RUGBY: For better or for worse, England will come to Lansdowne Road next Sunday week effectively out of the running for the RBS Six Nations and down among the competition makeweights Italy and Scotland. Taking careful aim, England had far better luck shooting their own feet than they did locating the gap between the opposition posts as they registered a largely self-inflicted 18-17 defeat to France at Twickenham yesterday.
Incredibly, England have now slipped to three consecutive defeats in the championship, taking into account last season's finale in Paris, and the World Cup champions of 16 long months ago come to Dublin having slipped below Ireland in the world rankings, to sixth.
It's worth pointing out that they could easily have had two wins out of two, and all of this probably ensures that England are primed to produce a serious backlash against Ireland.
In any event, England have probably kept Bernard Laporte in a job. Had some bloke called Wilkinson (or O'Gara or Humphreys for that matter) been on the Twickenham paddock, Laporte's moribund and stunningly unambitious outfit would probably have been beaten out the gate long before the end. For the sake of les Bleus and their hosting of the 2007 World Cup, that might have been no bad thing.
Instead, despite not creating one remotely memorable or classic French passage of play, they overcame a 17-6 half-time deficit by dint of an aggressive defensive effort - led by Serge Betsen - and Dimitri Yachvili's accuracy. He landed six out of eight, and one of the misses was fractionally short from half-way.
Laporte, friendless in French rugby circles these past few months (off the record, it seems no coach or player has a good word to say about him), might take a leaf out of Clive Woodward's thinking and henceforth include Charlie Hodgson and Olly Barkley on his Christmas card list. They missed three penalties apiece, as well as a late drop goal attempt by Hodgson from the ideal position.
As an aside to the revised world rankings, no Irish team under Eddie O'Sullivan have lost to opponents ranked below them. That impressive consistency was maintained handsomely against Scotland on Saturday when, as is his wont, O'Sullivan came up with an ideal gameplan for the day that was in it, while still allowing O'Gara, especially, to play what he saw in front of him.
Needless to say, O'Sullivan wasn't enamoured with Matt Williams' observation that Ireland had borrowed from the manual of good old-fashioned Munster rugby.
"Yeah, it was percentage rugby, but Leinster can do it as well when they have to. I'm not getting carried away with that angle on it.
"I just think it was a good performance in that, as Paul (O'Connell) said, we figured out fairly early where the dividends lay for the team and had the ability to cash in on those at the right time. But if we weren't making inroads in the tight, we would have had to move the ball wide, and we had a plan for that as well."
In the circumstances, too, O'Connell's captaincy was just what the doctor would have ordered having deemed Brian O'Driscoll was unfit. For all their technical accomplishments, as well as a change in tack, the Irish team - and pack, especially - needed a little more of the traditional fire and brimstone.
And aside from the blood and thunder talking in team rooms, dressing-rooms or huddles, O'Connell's Martin Johnsonesque leadership from the front ensured plenty of that.
There's a Munster bandwagon effect mounting as well, for there must have been 15,000 Irish supporters in attendance. Though they were muttering dark thoughts by the end of the first quarter, they were cock-a-hoop by the break, and the second half was almost like a friendly, with quiet longeurs interspersed with The Fields of Athenry whenever Ireland cranked it up.
Briefly, fleetingly, after Scotland's second-half riposte through Jon Petrie's try, the game became reminiscent of helter-skelter skirmishes between these two in the past. O'Sullivan afterwards let it be known he "wasn't happy" with that development. Neither, clearly, were O'Connell, O'Gara and co, and the latter kicked to the corners again and the maul re-asserted its control.
After John Hayes crash-landed over the Scottish line in the 72nd minute, the departing home supporters were taunted with what some supporters maintained was "Here We Go, Here We Go" but sounded suspiciously like chants of "Cheer-i-o, cheer-i-o".
All roads lead to the Cardiff finale and the Grand Slam showdown? Hmm.
Tempting fate never sits easily in Irish sport. As Scotland motored into their 8-0 lead after 15 minutes, the tricolour emblazoned with the unnervingly premature inscription 05-IRL-SLAM which hung over the top of a large screen was removed - never to be seen again. Maybe there's a lesson there.
