In the unlikely event that you have spent the afternoon beneath a rock - Ireland have won the Six Nations championship with a game to spare, thanks to England leaving Paris with the wrong kind of bonus point. Eddie Jones' men needed a four-try victory against France to take the championship to the final game... and ended up losing, 22-16.
It was another pitiful English performance, strewn with errors and indiscipline. England conceded a remarkable 16 penalties, along with a penalty try.
Speaking to the BBC after the game, all-time sound man Paul O'Connell summed up the difference between Ireland and England, which ultimately comes down to the differing game plans instilled by their respective coaches. The clarity extolled by Joe Schmidt helps Ireland, according to O'Connell, whereas England were partly hoisted by the complications in their game plan.
What Ireland have is real clarity in how they want to play. Every player, from one to 23 and probably beyond that have real clarity in how they want to play in every part of the pitch from five metres from their own line to five metres from the opposition line. When you have clarity in what you're doing, you can execute with real physicality and aggression.
Joe made five changes for the second Test down in South Africa in 2015. When you think of an Irish team doing that in South Africa, they've developed great depth.
England today, because they are trying to play so much shape with the out-the-back passes, there isn't a lot of physicality to how they are playing.
I don't think Ireland will change much from what they've been doing up to now. They'll exit from their own half really well - sometimes they will kick with Conor Murray, and sometimes they will run it. They will run little three-phase plays off scrums and lineouts having seen little things that England do, and when they get into the opposition 22, they will keep it really simple, they'll be very direct and their ruck will be really good.
Teams that play really good rugby, there isn't a whole lot of complication to what they do.
You can watch it below.
