England should finish strongly but Ireland and their rusty half-backs look as if they peaked last year
As Warren Gatland says, they have forgotten how to lose and it is amazing the way they are able to ramp up their performance levels when they need to. That comes down to the coaching staff and their ability to manipulate their players’ emotions, get them to a point and keep them there. It’s 12 wins a row, they will be absolutely thrilled by that and I think the fallow week comes at the perfect time for them. I know Alun Wyn Jones said they wanted to play this week, they didn’t want to lose the momentum, but my question would be can they get themselves up again so quickly. If their win against England was their World Cup final then playing Scotland seven days later would have been a big ask. Their final match against Ireland will be fascinating because those are the two teams who seem most able to get themselves emotionally right on the day. Jones takes plenty of credit of that – to think he has 123 caps is staggering and it is not like he’s a 50-minute man.
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