For three of the countries in the Six Nations Championship, the opening series of matches last weekend saw them get their challenges off with victories: England in Cardiff and Ireland in Rome won away from home, while France won at home to Scotland. An away win represents a good start to the championship for any side; a home loss imposes its own burdens.

From points north, south, east and west of London, the shouts are registering on the Richter scale: England for the Triple Crown, the Championship, the Grand Slam and the whole Lions Test team. Shades of 1997 when it was anticipated that England would provide the whole Test pack. What happened? The pack chosen for the first Test contained four Irishmen, one Scot and three English. One Englishman in the tight five.

These are early days in this great championship, and one of its great attractions through the years has been the unpredictable elements and the surprising results. Form turned on its head, and England, above any other nation, should appreciate that.

The noise from across the water after England's win in Cardiff last Saturday is a case of no variation on a familiar theme. Let me bring you back to last season and the first series of matches. The results were England 50 Ireland 18; Wales 3 France 36; Italy 34 Scotland 20.

In the immediate aftermath of England's demolition job on Ireland at Twickenham, memory is sharp of some of the comments that came from Canary Wharf, Wapping and the various locations of the British newspapers. We were told the England side was far ahead of the rest, that the Grand Slam was a foregone conclusion. Indeed the suggestions were made that perhaps they might seek their competition south of the equator, the other nations in the championship were just not up to it.

Now does that have a familiar ring?

Mind you, those sweeping assertions were made after a call from some of the same sources for the head of the England coach, Clive Woodward, following England's failure to reach the semi-final of the World Cup.

Last weekend, as England crossed the river Severn with the Welsh well beaten, we have got it all again. Here are some of the assertions: "Ruthless England in a League of their own", or "The best team in the World."

Funny, I thought that title belonged to the world champions, Australia, beaten admittedly by England some months ago, but an Australian team, if memory serves, which was well understrength.

"England On Course For The Biggest Grand Slam Landslide In Rugby History," was yet another claim. "Ruthless and Talented, Surely No One Can Stop Them Now."

Maybe all those claims will prove to be correct, but then again maybe they will not. By all means, give credit where it is due for a very fine performance. But surely after what happened in the last two seasons, prudence and caution would be a more sensible course than triumphalism, not least in the interests of the team. To be fair to Woodward and the players, they have been much more restrained in their comments. Experience is a priceless asset, especially for those with the wisdom to learn from it.

To illustrate the point, let us refer to last season yet again. After Ireland had been hammered in Twickenham, the next series of matches saw England beat France 15-9, with not a try in sight: five penalty goals. I think, too, that France finished that match with 13 players. The same afternoon Ireland beat Scotland 44-22 and Wales beat Italy 47-16.

Then Ireland beat Italy 60-13, France beat Scotland 28-16 and England beat Wales even more comprehensively than they did last Saturday, 46-12. That result was the signal for another torrent of words and forecasts. Series four in the championship saw England beat Italy 59-12; Wales beat Scotland 26-18 and Ireland defeat France 27-25.

Now reflect on the position that obtained on the final weekend of the championship. On April 1st, France struggled to beat Italy 42-31 in Paris and Wales beat Ireland 23-19 In Dublin. On the following day England faced Scotland at Murrayfield. It was a Scotland team that had lost every match, that had conceded 132 points and scored only 87.

ENGLAND had only to turn up to claim Championship, Triple Crown, Calcutta Cup and Grand Slam. The result: Scotland 19 England 13. England had won the Championship, but in their acute disappointment failed to turn up for the presentation of the trophy.

The previous season, Wales beat England in Wembley and Scotland won the title. A few weeks prior to that Ireland had beaten Wales in Wembley. Now equate those results with what happened initially in the series over the last two seasons and I think the point about caution is well made.

There is a long road ahead in this season's Six Nations series, there is a long road ahead before a Lions squad, not to mention a possible Lions Test team is chosen. The England team is and deserves to be favourites to take the title. But then so they were in 1993 and 1994 and 1997 and 1998 and 1999.

From an Irish perspective the win in Italy was very welcome. No, it did not by any means embrace all the virtues, but in the end it was more than sufficient for the needs. Next weekend will be revealing, and the meeting of Ireland and France in Dublin is by some way the most appealing fixture on the schedule. It will tell us a lot about Ireland and France.

In conclusion, last weekend was very productive one for Ireland at senior, A and under-21 levels. And produced a very interesting statistic. In all three matches Irishmen scored a hat-trick of tries: Rob Henderson for the senior side, Anthony Horgan for the A team and Gordon D'Arcy for the under-21s.