordinary feature of his career. Last season, England roughed him up in Croke Park with some late hits, two of them in the space of five minutes, one on the sternum, one on the temple. After the blow to the head he had what he described later as a “piercing, splitting headache”, and the Irish medical staff considered pulling him ashore. But with this commotion going on inside his skull he scored the match-winning try through a ruck of bodies, diving under Julian White and Nick Kennedy, two massive English forwards.

"Such episodes of courage and defiance have defined O’Driscoll’s career. The tries and moments of intuitive brilliance with the ball in hand have colonised the highlights reels but the essence of him as a player is much greater than that. [Phil] Larder puts it well: “What sets him apart is what he has between the ears. The mental toughness. He is what I would call a warrior. He puts his body on the line all the time and that inspires others to follow him. I would say it’s not very often that his body is 100% going onto the field.”

England travel to Scotland this week on the brink of a crisis. From those promising beginnings against Wales, which went some way to erasing the memories of an awful autumn series, the team has regressed according to Paul Ackford in the Sunday Telegraph.

"Against Italy, the side flared brightly in the opening quarter only to fade to constipation, and last week's effort against Ireland merely confirmed that England still find tries disturbingly hard to come by.

"Worse, several key individuals are in decline. Nick Easter, James Haskell, Lewis Moody and Dylan Hartley, hard-edged and productive in the first week of the championship, played poorly against Ireland, and there is, as yet, no evidence that a midfield of Riki Flutey and Mathew Tait can discover the empathy and wherewithal to break down defences. In terms of marks out of 10 for delivering steady improvement, England barely rate a lowly four, and that's generous."

The credentials of players and coaches will be at risk as 2006 English champions Sale take on Northampton at Edgeley Park, according to Stuart Barnes in the Sunday Times.

"Have only four years passed since Brian Kennedy saw the realisation of his dreams as Sale’s owner? The club had surged to the top of the English club game with a 45-20 demolition job on England’s sturdiest club, Leicester, in the Premiership final. The northwest had conquered in the southeast and the future seemed Sale’s.

"Now the excitement has been replaced by a sense of inexorable decline with Charlie Hodgson in the midst of the rise and fall, watching giants of the game come and go. Sebastien Chabal symbolised the team’s strength and swashbuckling style. French front-row internationals such as Sebastien Bruno and Lionel Faure were scrum ogres and Jason White was a fearsome presence in the back row. Then there was the best of them all, Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, unarguably the best back-row forward playing in Britain; all gone.

"So, too, the dynamite that was the thunder-thighs centre Luke McAlister and Scotland strong man Rory Lamont. And, above all, Philippe Saint-André, the director who pulled it all together; he left for the various allures of Toulon and the promise of a budget to compete with the best. He took Lobbe, Sale’s best. Now he has taken Dean Schofield, Sale’s loyalist."

Writing in The Scotsman, Iain Morrison speaks to Scotland coach Andy Robinson as he prepares to take on his countrymen from England.

"The Scotland coach makes no pretence of keeping his cool on the sidelines or anywhere else for that matter. When a player in blue takes a big hit Robinson flinches, when the scrum creaks the coach is physically straining every sinew. As the drama unfolded in the final minutes of the last two games it was all Robinson could do to stop himself marching onto the field, rolling up his sleeves and closing out the game himself. He eats, breathes and sleeps the sport. He is four-fifths coach, two-thirds fan and anything that's left over is, well, probably thrown into refereeing. They could do with the help.

"Now Robinson is sitting in his Murrayfield office nursing a zero and three Six Nations record while contemplating a match against Scotland's oldest rivals who just happen to be his former team. Add to the mix the fact that England boss Martin Johnson joined the chorus demanding Robinson's head back in 2006 before, following the brief interregnum of Brian Ashton, replacing him on the Twickenham throne. Alfred Hitchcock couldn't begin to do justice to the psychodrama that threatens to unfold at Murrayfield on Saturday, so is Robinson really going to claim that this is "just another match"?"

The public want England to put on a show but that is nonsense because it's 'win first, entertain second' insists David Flatman in the Indepdendent on Sunday.

