Ireland forge Six Nations title path with Wales dispatched and France waiting

Whichever angle viewed from, this Ireland team are starting to look very impressive. And, boy, do they do angles. The sheer number by which Irish runners came at Wales had the latter’s defence more than a little stressed throughout. Four tries ensued in a comfortable-sounding 29-7 win, but really the cold stats hardly do justice to the nature of this dismantling.

That is nine wins in a row now for Ireland since they underwhelmed in their opening two fixtures of the championship this time a year ago. When the world rankings are refreshed on Monday, they will leapfrog England into third to become the highest placed of the Six Nations. But they remain second favourites to France (world No 5), who will host them in Paris on Saturday.

The stage is set for the next Big Match, beyond which none of the contestants will be looking, but the rest of us can speculate to our hearts’ content. Needless to say, if Ireland play like this in Paris there is every chance they put the championship to bed, what with a home fixture against Italy in round three.

All Ireland’s usual suspects strutted their stuff on the stage at the weekend but, as gratifying as any of the performances by Josh van der Flier, the two props, Garry Ringrose and the like was that of the new boy on the wing. Mack Hansen was making his debut and took his cue almost immediately, the key contributor in the build-up to Ireland’s first try in the third minute.

His award of man of the match might have gone to any number of players but it clinched a performance that would qualify as fairy tale, Hansen having arrived from his native Australia only a few months ago to play for Connacht. “I’m just still in shock about everything,” he said, “and I’m just trying to take it all