Eddie O’Sullivan believes improving defences are responsible for the closest championship in Six Nations history. Every team except Italy could still win the tournament with the final round of matches on March 18th deciding who will be crowned the northern hemisphere’s number one.
Of the five it would take a remarkable series of events for Wales to defend their title but Ireland, England, France, and Scotland are all in the running.
Even Italy have closed the gap with their defence-orientated approach reaping dividends in the most ferociously contested tournament since they joined in 2000.
O’Sullivan insists it is the focus on defence which has levelled off the playing field and predicts the introduction of a bonus point system which would encourage greater adventure.
"Everyone would now admit that the gap between the teams is much narrower," he said at today’s media briefing in Dublin. "Traditionally England or France were expected to win the championship or a Grand Slam unless they made a couple of serious mistakes and lost a game almost by accident.
"But this year both England and France have been beaten by Scotland, who were the better team on the day. Italy were always regarded as the whipping boys and everybody would stick 40 points on them but that day is well and truly over.
"Now the championship is much tighter. Someone said at the Six Nations launch they didn’t think there would be a Grand Slam and that makes a lot of sense now. If you want to judge the championship by flowing games and tries then it hasn’t been so good and that’s because the current cycle sees defences on top.
"The defensive systems that every side uses now are actually very smart and sensible and players are having to work very hard for scores. Defences are almost dominating the game and there isn’t the end to end stuff many people want to see. For the purist it’s great because we’re fighting tooth and nail for every score.
"The introduction of a bonus point system might precipitate more risk taking. Teams would look to score an extra try to get that bonus point and that would change the landscape."
Ireland’s title bid is back on track following their 31-5 victory over Wales yesterday with tries from David Wallace, Shane Horgan and Peter Stringer catapulting them back into the reckoning.
Although Ireland’s failure to put their demoralised opposition to the sword in the final quarter was a missed opportunity, O’Sullivan will be pleased several underperforming senior players gave strong performances.
One of them was Stringer, the Munster scrum-half who has been heavily maligned for the lack of threat he offers around the fringes. As against France his running game caused problems and yesterday he outclassed opposite number and Lions Test number nine Dwayne Peel.
"I was very happy with Peter. He picked his moments to snipe around the breakdown and he caught Wales off guard a few times," said O’Sullivan. "He’s not renowned for that. It’s something we’ve been working on with him for a while. It’s an aspect of his game that he’s been criticised for.
"We all know he’s probably the best distributor in world rugby and his kicking game has been worked on. Now he’s starting to break at the right time. Rather than just sweeping the ball away at rucks he’s now beginning to run across and pull in defenders. These are small adjustments but they’re buying time for the outside backs."
Geordan Murphy was another player to end a disappointing sequence of performances in an Ireland shirt with an eye-catching turn, earning a tribute from O’Sullivan.
"Geordan did very well. His performance was solid at the back. He made some good decisions and kicked the ball behind the Welsh, especially into the wind in the second half," he said.