"The challenge is to find a way to win, whatever the situation. This was a trait of that 2003 England team which seemed inbuilt, but was the result of years of work, of consistent selection and, along the way, some painful losses. Winning is a behaviour more than it is a habit; it is not something that just happens. And it happens to be the most important thing in sport.

"To win or to put on a show? This seems to be the question of the day. If you ask any professional athlete, the answer will prove predictable but the all-important viewer at home might feel differently. People put aside time to tune in and expect to be entertained and this is why, even after winning a horribly awkward game in Italy, English heads were being called for.

"It is, I think, a conundrum with a very simple answer; win first, entertain second. The ultimate aim is to make victory itself the prize, not just the fun bits. Success needs to become fashionable again, and boring wins might just be the place to start."

Scotland and Wales are works in progress and even Italy are improving, but at Twickenham there is only gloom according to Eddie Butler in The Observer.

"Defeat may have taken a weight off their broad shoulders, but the mood of Twickenham, restlessly muted even before the ball was kicked into play eight days ago, seems to have stuck. England are struggling and everything that has happened since their first taste of defeat in this year's Six Nations seems to have made the gloom darker.

"Blame for a style drawn from the cautious side of undemonstrative has been pinned on relegation in the Guinness Premiership, the trapdoor that apparently makes every player afraid to take a bold step. Such an influence on the national game may come as something of a surprise to the think-tanks at Leeds, Worcester and Sale, who might be excused for feeling that if they had a few more fully fit England internationals in their ranks they might not be in the dogfight to avoid the drop.

"There is an extension of the English malaise, in that it dominates coverage of the Six Nations and spreads into corners where rugby may not be viewed quite so lugubriously. Wales, for example, do not seem to be glum, despite having a record of hysteria that should make Martin Johnson the Mr Happy of Euphoria Street."

If Sonny Bill Williams wants to play in 2011 Rugby World Cup he has a major philosophical decision to make, according to Gregor Paul in the Herald on Sunday.

"The pain will start in his wallet. He's a phenomenal athlete. He was a brilliant rugby league player and the poster boy of the NRL. That was enough for Toulon, a club with deep pockets and a volatile owner, to offer him an estimated $600,000 a season. He won't get anywhere near that to come home. Toulon are not the bastion of financial prudence, though.

"Ambition has been allowed to distort good judgement and their wage bill is skyscraper high. French club rugby does not practice restraint and Williams has been the beneficiary of the think big, spend big approach that is rife in the Top 14.

In almost two seasons, he has played just 19 games, switching between centre and wing, and recently he has been pushed into the back row in the final quarter. Currently sitting in fifth place, Toulon are content they have had value for money from Williams. But the New Zealand Rugby Union are a different kettle of fish. They don't benefit from the largesse of a tycoon owner. They have a more defined system of financial accountability and they also have a treasured brand to protect."

Ireland celebrate scoring a try against England at Twickenham last time out © Getty Images

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley talks to Ireland defensive coach Les Kiss ahead of their latest Six Nations clash with Wales.

"In the fall-out from Paris, no one would have spent more time analysing the DVD than Les Kiss. A defensive system that had become the envy of the other teams in last season’s Six Nations conceded as many tries in Stade de France as it did in all five games last season. That hurt.

"Kiss is a deep-thinking, slightly alternative defensive coach. He doesn’t seem to analyse performances in terms of tackle counts and missed tackles. He’s guarded about his modus operandi, and takes a somewhat personalised, holistic view, with the defensive and offensive performances inextricably linked. So he particularly enjoyed the way Cian Healy and Keith Earls forced that turnover after 13 phases of English recycling from which Ireland stealthily struck for their first try. In any event, the bottom line is about scoring more points than the opposition."

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Wynne Gray suggests that the openside jobshare concept may get another international chance this year.

"The All Blacks tried a dual-flanker system last year when captain Richie McCaw was injured.

