They looked better connected in attack with Ollie Lawrence playing a pivotal role and the impact of the replacements bench was so much more significant: Jamie George and Ollie Chessum came on and made a real difference but actually what impressed me was that Borthwick didn’t make changes for the sake of it.
In the past two Six Nations, Ireland have lost Johnny Sexton and Farrell but they are the team to beat as they pursue an unprecedented third successive title.
I believe they have it in them because of the size of their forward pack – Emmanuel Meafou has been one of the players of the championship to date – but they might just need to deny Ireland a bonus point and that is a tall order at the Aviva Stadium.
I don’t want to pin the blame on Matthieu Jalibert but I do believe that, had Romain Ntamack not been suspended for a reckless tackle and been on the pitch against England, France would have prevailed.
They played the territory battle so much better against France, pinning them back in the second half just as Ireland had done to them seven days earlier.
