COLIN BOAG

In last week’s letters page a Mr Ireland (!) accused me of being curmudgeonly about Ireland beating the All Blacks, but the reality is that I simply see things differently to him. Huge congratulations to the Irish on a well-deserved series win, but I have a couple of caveats.
Timing a nation’s run to the RWC is a key part of a coach’s job, and I wonder whether Ireland might have peaked too early, as they have done in the past? Also, New Zealand under Ian Foster are simply not currently the force they usually are.
That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t applaud Ireland’s great wins,...