"Rather than promote specialist opensider Tanerau Latimer for his debut, the selectors chose to use Adam Thomson in that jersey with Kieran Read on the blindside. They were to share the scavenging duties. It was a tactic the All Blacks tried with the same players against Scotland at Murrayfield in 2008. Evidence of its success was mixed but in the absence of McCaw, the experiment was repeated last year at Carisbrook.

"Thomson broke a hand and had to be replaced but before he departed, the left and right breakaway scheme offered little hope of longevity. It did not seem to fit the New Zealand rugby psyche or the well-worn methods of balance in the loose forwards. This season, though, the jobshare concept may get another international chance. Crusaders flankers McCaw and George Whitelock will trial the idea against the Blues tonight to see if they can set up a twin-steal operation on each side of the park."

The harshest thing about losing is that it opens the door to change and England must embrace that opportunity according to Will Greenwood in the Daily Telegraph.

"England lost the [Ireland] match, confirming my biggest fear that the current side can outplay opponents and still not win games. When the chips were down, England had neither the class to create and take three chances, nor could they scramble well enough to stop Ireland taking their half-chances.

"...Now Johnson has a massive call to make. Does he stick with the guys who have shown improvement but still look short of footballing ability and raw speed? Or does he twist and pick players who seem to carry those attributes in club rugby but are untested at the highest level. I know that it is easy to dissect a team from the living room and with the benefit of hindsight. Even so, I think there are some changes that would benefit England."

The Scotsman's Allan Massie believes Scotland can learn a thing or two from France and their coach Marc Lievremont.

"Andy Robinson may be excused if he ever looks enviously across the Channel, and not only because his French counterpart Marc Lievremont has put together a side which looks capable of winning a Grand Slam and will indeed do so if they beat Italy and then England in Paris. It is, however, the depth of talent at Lievremont's disposal which must have the Scotland coach a bit green-eyed.

"...Since becoming French coach after the 2007 World Cup, Lievremont has shuffled his team energetically, selecting almost three complete XVs in three seasons. Some people, even in France, thought this a bit crazy, but, if it was madness, it now appears that there was method in it. There will still be changes between now and the 2011 World Cup, but they are likely to be made on form rather than as an experiment in progress. He has evidently been working towards a settled team, and the results are showing."

After defeat against Italy, Scotland coach Andy Robinson must prepare his side to face his own former team, England. A tough week ahead? It certainly will be for his players according to Chris Hewett in The Independent.

"'Show me a good loser," said the great gridiron coach Vince Lombardi, undisputed world champion of the sporting one-liner, "and I'll show you a loser." Andy Robinson would not have been much use to him as a demonstration model.

Robinson knows what it is to lose – his Scotland team currently sit at the foot of the Six Nations table, with nothing but a big fat zero to show from their three outings to date – but if there is anyone in this world who loathes the feeling more, he is hiding in a cave somewhere.

"Defeat? I still don't get it," says the West Countryman with one of those trademark grimaces of his. "I don't understand it, and there's nothing in my character that makes me want to understand it. I think I've become a little better at rationalising and verbalising things in public, but I hate the feeling of losing and always will. It makes me angry." Have the Scotland players seen that anger at first hand? "Oh yeah. They got a load of it after the Wales game."

Northampton and former Sale star Argentinian Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe has launched an attack on the Sharks' owner Brian Kennedy and blamed him for the side's decline in fortunes. He talks to Mike Averis in The Guardian.

""We were a great team," said Lobbe. "Why did it change? Why don't you ask the owner. Not for nothing have they lost three captains in the last three years – Jason White, my brother [Juan Martin] and this year Dean Schofield – he is going to Toulon. If you want to keep a team together, you try to keep the captain. It's an example for the other players.

"I don't want to get involved in the politics of the club, but the facts show that the best players go away."

"Lobbe will be back at Edgeley Park tomorrow when Northampton, second in the Premiership but with a game in hand, play Sale who are level on points with Leeds, the side currently standing on the relegation trapdoor. The trouble for Sale is that Leeds, pre-season favourites for the drop, have hit a patch of form and won their last two games, while Sale are having their worst run in a decade."

