ON RUGBY: "How can you have a championship decided by the first match rather than at the end?" bemoaned English Rugby Football Union chief executive Francis Baron on the eve of the opening weekend of the RBS Six Nations. England were to host France in the "decider", a notion Baron decried as "ridiculous", with the type of arrogance which sometimes emanates from Twickenham and is guaranteed to rile all.
Well, one hopes next Sunday's decider between Ireland and England, in Lansdowne Road is not too distasteful to him, nor indeed the TV paymasters from the BBC. It was the Beeb and Twickenham who had reputedly endeavoured to have the England-France match moved to last weekend of the season. Given the current climate globally, and Anglo-French relations over Iraq, it's possibly just as well it didn't pan out that way.
Not content with the advent of Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon kick-offs, or the compression of the championship from 10 weeks into seven since agreeing their £70 million three-year deal for rights to the championship, it looks, alas, as if the BBC have succeeded in persuading the Six Nations to have the England-France game on the final weekend.
Such a decision would mean tearing up a 10-year rota of fixtures which had been drawn up and agreed upon by the participating nations when Italy joined the championship.
The notion that the Six Nations should have a "final" is utterly at odds with the great history of the competition, and while we should never be hostages to tradition, inventing a finale to suit one television station is not only an insult to the Celtic nations, but an insult to the event itself. It shouldn't need a fabricated finale.
What makes winner-takes-all finales such as next Sunday so special is partly because they are so rare. Amazingly, this will only be the sixth time it has happened, and curiously it is a rather recent phenomenon. Perhaps the gradual increase in the number of points per game has reduced the number of draws and also 50-50 games, so ensuring more results go to form.
In any event, in 1978 (Wales 16 France 7), '84 (Scotland 21 France 12), '90 (Scotland 13 England 7), '91 (England 21 France 19) and '95 (England 24 Scotland 12) the home team won each time.
Emphasising the magnitude of what Ireland have achieved in getting to within one match of the Grand Slam is that they have only been here five times before, achieving the feat on the one occasion they played the final leg at home (6-3 v Wales at Ravenill in 1948) whilst missing out in the final match four times away from home (8-11 v Wales at St Helen's in '26, 3-3 v Wales in '51, 11-24 v Wales in '69 and 9-22 v France in '82, when eaten alive by France after completing the Triple Crown a month beforehand.
As the dramatic events of last Saturday reminded us, the Six Nations is the greatest annual rugby tournament on the planet. Always has been, and provided the Beeb, Twickenham and, to an extent, the French don't mess around it with it too much, it always will be.
The Welsh nearly scuppered the plans of the BBC, RBS, the Six Nations, England and Ireland with their best performance of the championship. Ireland rode their luck, for it has also transpired touch-judge Paddy O'Brien had signalled to Steve Lander, in his view, Denis Hickie was offside when charging Stephen Jones's drop goal attempt in the last play of the game. But, as had happened four times earlier, apparently, Lander's ear-piece didn't pick up the signal.
The more Sunday's denouement has come into focus, the more nervous Ireland have seemingly become, whereas England's best, most patient performance was in beating Scotland. They also seem to have less selection issues on their minds. Basically, what to do with Jason Robinson?
By contrast, Ireland's management might ponder whether to play Justin Fitzpatrick from the start, though they'll probably retain faith in Marcus Horan; they'll hope Gary Longwell and Victor Costello especially are fit (which might mean Donncha O'Callaghan joining Paul O'Connell in a dynamic A second row) and they'll once again review the vexed David Humphreys-Ronan O'Gara issue.
Last Saturday was further evidence of one seamlessly replacing the other to telling effect; Humphreys for O'Gara at home to Scotland and away to France three seasons ago, O'Gara for Humphreys when saving Ireland in Canada, and against England two seasons ago while in some beaten causes whoever's been the replacement has regularly looked better.
One can cite defensive blemishes by both but both have improved immeasurably in recent times. There's been little wrong with Humphreys's tactical kicking or place-kicking to date. There was slight evidence O'Gara's alignment and distribution may have worked Brian O'Driscoll into space more when he came on last Saturday. The Irish back line hasn't been penetrating off set-phases, and has been less penetrating in the last couple of games, but this has been more to do with the greater emphasis on kicking. It's a tough call but Humphreys is the more match hardened at the moment. He has also fulfilled the game plan pretty much to a tee, has kicked to the corners, has landed his goals, had four good matches and even thrown in a couple of tries.
There must also be a strong argument for bringing Rob Henderson into the squad, if only as an impact replacement. Were Ireland to be a score or two down with 10 or 20 minutes to go, the Lions' centre could turn the game. It might be the chance of a lifetime, and Ireland may as well go for it with the best impact players at their disposal.
