The Six Nations came to a close with the best side winning it, but Wales were not as convincing as a clean sweep suggests.
England and France may look back ruefully on what might have been in their games against the Welsh, but the Red Dragons will not lose a whole lot of sleep over that. They played well enough to beat all the others.
The mini-saga on whether the stadium roof should be open or closed was a bit of a mystery. Wales had not been scoring too many tries up till the final match, so they may well have been better off with the elements falling down as they certainly can in Wales.
Or was it all a game within a game? Bluff and counter-bluff seem as important these days as playing, so it could be that Gatland wanted the roof open all along and asked for it to be closed, knowing that Ireland would go the other way.
But what happened to the Welsh penchant for intrigue. We used to turn up at their mud-piles in sheeting rain and the welcome committee was usually their committee man holding a pile of papers.
“Welcome, boys,” – or something along those lines – "we have had a few problems with the changing rooms. Yours has got a couple of broken windows, the electric light bulb needs replacing and the radiator is playing up. Oh yes – and there is no hot water in the shower.”
Note the word ‘shower’ as opposed to ‘showers’ but this was all par for the course.
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Surely the national team could have impressed upon Ireland that there had been an elf and safety run-through the previous day and the roof was stuck on closed – with no chance of getting it repaired in time for the match. Perhaps the days of scoring points before the match are over.
The forecast in this column last week was a million miles off the actuality. Ireland never lit the blue paper, Wales won at a canter and England ….. well, perhaps nobody is quite clear about what happened there.
Scotland, to a man, should have a collective medal cast for them for what they achieved. Twickenham was all about the opponent being slugged, cut, hammered and just about out for the count.
However, the Scots asked the referee not to stop the contest and knocked out their opponent in the final round. It was the stuff of sporting dreams and nothing can be taken away from the Scottish team for what (and how) they achieved.
It may well have been the biggest comeback since Lazarus and they showed that modern rugby does not have to be all about whacking into the nearest tackle bag (sorry, body).
But the blame for the near-impossible turnaround now seems to have been placed firmly at the players’ door and England are planning to hire a psychologist to make sure that their World Cup bid is not ruined by the ghosts of 2015.
Surely it takes two to tango, so why is it all the players’ fault? The coaches picked the team and the captain, so what were coaches and captain saying at half time?
The Scots had a relatively simple task – improve dramatically or we will all be exiled and/or spliced with a claymore. England did have a more complex situation as the message could not have been that things had to improve.
But whatever did happen was simply not good enough and England looked like serial offenders when it comes to throwing away a decent lead with not too long left on the clock.
Eddie Jones went on to suggest that England players have a few hand grenades in the back of their jeep and managed to initiate an explosion when it is least expected. But surely we may reasonably ask why this had not been addressed before, when all the evidence pointed to potential implosion when seemingly clear? It may be that it is not just the players who need help in managing such situations.
But this is water under the bridge now and Scotland confounded all of us who watch the game. They attacked when they should have been licking their wounds and attempting to grab some damage limitation. They did not seem to know if they were Arthur or Martha in the first half, but by the end of the game they were heroes to a man.
Now it is back to the domestic scene and Gloucester are hitting some form at just the right time. Wasps used to be the masters of timing, their final spurt to the playoffs, but that is a luxury now that all the teams in the Premiership can beat anybody else. There are no certain victories and the best sides have to perform at all the encounters.
This is a biggie as another victory after Harlequins would maintain the undoubted momentum that the side has.
Cipriani might just be relishing his role against his former employers and team mates, but all the gas we have will be of little use if the grunt up front does not materialise.
The play-offs are within grasp but let’s not get complacent, thinking that it is ours by right. It will be when we keep winning.