England manager Martin Johnson holds court with the English media at their palacial Surrey base in 2008 © Getty Images

Hugh Farrelly reflects on his Six Nations travels with his latest piece for the Irish Independent.

"Low points have included the decision to try pork scratchings in London on a 'when in Rome' basis (tooth-crackingly hard on the outside, a stomach-heaving mush of fat on the inside, they are the snack of choice for Hitler, Saddam and the boys in the pub of the damned).

"Earning the howled indignation of a Parisien taxi driver when a tired and emotional colleague insisted on sleeping with his head in your lap was another unpleasant, and misconstrued, moment. (Tipping in these circumstances is not easy, particularly when your man bag adds to the confusion.) However, the high point thus far was unquestionably the Twickenham press box last weekend.

"The English rugby media are, individually, some of the best and friendliest in the business. Collectively, it can be hard to avoid the sense -- from certain quarters -- of being regarded as country bumpkins mixing with the aristocracy. Tug your forelock, snaffle a few leftover pies and take your seat ... happy to be here, sir. It makes victory all the sweeter but, completely outnumbered, you cannot overtly express that sense of satisfaction, so you catch the eyes of your fellow bumpkins and use a wink or a clenched fist to get it across."

Writing in the Irish Times, Gavin Cummiskey discusses the pending Irish Rugby Football Union's governance and operations review into Connacht Rugby.

"A major problem for Connacht is the consistently poor attendance record at their Sportsground stronghold, in contrast to healthy five-figure crowds that the other provinces attract to their home games. The average Magners League attendance for the 2009-10 season at the Sportsground is 1,900, and this was cushioned by the 2,435 who turned up for the comprehensive defeat to Ulster last September.

"...Speaking to The Irish Times last month, IRFU chief executive Philip Browne addressed the concerns surrounding Connacht’s financial situation: “The bottom line is the gate receipts and attendances. That’s where finance comes form – commercial programmes and attendances. Munster are drawing from two cities. Leinster are obviously drawing from the major population centre on the island, Ulster from the second major population centre, so it is difficult.

“The issue is that with professional rugby, ultimately, success is largely depended on having a commercial proposition,” Browne continued."

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Matt Burke asks how the talent-heavy Sharks can be struggling in this season's Super 14.

"Chock full of Springboks but somehow not finding that something to make them click. The Sharks have a monster pack. That theme of intimidation runs through numbers one to eight. John Smit as captain along with Bismarck du Plessis and Tendai ''Beast'' Mtawarira up front. Back that up with Ryan Kankowski and Johann Muller, and you have a pack that should deliver.

"In the backs, they have speed and panache. So why isn't it working for them? Only they have the answer to those questions. What the Waratahs need to do is keep asking those questions.

"So, what lies ahead for the Waratahs? After the performance in Pretoria in which they were innovative and bold in their attack, they face another huge task in overhauling the Sharks. The willingness to ''have a go'' was evident from the outset, which is something we hadn't seen."

Chris Cusiter can still recall vividly the emotions and atmosphere around Murrayfield the last time he was part of a Calcutta Cup victory, but by last night his head was throbbing instead with the memories of the Stadio Flaminio and Scotland's defeat to Italy. The Scotsman's David Ferguson reports.

"The Scotland captain had endured a "very honest" debrief with the Scotland squad that had run much longer than planned, as players and coaches ensured no-one was spared in their appraisal of a demoralising 16-12 defeat in Rome on Saturday. The players eventually emerged for a squad session striving to use the painful images to begin the process of planning for England's visit a week on Saturday and the attempt to salvage something from the 2010 Six Nations.

"I would like to say things have improved with time," said Cusiter, a popular captain within the squad, "but, in truth, nothing has improved in the mind after looking at it all again on the video. That was a very tough debrief, but a very necessary one for everyone.

"Everybody was very open and honest, words were spoken shall we say, but it was needed. Things needed to be said. Ultimately, it's about us needing to get better, recognising where we're going wrong and what we need to improve, and how to do that as quickly as we can."

