A four-try, 28-8 victory over a self-defeating Scotland has seen Ireland fix a hand on the Six Nations trophy: should England fail to score four tries in victory against France in Paris later today, then Ireland will win the title from the comfort of their hotel room. In spite of an emphatic Irish victory, (that admittedly owed much to Scotland's generously firing repeated bullets into their own feet), TV3 analyst and erstwhile Leinster and Ulster coach Matt Williams was unimpressed with Ireland's style of play. While praising Ireland's effectiveness, Williams said that their style of play was "not fun".
I find it a bit boring, it's not a joy to behold, but they're successful, they've broken the mould for Irish teams. They're winning, even when not underdogs. They're churning through it, but it's not fun.
His Tv3 colleague Shane Jennings admitted to feeling slightly underwhelmed by the whole occasion, in spite of the fact that Ireland moved to the cusp of the Championship in Dublin.
There's more in the team. Credit where its due, they've done something they should be proud of. What we don't fully appreciate is that we are very solid.
I feel somewhat flat, the crowd feels somewhat flat. I think it's the opposition, I think we all expected tow in today. I'm being hypercritical, we've done something we should be proud of. But I think there is more in this team.
Shane Horgan attributed some of the flatness to a lack of "romance", to which Matt Williams responded by hailing some of the characteristics of Joe Schmidt's Ireland, a squad which have ruined many of the cliches we once held dear about Irish rugby.
Usually, in the old Lansdowne Road, the crowd would be roaring on the underdogs [Ireland].
All those cliches, this team have wiped away. It's great. They are clinical and professional, we've never said that about an Irish rugby team before.
Elsewhere, Williams assumed the old Eamon Dunphy role of peppering analysis with inexplicable references to other sports.
DJ Carey, the great Irish hurler, said to the Leinster team once that bullying to be done let it be done by us.
