Donal Spring/Rugby Analyst: By winning this afternoon, Ireland will win the Triple Crown, thereby ending a 19-year wait. I never had the good fortune to play on a Triple Crown-winning side, one of the very few regrets I have from my playing career. Even if it is only a mythical prize for a mythical competition there has never been anything mythical about the celebrations.

Maybe in the professional era it is time to have a look at the whole idea of the Triple Crown, what it represents and whether it is still relevant.

The reality is there is only one competition and that is the Six Nations Championship. The Triple Crown, as I understand it, originated when the four home countries, Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales, played each other before the French joined in to make the Five Nations Championship. Despite the addition of the French, however, the Triple Crown still figured prominently.

The French have always been peeved by the notion of the Triple Crown, which by definition excludes them, and the Italians must feel no different.

In a political sense the continuation of the Triple Crown up to Irish independence or even to the end of our membership of the Commonwealth made sense. But we are now very much Europeans and the only special tie with England, Scotland and Wales is our use in common of English as a main language.

It would be far more respectful to the French and Italians if we dropped the Triple Crown even as a mythical competition - that is after we have won it today of course.

During the amateur era, it was without doubt a coveted prize but it probably contributed to an Irish inferiority complex when it came to playing the French. Great progress has been made in overcoming this complex in recent years, particularly by winning in Paris. The quarter-final of the World Cup, however, was a major setback and we definitely seemed to be lacking in confidence and self-belief when we played France in Paris in February. I believe if we were to meet them again at this stage of the season it would be a better contest.

On the basis that I am confident of an Irish win this afternoon, I am hoping England will beat France later this evening in Paris. I believe they will and we will thereby finish the championship on a par with both those teams, with four wins out of five. That will represent a considerable achievement and in terms of world rugby is far more important than a Triple Crown.

England have, for many years, paid little regard to winning the Triple Crown, despite having done so on many occasions. They set their sights on the Six Nations Championship and Grand Slams and in a wider context on the World Cup. They set their targets high and to their credit have achieved what they set out to do.

We have made considerable progress in recent years and firmly established ourselves in a league above Scotland, Wales and Italy. We need to set our sights on a greater challenge than a Triple Crown, which in effect represents one very major achievement this season - the defeat of England at Twickenham. Anything other than a win against Wales and Scotland would have been a major step backwards.

I suspect Eddie O'Sullivan, Brian O'Brien, Niall O'Donovan and the rest of the management have always been focused on the championship and seen the Triple Crown as incidental.

Imagine, for example, if this season we had lost to France and Italy but won the Triple Crown. I don't think the management would be particularly pleased.

I am looking forward to this afternoon's game and I believe Ireland will win. Any other result would be a major shock. Scotland have been the weakest side in the competition and certainly have the poorest defence. Their coach, Matt Williams, will of course have greater knowledge of the Irish players than any of the other national coaches and is sure to come up with some interesting tactics in an attempt to counteract the strength of the home side. The reality appears to be, however, that Scotland don't have enough quality players.

I hope the weather will not play havoc like last week. The better the weather the more it will suit Ireland. The celebrations should begin at the final whistle. But the full fruits of the season may not become clearer until later tonight.