The memory of the late Bill McLaren, arguably Scottish rugby's greatest ambassador, is to live on in a very tangible manner with the launch yesterday of the Bill McLaren Foundation.David Ferguson writes in The Scotsman.

"The charity was conceived long before the famous commentator from Hawick passed away last month and so he was aware of the idea behind it and fully supported the concept. The Foundation finally received its charity registration last month, just days after McLaren died at the age of 86, allowing the trustees to go public with their plans.

"The Foundation has been driven by John Thorburn, the Hawick RFC secretary, Brian Renwick, a former Hawick skipper and now a rugby development manager, and Linda Lawson, Bill's surviving daughter, along with its chairman Malcolm Murray, Hawick historian Ian Landles, Hawick solicitor Sandy Bannerman and legendary Scotland internationalists Andy Irvine and John Rutherford."

The case of David Attoub could show that rugby has a real problem with the application of cross-border suspensions according to Shaun Edwards in The Guardian.

"So what will now happen to Attoub? Clearly he and his representatives will know about Tincu and the CNOSF ruling, and they will also know that French justice has a habit of looking at things rather differently than perhaps we are used to over here. For example, back in 2003 Stade's South African-born prop, Pieter de Villiers, tested positive for cocaine and ecstasy. In most nations where rugby is played that would have earned him in a two-year ban. But De Villiers was tested out of competition and French anti-doping laws stated that players who failed such a test could only be banned had they been found to be taking performance-enhancing substances.

"As a result the prop got off with a three-game ban for bringing the game into disrepute. He would clearly have celebrated French independence of mind. But there are now suggestions that moves are afoot for the LNR and the Fédération Française de Rugby (FFR) to go further and to set up their own disciplinary commission for players who have been banned at a European level."

RWC'11 CEO Martin Snedden is confident New Zealand will be ready when the world's best descend on the country © Getty Images

Organisers are confident everything will be ready for the Rugby World Cup kick-off but a quarter of the public disagree. The New Zealand Herald reports.

"Rugby World Cup 2011 CEO Martin Snedden has "no doubt" about progress, regardless of the latest political wrangling over "party central" on Queens Wharf and no guarantees that Otago Stadium will be ready. Mr Snedden said everyone from the Prime Minister down is keen to see the World Cup go off without a hitch and reputations are at stake.

"The Government's reputation is on the line, a lot of reputations are on the line, including mine. A lot of people are motivated," Mr Snedden said. He said New Zealand world cup development is largely "greenfields" - unlike past hosts France and Australia, who also held the 1998 Football World Cup and 2000 Olympics respectively

"...Aside from the America's Cup challenges, New Zealand has not hosted an international tournament anywhere near the size of the World Cup since the 1990 Commonwealth Games. But Mr Snedden said the whole of New Zealand will be getting behind the World Cup - something that did not happen in France or Australia. "We'll create something that no one else can replicate," Mr Snedden said."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Peter Bills fears that South Africa might be stretching themselves too thin by signing up to a 14-Test schedule.

"These players are being flogged all around the world on the back of a nightmare schedule. Could it be that is something to do with their union's desire for ever greater cash flows for their business? Is this not an increasingly familiar tale in the world of professional rugby?

"Ireland's players should be grateful that there appears to be much more common sense in their union. The IRFU have arranged 11 Test matches this year, plus a fixture for an Ireland XV against the Barbarians. But of the top players, the likes of Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Kearney, Jerry Flannery, Stephen Ferris, Tommy Bowe and Jamie Heaslip, I'd guess they will play no more than nine or 10 Test matches in the year.

"That is enough, given the extreme physicality of this game these days. Unless, that is, you put financial profit ahead of the players' welfare. But surely, no one in world rugby would do that? Would they?"

There is something symbolic about the appointment of Eric Elwood as Connacht coach according to the Irish Times' Kevin Duggan.

"Even as the IRFU concludes a review of the Connacht branch and confirmation that contracts of both players and management are to be limited to one year, the future of the west of Ireland set-up seems to be entering another critical phase.

