Writing in the Irish Independent, Peter Bills draws a line under the northern hemisphere season.
"Trouble is the countries of the Northern Hemisphere face their day of judgment in three months' time when the seventh World Cup begins in New Zealand.
"So, what state are the Six Nations sides really in? It depends which day and which mood you wish to discuss.
"Did we see the real Ireland in the demolition job on England which debunked the myth of a Red Rose Grand Slam at the end of the Six Nations in March?
"Commanding up front and at half-back, where Jonny Sexton has surely now nailed down the starting role at No 10, devastating in the back-row, where Jamie Heaslip and the rapidly emerging Sean O'Brien have made themselves indispensable to the cause, they squashed England's ambitions.
"It was the performance of champions, except that they weren't champions, because they had performed as dozily in their opening two games as a student who'd overslept, doing badly at a job interview.
"Italy should have beaten them in Rome, then an ordinary French team did beat them in Dublin. Scotland could have done so in Edinburgh. Rank indiscipline was the trouble in each case.
"Yet, the performance against England was of another team."
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