Analysis: How do you complain about a 31-5 scoreline? Well, it's not that difficult when one considers the opposition's failure to compete. This is a Welsh rabble that England rightly put 40 points on in Twickenham. Scott Johnson looks to have aged 10 years in what has collectively been the most horrific week in the careers of both the players and management, writes Matt Williams

The 26-point margin of victory proved accurate, but a different contest seemed to be evolving in the opening 20 minutes when Stephen Jones orchestrated the Welsh gameplan of exposing Ronan O'Gara.

Coaches all over the world now know to come down the outhalf channel against Ireland. There are technical flaws in the way O'Gara goes into the tackle. He is too low, which allows players to offload. By flooding this route, line breaks are bound to occur. The English will come down here in even greater numbers.

The centres and backrow are not doing enough to support O'Gara and a 10-metre gap was at times evident when the outside backs rushed up in defence.

That's by no means the only Irish problem. The set piece play was very poor, with the exception of a very effective maul off the lineout. The David Wallace try came indirectly off this tactic. The leg power of the pack to get him over from the scrum was another example of this. Donncha O'Callaghan's presence was noteworthy - he has the best leg drive of any lock in the Northern Hemisphere.

Although the lineout functioned well, not once in the first half did ball go successfully out the backline. That meant no go-forward platform. Blame is collective, as the backs seemed to be mistiming their runs.

The backs again failed to click into the cohesive unit they have proven to be in the past. Even for Shane Horgan's try, two Welsh defenders on the outside went missing to allow the obvious selection for man-of-the-match to glide inside.

Horgan's enthusiasm was matched by Andrew Trimble, who showed excellent mental strength to recover from the Welsh try down his wing. I wouldn't personally fault him for it as he was right there and the bounce that took it away from him was cruel.

The scrum was going into contact way too high. Although it is a Munster trio, they are not working as a unit. Scotland may trouble them, but the English will rip them apart if this area is not addressed.

On a positive note, Ireland were good yet again in broken field, and their phase defence stood up well to Welsh pressure.

The problem of cohesiveness remains the Achilles' heel. They are not performing in the decisive or dominant manner that they are capable of doing, while the attacking moves out wide are over-reliant on O'Driscoll.

If Ireland generate enough possession they are a very dangerous team. The talent is not in question either. It's the direction of that talent.

After what Scotland did on Saturday, they will come to Lansdowne Road in two weeks with a completely opposite mindset to the Welsh. The Scots now have nothing to lose.

They are showing the signs of a team coming into the third season of hard, physical conditioning. Scoring points was never a problem for them, it was the defence; but two and a half years of work has brought them to the required level of Test rugby. Ireland should still prevail.

The outdated nature of the Six Nations points system was crystallised in Ireland's decision-making yesterday. Every other major competition in world rugby has the bonus point reward. It is ridiculous that Ireland, France, Scotland and England are all on four points. Under the modern system of the European Cup or Super 14, France and England would be on 11 points with Ireland on nine and Scotland on eight.

It would also lead to more proactive rugby.

O'Driscoll made the right decisions yesterday in instructing O'Gara to kick for goal, but if a bonus point were up for grabs the maul could have punished Wales further.

It would have meant the traditionally excellent Lansdowne Road crowd would not have become non-existent. Watching it at 3am from Australia was a difficult challenge. This Irish team are still capable of winning the championship, but to see them play at this current level is frustrating, as they are capable of so much more. That causes friction in itself, as the coach is seeing it in a different light to the Irish rugby supporter.