"Enter Elwood, a Galway city boy and always the embodiment of the higher possibilities for Connacht rugby, as he was one of the few who made it to the pinnacle of the sport while rarely straying from his base in the Sportsground. Elwood’s excellence made heads turn west. The hope will be he can repeat that trick in his new role. A hugely popular figure in Connacht sport, Elwood’s appointment comes as the province resume their Magners League campaign against Glasgow tomorrow night and prepare for a quarter-final in the European Challenge Cup."

While Danny Cipriani's voyage of discovery will take him as far as Australia, Olly Barkley's journey of revelation extended no further than Gloucester before he realised that the grass was exactly the same colour. Mick Cleary writes in the Daily Telegraph.

"The Bath midfielder, once every bit the precocious talent that Cipriani is, and with a few scrapes to his name along the way to boot, has returned to his roots with a view to establishing himself and tilting for an England place before the 2011 World Cup.

"Barkley, first picked for England duty as a teenager by Clive Woodward, chose to take himself off to Gloucester two years ago in order to stretch himself in a new environment. It simply didn't work out, and Barkley was honest enough to admit so, returning last summer to his boyhood club. The fatted calf has been on hold for the prodigal son. Barkley broke his leg during a pre-season training in the Algarve in July and only made his belated re-appearance in Bath colours a fortnight ago against Worcester.

"Bath is more than a rugby club to me," Barkley said. "I had no reason to leave Bath other than I wanted to test myself to see if I could be a better player somewhere else. I didn't want to end my career wondering about those sort of things."

New Zealand coach Graham Henry and captain Richie McCaw reflect on their quarter-final exit from RWC'07 © Getty Images

In the latest instalment of their series on the state of rugby in New Zealand, the New Zealand Herald publishes the results of a poll that surveyed opinion on who will win RWC'11.

"Kiwis are confident that, 24 years on from their last World Cup triumph, the All Blacks will win on home turf, according to an nzherald.co.nz poll. Of 600 people questioned, 59 per cent picked the home side to win the final at Eden Park next year.

"The next closest team picked to take top honours was South Africa, a long way behind on 17 per cent. No other team inspires much fear in the New Zealand public it would appear - just 5.3 per cent thought Australia would win, 3.9 per cent England and 3 per cent France.

"Social psychologist Professor Graham Vaughan said the result could be a mixture of patriotism and a belief in the home ground advantage. Prof Vaughan said he recalls similar enthusiasm about an All Black victory in the lead up to the 1995, 1999, and 2003 World Cups, none of which materialised."

The news of yet another Test match for the Springboks can only be greeted with a sigh, a shake of the head and a lot of muttering under one’s breath, according to Brendan Nel of Supersport.

"The World Champions will face a mammoth year, playing 14 test matches in a period where there has been much talk about resting players, and where other nations are gearing up for next year’s World Cup campaign in New Zealand. Yet in planning the most important preparation year for the World Cup, poor Peter de Villiers was not consulted, and now has to best manage the nightmare schedule ahead of him this year.

"While it is easy to be flogging SA Rugby for their decision to impose the heavy schedule, rugby is a professional game and when the going is good, money is there to be made. This is the primary reason for the long test itinerary, especially with the Boks, as reigning World Champions and Tri-Nations champions, being the biggest drawcard for any rugby nation across the world."

It’s a good thing for South African rugby that injuries and player departures have left the Western Force floundering at the bottom of the Super 14 after three matches, according to Gavin Rich of Supersport.

"The Cheetahs are more than just competitive against most South African opposition, and it is one of the great mysteries that they have been in so many Currie Cup finals in recent years and yet struggle when it comes to Super 14.

"Could it be that the Lions and the Cheetahs are both still recovering from the many years they spent as a composite feline force known as the Cats? Perhaps there is something in that. The Lions were certainly much stronger before that ill-fated amalgamation, and as Transvaal they won the old Super 10 in 1994 and were beaten finalists in 1995.

"The Lions did win the Currie Cup in 1999, when the domestic competition was played under-strength in a World Cup year, but they have not really featured since then. At least not in the manner that they did when Jannie Breedt and Francois Pienaar were captaining them, and Harry Viljoen and Kitch Christie coaching them, back in the 1990s."

