SIX NATIONS 2015
IRELAND recorded back-to-back outright titles for the first time since 1949 after an extraordinary try-laden conclusion to this year's Six Nations Championship.
The Irish topped the table, on points difference ahead of England and Wales, after thumping bottom-placed Scotland 40-10 at Murrayfield.
England then fell agonisingly short by six points in the late game at Twickenham, despite putting 55 points past France and finishing the championship with 18 tries.
But the day began in Rome - and it began quietly with little sign of the attacking carnage to come.
Wales were struggling against Italy and led at half time by just a single point, Jamie Roberts having scored midway through the half after Leigh Halfpenny's cute kick.
It was time for the Welsh to move up a gear - or even several gears - if they wanted to keep alive any hopes of a third title in four years.
Warren Gatland's men duly obliged, and crossed early in the second half through Liam Williams after Rhys Webb's quickly taken penalty.
Within a couple of minutes, Williams had turned provider, feeding George North to score unchallenged.
And then the next 10 minutes belonged to North as he completed a quickfire hat-trick. His second try in the corner was followed by another under the posts, and the Italians were broken.
Down to 14 men for the second time in the half, the hosts shipped three more tries in the last 14 minutes.
First, Webb outwitted everyone by running a score off the back of a maul before, just two minutes later, skipper Sam Warburton joined in on the act, finishing off a fast attack started by Scott Williams.
Williams himself scored Wales' eighth try - and their seventh of the second half - as he applied the coup-de-grace to a sensational 80-yard move which had begun on his own try line.
Then, to their credit, Italy somehow had enough about themselves to score a late consolation through Leonardo Sarto and take their total for the day to 20.
Nevertheless, this was a record victory for Wales over Italy - and it was enough for Gatland's side to top the table with a +53 points difference, as compared to England's +37 and Ireland's +33.
It was now an awkward matter of wait and see for the men in red.
Ireland, in fairness, did not make them wait long, attacking from the off and succeeding inside five minutes through captain Paul O'Connell.
Soon after, their 10-3 lead grew into a 17-3 advantage after Sean O'Brien emerged from blancmange Scotland defending at a line-out to enjoy a clear run at the line.
And so, the Irish - 14 points up in 25 minutes - were already only a converted score shy of knocking Wales off the top.
But then came a setback as Finn Russell went over for the Scots. It would fail, though, to divert the direction of this match away from its inevitable course.
Instead, Ireland only came back stronger, scoring early in the second half as Jared Payne piled over the line under the posts.
And, late on in the match, O'Brien scored his second - and Ireland's fourth - after a series of attacks deep in Scottish territory.
By then, a Johnny Sexton penalty had already pulled the Irish clear of Wales on points difference.
Thus, the three-horse race was down to two, and there was only one big question left - whether England, on +37 before kick-off against France, could match Ireland's eventual haul of +63.
England, like the Irish before them, started well. Indeed, within 92 seconds of the opening kick-off, Ben Youngs had crossed the line for the first of a combined total of 90 points in a breathless encounter.
Yes, the signs that this was to be no ordinary match came in the form of a stunning French riposte.
First, Sebastien Tillous-Borde took advantage of some loose English play following a line-out to charge almost half the field and score.
Then, four minutes later, Noa Nakaitaci scored Les Bleus' second - having just managed to remain inside the dead ball line when grounding behind the posts.
Suddenly, France were leading 15-7 and England's already difficult task was beginning to look completely insurmountable.
A spirited comeback was required - and Stuart Lancaster's men at least delivered in this regard to set up the brilliant denouement.
On the half-hour mark, Anthony Watson scored in the corner before, five minutes later, Youngs crossed for a second time after a quick tap penalty inside the French 22.
George Ford then kicked for goal on the stroke of half time - and England went in at the break 27-15 up, almost halfway to their target.
France were not finished yet, though - and Maxime Mermoz's try from the first attack of the second half started a crazy exchange of three tries apiece in the 25 minutes after the interval.
Crazy, it was - but it was also entirely in keeping with the circumstances as England desperately chased the points difference and France bravely resisted.
On 46 minutes, the excellent Youngs burst through the French defence and set up Ford for a clean run under the posts - and, on 53 minutes, Jack Nowell waltzed through a couple of challenges to make it 39-25.
With Ford knocking over the extras, as he did all evening, England were back within six points of the Irish - but, just moments later, the match turned against them again.
James Haskell was at fault, landing himself in the sinbin for a brainless swipe at Jules Plisson - and France scored within three minutes of the offence after loose-head prop Vincent Debaty had somehow kept up with Mermoz and Nakaitaci.
Six minutes later and England's numerical disadvantage had cost them dear again as the French pack forced Benjamin Kayser over.
But, in between, the English had managed to score short-handed through Billy Vunipola to stay in touch of the top of the table.
Heading into the last 10 minutes, it left them still needing two converted tries - but Nowell halved that requirement by speeding through for his second and his side's seventh.
Unfortunately for England, though, an eighth would never arrive - in spite of a wave of frenzied surges deep into French territory which lasted until the dying seconds.
Lancaster's men had therefore finished second again - something which they done for the last four championships since their last title in 2011.
Encouragingly, though, they topped the try-scoring charts for the first time since then - and, indeed, all of the top three sides can take positives from this tournament ahead of the autumn World Cup.
