Rarely have Ireland and England approached the final day of a Six Nations championship with such wildly contrasting expectations. For Irish rugby these are truly the best of times. For their white-shirted cousins another winter of despair is playing out. It is hard not to see it as a cautionary Dickensian tale of two unions, reaping the results of their respective eras of wisdom and foolishness.
And if Ireland do complete a grand slam at the Aviva Stadium and reinforce their status as the game’s No 1 international side less than six months before the Rugby World Cup, comparisons with England’s current predicament will be all the more glaring. A huge occasion looms but Ireland, in reality, have long since galloped away over the horizon in terms of their developmental pathways and administrative vision.
