Observations in the cold light of day

OK, with a bit of time to digest the weekend's Six Nations action, here are some very brief observations:

ENGLAND - good, at times very good, but I wonder in hindsight whether we'll all be thinking "well, it was only Wales."

WALES - rubbish, with one or two exceptions (Bradley Davies, Jonathan Davies). Thing is, they've been consistently poor for some time now and yet no one appears to be seriously questioning Gatland's position.

IRELAND - phew, just got away with it. Outmuscled upfront and mostly contained behind - Ferris and Heaslip can't come back quickly enough.

ITALY - did what they always do at home and made life bloody difficult for the opposition. Almost a famous victory and it would have been fully deserved.

FRANCE - mesmerising at their best, but it's being conveniently forgotten that they conceded 3 tries and looked shaky in defence against a team hardly known for its try-scoring prowess.

SCOTLAND - can take heart from certain aspects of their performance and in Richie Gray they appear to have unearthed a monster. Euan Murray, however, might now want to also consider opting out of playing on a Saturday.