Champions Ireland re-established their claim as the northern hemisphere's strongest team - and proved it by beating England for the first time in four years.
England themselves had earlier overcome any fears they had about playing at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff with an excellent 21-16 comeback win on the opening night.
And Wales recovered remarkably well from that defeat, beating Ireland at home in the course of winning all of their remaining matches, three of which were away.
France continued their recent run of disappointing championships, finishing fourth for their fourth consecutive bottom half placing.
Meanwhile Italy got their habitual occasional win, while being roundly beaten elsewhere, to clamber off the bottom.
Instead, Scotland landed the wooden spoon for the fourth time in Six Nations history, having been whitewashed for the second time in four years.
All of the tentative optimism before these championships north of the border has now therefore totally dissipated - though it would be harsh to land much blame at the door of coach Vern Cotter.
After all, the Kiwi has only been in charge since last autumn, in which the results were decent - and, if nothing else, this Six Nations has shown him just how stern his challenge will be.
For, as the match at Murrayfield showed, Scotland are a shadow of a team that Ireland currently are, even following the retirement of the legendary Brian O'Driscoll.
Yes, on the weekend following a solar eclipse over northern Europe, it was Ireland who were the team casting their rivals into the shade.
And it was Ireland who were the team playing in the light of their own glorious era. Maith thú!
RBS 6 NATIONS 2015
| W | D | L | F | A | (T) | Pts | |
| IRELAND | 4 | 0 | 1 | 119 | 56 | 8 | 8 |
| ENGLAND | 4 | 0 | 1 | 157 | 100 | 18 | 8 |
| WALES | 4 | 0 | 1 | 146 | 93 | 13 | 8 |
| FRANCE | 2 | 0 | 3 | 103 | 101 | 9 | 4 |
| ITALY | 1 | 0 | 4 | 62 | 182 | 8 | 2 |
| SCOTLAND | 0 | 0 | 5 | 73 | 128 | 6 | 0 |
| 6 Feb 20:05 | WALES 16-21 ENGLAND | Millennium Stadium | |
| 7 Feb 14:30 | ITALY 3-26 IRELAND | Stadio Olimpico | |
| 7 Feb 17:00 | FRANCE 15-8 SCOTLAND | Stade de France | |
| 14 Feb 14:30 | ENGLAND 47-17 ITALY | Twickenham | |
| 14 Feb 17:00 | IRELAND 18-11 FRANCE | Aviva Stadium | |
| 15 Feb 15:00 | SCOTLAND 23-26 WALES | Murrayfield | |
| 28 Feb 14:30 | SCOTLAND 19-22 ITALY | Murrayfield | |
| 28 Feb 17:00 | FRANCE 13-20 WALES | Stade de France | |
| 1 Mar 15:00 | IRELAND 19-9 ENGLAND | Aviva Stadium | |
| 14 Mar 14:30 | WALES 23-16 IRELAND | Millennium Stadium | |
| 14 Mar 17:00 | ENGLAND 25-13 SCOTLAND | Twickenham | |
| 15 Mar 15:00 | ITALY 0-29 FRANCE | Stadio Olimpico | |
| 21 Mar 12:30 | ITALY 20-61 WALES | Stadio Olimpico | |
| 21 Mar 14:30 | SCOTLAND 10-40 IRELAND | Murrayfield | |
| 21 Mar 17:00 | ENGLAND 55-35 FRANCE | Twickenham |
RBS 6 NATIONS 2015 TOP POINTS SCORERS
75 George Ford (England)
60 Leigh Halfpenny (Wales)
58 Jonathan Sexton (Ireland)
41 Greig Laidlaw (Scotland)
35 Camille Lopez (France)
26 Dan Biggar (Wales)
20 Jonathan Joseph (England)
17 Jules Plisson (France)
15 George North (Wales), Jack Nowell (England), Rhys Webb (Wales), Ben Youngs (England)
14 Ian Keatley (Ireland)
11 Kelly Haimona (Italy)
RBS 6 NATIONS 2015 TOP TRY SCORERS
4 Jonathan Joseph (England)
3 George North (Wales), Jack Nowell (England), Rhys Webb (Wales), Ben Youngs (England)
2 Mark Bennett (Scotland), George Ford (England), Luca Morisi (Italy), Sean O'Brien (Ireland), Giovanbattista Venditti (Italy), Billy Vunipola (England), Anthony Watson (England), Scott Williams (Wales)
1 Mathieu Bastareaud (France), Dan Biggar (Wales), Danny Cipriani (England), Jonathan Davies (Wales), Vincent Debaty (France), Brice Dulin (France), Nick Easter (England), Dougie Fife (Scotland), Joshua Furno (Italy), Robbie Henshaw (Ireland), Stuart Hogg (Scotland), Benjamin Kayser (France), Yoann Maestri (France), Maxime Mermoz (France), Conor Murray (Ireland), Noa Nakaitaci (France), Paul O'Connell (Ireland), Tommy O'Donnell (Ireland), Sergio Parisse (Italy), Jared Payne (Ireland), Jamie Roberts (Wales), Finn Russell (Scotland), Leonardo Sarto (Italy), Romain Taofifénua (France), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (France), Sam Warburton (Wales), Jon Welsh (Scotland), Liam Williams (Wales)
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