England need to get smart or pay price against Irish

THE quality of rugby in the Six Nations has not been the greatest, perhaps because we have not been fortunate with the weather so far. Instead, we’ve seen flashes and glimpses of what it could be rather than sustained excellence.

As we get to the middle of the tournament, France and Ireland are still undefeated and riding high, having played two home matches, while their opponents in round three, Wales and England, will be looking to stay in the title race by knocking them over.

Ireland had an indifferent start against Scotland, but I enjoyed their performance against Wales, where they played with such precision that they had time and space to create opportunities out wide.

That is something that England did not have in their opening match against France, mainly because of the effectiveness of the new Shaun Edwards French defence – while it’s possible Wales missed him in Dublin, even though by now his defensive strategy should be part of the Welsh DNA.

I really enjoyed the World Cup because we saw some outstanding team and individual performances, but by comparison, the Six Nations has not been razor-sharp.

We have seen a trio of Frenchmen playing at a different level to the rest, with scrum-half Antoine Dupont emerging as a superstar after two games, and captain Charles Ollivon and No.8 Greg Aldritt very impressive up front.

Josh Adams has also been a treasure on the wing for Wales – he is a great pro who goes looking for work, plays consistently to a very high standard, and gives it his all – but that is about it in terms of eye-catching individual contributions.

However, the TV audience has not been been hitting the off button because we’ve had close games with England coming back against France in the second half, while Ireland v Scotland was also close.

On the debit side I could not believe what I was watching with England against France. Most of the English ball receivers did not start running until they caught the ball, and it did not help that the presentation of the ball at the ruck was poor.