With the championship reaching its climax, the Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly gives us the good, the bad and the downright awful in this year's Six Nations.

"Three rounds gone, two to go and once again the Six Nations has proven itself to be top-drawer entertainment overflowing with drama, controversy and intrigue.

"The southern hemisphere cynics will question some of the quality on display but when the alternative is the touch-rugby dross of 'Super' tournament, where tries are as plentiful as raindrops and just as tedious, then we'll take the Six Nations fare every time.

"The pick of the matches thus far was Wales versus France in Cardiff last weekend, a thrilling contest once the French took their foot off the pedal and allowed the Welsh back in, and a match that lived up to the pre-match hype and razzmatazz that arrives with a Friday night billing."

Mud and relegation - England's problems? © Getty Images

Robert Kitson believes that England's problems can be traced back in part to the Guinness Premiership relegation battle in The Guardian.

“It has been the same old story for seven consecutive years. How, people keep asking, can a nation with England's enviable resources again be out of the running for a grand slam, if not the title, with two whole Six Nations weekends still remaining?

“Coaches and players come and go but not since 2003 have the erstwhile world champions won three successive games in the championship. To blame the current regime alone is to ignore deep-rooted issues elsewhere.

“Events at Twickenham, for instance, may have less bearing on the England squad's medium-term future than two eye-catching scorelines from the Guinness Premiership at the weekend. Leeds Carnegie's 26-10 win over Wasps, coupled with Gloucester's 47-3 thrashing of Sale, has transformed the Premiership run-in. Suddenly the Sharks, without a win in their last seven games in all competitions, are staring at the unthinkable spectre of automatic relegation. Leeds, conversely, have prised open the theoretically padlocked trap-door. The bitter struggle to avoid the drop to the Championship – with Worcester also involved – will consume all parties for the next two months.”

Tony Ward lauds Ireland's resilience after they bounced back from their Paris nightmare with victory over England at Twickenham in The Irish Independent.

"It is said you learn so much more in defeat than in victory. At Twickenham on Saturday, Declan Kidney and his team bounced back from the Parisien lesson to produce pretty much the perfect performance.

"England's inadequacies should not detract one iota from an Irish win every bit as important in its longer-term ramifications as its shorter-term needs.

"This game, this performance and this result are all pivotal in the march towards New Zealand 2011. The nature of Irish rugby (certainly when compared to Saturday's opposition rich in cash and players) dictates that we can seldom take our eye off the next game, but in terms of full restoration of the confidence dented in France, this victory was critical."

Spiro Zavos reviews the performances of the Crusaders, Waratahs and Brumbies as they look to find the winning habit in The Sydney Morning Herald.

“Vince Lombardi, the gruff and iconic coach of the Green Bay Packers, liked to growl out to his players: ''Winning is a habit.'' This is one of those statements that seem simple enough. But why do particular teams have a knack for winning? How do they acquire this winning habit? These are the questions that give depth to the Lombardi aphorism.

“The third round of an exciting and well-played 2010 Super 14 tournament included three teams with justifiable pretensions to playing finals rugby - the Crusaders, the Brumbies and the Waratahs - trying to get back into the winning habit after they lost the weekend before.

“The Crusaders missed 23 tackles in losing to the Reds on February 19 and played with an uncharacteristic sloppiness. It was noticeable against the Sharks on Friday night that the Crusaders had upped their attitude in their tackling and with their control of the game. Some bell-ringing tackles were made. The Sharks were palpably intimidated by the ferocity and were unable to score a try. By the end of the game, with Richie McCaw back in the colours, the Crusaders were playing their usual precise, intelligent brand of winning rugby, scoring their third and bonus-point fourth tries in the 75th and 78th minutes of play.”

Mick Cleary has so far learned six lessons from this season's Six Nations in The Daily Telegraph.

”Well, it will take an upset of considerable proportions for them not to be the grand champions. Two home games to come, against Italy, who have never beaten them, and England, who used to do so regularly – eight times in succession from 1989-95. It was only 12 months ago that France came to Twickenham and were humiliated, trailing 34-0 after 42 minutes and eventually losing 34-10.

