Don't give me that pious nonsense about Wales deserving to win. Of course they did and that makes it worse. There's nothing sweeter than an undeserved win. Last year Ireland deserved to win and Wales stole it - literally. This time Wales deserved it and stole it again. The reason we lost to this weakened Welsh team are manifold - not least a criminally stupid decision to take a long-range penalty with 5 minutes to go, and inevitably concede possession, rather than kick for the corner and keep it tight.So another disappointment inflicted on us by this Irish rugby team. I'm becoming a bit sick of the golden generation stuff. They scraped a Grand Slam in a weak year and have been dining out on it since. They have lost every important match bar one over the past few years - usually to France or Wales. They were dire yesterday against a depleted Welsh team who played with far more spirit and resolve. They never seem to be able to bring their provincial zest to the Irish stage. Kearney and the front five should largely be absolved of blame but elsewhere there were poor performances a plenty. Bowe's fumbling and weak tackling cost us two tries, Darcy and McFadden were rolled over at will by the Welsh juggernauts, Sexton and Murray kicked poorly and gave away possession, the back row was largely anonymous (except maybe Heaslip), and there was a general lack of hard physical commitment. And, dare I say it, O'Connell's leadership has to be questioned. Maybe he's an NCO rather than an officer. And Kidney has blown his chances of coaching the Lions in Australia. He's way too conservative anyway - Gatland is the man for the job.
