Still no rest for the committed

Time to take stock on the international front while the provinces get their ducks in a row for next term

Aweek on from Ireland’s Six Nations triumph and the professional rugby treadmill keeps on rolling. The frontline internationals have a well-deserved week off and for some that will extend to a second free weekend, while a few of the fringe players got straight back into URC action with their provinces.

It will be really interesting to see how the frontline Ireland players play when they feature again for their provinces because they certainly looked a little jaded during the last two rounds of the Six Nations.

The last two rounds of the tournament gave England and France a great opportunity to integrate inexperienced players into their teams and to change their systems of play.

Everything the Ireland squad do physically is closely monitored and I have no doubt that the players didn’t overtrain. So while our dip in performance may not have been the result of physical fatigue, it was possibly due to emotional or mental tiredness. The beauty of the Irish professional rugby system is that we can micro-manage every player’s training and playing time by telling the provinces what they need to do with each player.

Our players were given ample time to recover from the World Cup disappointment with a good break to decompress. That certainly looked to be an inspired

Richie Murphy decision when we ripped apart a French team full of players who were sent straight back into Top 14 action on opening night. France definitely had a World Cup hangover for the first three rounds of the Six Nations, but the introduction of some fresh faces, and that bit of motivation you get from being written off, saw them finish the competition in a way that would make you fear them in next year’s tournament.

England, despite losing to a

last-minute kick against France, also finished strongly, and with good under 20s coming through and a domestic game where the coaches are by and large playing a positive brand of rugby, they will head on their summer tour to New Zealand in a great place. The Italians showed significant improvement, but it’s very hard to see them being genuine contenders any time soon. They will certainly be giving Scotland and Wales sleepless nights over the coming years though. Warren Gatland says he offered his resignation to the Welsh union in the immediate aftermath of the loss to the Italians in Cardiff which condemned Wales to the dreaded wooden spoon. His offer was refused and the show goes on. There is a stra