“What has Marc Lièvremont done to turn around an ailing vessel? There has been greater consistency in selection and a change of captain from Lionel Nallet to the stylish, all-engaging flanker Thierry Dusautoir, while they now have a tip-top scrum and a balance between brain and brawn. A ninth Grand Slam, their fifth in 13 years, awaits.”

Are the Chiefs the real deal? © Getty Images

Dylan Cleaver believes that Chiefs fans should be wary following their side's unbeaten opening to the Super 14 season in The New Zealand Herald.

"The Chiefs would have returned home last night feeling like all their Christmases had come at once - but there's a Grinch sitting in the corner drinking Ian Foster's eggnog. The Chiefs have beaten the Sharks, the Lions and the Force, three teams that look likely to occupy the lower reaches of the table when the championship ends. They needed a last-minute penalty to scrape home against an increasingly dysfunctional Sharks and conceded 65 points against a woeful Lions line-up a week later.

"The Force? Injuries have left them hopelessly under-manned. Those are the reasons for Chiefs' fans to temper their expectations, which have no doubt ratcheted up several notches, but there are many more reasons to usher the Grinch out of the room.

"First, you need a bit of luck when it comes to the draw, especially when you do not have the capacity to play opponents home and away over the course of a season (which is, ultimately, the only way to run a fair competition, but that's another argument altogether). The key is to make the most of a fortuitous draw."

Brian Moore pinpoints the entire English backline, not just Jonny Wilkinson, as the root of their problems in The Daily Telegraph.

"The Twickenham agnostics (they have lapsed from being faithful into this less slavishly adulatory entity), are metaphorically starting to hum this refrain after Martin Johnson's claim that England's narrow loss to Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday showed "there is still obviously a lot more in us".

"While consistent with similar claims of huge strides being made off the field, the problem is that it is still 'jam tomorrow'. The other difficult fact militating against accepting Johnson's assertion is that it is difficult to see under what circumstances such latent talent will come forth. Having forced Ireland to make four times as many tackles and dominated possession, territory and the set-piece scrums, England are unlikely to be able to have better circumstances from which to challenge the better teams in world rugby.

"Though they had all this ball, all these positions, they were still outscored by three tries to one and their crossing of the line came from good forward play. When they tried to engage their opponents with a more expansive game plan they were taught a lesson in finishing."

Wales fullback Lee Byrne is tired of conceding big leads and sees the irony in their current situation in The Independent.

"What makes it seem stranger is that Wales always used to be a team who would start well and then tail off as the gas ran out. Gas is clearly not a problem now. Yet starting well is. In fact, we're handing it to the opponents. I suppose the game against France on Friday night was a case in point. Those two interception tries were about the only chances they had in the first half. They didn't break us once otherwise. But they went in 20-0 up. Even they must have been thinking that "this is really weird". They hadn't stretched us at all.

"What was said in our dressing room at the break? There were no massive rollockings or anything. We just vowed not to concede another try. We achieved that. We knew we would score points. We just didn't score enough. We had the chances, mind you. I was guilty of kicking a penalty the wrong side of the French corner flag. What can I say? The adrenaline was pumping and the ball caught the outside of my boot. I probably couldn't do it again in 100 attempts. I couldn't help but show my disappointment."

Writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, Greg Growden insists his hometown Waratahs were undone by a Bulls outfit that is high on self-belief in a match full of quality despite the high scores.

"There will be the inevitable northern hemisphere bleat about Super 14 basketball blow-out scores. Let's hope they actually watch the Bulls-Waratahs match because they will discover that despite a tally of 86 points, this was hardly touch football.

There was upfront intensity and often dynamic forward play. Both teams pursued quality possession, with finely devised attacking ploys, executed at full pace, interspersed with excellent forward endeavour.

Still, what stood out most was that the Bulls have the same high level of self-belief that made the seven-time champions the Crusaders the driving force of the tournament until recent times."